Description

Title: Remembering Fromelles: A New Cemetery for a New Century

Author: Julie Summers, Louise Loe and Nigel Steel

Condition: Mint

Edition: 1st Edition

Publication Date: 2010

ISBN: 9780956507402

Cover: Soft Cover without Dust Jacket – 96 pages

Comments: A commemorative book, Remembering Fromelles – A New Cemetery for a New Century, compiled by Julie Summers – is to be published by Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) on July 1. With foreword by HRH The Duke of Kent, President of the CWGC.

The Battle of Fromelles, sometimes known as the Action at Fromelles or the Battle of Fleurbaix, occurred in France between 19th and 20th July 1916, during World War I. The action was intended partly as a diversion from the Battle of the Somme that was taking place about 80 kilometres to the south. The operation, carried out midway between the British-occupied village of Fleurbaix and that of Fromelles behind the German lines, sought to retake a salient just north of the latter, situated at about 16 kilometres from the city of Lille.

Fromelles was a combined operation between British troops and the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). It would be the first occasion that the AIF saw action on the Western Front. After a night and a day of fighting, 1,500 British and 5,533 Australian soldiers were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. The Australian War Memorial describes the battle as “the worst 24 hours in Australia’s entire history.”

It was a decisive victory for the German Empire, and the Australian and British losses were sustained without the Allies gaining any ground.