The Commonwealth War Cemetery was established on Cannock Chase during the First World War after the Earl of Lichfield granted permission for a military burial ground on the Chase in 1916. The cemetery is maintained today by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and incorporates the graves of British troops alongside a large number belonging to troops from New Zealand and German prisoners of war.

The German War Cemetery was established on Cannock Chase in 1967. The Cemetery, maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, forms a single cemetery for German military personnel and civilian internees involved in both World Wars. There are nearly 5,000 German and Austrian graves on the site. The Katyn Memorial on Cannock Chase commemorates the Polish people who were killed in the Katyn Forest in Russia in 1940.

See The Great War Staffordshire website to learn more about the cemeteries on Cannock Chase.