February 2016
The actions at Fromelles (18-19 July 1916) and Pozieres (21-24 July 1916) are of significance to Australia as the first large scale actions of the Australian Imperial Force on the Western Front. They are equally important for Bucks for, directly alongside the Australian formations, were the 2/1st Bucks Battalion at Fromelles and the 1/1st Bucks Battalion at Pozieres. If 1 July 1916 is remembered as a particularly catastrophic day for the British army, the period between 18 and 24 July 1916 was the Bucks equivalent. A total of 124 men from the 2/1st Bucks were killed between those dates, and 69 from the 1/1st Bucks. Men from the 2/1st Bucks entered the notorious German ‘Sugarloaf’ stronghold at Fromelles before being driven back, while the 1/1st Bucks captured Pozieres itself on 23 July.
As reported in The Times on 5 February 2016, relatives of fallen British soldiers have been banned from the centenary commemorations. The Australian Department of Veterans’ Affairs, tasked with organising the events by the French government, have said that British representatives and relatives are not welcome to attend, only those with Australian passports or residency. A departmental spokeswoman, Jennifer Stephenson, said the focus would be on Australian casualties, adding, ‘This is not to diminish the role of other nations but simply a recognition of the Australian focus of the event we are organising.’
There has been understandable outrage on the part of relatives of the British fallen from the 61st (Fromelles) and 48th (Pozieres) Divisions, both raised from Bucks, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, at the appropriation of the battles by the Australians. This forms a continuing pattern in the Australian re-invention of the ‘Anzac myth’ since the 1980s to emphasise national and cultural differences in ways that would have been incomprehensible to those many Anzacs who were British rather than Australian-born.
The Bucks Military Musuem Trust is working to ensure appropriate British representation. Details will be announced in due course.