On 19 July 1916, in the northern French village of Fromelles, Australia sufferedits worst-ever military defeat when a British offi cer ordered 15,000 of our best andbravest to go ‘over the top' and attack the German lines. Eight hours later, morethan 5500 Diggers lay dead or wounded: the equivalent of all Australian casualtiesfrom the Boer, Korean and Vietnam wars combined. In addition, some 400 of ourboys were taken prisoner, but almost 200 vanished and remain missing to this day. Fromelles ranks as Australia's worst military disaster, yet it barely rates a mention inour history books and is absent from our war memorials. What happened to the Diggers who mysteriously disappeared? In an enthralling mixof detective story and passionate historical retelling, Patrick Lindsay travels across theworld to the killing fi elds of northern France in his quest to honour our fallen, andunravel one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of World War I. Fromelles tells the story of the painstaking detective work of a group of Australianamateur historians that led to the discovery of the location of the largest mass wargrave site since the Second World War. It follows the story of the battle and whythe historians believed the site was missed. It also takes us to the fi rst inconclusiveexploration of the site by archaeologists in 2007. This edition of Fromelles includes a new chapter that fi nally reveals the truth. InJune 2008 best-selling author Patrick Lindsay travelled to France to observe thearchaeological dig that conclusively identifi ed Pheasant Wood as the fi nal restingplace of the missing Diggers of Fromelles. This new chapter follows the investigationof the site and discusses the many unresolved issues that are involved in recoveringthe missing Diggers from the graves sites. "Remains have now been uncovered in all fi ve suspected World War I grave sites in NorthernFrance … This is a signifi cant day for Australia." Major General Mike O'Brien
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ISBN:
9781740666848
Format:
Paperback
Dimensions:
23cm x 15cm
Weight:
680g
RRP:
$39.99
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Patrick Lindsay
After a long career as a print and television journalist, Patrick Lindsay has also become one of Australia's leading non-fiction authors. Among his published books are: The Spirit of Kokoda (Hardie Grant), the story of the battles which saved Australia in WWII; TheEssence of Kokoda, a concise guide to the Kokoda story; The Spirit of Gallipoli. Cosgrove… Portrait of a Leader; Kokoda Spirit exploring the spirit of the Diggers of Kokoda