Corbie was about 20 kilometres behind the front when Commonwealth forces took over the line from Berles-au-Bois southward to the Somme in July 1915. The town immediately became a medical centre, with Nos 5 and 21 Casualty Clearing Stations. In November 1916 the front moved east, but the German advance in the Spring of 1918 came within 10 kilometres of the town and brought with it field ambulances of the 47th Division and the 12th Australian Field Ambulance. The cemetery has two Plot I's right next to each other - one in the actual town cemetery, and the other in the extension. The extension contains the grave Major Billy Congreve, who was awarded the Victoria Cross, Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross, and who is the son of a General who was also a VC. The majority of the graves in the extension are of officers and men who died of wounds in the 1916 Battle of the Somme. The remainder relate to the fighting of 1918. The extension was designed by Charles Holden. Spencer Lord Mansel-Carey of Uppingham lies in Plot I inside the town cemetery, Row D and Grave 9.
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