Intended as a diversion from the Somme, Fromelles was was the worst-ever military disaster in Australian history, and is recognised as one of the bloodiest and most useless battles of the First World War. With the recent discovery of a mass grave and the disinterment of many diggers, it has now entered national consciousness in the same way as Gallipoli. In one night, British and Australian soldiers suffered casualties equivalent to the total toll of the Boer War, Korean War and Vietnam War combined. Barton's research has revealed that the Australian frontline troops gave away critical Allied secrets to the Germans... which not only led directly to the Fromelles slaughter - but also contributed to the failure of the Somme offensive as a whole. The Lost Legions of Fromelles is the most authoritative book on this staggering disaster, combining new scholarship on the battle with an account of recent events to dispel many myths in a rich and compelling history.

In the Trenches of Hell On July 19, 1916, 7000 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 5500 casualties, including nearly 2000 dead - a bloodbath that the Australian War Memorial describes as 'the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history. Just days later, three Australian Divisions attacked German positions at nearby Pozières, and over the next six weeks they suffered another 23,000 casualties. Of that bitter battle, the great Australian war correspondent Charles Bean would write, "The field of Pozières is more consecrated by Australian fighting and more hallowed by Australian blood than any field which has ever existed . . ." Yet the sad truth is that, nearly a century on from those battles, Australians know only a fraction of what occurred. This book brings the battles back to life and puts the reader in the moment, illustrating both the heroism displayed and the insanity of the British plan. 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.

The action at Fromelles in July 1916 is Australia's most catastrophic military failure. The story has always appeared simple, but in truth history did not unfold in the way we have for so long been led to believe. Peter Barton has written an authoritative and revelatory book on Fromelles. He describes its long and surprising genesis, and offers an unexpected account of the fighting; he investigates the interrogation of Anglo-Australian prisoners, and the results of shrewd German propaganda techniques; and he explores the circumstances surrounding the 'missing' Pheasant Wood graves. He also brings a new perspective to the writings of Charles Bean. This compelling and illuminating history dispels many a myth surrounding one of the bloodiest battlefields of the Great War.

Part of the award-winning series, The Drum, and by the multi-award-winning author Carole Wilkinson. The first shots were fired at 11am, 19 July 1916. The Battle of Fromelles lasted less than 24 hours. When it was over, more than 5000 Australian soldiers were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. More soldiers died at Fromelles than in the Boer, Korean and Vietnam war combined. What was the point of this bloody loss of life? And why, almost a century later, did the attention of the world once again turn to Fromelles?

For Honour. For Courage. For Remembrance. The Battle of Fromelles in France during the First World War was Australia's worst 24 hours. Thousands of men were shot down amid the horror of that blundered attack. The whereabouts of hundreds of dead soldiers was unknown for almost a century until the discovery in 2008 of unmarked mass graves at Pheasant Wood. The remains of these 250 men sparked a mission to reclaim their identities. Tim Lycett and Sandra Playle became key players in the identification project, volunteering their time and working alongside other amateur advocates and international experts. Tim tells how they pieced together fragments of information from relics, military records and family histories using genealogy data and DNA analysis. They fought to have authorities reopen investigations in their quest to find the untold stories of the diggers and reconnect them with their families. This is an inspiring, heart-rending account of war, its aftermath and its effect on the lives of the lost diggers' descendants.

'This is a remarkable account of a village's contribution to probably the most appalling war that there has ever been and to those who were in the Second World War, it brings home to how much more terrible was the 1914-18 War. It must have been a Herculean task to assemble all the data, photographs and memorabilia and I only write to congratulate you on what is remarkable achievement.' Lord Carrington In addition to a full run of The Lee Magazine, the author has drawn on a wide range of archive sources that include unpublished letters, diaries, memoirs and newspapers. Fromelles 1916 gives an unrivaled insight into the life and times of an English village in the First World War - a way of life swept away for ever by the changes ushered in by the conflict. The book includes a guide to the Fromelles battlefield and new Pheasant Wood cemetery.

Originally appearing at the same time as the pacifist novel All Quiet on the Western Front, this powerful collection provides a glimpse into the hearts and minds of an enemy that had been thoroughly demonized by the Allied press. Composed by German students who had left their university studies in order to participate in World War I, these letters reveal the struggles and hardships that all soldiers face. The stark brutality and surrealism of war are revealed as young men from Germany describe their bitter combat and occasional camaraderie with soldiers from many nations, including France, Great Britain, and Russia. Like its companion volume, War Letters of Fallen Englishmen, these letters were carefully selected for their depth of perception, the intensity of their descriptions, and their messages to future generations. "Should these letters help towards the establishment of justice and better understanding between nations," the editor reflects in his introduction, "their deaths will not have been in vain." This edition contains a new foreword by the distinguished World War I historian Jay Winter.