The worst day in our nation's history

Send us Fan MailOn the edge of a small field near Fromelles, in northern France stands one of the most poignant and emblematic monuments anywhere on the Western Front.  Called "Cobbers" the statue depicts an Australian soldier carrying a wounded comrade on his back, and stands on the top of what was a German blockhouse.How did this memorial come about, and why does the village of Fromelles hold such significance to Australian military history?  We look at the events of the 19th July 1916, where the Australian army lost more men than on any other day in the Great War.While the battle has been largely forgotten, a remarkable archaeological discovery in 2002 led to the creation of the first war cemetery to be built in France for a generation and provided a remarkable insight into the fate of some of the men who lost their lives on that tragic day in 1916.