The Lost Diggers of Fromelles

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War Documentary hosted by Chris Reason, published by Channel 7 in 2010 - English narration

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THE BATTLE AT FROMELLES has been described as the worst 24 hours in Australian military history. On the night of July 19, 1916, 5,533 Australian soldiers were killed, wounded or went missing - more than the total casualties in the Boer, Korean and Vietnam wars combined. It was a staggering disaster that should never have happened. But in an astonishing recent discovery, 250 soldiers from the battle -- mostly Australian -- were found in unmarked mass graves in Northern France. So it is now possible to unpack in forensic detail the terrible events of 1916 and put names to the bodies of some of those buried. And as the first new Commonwealth war cemetery nears completion, we track down living descendants, people who 90 years later, are still trying to find resolution to a loss that only a marked grave can bring. The mystery of the missing diggers was unravelled by Lambis Englezos, a Melbourne schoolteacher and amateur historian who spent five years of painstaking detective work locating the mass graves. With the help of British historian Peter Barton he found evidence that the Germans buried the Allied dead behind their lines at a place called Pheasant Wood. The hundreds of decomposing bodies left on the battlefield were a certain disease risk, and the Germans had no choice but to bury their enemy with speed and efficiency. They piled the bodies on a light railway and brought them to the pits they had specially dug at Pheasant Wood. They would lay there, undetected, for almost a century. The Bavarian military archives in Munich holds extensive records that recount in startling detail the true events of the battle. Recorded, with an astonishing degree of diligence, is the exact location where individual soldiers fell on the battlefield, the detailed accounts of interrogated prisoners and intercepted intelligence. Through these historical records, along with poignant family archive, DNA testing and military forensics, the film pieces together the truth behind the Battle of Fromelles, one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War. Through extraordinary forensic science and newly unearthed historical records, the film tells the unique story of the soldiers who have been carefully exhumed, and tracks down some of the living descendants. The archaeologists uncover poignant keepsakes found with the bodies – a heart-shaped leather pouch, a return train ticket, an engraved matchbox. Every fragment recovered is a vital piece of evidence that could reveal a soldier's identity. Those who are positively identified are reburied with their own named headstone in a new Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Fromelles – the first to be built in fifty years. Nearly a century after the diggers sacrificed their lives, families wait in hope for their missing dead to be found and identified. A thrilling detective trail across Australia and Europe reveals in forensic detail the truth behind the Battle of Fromelles one of the most controversial actions of the First World War. This mostly is the exclusive, behind-the-scenes story of the largest excavation of World War One dead in modern times. Directed & Edited by Janine Hosking ; Produced by Tattooed Media for Channel 7 with the assistance of Screen NSW

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[edit] Technical Specs

Video Codec: x264 CABAC High@L4
Video Bitrate: 2 500 Kbps
Video Resolution: 720x576
Display Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Frames Per Second: 25.000 fps
Audio Codec: AC3
Audio Bitrate: 128 kb/s CBR 48000 Hz
Audio Streams: 2
Audio Languages: english
RunTime Per Part: 45 min 39 s
Number Of Parts: 1
Part Size: 859 MB
Source: PDTV (Thanks to HDCP@ a.b.teevee)
Encoded by: DocFreak08