Fromelles
The Battle of Fromelles took place on 19-20 July 1916. A combined operation between the British Army and the Australian Imperial Force. Their objective was to take intended a German held salient just to the north of the village of Fromelles. It was also intended as a diversion to the Battle of the Somme around 50 miles to the south.
After just a days fighting, the British had lost 1,500 men and the Australians had lost more than 5,000 men. At the time, it was considered “the worst 24 hours in Australia’s history”. The Battle of Fromelles was a decisive victory for the Germans and the Allies made no significant gains.
The dead had originally been buried in mass graves shortly after the battle. Many of the sites were discovered in the 1920s and designated as official war graves but there was one site in a field near the edge of “Pheasant Wood”.
In 2008, the remains started to be exhumed and attempts were made to identify them using DNA were made. The remains of the first of 250 British and Australian soldiers killed in the 1916 Battle of Fromelles were reburied on 30th January 2010, with full military honours at the newly built Pheasant Wood Cemetery.
2010 Tours
Escorted tours to Fromelles will start in October 2010.
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