WW1 Excavation at Fromelles

[Rick W]

The media in Australia have been giving extensive coverage to excavations to uncover a mass grave of 170 Australians involved in the ill-fated attack at Fromelles.

 

Here are the links

 

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=569731

 

“Still images from the excavation of a suspected World War I burial site in Fromelles , France are now available on the Department of Defence website at www.defence.gov.au/media/download or http://www.defence.gov.au/media/download/2008/May/index.htm

 

The Australian Army, under the auspices of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and in conjunction with British and French Governments, is undertaking the limited excavation of the site in Fromelles.

 

This work is being carried out by a team from the Glasgow University Archaeology Research Division (GUARD) over the period 26 May to 14 June 2008.

 

The excavation should prove once and for all whether the remains of up to 400 fallen Australian and British soldiers lay beneath the soil of a small field adjacent to Pheasant Wood.

 

Non-invasive surveys and archival research suggest the soldiers were buried at the site by German Forces following the Battle of Fromelles which took place over 19-20 July 1916, however a limited excavation is required to establish the existence or otherwise of any remains.”

 

 

Fromelles was one of the more tragic AIF battles. The objective of the attack was never clear, British staff work was poor and after the abject failure of the initial attacks, final waves were ordered in against the objections of senior AIF officers and were of course shot to pieces by the now fully alert German defences. A sad tale (I was never quite sure why they just didn’t stop, the Brits could hardly have shot an entire battalion) that poisoned relations between AIF and British staff officers.

 

Courtesy Militarch

[Snapper]

I think this is the ongoing battlefield big story. Completely forgot to go there the last time I was out at the end of April, but they are guarding the place very strongly from the grave robbing b4st4rds who leech around these sites.

 

Worth keeping watch on....The Glasgow Uni people seem to be at many of the most important sites.

 

MB