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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.
Fromelles: Up to 400 soldiers lost in the battle are thought to have been buried - without their dog tags - in pits by German forces in a site known as Pheasant Wood near the village of Fromelles
Fromelles was the scene of the poorly planned and futile battle of July 19, 1916, in which 5,553 Australian and 1,547 British soldiers were mown down in a "lattice of death" of German crossfire.
Up to 400 soldiers lost in the battle are thought to have been buried - without their dog tags - in pits by German forces in a site known as Pheasant Wood near the village of Fromelles.
A new military cemetery, to be completed by 2010, will be built next to the mass grave on land donated by the owner. It will be the first created by the Commonwealth War Graves Commisssion since the end of the Second World War.
Experts from the charity Oxford Archaeology will carry out DNA tests on the bodies – if these prove viable - before laying them individually to rest.
According to the War Graves Commission, "while in the majority of cases, the likelihood of identifying individuals is remote, every reasonable effort to achieve a positive outcome will be made. Where it is possible a named grave will be provided." All remains are to be buried as "unknown" in the first instance. A board of experts will then consider evidence that might lead to the identification of soldiers, and will contact next-of-kin accordingly.
The fighting at Fromelles raged as soldiers fought to divert German troops from the more famous battle of the Somme, which was being fought 50 miles away.
Wave upon wave of troops fell in a bid to capture 400 yards of ground, defended by an impregnable concrete tower of German machine guns in broad daylight. It has been described as the worst 24 hours in Australian military history and poisoned relations between the Australians and their British commanders.
An amateur historian in Australia discovered the mass grave area, and excavation began at the site in 2007 after a long campaign by Australians seeking to give their missing relatives a fitting burial.
The precise site was located after painstaking research into German records and thanks to aerial photography and ground penetrating radar.
Skeletal remains, along with service medals and military badges, were found in five pits during exploratory excavation work in May last year, confirming "beyond reasonable doubt" the presence of the soldiers.
Peter Barton, the project historian, said it was "by far the largest World War I mass grave found and probably the largest modern mass grave not the result of genocide".
The recovery work will begin next Tuesday in the presence of government representatives from France, Britain and Australia after a religious blessing of the site.
The British and Australian governments have published the names of soldiers they believe may be buried at Fromelles. They are asking people to register details of relatives they believe may have lain there for the past 90 years.
"A careful cross-referencing of casualty records means that we have a pool of possible identities for the men buried in the pits," according to the War Graves Commission.
The bodies of more than 165,000 Commonwealth soldiers killed on the Western Front during the First World War are still missing.
R.I.P Brothers
Silky
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.
Fromelles: Up to 400 soldiers lost in the battle are thought to have been buried - without their dog tags - in pits by German forces in a site known as Pheasant Wood near the village of Fromelles
Fromelles was the scene of the poorly planned and futile battle of July 19, 1916, in which 5,553 Australian and 1,547 British soldiers were mown down in a "lattice of death" of German crossfire.
Up to 400 soldiers lost in the battle are thought to have been buried - without their dog tags - in pits by German forces in a site known as Pheasant Wood near the village of Fromelles.
A new military cemetery, to be completed by 2010, will be built next to the mass grave on land donated by the owner. It will be the first created by the Commonwealth War Graves Commisssion since the end of the Second World War.
Experts from the charity Oxford Archaeology will carry out DNA tests on the bodies – if these prove viable - before laying them individually to rest.
According to the War Graves Commission, "while in the majority of cases, the likelihood of identifying individuals is remote, every reasonable effort to achieve a positive outcome will be made. Where it is possible a named grave will be provided." All remains are to be buried as "unknown" in the first instance. A board of experts will then consider evidence that might lead to the identification of soldiers, and will contact next-of-kin accordingly.
The fighting at Fromelles raged as soldiers fought to divert German troops from the more famous battle of the Somme, which was being fought 50 miles away.
Wave upon wave of troops fell in a bid to capture 400 yards of ground, defended by an impregnable concrete tower of German machine guns in broad daylight. It has been described as the worst 24 hours in Australian military history and poisoned relations between the Australians and their British commanders.
An amateur historian in Australia discovered the mass grave area, and excavation began at the site in 2007 after a long campaign by Australians seeking to give their missing relatives a fitting burial.
The precise site was located after painstaking research into German records and thanks to aerial photography and ground penetrating radar.
Skeletal remains, along with service medals and military badges, were found in five pits during exploratory excavation work in May last year, confirming "beyond reasonable doubt" the presence of the soldiers.
Peter Barton, the project historian, said it was "by far the largest World War I mass grave found and probably the largest modern mass grave not the result of genocide".
The recovery work will begin next Tuesday in the presence of government representatives from France, Britain and Australia after a religious blessing of the site.
The British and Australian governments have published the names of soldiers they believe may be buried at Fromelles. They are asking people to register details of relatives they believe may have lain there for the past 90 years.
"A careful cross-referencing of casualty records means that we have a pool of possible identities for the men buried in the pits," according to the War Graves Commission.
The bodies of more than 165,000 Commonwealth soldiers killed on the Western Front during the First World War are still missing.
R.I.P Brothers
Silky
