VC Corner Australian Cemetery (2017-04-21)

VC Corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial - Fromelles, France.

This is the only cemetery on the Western Front battlefields where only Australian soldiers are interred.

The cemetery was established after the end of WWI. The remains of 410 Australian soldiers were brought here from the surrounding area. None of these soldiers could be identified, at the time. They were Australians and believed to have been killed during the Battle of Fromelles in July 1916.

It was decided to inter these unknown Australian soldiers in this cemetery without headstones. The names of Australian soldiers missing in action and known to have been killed during this battle were inscribed on the memorial wall at the north-eastern end of the cemetery.

The Battle of Fromelles, intended as a diversion for the British offensive on the Somme, is considered to be the worst 24 hours in Australian military history. By the close of fighting the Australian Forces had suffered 5,533 casualties in what was their first military action of the Great War on European soil.