It was at a shell-damaged French village called Fromelles that Australians from the 5th Division experienced their first battle on the Western Front.

At the Battle of Fromelles, 5533 Australians were killed or wounded in one night’s action. There were 1547 British deaths.

1299 Australians were eventually declared ‘missing’, their bodies never found.

Behind the German lines at Fromelles was a 27-year-old corporal. It is not known if this soldier took part in the battle, but in decades to come, Australian soldiers would wish they could have had a shot at him. The corporal was Adolf Hitler.

Since 2007, the joint Australia–UK Fromelles Project and the Australian Army have undertaken to identify the missing soldiers at the site where the battle took place. As at May 2014, 144 Australian soldiers have been identified through DNA technology.