#fromelles

"France Culture"

Landscape altered by the man

Fromelles, Hauts-de-France

Australia Memorial Park, Fromelles France, December 2018.

Full photo gallery online here.

Australia Memorial Park

Located at the point where the German lines crossed the Rue Delval, the Australian Memorial Park commemorates the Australian soldiers killed during the Battle of Fromelles. The park was opened in July of 1998.

German blockhouse near Fromelles 1916, photo Wikipedia

Taking place a few weeks after the start of the Battle of the Somme, Fromelles is one of the bloodiest 24 hours in the history of Australia. Between July 19-20 1916 Australian battalions suffered over 5500 casualties in what would be a pointless attack against an enemy that was well equipped and dug in. The Australians were outnumbered 2 to 1, the attack took place in broad daylight with German artillery and bunkers free to fire into the flanks of the attack. When the Australian 60th Battalion assembled for roll call on July 20 only 106 men answered their names out of the 887 who had gone into battle the previous day.

Simon Fraser, photo Wikipedia

The park includes numerous remains of German bunkers and the Cobbers sculpture depicting Sergeant Simon Fraser rescuing another solider from No Man’s Land after the battle. For three days following the end of the battle men lied injured and dying outside the trenches. Fraser, and many other survivors of the attack, spent those three days getting men back to safety by any means possible. Stretchers when available, on their backs when necessary. The cries of the wounded were impossible for the survivors to ignore and they saved as many as they could. 

A few days after the battle Fraser wrote:

We found a fine haul of wounded and brought them in; but it was not where I heard this fellow calling, so I had another shot for it, and came across a splendid specimen of humanity trying to wriggle into a trench with a big wound in his thigh. He was about 14 stone weight, and I could not lift him on my back; but I managed to get him into an old trench, and told him to lie quiet while I got a stretcher. Then another man about 30 yards out sang out "Don’t forget me, cobber." I went in and got four volunteers with stretchers, and we got both men in safely.

Simon Fraser was killed in action at Bullecourt May 11 1917.

There were a number of other Australians around the memorial while I was there. They were part of a Great War tour visiting battle locations, memorials and cemeteries.

PROMENADES EN YAMAHA 600 XT DANS LES HAUTS DE FRANCE11 Septembre 2020, In Memoriam WWI & WTC 

Dans les Weppes,

PROMENADES EN BUELL DANS LES HAUTS DE FRANCE

It is our last full day in France and we are taking it easy as we will be busy again in London.

So we only had one thing planned and that was going back to Fromelles to visit the museum. This museum was created to focus on the Battle of Fromelles and therefore has a lot about Australia. Although small it is interactive and goes though all the information and like other museums had good information about the Germans as well. Given that the German’s held the town for most of the war this is important. It was also the German burial of Australians killed that was exhumed and DNA found who they were and they are buried outside in the cemetery. The best part for me was the video projected on a table showing the battle and where the different battalions were at each time and what went on. This showed just how much of a mess the battle really was. The final part of the museum was about remembering. It had about the Cobbers statue and VC Corner with things about some of the fallen. It is very sombre but also great to see that the French doing so much to preserve the history.

On returning I tried to go for a drive through Lille but not knowing where I was going I decided to return to the safety of Lomme, where the traffic was not so crazy. We popped into a small mall for lunch and got some croissant and champagne for our last night and then morning in France.

After resting in the afternoon we enjoyed our French champagne before heading off for a seafood dinner at a restaurant in our favourite area near the cinema and IKEA. Then it was home to pack and get an early night.

It is May Day today, and so is a public holiday here in Europe. This day is the international worker’s day much like our Labour Day. So it was very quiet around town as not too much appears to open on a public holiday here. But that was ok as we had the last of our soldiers to visit.

Off we headed and after a bit of a spin on the freeway and some narrow country roads we found our last cemetery with locals soldiers with grave stones. Three were here and we got their photos. Next it was off to one of Australia’s most sombre areas VC corner. This cemetery is not like the others we had visited as it does not have individual graves but a wall with all the names of the men buried here. This is due to the sheer numbers of people that died and the bloody mess that was the Battle of Fromelles. The names here are either buried here or their remains were not able to be retrieved. On the ground in front of the memorial wall are two plots with a cross on each symbolising where the men are buried. The cemetery is located in what was no man’s land so it is symbolic of those lost as well as those who had no remains. On the wall were names of eight of the Woorayl men lost.

Just down the road is the Australian Memorial Park. Here there are a number of German bunkers and the Cobbers Statue. This is recognising the mateship involved and the men who went to help and retrieve the men wounded in the battle. It is a moving memorial as it highlights what we have taken in as the Anzac spirit. So many men needed someone to get them out that day and those who got them risked danger to do so. But they did it. There is a replica of this same statue near the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne as well. But visiting this one was very special.

The graves of two brothers who died in the Battle of Fromelles, France. Photo: Olivia Skillern

We were unable to go to the museum in Fromelles as it was closed. It is May Day but actually it closes on Tuesdays anyway. So we will head there tomorrow. But while there we had a look around the cemetery as it is a new one where the soldiers were only recently found in a dig on a farm. There was an archaeological dig and then DNA testing allowed for many of the men to be identified. The messages on these graves were really touching as they were more recent and had more information on them. Two in particular really stood out as they were brothers and their message said “In proud memory of Samuel, loved brother, dear son of Isabella and George, rest in peace with Eric” with Eric’s next to him saying the same with his name and his brothers. It was so sad that they both died, but are resting now together.

Otherwise today was another rest. We went for a bit of a walk in the afternoon around the area but nothing too exciting and then walked to dinner and back later.

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