More fallen diggers found at Bullecourt

Same article, different version from different newspaper.

From the Canberra Times: More fallen diggers found at Bullecourt
They were buried where they lay. Not in mass graves prepared by the Germans, but in haste, by fellow diggers who pushed dirt in on top of the crater where their dead companions had been taking shelter, and then fled. And there they are believed to remain, up to 13 Australian soldiers, interred in a nameless pit beneath a road in northern France.

The recent discovery of the World War I burial site, near the town of Bullecourt, is the result of three years' research by the team behind the 2009 unearthing of a mass grave of 250 Allied soldiers in Fromelles, 60km to the north, which has so far resulted in the recovery and reburial of all the men, with 110 Australians so far identified by name.

Now researchers and relatives hope that the find, which is outlined in a detailed report sent to Defence almost a year ago, will result in similar treatment for the group of Bullecourt dead.

News of the find comes as the Federal Government beds down its plans for a Western Front remembrance trail to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War in 2014, which will include the village of Bullecourt, where about 10,000 Australians died in 1917.

Report author and lead investigator Tim Whitford said that after studying the action and archival material, there was a compelling case that between 10 and 13 soldiers remained in a former shell crater under the main road to the village of Longatte. ''All the available evidence suggests that they are still in situ,'' he said.

He has urged Defence to investigate the site with urgency before the 2014 centenary and launch of the Western Front remembrance trail - to which the Australian Government is contributing $10 million - generates a spike in visitor numbers. ''We want to know for sure that these men won't be driven over the top of,'' he said.

''The idea of a remembrance trail is a beautiful idea but to allow the subjects of that remembrance to remain under a road would not bode well for the sentiment behind that trail.''