British and Australian war dead exhumed 94 years on

Forensic experts began to excavate a World War I mass grave in France on Tuesday at a solemn ceremony to launch the recovery of hundreds of fallen British and Australian troops.

Relatives and soldiers gathered with British, Australian and French dignitaries on a patch of land near the northern French village of Fromelles, for a formal blessing of the site at the launch of a five-month dig.

"Today marks the beginning of the journey to afford many of those killed at Fromelles with a fitting and dignified final place of rest," said Admiral Sir Ian Garnett, vice chairman of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Archaeologists and forensics experts hope to recover the bodies of up to 400 servicemen from Pheasants Wood outside Fromelles, today a small and quiet red brick hamlet near what was once the World War I front line.

Genetic tests will hopefully allow some of the men to be identified, and all will be given a full military funeral, 94 years after they lost their lives in a doomed assault on German lines, on July 19, 1916.

From July 19 next year, the anniversary of the battle, they will be greeted by a new Commonwealth war cemetery, built on land donated by the French state.

The remains will be reburied initially as unknown soldiers, each with a headstone and a British or Australian military badge where identifiable from scraps of uniform or equipment.