BS: Battle of Fromelles

Subject: BS: Battle of Fromelles
From: artbrooks
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 08:40 PM

I know that there are a number of people here who track relatives, so...a mass grave with about 250 bodies was located a year or so ago from the Battle of Fromelles in WW-I. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is seeking individuals who had relatives among the more than 2500 British and Australians killed there to provide DNA samples.    More here.

Subject: RE: BS: Battle of Fromelles
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 10:58 PM

we've had a lot of coverage here, Art, over the past few years & I've been following it with interest.

The coverage started me looking for info about my Nan's brother James Royal Lambert who died in another battle in 1917 & whose body was never found.

He's one of the thousands with no known grave listed on the Menin Gate memorial (scroll down to painting & photo)   It doesn't worry me that his body was never recovered & he's laying with/near his mates where they fell, but it did worry his mother, and families still worry about family members, known to them or just names on family trees, who have no known grave in recent & long past wars.

Fallen Fromelles soldiers laid to rest

Digger's diary recounts 'hell on earth'

sandra


A recent article in 'History Today'- Return of the Fallen -page 3, Sept 09 says that until the late 19th Century "... Historically our war dead remained, to paraphrase Rupert Brooke, in 'some corner of a foreign field' ... Most remained where they fell, in unmarked mass graves ..." and it was only in the First World War that ordinary soldiers were buried in cemeteries, maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and other organisations.

Subject: RE: BS: Battle of Fromelles
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Jan 10 - 12:06 AM

Thanks for the links, Art and Sandra. That is incredibly interesting and sad.

I esp. liked this quote:

I have often thought that many a youngster when he was hit out there on the Passchendaele heights … and he knew that the end had come – must have thought to himself: "well at least they'll remember me in Australia". C.E.W. Bean

Subject: RE: BS: Battle of Fromelles
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 31 Jan 10 - 01:50 AM

It is our first new war cemetry for 70 years.

Subject: RE: BS: Battle of Fromelles
From: gnomad
Date: 31 Jan 10 - 04:57 AM

BBC report of the reburial here. Good that they should be reburied and identification attempted. I know that both sides generally did their best for the dead of all parties, but at the time their best could often be less than ideal.

I heard on a news report that the land for the new cemetery was donated by a local farmer, a nice gesture of thanks by her I felt.

Subject: RE: BS: Battle of Fromelles
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 Jan 10 - 05:57 AM

kat, Nan's brother died at Passchendaele, and their mother wore the brooch with his picture I linked every day until her death 20 years later.

CEW Bean Foundation
CEW Bean (1879-1968), journalist and historian, was chosen by a ballot of his colleagues to be the official war correspondent attached to Australian troops in World War 1 and later became the official historian of the war.

Subject: RE: BS: Battle of Fromelles
From: GUEST,Elfcall
Date: 31 Jan 10 - 06:22 AM

Hi

I travel on a regular basis to Wimereux in Northern France - I am very close to the Therlincthun Cemetry in Wimille - if any of you have relatives who are laid to rest within the (beautifully) kept grounds - I would be happy to locate, photograph, etc their final resting place. It is mainly a WWI cemetery but there are several WWII additions notably an aussie air crew.

Elfcall

Subject: RE: BS: Battle of Fromelles
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 06 Nov 10 - 07:44 AM

Unearthed WWI footage reveals devastation Newly-discovered aerial footage of the aftermath of World War I shows the damage caused during the conflict.

Photos of Passchendaele & Ypres

Subject: RE: BS: Battle of Fromelles
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 06 Nov 10 - 07:44 AM

small typo -

Footage of Passchendaele & Ypres

Subject: RE: BS: Battle of Fromelles
From: Fiolar
Date: 07 Nov 10 - 07:40 AM

There's a programme on BBC1 tonight (November 7th) entitled "World War One From Above". It starts at 9pm.

Subject: RE: BS: Battle of Fromelles
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Nov 10 - 08:19 AM

Thanks, Fiolar

The First World War from Above The story of the Great War told from a unique new aerial perspective. Featuring two remarkable historical finds, including a piece of archive footage filmed from an airship in summer 1919, capturing the trenches and battlefields in a way that's rarely been seen before. And aerial photographs taken by First World War pilots - developed for the first time in over ninety years - show not only the devastation inflicted during the fighting, but also quirks and human stories visible only from above. Presented by Fergal Keane.

I clicked on the link - Gardens gave the game away & it's not available in my area. fooey.

Director's blog about this program ... He found that a photograph taken over Diksmuide in Belgium shows how some German soldiers unwittingly gave away their position to the British - by gardening.

Although the men's barracks were safely camouflaged under trees, the flowerbeds were clearly visible from above to British photographic experts. And once British commanders saw the flowerbeds, they soon directed their big guns onto the barracks.

Subject: RE: BS: Battle of Fromelles
From: GUEST,eilis
Date: 22 Mar 12 - 03:17 PM

are there any songs   relating to this   battle ?