Australian travellers on Mat McLachlan Battlefield Tours’ Anniversary of Fromelles & Pozieres tour attended the 110th anniversary service for the Battle of Fromelles at Pheasant Wood Military Cemetery in Northern France, taking place in the moving commemorations that included the rededication ceremony of newly identified Anzac, Private Roy Leslie Martin – a 20-year-old Anzac from Cobar, New South Wales, who was killed in action at Fromelles on 20 July 1916, and was recently identified through DNA.
The Battle of Fromelles, fought on 19–20 July 1916, remains the most costly single 24-hour period in Australian military history, resulting in more than 5,500 casualties in one night. For decades, the fate of hundreds of the missing soldiers remained unknown, until the research of Melbourne historian Lambis Englezos led to the discovery of the Pheasant Wood mass grave in 2008 — the resting place of 250 Australian WWI Diggers.
Mat McLachlan Battlefield Tours’ group travelled with Lambis Englezos to explore the battlefields and learn how he discovered the mass grave at Fromelles.
Mat McLachlan, who is currently in Europe retracing the stories of Anzacs from both World Wars, said: “There’s something incredible about standing in the very place where history happened, but when that visit coincides with a significant anniversary, the experience becomes even more poignant. And when you’re travelling with an expert Historian, or a topic specialist like Lambis, the journey becomes so much more meaningful.”
A fitting time to walk the Western Front
2026 and 2027 mark the 110th anniversaries of many of the significant Australian battles fought on the Western Front, and Mat McLachlan Battlefield Tours’ 4-day Western Front Explorer tours — with weekly departures from Paris — are timed to coincide with these milestone commemorations. A special 5-day Western Front Explorer will also mark the Centenary of the Menin Gate in July 2027.
Next year, the new Mat McLachlan History Cruises will align with key WWI and WWII anniversaries, including Anzac Day and D-Day in Normandy, as well as offering travellers the chance to explore Waterloo, where Napoleon met his final defeat. The Mat McLachlan Signature Cruise coincides with the 110th anniversary of the Battle of Menin Road near Ypres in Belgium, and the 83rd anniversary of the largest airborne assault in history — WWII’s Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands.
