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Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery is a First World War cemetery built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on the outskirts of Fromelles in northern France, near the Belgian border. Constructed between 2009 and 2010, it was the first new Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery for more than 50 years, the last such cemeteries having been built after the Second World War. The cemetery contains the graves of 250 British and Australian soldiers who died on 19 July 1916 in the Battle of Fromelles. The bodies were discovered following historical research that included analysis of aerial photographs showing the presence of mass graves on the edge of Pheasant Wood (''Bois Faisan''), just outside the village of Fromelles. The presence of the bodies was confirmed in May 2008, and the bodies were recovered during excavation work in 2009. A specially convened Identification Board published a report on 17 March 2010 announcing the first 75 bodies to have been successfully identified using DNA analysis. Further identification will continue until at least 2014. In parallel with the recovery and identification projects, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission was asked by the British and Australian governments to construct a new cemetery to house the bodies. Building work on the cemetery began in May 2009, and the main structural elements were completed by January 2010. The dead soldiers were reburied with full military honours in a series of funeral services in January and February 2010. The ceremonial first reburial took place on 30 January 2010. Following this period of reburials, topsoil was added to the cemetery, and the horticultural elements planted and allowed to grow into place. One final reburial took place as part of the cemetery's dedication ceremony, which was held on 19 July 2010 to mark the 94th anniversary of the Battle of Fromelles. ==Background== The Battle of Fromelles took place on the night of 19–20 July 1916, during the Somme Offensive of the Western Front in the First World War. It was a diversionary battle, intended to draw the attention of the Germans away from the larger attacks elsewhere. It involved units of the Australian 5th Division and the British 61st Division attacking German positions in and around Fromelles. The German positions were well defended, and the battle led to huge losses by the attacking forces, with particularly heavy losses incurred by the Australian 15th Brigade and British 184th Brigade. This was the first major battle on the Western Front involving the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF),〔(Battle history ), ''Remembering Fromelles'' (CWGC), accessed 03/02/2010〕 and has been described as "the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history." Records kept by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission show that 1,780 Australian soldiers and 503 British soldiers died in the battle,〔(Background ), ''Remembering Fromelles'' (CWGC), accessed 03/02/2010〕 but many of these bodies were not recovered. These missing dead are commemorated not by individual graves and names on headstones, but by names carved on memorials dedicated for that purpose. The Australian missing dead from the battle are inscribed on the memorial at the V.C. Corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial, and over 400 unidentified bodies from the battle are also buried there.〔(V.C. Corner Australian Cemetery Memorial, Fromelles ), Commonwealth War Graves Commission, accessed 03/02/2010〕 Many of the dead were recovered by German forces after the battle and buried behind German lines. Some of these burial sites were located in the years immediately following the First World War, and the bodies were reburied in cemeteries in the area, including the V.C. Corner Cemetery.〔(Another brick in the wall ), Nigel Steel, ''Wartime'' 44 (2008) 10–15〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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