In Fromelles, about 20km west of Lille, this hexagonal cemetery – the first new Commonwealth cemetery in half a century – was dedicated on 19 July 2010 following the discovery of the mass graves of 250 Australian soldiers. Just 2km northwest, the Australian Memorial Park marks the spot where, on 19 and 20 July 1916, 1917 Australians and 519 British soldiers were killed during a poorly planned offensive intended to divert German forces from the Battle of the Somme.
Another 3146 Australians and 977 British were wounded. This was 'the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history' – in the words of Ross McMullin, writing for the Australian War Memorial (www.awm.gov.au). It seems likely that one of the soldiers on the victorious German side was a 27-year-old corporal in the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment named Adolf Hitler.
After the battle, the Germans buried many of the Australian and British dead in mass graves behind their lines. Most were reburied after the war, but eight pits containing the remains of 250 men were not found until 2008. To provide them with a dignified final resting place, the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery was established in 2010, the 94th anniversary of the catastrophic and pointless assault. DNA testing has established the identity of 109 Australians.
After the surviving Australians retreated to their pre-battle front lines, hundreds of their comrades-in-arms lay wounded in no-man's land. For three days the survivors made heroic efforts to rescue them, acts of bravery commemorated by the sculpture Cobbers visible in the Fromelles Memorial Park. Inaugurated in 1998, it is situated atop a row of German blockhouses 2km northwest of the new cemetery; to get there, follow the signs to the 'Mémorial Australien'.
Nearby, in what was once no-man's land between the Australian and German front lines, is the VC Corner Australian Cemetery. There are no headstones because not a single one of the 410 souls buried here was identified.
