Download or read book War Letters of General Monash written by John Monash and published by Black Inc.. This book was released on 2015-07-31 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'We have received our sailing orders, and inside of a few hours shall be in the thick of the greatest combined naval and military operation in history, with Australia in the pride of place. That we will succeed I do not entertain any doubt, but that I shall come through unscathed and alive is not so certain . . . with the full and active life I have had, I need not regret the prospect of a sudden end with dismay.' John Monash, 24 April 1915 These extraordinary, intimate letters from General Sir John Monash to his wife and daughter, record his experiences throughout World War I, from landing at Gallipoli to leading decisive battles on the Western Front. Monash describes with great candour the challenges of ordering the lives of tens of thousands of troops and meeting with various dignitaries, including King George. Regarded as the best allied commander of World War I, Monash writes with remarkable insight, providing one of the most moving personal accounts ever written of an Australian soldier at war. This edition, reprinted in full for the first time since 1935, contains newly discovered letters, including Monash's moving final missive to his wife before the Gallipoli landing. With an introduction and notes by historian A.K. Macdougall, and new photos, this volume provides unparalleled insight into the experience of Australians in World War I. 'Long before this letter can possibly reach you, great events which will stir the whole world and go down in history will have happened, to the eternal glory of Australia and all who have participated.' John Monash, 24 April 1915

Download or read book John Monash written by Geoffrey Serle and published by Melbourne Univ. Publishing. This book was released on 2013-06-18 with total page 489 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major Australian university and a great Victorian freeway are named after Sir John Monash, but many people—especially younger generations—know little about him. Monash was one of Australia's greatest men, and probably the greatest of its soldiers. The son of Jewish immigrants from Prussia, he graduated from the University of Melbourne in three faculties—Arts, Law and Engineering. He was a man of wide-ranging intellect, and especially devoted to literature, music, theatre, languages and Jewish scholarship. He achieved fame as a soldier—a citizen-soldier—in World War I. His baptism of fire occurred at Gallipoli, and he was almost the only senior allied general to emerge from the agony of the Western Front with his reputation virtually unspotted. Before the war, Monash pioneered the Australian use of reinforced concrete, then a revolutionary construction material. On his return, he became the first chairman of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, putting his gift for leadership to harnessing Gippsland's huge brown coal deposits. Monash spent his energies lavishly on the public affairs of his native Australia and placed his immense prestige at the service of many great causes. Geoffrey Serle's award-winning and best-selling biography of John Monash is much more than a military study. It offers a revealing portrait of a confident leader and public figure, and of an intensely inward-dwelling and sensitive private person.

Download or read book Monash written by Roland Perry and published by Random House Australia. This book was released on 2007 with total page 650 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Compelling and wholly absorbing... among the most remarkable Australians of his time' Senator Bob Carr, Foreign Affairs Minister Australian general Sir John Monash changed the way wars were fought and won. When the British and German high commands of the First World War failed to gain ascendency after fours years of slaughter never before seen in human history, Monash used innovative techniques and modern technology to plan and win major battles, forcing Germany to capitulate. His obsessional, brilliant planning, coupled with a ruthless streak, caused him to break the German army in a succession of battles that led to the end of the Great War. Author Roland Perry brings to life the fascinating story of the man whom many have judged as the greatest-ever Australian. Monash: The Outsider Who Won A War draws on the subject's comprehensive letter and diary archive - one of the largest in Australia's history. The result is a riveting portrait that reaches to the heart of the true Monash character. It weaves together the many strands of his life as a family man, student, engineer, businessman, lawyer, renaissance man, teacher, soldier, leader, romantic and lover of the arts.

Download or read book Monash s Masterpiece written by Peter FitzSimons and published by Hachette Australia. This book was released on 2018-04-24 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Battle of Le Hamel on 4 July 1918 was an Allied triumph, and strategically very important in the closing stages of WWI. A largely Australian force, commanded by the brilliant Sir John Monash, fought what has been described as the first modern battle - where infantry, tanks, artillery and planes operated together as a coordinated force. Monash planned every detail meticulously, with nothing left to chance. Integrated use of tanks, planes, infantry, wireless (and even carrier pigeons!) was the basis, and it went on from there, down to the details: everyone used the same maps, with updated versions delivered by motorbike despatch riders to senior commanders, including Monash. Each infantry battalion was allocated to a tank group, and they advanced together. Supplies and ammunition were dropped as needed from planes. The losses were relatively few. In the words of Monash: 'A perfected modern battle plan is like nothing so much as a score for an orchestral composition, where the various arms and units are the instruments, and the tasks they perform are their respective musical phrases.' Monash planned for the battle to last for 90 minutes - in the end it went for 93. What happened in those minutes changed for the rest of the war the way the British fought battles, and the tactics and strategies used by the Allies. Peter FitzSimons brings this Allied triumph to life, and tells this magnificent story as it should be told.

Download or read book Maestro John Monash written by Tim Fischer and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who was the most innovative general of WW1? For Tim Fischer, the answer has to be Australias Maestro John Monash, a man who, for all the recognition he received in his lifetime and after, has arguably not been given his proper due. The Honourable Tim Fischer AC is the former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia.

Download or read book Monash and Chauvel written by Roland Perry and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2017-10-25 with total page 630 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Monash and Chauvel is a gripping narrative history that follows the extraordinary campaigns of the two most outstanding battlefield commanders of the First World War across all the Allied armies: John Monash and Harry Chauvel. John Monash commanded the Australian forces on the Western Front at the most critical time of the war, 1918. With his German Jewish heritage, Monash was an outsider who had risen to his position through his ground-breaking military achievements. Almost uniquely among Allied generals on the Western Front, he learned the lessons of past failures and devised the tactics that allowed his Australian troops to break through the stalemate of trench warfare, masterminding crucial battles, including Amiens, Mont St Quentin, Peronne, and at the Hindenburg Line that broke the German Army in France. In the war against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East, Harry Chauvel led the 34,000-strong Desert Mounted Column. Chauvel was an Empire man, who considered himself as British first, Australian second. His attitude changed in the course of the war, when he realised he would have to ignore the directives of his British superiors and take the initiative in planning battle tactics himself if he was to defeat the Turks. He did this at Romani in the Sinai in August 1916; at Beersheba on 31 October 1917; and in the final 1918 drive to push the Turks right out of the Middle East after 400 years of brutal rule over the Arab tribes. By the end of the war Monash and Chauvel had brought a distinctly Australian sensibility to their areas of operation, involving flexibility, innovation and a deep respect for the troops they led, which was in turn reciprocated by their men. Their impact on the war was immense and, in this fascinating and compelling account, bestselling author Roland Perry does full justice to their extraordinary careers and the soldiers under their command.

Download or read book Monash written by Grantlee Kieza and published by HarperCollins Australia. This book was released on 2015-09-01 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stunning trade paperback edition of Grantlee Kieza's bestselling biography of Australia's greatest general It's December 1918 and the world war is over. General Sir John Monash attends a glittering banquet to dine with the King of England and the likes of Woodrow Wilson, Winston Churchill and Rudyard Kipling. Just four months earlier, the commander of the Australian Corps had been knighted in a battlefield, a long way from the streets of Melbourne where this son of a long line of Polish rabbis had grown up. Field Marshal Montgomery would declare decades later that Monash was the best general to serve on the Western Front. How had this notorious ladies' man, who harboured private thoughts about the futility of war and had never fired a shot in anger, come to be feted by the British establishment as well as his countrymen back home? In this essential biography of a most unlikely folk hero, Grantlee Kieza paints a lively portrait of an outsider who shaped modern Australia through his energy, drive and ambition, his military brilliance and his vision. PRAISE FOR GRANTLEE KIEZA OAM 'Engagingly written ... one of the most nuanced portraits to date' -- The Australian 'Vivid, detailed and well written' -- Daily Telegraph 'A staggering accomplishment that can't be missed by history buffs and story lovers alike' -- Betterreading.com.au 'A free-flowing biography of a great Australian figure' --- John Howard 'Clear and accessible ... well-crafted and extensively documented' -- Weekend Australian 'Kieza has added hugely to the depth of knowledge about our greatest military general in a book that is timely' Tim Fischer, Courier-Mail 'The author writes with the immediacy of a fine documentary ... an easy, informative read, bringing historic personalities to life' -- Ballarat Courier

Download or read book The Sir John Monash Centre written by and published by . This book was released on 2018-04-24 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sir John Monash Centre is a multi-media interpretive centre situated alongside the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux in France. Architecturally and conceptually innovative, the centre explores the story of the Australians who served on the Western Front during the First World War. This full colour soft cover edition documents the creation of the centre and gives the reader a window into the historical content that forms its core.

Download or read book William Holmes written by Geoffrey Travers and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-06-01 with total page 518 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The road that first leads people from Kingsford Smith Airport in Sydney is named General Holmes Drive, but nowadays few Australians know anything about General Holmes. William Holmes could be remembered for his lifelong public service in developing Sydney’s water supply and sewerage system — but he should be remembered as one of the foremost Australian citizen soldiers of his time. Holmes commanded Australia’s first independent military expeditionary force in World War I, and in New Guinea accepted the first German surrender for Australia. At Gallipoli, Pozières, Bullecourt and Messines, Holmes earned a reputation for fearlessness in battle, believing that at critical times and even during pauses in engagement, reconnaissance should be conducted by the officers in command making the decisions. He was known to all his soldiers and his leadership inspired their affection and loyalty. Philosophical about the risks he took on the battlefield, it was cruel irony indeed that Holmes was killed on the day he took extra safety precautions. Holmes, a contemporary of John Monash, arguably achieved more in his early career than his peer and would certainly have been a contender for command of the Australian Corps in 1918 had he still been alive. This is his story.

Download or read book Black Hearts written by Jim Frederick and published by Crown. This book was released on 2010-02-09 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Riveting. . . a testament to a misconceived war, and to the ease with which ordinary men, under certain conditions, can transform into monsters.”—New York Times Book Review This is the story of a small group of soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division’s fabled 502nd Infantry Regiment—a unit known as “the Black Heart Brigade.” Deployed in late 2005 to Iraq’s so-called Triangle of Death, a veritable meat grinder just south of Baghdad, the Black Hearts found themselves in arguably the country’s most dangerous location at its most dangerous time. Hit by near-daily mortars, gunfire, and roadside bomb attacks, suffering from a particularly heavy death toll, and enduring a chronic breakdown in leadership, members of one Black Heart platoon—1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion—descended, over their year-long tour of duty, into a tailspin of poor discipline, substance abuse, and brutality. Four 1st Platoon soldiers would perpetrate one of the most heinous war crimes U.S. forces have committed during the Iraq War—the rape of a fourteen-year-old Iraqi girl and the cold-blooded execution of her and her family. Three other 1st Platoon soldiers would be overrun at a remote outpost—one killed immediately and two taken from the scene, their mutilated corpses found days later booby-trapped with explosives. Black Hearts is an unflinching account of the epic, tragic deployment of 1st Platoon. Drawing on hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews with Black Heart soldiers and first-hand reporting from the Triangle of Death, Black Hearts is a timeless story about men in combat and the fragility of character in the savage crucible of warfare. But it is also a timely warning of new dangers emerging in the way American soldiers are led on the battlefields of the twenty-first century.

Download or read book The Battle of the Bellicourt Tunnel written by Dale Blair and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2011-04-21 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In November 1918 the BEF under Field Marshal Haig fought a series of victorious battles on the Western Front that contributed mightily to the German army’s defeat. They did so as part of a coalition and the role of Australian ‘diggers’ and US ‘doughboys’ is often forgotten. The Bellicourt Tunnel attack, fought in the fading autumn light, was very much an inter-Allied affair and marked a unique moment in the Allied armies’ endeavours. It was the first time that such a large cohort of Americans had fought in a British army. Additionally, untried American II Corps and experienced Australian Corps were to spearhead the attack under the command of Lieutenant General Sir John Monash with British divisions adopting supporting roles on the flanks. Blair forensically details the fighting and the largely forgotten desperate German defence. Although celebrated as a marvellous feat of breaking the Hindenburg Line, the American attack failed generally to achieve its set objectives and it took the Australians three days of bitter fighting to reach theirs. Blair rejects the conventional explanation of the US ‘mop up’ failure and points the finger of blame at Rawlinson, Haig and Monash for expecting too much of the raw US troops, singling out the Australian Corps commander for particular criticism. Overall, Blair judges the fighting g a draw. At the end, like two boxers, the Australian-American force was gasping for breath and the Germans, badly battered, back-pedalling to remain on balance. Overall the day was calamitous for the German army, even if the clean break-through that Haig had hoped for did not occur. Forced out of the Hindenburg Line, the prognosis for the German army on the Western Front – and hence Imperial Germany itself – was bleak indeed.

Download or read book Australia in Arms written by Phillip Schuler and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2014-03-26 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Phillip Schuler, alongside C. E. W. Bean, was one of Australia's key First World War correspondents. A soldier as well as a journalist, he died on 23 June 1917 of wounds received at Armentières. His legacy was Australia in Arms, an extraordinary and evocative account of the Australian Imperial Force and their achievements, and the first full published account of Australia's role in the Dardanelles campaign. Australia in Arms is a vivid read and an important part of Australia's Anzac legacy.

Download or read book The Dangerous Book for Boys written by Conn Iggulden and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling book—more than 1.5 million copies sold—for every boy from eight to eighty, covering essential boyhood skills such as building tree houses*, learning how to fish, finding true north, and even answering the age old question of what the big deal with girls is—now a Prime Original Series created by Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) and Greg Mottola (Superbad). In this digital age, there is still a place for knots, skimming stones and stories of incredible courage. This book recaptures Sunday afternoons, stimulates curiosity, and makes for great father-son activities. The brothers Conn and Hal have put together a wonderful collection of all things that make being young or young at heart fun—building go-carts and electromagnets, identifying insects and spiders, and flying the world's best paper airplanes. Skills covered include: The Greatest Paper Airplane in the World The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World The Five Knots Every Boy Should Know Stickball Slingshots Fossils Building a Treehouse* Making a Bow and Arrow Fishing (revised with US Fish) Timers and Tripwires Baseball's "Most Valuable Players" Famous Battles-Including Lexington and Concord, The Alamo, and Gettysburg Spies-Codes and Ciphers Making a Go-Cart Navajo Code Talkers' Dictionary Girls Cloud Formations The States of the U.S. Mountains of the U.S. Navigation The Declaration of Independence Skimming Stones Making a Periscope The Ten Commandments Common US Trees Timeline of American History *For more information on building treehouses, visit www.treehouse-books.com and www.stilesdesigns.com or see “Treehouses You Can Actually Build” by David Stiles.

Download or read book Messines 1917 written by Craig Deayton and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2018-06-30 with total page 453 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The enemy must not get the Messines Ridge at any price So read the orders to German troops defending the vital high ground south of Ypres. On 7 June 1917, the British Second Army launched its attack with an opening like no other. In the largest secret operation of the First World War, British and Commonwealth mining companies placed over a million pounds of explosive beneath the German front-line positions in 19 giant mines which erupted like a volcano. This was just the beginning. By the end of that brilliant summers day, one of the strongest positions on the Western Front had fallen in the greatest British victory in three long years of war. For the Anzacs, who comprised one third of the triumphant Second Army, it was their most significant achievement to that point; for the men of the New Zealand Division, it would be their finest hour.It is difficult to overstate the importance of Messines for the Australians, whose first two years of war had represented an almost unending catalogue of disaster. This was both the first real victory for the AIF and the first test in senior command for Major General John Monash, who commanded the newly formed 3rd Division. Messines was a baptism of fire for the 3rd Division which came into the line alongside the battle-scarred 4th Australian Division, badly mauled at Bullecourt just six weeks earlier. The fighting at Messines would descend into unimaginable savagery, a lethal and sometimes hand-to-hand affair of bayonets, clubs, bombs and incessant machine-gun fire, described by one Australian as 72 hours of Hell. After their string of bloody defeats over 1915 and 1916, Messines would prove the ultimate test for the Australians

Download or read book Broken Nation written by Joan Beaumont and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2013 with total page 660 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Great War was, for the majority of Australians, one that was fought at home. As casualties of this monstrous war mounted, they triggered a political crisis of unprecedented ferocity in Australian history. The fault-lines that emerged in 1916-18 around

Download or read book Our Corner of the Somme written by Romain Fathi and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-02-28 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the time of the Armistice, Villers-Bretonneux - once a lively and flourishing French town - had been largely destroyed, and half its population had fled or died. From March to August 1918, Villers-Bretonneux formed part of an active front line, at which Australian troops were heavily involved. As a result, it holds a significant place in Australian history. Villers-Bretonneux has since become an open-air memorial to Australia's participation in the First World War. Successive Australian governments have valourised the Australian engagement, contributing to an evolving Anzac narrative that has become entrenched in Australia's national identity. Our Corner of the Somme provides an eye-opening analysis of the memorialisation of Australia's role on the Western Front and the Anzac mythology that so heavily contributes to Australians' understanding of themselves. In this rigorous and richly detailed study, Romain Fathi challenges accepted historiography by examining the assembly, projection and performance of Australia's national identity in northern France.

Download or read book Monash written by Peter Andreas Pedersen and published by . This book was released on 2018-12-04 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr Peter Pedersen's scholarly study of Sir John Monash remains the finest analysis of Australia's best known military leader. In 1918 the Australian Corps under Monash's command played a leading role in the Allied advance to victory on the Western Front. Its successes in the battles of Hamel and Amiens, the taking of Mont St Quentin and Péronne and the breaching of the Hindenburg Line are among the most prominent landmarks in Australia's military history. Monash was central to these pivotal achievements. This book traces Monash's development as a commander from his pre-war militia service to his wartime experience at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. It examines in detail how each stage of his military career influenced his approach to command and the tactical problems he faced as the wartime commander of an infantry brigade and division and, ultimately, the Australian Corps. The influence of his education and civilian training are also examined in this meticulous study. What emerges from this nuanced and sophisticated assessment of Monash as a soldier is a superb portrayal of how a commander works and what he could achieve under conditions so inimical to the exercise of command as those that prevailed on the Western Front. Along the way, Dr Pedersen establishes Monash's place among his contemporaries, British and Australian, and provides the definitive answer to the question 'Just how good was Monash?' Published for the centenary of the great victories of 1918, this new and updated edition of Dr Pedersen's classic work is a timely study of Australia's finest general.