In July,1916, Australian soldiers fought a pointless bloodbath of a battle alongside British soldiers, near the small French village of Fromelles. In a 24-hour period, Australia lost over 5000 soldiers killed, wounded or missing. The Australian War Memorial in Canberra calls it "the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history." Many of those missing, presumed dead, have no known grave.
Last year, a geophysical survey revealed the location of what was believed to be one of the mass graves supposedly dug by German soldiers for the burial of unknown Australian and British soldiers killed at Fromelles.
In May and June of this year, an extensive archaeological dig positively identified the remains as those of some of these soldiers. This week a official ceremony was conducted at the site after the pit had been resealed. The owner of the land has generously donated the site to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
The governments of France, Australia and Britain have to decide now whether to exhume and attempt to identify each of the bodies in this pit, and then provide individual graves for each soldier at the site, or to leave the bodies as they are and provide a memorial.
5 comments:
Good for you for putting this on your blog, CabaC. Very interesting and passionate for the families involved.
Lest We Forget.
My Grandfather fought there on the Western Front in WWI and was seriously injured, his young brother was injured and died. We visited his grave and it was such a moving experience!!!
Dear Cabacurl, I had never heard of that. I think as little children growing up after WWII, we were hidden a lot of facts. We didn't learn about WWi and WWII at school at that time. The little bit I know I learned by myself.
I thank you very much for making me aware of the fact so many Australians gave their lives for the Europeans.
An interesting conundrum, isn't it? What to do for the best? Personally, I would prefer the slain soldiers remain where they have been all these years - but I am not a distant relative.
Glad you posted this story, Jude.
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