V.C. Corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial, Military cemetery and memorial in Fromelles, France.
V.C. Corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial is a war graves site northwest of Fromelles containing approximately 410 burial plots of soldiers who fell during the July 1916 fighting. The grounds are orderly in layout with concrete crosses and flower beds arranged in regular patterns.
The cemetery and memorial were laid out in 1920 and 1921 by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, to designs by Herbert Baker, after the Battle of Fromelles of 19–20 July 1916, the first action of the Australian Imperial Force on the Western Front. The 410 Australian dead recovered from the battlefield after the Armistice lie in individual graves, not a mass grave, in two plots marked by flower beds and concrete crosses. The memorial wall names almost 1,300 Australians with no known grave.
The memorial wall lists almost 1,300 Australian soldiers with no known grave; 711 of them are buried as "Known unto God" in nearby cemeteries such as Le Trou Aid Post and Rue-du-Bois. The name V.C. Corner may come from a wartime soldiers' nickname for the area, referring either to Australian bravery or to the danger of holding the spot.
The cemetery is located a few kilometers northwest of Fromelles village and is accessible year-round for visitors. Walking paths lead through the grounds and there is ample space for quiet reflection.
The 410 burials are individual graves, not a mass grave: no headstones stand over them, and the two burial zones are marked only by flower beds, each with a large concrete cross at its centre. The layout is shown on the CWGC cemetery plan.
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