V C Corner Cemetery, Fromelles, France.

In 1916 the Australian Imperial Force arrived on the Western Front after the disaster of the Gallipoli Campaign. They saw their first action on a quiet part of the front, French Flanders, on 19th and 20th of July 1916 . It was an unmitigated disaster, the worst 24hrs that any Australian Army has ever known. 5553 soldiers were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Very few Australians know about this terrible military disaster.

VC Corner Cemetery was constructed in 1920-21 from over 400 bodies recovered after the Armistice from the battlefield. It is not a mass grave like the recently discovered nearby Pheasant Wood site. The unknown men were buried in separate graves but with no headstones. Two white concrete crosses inlaid into the grass and beds of roses mark the locations of the interred. The wall in the distance is a memorial that inscribes the names of nearly 2000 men with no known grave on the battlefield.

Historians are unsure how the cemetery got it's name, it certainly does not refer to Victoria Crosses won at this battle but it probably is a nickname from the battle to an unknown act of bravery that occurred here.

It is supposedly a unique cemetery on the Western Front. It is the only one with no headstones and contains only Australian Servicemen.

This is my contribution to the Taphophile Tragics meme.

This is my contribution to the Our World Tuesday meme.