2016 50c The Battle of Fromelles The Western Front Uncirculated Coin

The 5th Division had been in France just two weeks when it was committed to Australia’s first major action on the Western Front. Fighting alongside British troops near the village of Fromelles on 19 July 1916, its objective was to capture and hold a line of German trenches to prevent the enemy from sending reinforcements to the Somme. The action resulted in more than 5,500 Australian casualties in just a few hours. Private Walter Downing recalled seeing hundreds of men “mown down in the flicker of an eyelid, like great rows of teeth knocked from a comb”.