THE BATTLEFIELD REPORT
Battle of Fromelles
Pyu San Min
Name of Battle(s)
Location(s)
Date/s of Event(s)
Australian Units Involved
Battle of Fromelles
Fromelles is a small village in the Nord area of Northern
France
19 July 1916 to 20 July 1916
5th Australian Division
'The worst 24 hours in the history of the Australian nation,' is how some described Australia's
baptism of fire on the Western Front at the Battle of Fromelles on 19 July 1916. Directed
against a strong German position known as the Sugar Loaf salient, the attack was intended
primarily to draw German troops away from the Somme offensive further to the south.
The Battle of the Somme started on 1 July 1916. To reinforce its army, the Germans began to
bring troops from other fronts. When battalions from Lille were reported heading for the
Somme, the British devised ‘an attack at Fromelles’ which they hoped would persuade the
Germans to keep their men there. The task was given to the 11th British Corps which brought
together the 61st British Division and the 5th Australian Division for the attack. Both were
inexperienced with the Australians having arrived a few days earlier.
In a hurried and poorly planned operation the Divisions attacked on a front of four kilometres.
The German lines had been reinforced over the previous 15 months with concrete blockhouses and their artillery ideally placed behind them on the high ground of Aubers Ridge.
In contrast the Australian artillery only began to organise on 9 July. Over the next few days
the Australian infantry, in full view of German observers, carried forward ammunition,
sandbags, picks and shovels, duckboards, a tramline, food, water and medical supplies, often
working 24 hour shifts. Thus, many of the soldiers were exhausted when the attack was
scheduled for the morning of 17 July. Due to the low-lying, water-logged nature of the
Australians could not dig deep trenches as used elsewhere on the Western Front. As a result
the troops had to build three-metre thick walls constructed of bags filled with mud. These
provided very poor protection from the German artillery shell fire.
The Australian and German lines were separated by a strip of land known as ‘No-Man’s
Land’. In front of the Australians, No-Man’s Land ranged in width from 80 to 400 metres.
Running through it was a small river which made the whole area a wet marsh in which wild
grass grew a metre high. This grass hid the treacherous nature of the terrain with barbed wire
everywhere.
The German machine guns were well sited and covered their entire line. The most formidable
Block house was at the Sugarloaf, a heavily reinforced building, overlooking the widest part
of No-Man’s Land and able to provide cover fire over more than half the front.
Against such odds, after a heavy but inaccurate artillery bombardment, described by some as
worse than anything they had experienced on Gallipoli, the 61st British Division and the 5th
Australian Division went into battle.
The men were cut down wave by wave. It is thought that a few men might have reached the
wire immediately in front of the Sugarloaf as pieces of Australian uniform were found there
after the Armistice.
Despite these failures the Australian 14th Brigade’s success was the most spectacular. They
captured their objective and advanced well beyond it. A small party of Australian troops
moved half a kilometre behind the German lines, but they were very much alone.
At 5am on 20 July it was decided by 11th Corps HQ to withdraw, leaving the troops to find
their way back. However, the Germans had reorganised overnight and came round behind
the Australians, so that they had to fight back through a German line to return to their own.
By mid-morning on 20 July there were, by German estimates over 2000 corpses on No-Man’s
Land. There were also thousands of immobile wounded sheltering in shell holes, ditches, in
the river or in thick grass.
Stretcher bearers, who could not withstand the call of broken men, worked continuously
bringing the wounded off the battlefield. In most cases they were left alone by the Germans to
do their work.
The wounded were taken back under cover of darkness. The dead were left where they fell.
Later, men were sent out to take from the bodies their identity discs and personal belongings,
and these were subsequently posted to the next of kin. This is one reason why there are so
many unidentified Australians in the surrounding cemeteries.
The proportion of those killed was exceptionally high, for example of the 887 men of the
Australian 60th Battalion engaged in the battle only 107 survived. It seems that Adolf Hitler,
then a corporal in the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment, also took part in the battle.
Despite their inexperience, both Australian officers and men had performed bravely and
effectively, given the circumstances. The battle was responsible for one of the greatest losses
of Australian lives in 24 hours. The 5th Australian Division suffered 5,533 casualties, rendering
it incapable of offensive action for many months. The 61st British Division suffered 1,547
casualties. The German casualties were little more than 1,000. The attack was a complete
failure as the Germans realised within a few hours it was merely a diversion. It therefore had
no impact whatsoever upon the progress of the Somme offensive.
Today the V.C. Corner Australian Cemetery is a memorial to the courage of the Australian
soldiers. Established after the Armistice of 1918, it consists of two mass graves covered with
immaculate lawns and marked with a cross. The graves contain the remains of more than 400
Australian soldiers who were killed in the Battle of Fromelles on 19 July 1916. At the back of
the plot stands a memorial which bears the names of the 1,208 Australian soldiers who lost
their lives in the offensive but whose graves were never found.
PHOTOS
Soldiers of the 53rd Battalion, Australian 5th Division, waiting to attack during the Battle of Fromelles, 19
July 1916. Only three of the men shown survived the attack and those three were wounded.
Australian War Memorial (2014) Collections Database [AWM A03042] Accessed 17 March 2014
Portion of the German lines seized and then lost by Australian forces at the Battle of Fromelles, 19–20 July
1916.
Australian War Memorial (2014) Collections Database [AWM A01562] Accessed 17 March 2014
Dead Australian soldier in the German lines at Fromelles, July 1916.
Australian War Memorial (2014) Collections Database [AWM A01566] Accessed 17 March 2014
Australian prisoners after the Battle of Fromelles, 20 July 1916
Australian War Memorial (2014) Collections Database . [AWM A01551] Accessed 17 March 2014
Original grave of Captain Norman Gibbins, 55th Battalion (New South Wales). The inscription beneath the
cross reads: ‘With my soul’s homage and my heart’s utmost love to my beloved and deeply mourned
brother. Violet Gibbins’.
Australian War Memorial (2014) Collections Database [AWM P03788.003] Accessed 17 March 2014
The First World War (2014) Fromelles Accessed 15 March 2014
http://www.webmatters.net/maps/ww1_map_fromelles_btl.htm
SOURCES:
Army (2014)Fromelles Accessed 16 March, 2014 http://www.army.gov.au/Our-work/Unrecovered-WarCasualties-Army/Fromelles
Australians on the Western Front 1914 – 1918 (2014) VC Corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial –
Fromelles, France Accessed 14 March, 2014
http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/fromelles/
Australian War Memorial (2014) Battle of Fromelles Accessed 15 March, 2014
https://www.awm.gov.au/units/event_159.asp
Australian War Memorial (2014) The worst night in Australian military history: Fromelles Accessed 16
March, 2014 http://www.awm.gov.au/blog/2008/07/18/the-worst-night-in-australian-military-historyfromelles/
Office of Australian War Graves (2014) The Australian Memorial Park Fromelles (2007) Accessed 15 March,
2014
http://www.dva.gov.au/commems_oawg/OAWG/about_OAWG/Documents/P00055%20Fromelles%202007.
pdf
Walsh, M (date unknown) The Battle for Fromelles the 1st Australian Imperial Forces first major battle on
the Western Front Accessed 16 March, 2014
http://www.amosa.org.au/schools/mhp/ww1/The%20Battle%20for%20Fromelles.pdf