Young children from the French village of Fromelles have laid single red roses on the graves of unknown diggers at a remembrance service to mark Australia's worst loss of life in one day.
Several hundred people ringed the Pheasant Wood war cemetery on the rural village's outskirts for Sunday's service as cattle grazed in paddocks across the fence.
At the Battle of Fromelles on July 19-20, 1916, a combined Australian and British attack on strong German positions was repulsed - more than 1700 soldiers of the 5th Australian Division were killed in action or died of their wounds.
Sunday marked the 99th anniversary of the World War I engagement - regarded as Australia's worst loss of life in a 24-hour period.
The Pheasant Wood cemetery contains the remains of 250 soldiers whose remains were uncovered in 2009 from mass graves rediscovered nearby.
Of those, 144 have been identified as Australian soldiers but 106 remain to be named under an ongoing identification program involving DNA testing of relatives.
Fromelles Mayor Jean-Gabriel Masson on Sunday told the gathered villagers and Australian visitors that this year's service particularly honoured those unknown soldiers whose headstones had no name.
"This was an emptiness for the families who never received any news of their sons, brothers or fathers," he said.
The mayor said that "so much had flowed into the furrows of the fields of Fromelles" and his community felt it a duty not to forget the fallen and to ensure their children continued to remember and respect those who died.
"That's why we wish to include them in each service."
Part of the service involved young children each taking a red rose to the headstone of an unknown soldier.
George Mina, the Australian Charge d'Affaires in Paris, told the gathering that the night of the Battle of Fromelles was "the bloodiest in the history of a young country", and remained so.
He named farmer Tom Coogan from Lara in Victoria who died at Fromelles aged 27 but whose resting place remains unknown.
"Our two countries are grateful today for what he did, for who he was.
"We will never forget them," Mr Mina said.
At this year's Fromelles service the German national anthem was played for the first time along with those of Australia, France and Britain.
Lieutenant-Colonel Stefan Diera, from the German military, said all soldiers who fought in the area died following orders.
"This is our common history, therefore we have to commemorate," he told AAP.
Among this year's Australian visitors were the Perth Hills and Wheatbelt Band from Western Australia who performed the anthems.
Australian Army Colonel Scott Clingan, who helped organise the service and whose great grandfather's cousin Alexander Clingan died at Fromelles, said thousands of people are expected to attend next year's service for the 100th anniversary of the battle.
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