<P> and Bean wrote in 1930 that the Bavarians might have doubted that the British would sacrifice 7,000 men as a decoy . </P> <P> The IX Reserve and Guard Reserve corps had been moved from the Souchez--Vimy area, 20 mi (32 km) from Fromelles, well outside the XI Corps sector . Troops kept in the Loos--Armentières sector opposite the corps for four weeks after 19 July, were held back as a precaution . German records show that eight divisions were between Loos and Armentières on 1 July and that two were sent to the Somme by 2 July, long before the Fromelles attack and the other six divisions stayed opposite XI Corps for five to nine weeks after 19 July . Had divisions moved earlier, the Battle of Pozières (23 July--3 September), might have cost I Anzac Corps far more than the 23,000 casualties that it suffered . Senior concluded that German troops had been retained opposite the XI Corps because of the attack at Fromelles . </P> <P> The battle caused one of the greatest numbers of Australian deaths in action in 24 hours, surpassed only at the Battle of Bullecourt in 1917 . The 5th Australian Division lost 5,513 casualties, 2,000 men in the 8th Brigade, 1,776 men of the 15th Brigade, 1,717 men in the 14th Brigade and 88 men from the divisional engineers; two battalions had so many casualties that they had to be rebuilt . Of 887 personnel from the 60th Battalion, only one officer and 106 other ranks survived unwounded and the 32nd Battalion suffered 718 casualties . The 31st Battalion had 544 casualties and the 32nd Battalion lost 718 men killed and wounded . The 61st Division was already under strength before the battle, engaged half as many men as the 5th Australian Division and lost 1,547 casualties . German casualties in the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division were 1,600--2,000 men . Allied soldiers killed in the area that was re-taken by the Germans, were buried shortly after the battle . The burial pits were photographed from a British reconnaissance aircraft on 21 July but marked as dugouts or trench - mortar positions . The bodies were taken by narrow gauge trench railway on 22 July and buried in eight 10 m × 2.2 m × 5 m (32.8 ft × 7.2 ft × 16.4 ft) pits . </P> <P> Most war graves on the Western Front were discovered by official surveys during the 1920s; British and Empire dead were reburied in Imperial War Graves Commission cemeteries. 400 unknown Australian soldiers killed in the Battle of Fromelles were re-buried at the V.C. Corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial, 2 - kilometre (1.2 mi) north - west of Fromelles (the only large exclusively Australian cemetery in France). Mortal remains of those killed in no man's land were recovered after the war and buried at V.C. Corner British Cemetery . In 2002, Lambis Englezos was inspired by Don't Forget Me Cobber (Corfield, 2000), to search for an unmarked mass grave near Fromelles . The site was found by Englezos and other researchers, near Fromelles at "le bois au fond du village", known as Fasanenwäldchen (Pheasant Copse / Pheasant Wood) by the Germans . The researchers believed that the pits had not been found after the war and gained support for an exploration of the site from the Australian Army and the British "All Party Parliamentary War Graves and Battlefield Heritage Group". </P>

How many australian soldiers died in the battle of fromelles