Mass grave tells tales of life on the Forgotten Front

"The air was thick with bullets, swishing in a flat, criss-crossed lattice of death. Hundreds were mown down in the flicker of an eyelid, like great rows of teeth knocked from a comb" Sergeant Walter "Jimmy" Downing (Image: Ernest Brooks/Imperial War Museum)

From the care taken with burial to the health of the victims, the largest ever investigation of a wartime mass grave has revealed far more than identities

IT WAS a scene of unimaginable horror. In one day, more than 5500 Australian and 1500 British soldiers were killed, wounded or reported missing in one of the first world war's bloodiest conflicts – the battle of Fromelles in northern France. Many of those who died on 19-20 July 1916 were never found. By the 1920s, when the search for bodies ended, 1294 Australians were still missing.

Among them was Jack Marchmont Campbell, a 21-year-old sergeant who ...

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