[3] The British agreed to hold the line of the Condé–Mons–Charleroi Canal for twenty-four hours, to prevent the advancing German 1st Army from threatening the French left flank.

Subsequently, the German Army decided to exhume and re-inter the dead in a single location, as they determined the care and maintenance of isolated graves was unsustainable over the long term.

[9] In spring 1916, a German officer by the name of Captain Roemer was searching for an appropriate piece of cemetery land south-east of Mons.

Houzeau de Lehaie refused to accept payment for the land and agreed to part with it only under the condition that it be donated instead of requisitioned, and that in the cemetery the dead of both sides be treated with equal respect.

[9][12] Most of the identified German dead in the cemetery died in 1914 and were from units of IX Corps, which originated from the north of Germany from towns like Kiel, Hamburg and Bremen, and in Schleswig-Holstein.

[9] Now that the Imperial War Graves Commission was in full control of the cemetery they immediately set about redesigning it, assigning the task to Assistant Architect William Harrison Cowlishaw.

[9] On 4 August 2014, a ceremony was held at the cemetery to mark the 100th anniversary of the British and Belgian declaration of war following the German invasion of Belgium.

[11] It was attended by many important dignitaries including: King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of The Belgians, Prince William, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry as representatives of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Head of the Commonwealth, Joachim Gauck President of Germany, Michael D. Higgins President of the Republic of Ireland, Prime Minister of Belgium Elio Di Rupo and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron.

[9] They developed a site plan based on the concept of Cemetery Reform (German: Friedhofsreform), which was popular in Germany at the time.

[9] The cemetery land itself had many artificial created differences in elevation due to the site being used as a dumping location for surplus soil associated with phosphate mining in the area.

[14] The German headstones were carved from locally quarried stone, principally bluestone and Belgian Petit Granit.

[10] A classical 7 metres (23 ft) high obelisk memorial made of bluestone was placed near the entrance at the highest point in the cemetery.

[9] The predominantly German north-eastern half was left more characteristically in a woodland cemetery style, although many trees were pruned to ensure that an open view was created between the various plots.

Other special memorials record the names of four British soldiers, buried by the Germans in Obourg Churchyard, whose graves could not be found.

"[10] Notable German burials include Musketier Oskar Niemeyer from the 84th Infantry Regiment was the first recipient of the Iron Cross during the war.

[9][20] Notable Commonwealth burials in the cemetery include Private John Parr, of the 4th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment and George Lawrence Price of the Canadian 28th (Northwest) Battalion each believed to be the respective first and last Commonwealth soldiers killed in action during the First World War, as is George Ellison.

[24] Dease was awarded the Victoria Cross for defending Nimy Bridge and maintained firing of a machine gun until he was hit for a fifth and final time.