Fromelles and Pozières: In the Trenches of Hell

Wednesday 9 March 2016 - Peter FitzSimons AM   On 19 July 1916, 7,000 Australian soldiers – in the first major action of the AIF on the Western Front – attacked entrenched German positions at Fromelles in northern France. By the next day, there were over 5,500 casualties, including nearly 2,000 dead. Yet the sad truth is that, nearly a century on from those battles, Australians know only a fraction of what occurred. With his extraordinary vigour and commitment to research, Peter FitzSimons shows why this is a story about which all Australians can be proud. And Angry.