CWGC Live: Remembering Fromelles • Learn more about Fromelles • Our Work Continues

This week is the tenth anniversary of the dedication of Fromelles  (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery – the first Commission cemetery built in almost fifty years.

In May 2008, a number of mass graves dating from the First World War were identified at Pheasant Wood, near Fromelles in northern France. They contained the remains of 250 Australian and British servicemen who died in the Battle of Fromelles, which took place between 19 and 20 July 1916. There they remained, undiscovered, for nearly a century until, after extensive research, the graves were discovered.

The CWGC oversaw the recovery of the remains and reburial of these servicemen. Although the remains of fallen soldiers are still discovered at a rate of some 30 a year across France, the discovery of 250 bodies at one site was exceptional; and so, for the first time in almost fifty years, it was decided that a new CWGC cemetery should be constructed. 90 years after these men were killed in battle, they were laid to rest in Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery which was dedicated on 19 July 2010.

The case of Fromelles shows that our work is just as relevant today as it was one hundred years ago. Read on to learn more about what else we are doing.