Fromelles

The village of Fromelles was captured by advancing German forces on 9 October 1914 during the "Race to the Sea". Throughout almost the whole of the war, the front line was stable, running through the territory of the commune and leaving the inhabited area in German hands. The Battle of Aubers Ridge was fought in the area to the northwest of the village on 9 May 1915 as part of the Second Battle of Artois. The Battle of Fromelles on 19–20 July 1916 was the first occasion on which the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) saw action on the Western Front. The battle is widely regarded as a disaster for the Allies, and has been described as "the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history." It resulted from a plan to divert German attention from the Battle of the Somme, but historians estimate that 5,500 Australians and 2,000 British troops were killed or wounded. The Australian losses were equivalent to the combined total Australian losses in the Boer War, Korean War and Vietnam War: although later World War I actions would be more deadly for the AIF, Fromelles was the only one to achieve no success.