Our Darkest Day
Sunday, July 24, 2011 at 1:27PM 
This is an abridged edition of Patrick’s acclaimed book, Fromelles, first published in 2007 and substantially updated in 2008 after the confirmation of the discovery of the Missing Diggers of Fromelles, the story of which was first revealed in the original edition.
On 19 July 1916, near the French village of Fromelles, Australia suffered its worst-ever losses in a single day when a British officer ordered around 7000 of our Diggers ‘over the top’ to attack the heavily-defended German lines. The following morning more than 5500 Diggers were dead, wounded or missing: the dead was greater that our losses from the Boer, Korean and Vietnam wars combined. Many of those who died disappeared from the official record, their fate remaining unknown for close to a century.
This abridged edition of the bestselling Fromelles includes the recent discovery of the largest mass war grave since the Second World War; the recovery of the missing Diggers’ remains; the names of those who have been identified and the opening of the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery in 2010