Report may unveil Australia's most calamitous day

An expert panel in Canberra will consider a report tomorrow that several mass graves have been discovered holding the bodies of about 400 Australian and British soldiers killed in the Battle of Fromelles, in what might have been the most calamitous day in Australian history.

The battle, in July 1916, was a bloody introduction for Australians to the horrors of the Western Front. Fred Kelly, one of the last Gallipoli veterans, said Gallipoli was a picnic compared with Fromelles, where he also fought.

In 27 hours an estimated 5533 Australians were killed, wounded, taken prisoner or went missing. Of these, at least 1719 were killed. The casualties equalled the number of Australian casualties of the Boer, Korean and Vietnam wars combined.

Historians believe this might be the largest mass grave found in western Europe since World War II. Of the estimated 400 remains, about 160 are thought to be from the Australian 5th Division and the rest from the British 61st Division.

Australian Army historian Roger Lee said yesterday that the Australians were likely to have been from the 15th Brigade. He thought the figure of 1719 dead was conservative.