Fromelles Dig Begins

The quest to recover and identify the remains of the Australian and British soldiers buried by the Germans following the Battle of Fromelles of 19-20 July 1916 moves to a new phase this week with the commencement of the exhumation process.

As visitors to this web-site will be aware, the exhumation process has followed a long process commencing with Lambis Englezos, supported by Ward Selby and John Fielding, identifying that more than 160 Australian soldiers were not accounted for by burials of soldiers with known graves or burials of unknown soldiers.  Their research led to confirmation that the Bavarian Regiment of the German Army issued instructions for the burial of up to 400 “English” soldiers “before Pheasant Wood” immediately following the battle.  A German “death list” was provided by the Germans to the International Red Cross in November 1916 and in March 1917 identity discs were returned through the International Red Cross to the soldiers families.  The German soldiers had removed the identity discs and buried the soldiers in 5 large pits.  As the front-line area had been evacuated by civilians, by the time of the Armistice in November 1918, when the Allies were able to return to the area, the pits had been filled in, overgrown and were no longer distinguishable.  Subsequent inspections in 1919 and 1920 by the Australian War Graves Registration Section and the Australian Graves Services were unable to locate the burial area, even though there were documentary records referring to them.

Background to the battle and the battle tactics are summarised in the Research area of this web site and may be accessed by clicking here.  The Australian Government Policy for Burial of War Dead is also in this Research area. Previous stories related to the “missing” Diggers of Fromelles can be viewed by entering the words “Pheasant Wood”, “Fromelles” or Fromelles missing” or “Fromelles dig” into the Search field in the top right corner of the screen.  An alternative approach is to view the PAST NEWS and select the month of interest eg the Archaeological Dig is described in detail in the posts for May 2008 or the stories of many of the “missing” Diggers were presented prior to the anniversary of the Battle in the posts for July 2008.  All previous posts on this web-site (more than 220 posts) are still accessible in this way and form a significant resource for those wishing more detail related to Fromelles or other topics covered by the Families and Friends of the First AIF.

Currently, FFFAIF’s web manager and Secretary, Chris Munro, is in Fromelles, liaising with locals and dignitaries including the representatives of the Museum, the Fromelles & Weppes Terre de Mémoire 14-18 and  represented FFFAIF at the special service to mark the commencement of the exhumation on 5 May and will also represent FFFAIF at the commemoration of the 9 May 1915 Battle of Aubers in which there were 11,600 British and Indian casualties. With the assistance of the Secretary of the FWTM, Carole Laignel, this web-site will provide progress reports and photographs of developments at Fromelles as well as identifying many media reports.

Follow the links below to see current media stories related to Fromelles.

war dead to be exhumed
AFP – ?Apr 30, 2009?WWI Australian, British
PARIS (AFP) — Experts will Tuesday begin exhuming hundreds of British and Australian troops from a World War I mass grave in northern France, before laying …
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5id_7uU8aZ42v92ougfw6IWa5Bamw

Fallen Scots WWI soldiers await a new burial
Experts to begin recovering military men from Britain and Australia buried in Flanders mass grave 90 years ago.
01 May 2009 20:41 PM
http://news.stv.tv/scotland/93773-fallen-scots-wwi-soldiers-await-a-new-burial/

Allies unite to put Fromelles fallen to rest

ABC Online – ?May 2, 2009?
By News Online’s Tim Leslie
Posted Sat May 2, 2009 10:08pm AEST
Updated Sat May 2, 2009 10:34pm AEST
An ambitious project to excavate and identify the remains of up to 400 Australian and British soldiers who died during Word War I is underway in northern France.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/02/2559166.htm

British war dead to be exhumed in France
Archaeologists are to begin exhuming hundreds of British and Australian troops from a First World War mass grave in northern France, before laying the fallen soldiers permanently to rest in a new war cemetery.
Telegraph.co.uk – ?May 2, 2009?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/5258072/British-war-dead-to-be-exhumed-in-France.html

DNA tests to identify the fallen in Fromelles mass grave
Paola Totaro Europe Correspondent
AUTHORITIES will begin exhuming the remains of hundreds of Australian and British troops from a World War I mass grave in northern France on Tuesday, …
May 3, 2009
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/dna-tests-to-identify-the-fallen-in-fromelles-mass-grave-20090502-aqsf.html

Work to begin on exhuming WWI diggers
Belinda Tasker
May 3, 2009
A massive operation is about to begin in France to recover and rebury the remains of 400 Australian and British World War I soldiers found in an unmarked mass grave.
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/work-to-begin-on-exhuming-wwi-diggers-20090503-ar25.html

Fromelles site bans finders

Paola Totaro in Fromelles, France
May 4, 2009
THE two amateur historians who located an unmarked mass grave containing 400 Australian and British World War I soldiers have been banned from the site on the eve of work to exhume the bodies.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/fromelles-site-bans-finders-20090503-arfu.html

WWI war dead to be recovered from mass graves
Telegraph.co.uk –
Preparations are under way for the start of a huge operation to recover hundreds of First World War British and Australian war dead from a mass grave in France.
Last Updated: 10:22AM BST 04 May 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5271681/WWI-war-dead-to-be-recovered-from-mass-graves.html

DEAD TO BE IDENTIFIED VIA DNA
War dead to be exhumed
FROMELLES (France) – FORENSIC experts gathered on Monday in a muddy field in northern France ahead of a solemn operation to exhume hundreds of fallen Australian and British soldiers from a World War I mass grave.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Tech%2Band%2BScience/Story/STIStory_372354.html

Fromelles dig ready to begin
Print May 05, 2009
Article from: The Australian
FORENSIC experts gathered yesterday in a muddy field in northern France before a solemn operation to exhume hundreds of fallen Australian and British soldiers from a World War I mass grave.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25430225-26040,00.html

Exhumation of Australians begins at Fromelles
Paola Totaro, Fromelles
May 5, 2009
A HUGE exercise has begun to exhume an unmarked mass grave containing about 400 Australian and British World War I soldiers buried after the battle of Fromelles in 1916.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/exhumation-of-australians-begins-at-fromelles-20090505-asrs.html

Remains Of Hundreds Of Soldiers To Be Exhumed
Sky News 8:56pm UK, Monday May 04, 2009
An operation is due to begin to recover the remains of up to 400 British and Australian World War One soldiers from a mass grave site in France.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Remains-Of-Hundreds-Of-WW1-Soldiers-To-Be-Recovered-From-Mass-Grave-Site-Near-Fromelles-In-France/Article/200905115274701

WWI Fromelles mystery to be unravelled
Brisbane Times – ?May 5, 2009 – 7:39AM
Belinda Tasker
The mystery surrounding the identity of 400 Australian and British World War I soldiers found in a mass grave in France could finally start unravelling as work begins on recovering their remains.
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-world/wwi-fromelles-mystery-to-be-unravelled-20090505-asw1.html

Unknown soldiers from Battle of Fromelles to be identified
From The Times May 5, 2009
Kaya Burgess in Fromelles
Nearly 93 years after Joseph Henry Humphries was killed by German machineguns in the First World War, his family hope that his body may have been found — in a mass grave in a foreign field.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6221422.ece

First World War mass grave to be excavated
Independent ?
By John Lichfield in Paris
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
A forensics expert removes a piece of fabric from the site in Fromelles
Archaeologists will today begin to excavate, and possibly identify, the remains of 400 Australian and British soldiers who were buried in one of the largest mass graves ever found on the battlefields of the First World War.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/first-world-war-mass-grave-to-be-excavated-1678996.html

The corner of a foreign field where not one soldier lies, but 400
Scotsman – Published Date: 05 May 2009
By MARTYN McLAUGHLIN
THEY were sent on an almost impossible mission and fell in their thousands, only for their deeds to remain largely forgotten.
Now – more than nine decades after one of the First World War’s least documented slaughters – the bodies of hundreds of British and Australian war dead are to be recovered from a mass grave in northern France.
http://news.scotsman.com/uk/The-corner-of-a-foreign.5233351.jp

WWI battle grave recovery begins

BBC News – ?Tuesday, 5 May 2009

An operation to recover and identify the remains of about 400 British and Australian soldiers killed during a WWI battle in Northern France is to begin.

By Phil Mackie

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8032908.stm

Excavation of mass war grave begins

The Press Association – ?Tuesday, 5 May 2009

Teams of experts are due to begin excavating the biggest Great War grave discovered in decades.

Up to 400 First World War soldiers from Britain and Australia are thought to lie in eight pits in the French countryside, where they were buried by German forces after battle.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5g58ehRCKkeLWfkGmnH5oPkWgcSvA

Uncovering secrets from beyond the grave

AFP – ??Tuesday, 5 May 2009

FROMELLES, France (AFP) — The tools of his trade range from earthmovers and shovels to the finest brushes, surgical tweezers and dentists’ mirrors — and his job is to uncover secrets from beyond the grave.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jbJTpYw9sSnVYiiO9GCSe2MQPAvA

Caring for the remains of Fromelles fallen

BBC News – ??Tuesday, 5 May 2009

Five burial pits dating from WW1 have been identified near Fromelles in northern France after several years of research.

They are believed to contain the remains of between 250 and 400 British and Australian soldiers, buried behind German lines after the Battle of Fromelles in July 1916.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8033007.stm

 WWI mass graves to be opened

CNN — ??Tuesday, 5 May 2009

Wide green expanses of farmland outside a picturesque northern French village hide memories of a World War I battle in which thousands of British and Australian troops were killed or wounded on a single night.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/05/04/wwi.graves/?iref=mpstoryview

Australian, UK WWI dead to get military funeral

??Tuesday, 5 May 2009

FROMELLES, France (AFP) —

Pilgrims and local people are to gather Tuesday in northern France to witness the solemn start of work to dig hundreds of fallen Australian and British troops from a World War I mass grave.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j7SQMaKbDScMVFkO8sQAvpaZB9Vw

Diggers exhumed from mass grave

Ninemsn – By ninemsn staff 12:30 AEST Tue May 5 2009

A team of forensic experts will exhume Australian soldiers from a mass grave in France almost a century after their deaths.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/glance/809798/diggers-exhumed-from-mass-grave

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