Fromelles 1916

At Fromelles in July 1916 two divisions – one British and one Australian – within a few weeks of arriving in France – went into action for the first time. Their task was to prevent the Germans from moving troops to the Somme where a major British offensive was in progress, but the attack on 19/20 July was a disaster with nearly 7,000 casualties in a few hours. This account explores this battle which for many epitomises the futility of the Great War. In those few hours many heroic deeds were done but the battle caused a souring of Anglo-Australian relationships and truly was a baptism of fire for these British and Australian troops. This is their history. In a new section, Paul Cobb explores the recent discovery in 2008/09 of a mass war grave on the battlefield and includes details of the findings of the archaeological dig, the recovery of 250 bodies and the creation of a new military cemetery.

The Battle of Fromelles remains the single bloodiest day in terms of soldiers killed, wounded or missing, in Australia's military history. Remains of soldiers were recently discovered in mass graves in northern France and the final soldier will be laid to rest when a new cemetery officially opens on 19th July, 2010 - the 94th anniversary of the battle.

Despite the substantial output of revisionist scholarship over the last decade reappraising the performance of the British Army on the Western Front during the First World War, there still remains a stubborn perception that its commanders were incompetent, inflexible and unimaginative. Whilst much ink has been spilled vilifying or defending individual commanders, or looking for overarching trends and ’learning curves’, this is the first work to examine systematically the vertical nature of command - that is the transmission of plans from the high-command down through the rank structure to the front line. Through such an investigation, a much more rounded measure of the effectiveness of British commanders can be gained; one moves the argument beyond the overly simplistic ’casualties to ground gained’ equation that is usually offered. The Battle of Fromelles (19-20 July 1916) was selected as the case study as it was relatively small in scale, in the right period, and retains sufficient primary sources available to sustain the analysis. It also witnessed the first time Australian forces were used in offensive operations on the Western Front, and thus looms large in wider Commonwealth perceptions of ’Bumbling British Generals’. The book follows the progress of the battle plan from its inception in the strategic designs of the supreme commander down through the various intermediate level commands at operational and tactical headquarters until it became the orders that sent the infantry forward into the attack. In so doing it provides a unique insight into the strengths and weaknesses of British command structure, allowing a much more scholarly judgement of its overall effectiveness.

This book gives an unrivaled insight into the life and times of an English village in the First World War - a way of life swept away forever by the changes ushered in by the conflict.

Australians on the Western Front—1916 Fromelles and the Somme is the first book in the Australians on the Western Front 1916-1918 series developed by the Department of Veterans' Affairs. It highlights the year 1916, which was the mid-point of the Great War, and which marked the arrival of the first Australian divisions in France and their entry into the first great battles pf the Western Front. This eBook features exclusive content including a 1916 newsreel on the Conscription Referendum Campaign featuring Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes. In addition, two short files titled 'Australia in France' show the Australians preparing for the first major battles on the Somme.

This book explores Adolf Hitler's career as a soldier in World War I and looks at the influences that led to his fanatical nationalism as a political leader.

Part of the award-winning series, The Drum, and by the multi-award-winning author Carole Wilkinson. The first shots were fired at 11am, 19 July 1916. The Battle of Fromelles lasted less than 24 hours. When it was over, more than 5000 Australian soldiers were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. More soldiers died at Fromelles than in the Boer, Korean and Vietnam war combined. What was the point of this bloody loss of life? And why, almost a century later, did the attention of the world once again turn to Fromelles?