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Why The Battle Fromelles Failed

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Why The Battle Fromelles Failed
The battle of Fromelles took place on the 19th of July 1916, being one of the many battles on the Western Front involving the Australians during World War 1. This battle was 19 days after the start of battle of the Somme. Established upon the previous French agricultural fields of Flanders, the battle was considered as one of the darkest nights in Australian history, with the Australian diggers fatality rate numbering 5533 and death rate almost 2000. Through this essay, an account of the happenings leading up to and behind it, intentions of the battle, its significance, and finally why it failed with such a catastrophic consequence will be explained further in this essay. For the battle of Somme that was failing, Fromelles was intended to draw …show more content…
This eventually showed unsuccessful in moderating the well-entrenched defenders. On 19th July 1916 at 6pm, the 5th Australian and 61st British Divisions troops attacked and suffered severely from the hands of German machine gunners. The 8th and 14th Australian Brigades managed to take over minor portions of the German trenches, however exposed to violent counter attacks and lacking of nearby support, they were soon strained to withdraw. The battle of Fromelles ending at 8am on 20th July 1916, was recorded to have suffered a total loss of 5,533 In the 5th Australian Division and 1,547 sufferers in the 61st British Division. As to the Australians that were suffering from tremendous amounts of losses in one night; it was recorded to be the foulest 24hrs in Australia’s armed history. However, the German fatalities were little more than 1,000. Overall, the battle of Fromelles ended up being a complete disaster as the German troops comprehended within just a few hours that it was purely just a trick. Hence took negative effect in any way to the advancement of the Somme

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