Fromelles/Fleurbaix

[Andrew P]

From The Herald Sun Newspaper 16/06/2005

Diggers’ grave search likely

A PANEL of top historians

and military experts have

agreed to officially investi-

gate claims that 163 missing

Australians lie in a mass

grave in northern France.

The Australian army’s history

unit will recommend the Federal

Government approve worldwide re-

search into the fate of Diggers lost in

the battle of Fromelles in 1916.

The move comes after amateur

campaigners convinced the expert

panel in Canberra there was

enough evidence to justify an in-

quiiy into one of three possible

sites, Pheasant Wood.

The results will determine if the

Government approaches France

for approval to search the area,

now a farm field.

Neil Wilson

Melbourne campaigner Lambis

Englezos, ofthe Friends ofthe 15th

Brigade group, said it could com-

plete the story of Fromelles.

Last week Australia’s cricketers

visited the battleground where

50G3 Diggers fell dead or wounded

on a single night - July 19, 1916.

Mr Englezos and two colleagues

presented evidence in Canberra

last week, including Red Cross

records, which indicated the miss-

ing bodies were buried by a Ger-

man unit from Bavaria.

They also showed aerial photos

taken after the battle and in 1918,

displaying what appears t o be a

mass grave in the area. The photos

had been enhanced by Australian

Defence Force experts. Other po-

tential burial sites - a t Fourne

village and Manlaque Farm - were

rejected by the panel as being

inconclusive.

The panel included top officials

and historians from the Office of

War Graves, the army, the Austral-

ian War Memorial and expei-ts who

flew in from universities across

Australia.

Mr Englezos said he had been told

a decision on whether t o proceed

would likely be made by Veterans

Affairs Minister De-Anne Kelly.

Opposition veterans affairs

spokesman Senator Mark Bishop

has repeatedly argued for a search

of two sites in northern France.

But his proposals were dismissed

by the Office of War Graves.