We are currently involved in a very interesting project, translating website content, press releases, blog entries and academic documents relating to the exhumation of a mass First World War grave in Fromelles in Northern France, for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The bodies are those of hundreds of British and Australian soldiers who were involved in the Battle of Fromelles in 1916. Once recovered, they will be reburied in the first military cemetery to be built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in fifty years.

The team of French translators working on the project are tasked with keeping the French public and academics up to date with what’s happening during the dig by translating information from English to French.

Director of betterlanguages.com, Mike Hunter, says: “This is a fascinating project to be involved in and we’re delighted to be working with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

“Our lead translator and proofreader are both based in France and as a result we’re able to use the most current language style and terminology to ensure the site has mass appeal and really does meet its aim of informing the public and academic community of progress.”

The fallen soldiers were ordered to attack in clear view of enemy lines with the German troops, including one Adolf Hitler, openly firing on them. Within hours, the Australians had lost more than 5,500 men who were killed, missing or injured with British casualties reaching over 1,500.

Hundreds of bodies were not recovered and for years the mystery of their whereabouts has remained unsolved. Now a team of specialists, including archaeologists, anthropologists and radiologists from Oxford Archaeology, are on site to recover up to 400 bodies.

The remains will be identified, where possible, using DNA. The bodies recovered will be buried in individual graves in a brand new cemetery between February and March next year. A commemorative event is being planned for the anniversary of the battle – 19 July.

betterlanguages.com is working with the Commission to guarantee information is up to the minute and dealt with in the right manner.

Mike concludes: “Being involved in a project of this nature is interesting and enlightening both in terms of the history surrounding it and the process the team on site have to go through to recover the remains. We do feel privileged to play a role and look forward to following and reporting back on the painstaking work during the exhumation and the eventual commemorative event to honour those lost during the Battle of Fromelles.”

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is now appealing for family members who believe they may be related to British or Australian soldiers who died or went missing during the battle of Fromelles to come forward. Names can be checked on the Fromelles section of The Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s website.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at 7:14 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.