On a clear summer night of July 19, 1916, 15,000 British and Australian troops began an action that would cost around half their number as casualties.
Facing an enemy double their number, heavily entrenched and aware of the Allied attack, the men of the Australian 5th Division and their Empire colleagues went to their deaths across anywhere between 100 to 400 yards of no man’s land, uphill.
It was an unmitigated, bloody, relentless slaughter.
The Courier will commemorate the centenary of the Battle of Fromelles. Ballarat soldiers were heavily represented in the disaster, where in a single night 5,500 Anzacs were killed or wounded. Names such as Hollioake, McKinnon, Lucas, Shearer and Pengelly appear in the Avenue of Honour, but many more were lost in the district.
If you have a relative who fought at Fromelles, let us tell their story: caleb.cluff@fairfaxmedia.com.au
