London Cemetery and Extension was made in the 1920s when the entire cemetery was made permanent; but the original burials by the main gate date back to the capture of High Wood by the 47th (London) Division on 15th September 1916 during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, when tanks were used for the first time. The cemetery was greatly enlarged in the 1920s and 30s from an area much wider than just the Somme and it was kept open into the late 1940s when Second World War burials were also added. London Cemetery & Extension is the third largest British and Commonwealth cemetery on the Somme with 3,873 First World War burials, 3,114 of them unidentified. Second World War burials number 165.