Download or read book The AIF in Battle written by Jean Bou and published by Melbourne Univ. Publishing. This book was released on 2016-06-13 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the end of the First World War the combat formations of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in both France and the Middle East were considered among the British Empire’s most effective troops. While sometimes a source of pride and not a little boasting, how the force came to be so was not due to any inherent national prowess or trait. Instead it was the culmination of years of training, organisational change, battlefield experimentation and hard-won experience—a process that included not just the Australians, but the wider British imperial armies as well. This book brings together some of Australia's foremost military historians to outline how the military neophytes that left Australia's shores in 1914 became the battle winning troops of 1918. It will trace the evolution of several of the key arms of the AIF, including the infantry, the light horse, the artillery, and the flying corps, and also consider how the various arms worked together alongside other troops of the British Empire to achieve a remarkably high level of battlefield effectiveness.
Download or read book The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914 1918 written by and published by . This book was released on 1935 with total page 582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book History of the 15th Battalion Aif 1914 1918 written by Lieut T. P. Chataway and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This Bn was raised in September 1914 With volunteers from Queensland and Tasmania. It followed the familiar trail of so many other Australian units of that period - Egypt, Gallipoli, France and Flanders. The 1915 actions at Quinn's Post, Hill 971, and Suvla Bay, are well described, as are the bitter actions of 1916-1918 on the Western Front. An excellent history of a Bn which suffered, in total, 1200 killed and 2500 wounded. It also gained an exceptional number of awards, including one VC. Many individuals are named in the narrative. Roll of Honour(with dates causes and locations) Honours and Awards, and unit nominal roll complete this history"--Publisher description.
Download or read book Legs Eleven written by Captain Walter C. Belford and published by Andrews UK Limited. This book was released on 2023-02-15 with total page 678 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For Australia the First World War remains the most costly conflict in terms of deaths and casualties. From a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men enlisted, of which over 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner. In general terms with Australian unit histories the quality of authorship is very good, most of them share the common strength of making plentiful mention of the individual officers and men who served, fought, died, was wounded, or taken prisoner, or who came safely home at the end of it all. They are a prime source for genealogists and military historians.
Download or read book Battle Scarred written by Craig Deayton and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-03-07 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The dead and wounded of the 47th lay everywhere underfoot". With these words Charles Bean, Australia's Official War Historian, described the battlefield of Dernancourt on the morning of the 5th of April, 1918, strewn with the bodies of the Australian dead. It was the final tragic chapter in the story of the 47th Australian Infantry Battalion in the First World War. One of the shortest lived and most battle hardened of the 1st Australian Imperial Force's battalions, the 47th was formed in Egypt in 1916 and disbanded two years later having suffered one of the highest casualty rates of any Australian unit. Their story is remarkable for many reasons. Dogged by command and discipline troubles and bled white by the desperate attrition battles of 1916 and 1917, they fought on against a determined and skilful enemy in battles where the fortunes of war seemed stacked against them at every turn. Not only did they have the misfortune to be called into some of the A.I.F.'s most costly campaigns, chance often found them in the worst places within those battles. Though their story is one of almost unrelieved tragedy, it is also story of remarkable courage, endurance and heroism. It is the story of the 1st A.I.F. itself - punished, beaten, sometimes reviled for their indiscipline, they fought on - fewer, leaner and harder - until final victory was won. And at its end, in an extraordinary gesture of mateship, the remnants of the 47th Battalion reunited. Having been scattered to other units after their disbandment, the survivors gathered in Belgium for one last photo together. Only 73 remained.
Download or read book The Australian Imperial Force written by Jean Bou and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Great War came at a terrible cost, be it in human, material or financial terms. For the young Commonwealth of Australia the raising, sending and maintenance of an expeditionary force that eventually totalled 330,000 men was a massive undertaking. This book examines the fruit of this endeavour, the Australian Imperial Force. In doing so it seeks to outline and analyse the institution from its inception to its disbandment after the war. The book considers the creation of the force, the way that it expanded, the organisation of its fighting units and formations, how it used its human resources, its command and its administration. It also draws on up-to-date statistical information drawn from the AIF Database, a database created as part of a long-term research project undertaken at the University of New South Wales Canberra (located at the Australian Defence Force Academy).
Download or read book The Australian Victories in France in 1918 written by John Monash and published by Black Inc.. This book was released on 2015-07-31 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1920, The Australian Victories in France in 1918 immediately garnered glowing praise as one of the most entertaining and informative accounts of war ever written. It is now recognised as one of the most important records of World War I, revealing the critical role Australians played on the Western Front. General Sir John Monash, regarded as the best allied commander of World War I, records his experiences leading a series of victories that turned the tide of the war, from the defence of Amiens, to the battle of August 8th and the breaking of the Hindenburg Line. He reveals the challenges he faced in leading tens of thousands of troops, and the decision-making and innovations in the field that led to their success. Republished in full, this edition features a new foreword by Bruce Haigh, colour reproductions of the original maps that were hand-drawn under Monash's supervision, and new photos. It also includes a memo from General Rawlinson congratulating Monash on the performance of the Australian Corps- 'I feel that no mere words of mine can adequately express the renown that they have won for themselves and the position they have established for the Australian nation not only in France but throughout the world.' 'From the far-off days in 1914, when the call first came, until the last shot was fired, every day was filled with loathing, horror, and distress . . . Yet it had to be, and the thought always uppermost was the earnest prayer that Australia might forever be spared such a horror on her own soil.' John Monash
Download or read book The Battle for Shaggy Ridge written by Phillip Bradley and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2021-08-31 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An enlightening re-examination of an important campaign following the experiences of the men from both sides. 'You climb and climb . . . This is the field of battle . . . tonight some of us will be dead . . . You'll never forget Shaggy Ridge.' - Shawn O'Leary From the killing ground of Kaiapit to the treacherous heights of the Finisterre Range, for four months in 1943-44 the Australian army fought to drive the Japanese from their mountain strongholds. The most formidable position was the fortress-like Shaggy Ridge, its steep sides rising sharply to a knife-edge crest where battle was joined on a one-man front. Based on the accounts of over a hundred Australians, Americans and Japanese who served on, around and over the ridge, The Battle for Shaggy Ridge tells the story of this extraordinary struggle for control of the Ramu Valley in New Guinea.
Download or read book The Battlefield of Imperishable Memory written by Matthew Haultain-Gall and published by . This book was released on 2021-04 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ypres salient 'was the favourite battle ground of the devil and his minions' wrote one returned serviceman after the First World War. Few who fought in the infamous third battle of Ypres - now known as Passchendaele - in 1917 would have disagreed. All five of the Australian Imperial Force's (AIF) infantry divisions were engaged in this bloody campaign. Despite early successes, their attacks floundered when autumn rains drenched the battlefield, turning it into an immense quagmire. By the time the AIF withdrew, it had suffered over 38,000 casualties, including 10,000 dead, far outweighing Australian losses in any other Great War campaign. Given the extent of their sacrifices, the Australians' exploits in Belgium ought to be well known in a nation that has fervently commemorated its involvement in the First World War. Yet, Passchendaele occupies an ambiguous place in Australian collective memory. Tracing the commemorative work of official and non-official agents, The Battlefield of Imperishable Memory explores why these battles became, and still remain, peripheral to the dominant First World War narrative in Australia: the Anzac legend.
Download or read book Legends of War written by Pat Beale and published by Australian Scholarly Publishing. This book was released on 2018-04-05 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1918 was a year of triumph for the Australian Corps in France yet today this is seldom recognised by most Australians. Our perceptions have been clouded by legends, built up over the past century, that have trivialised their achievement. Here an ex-soldier, Pat Beale DSO MC, uses his military background to help re-discover why and how the Corps was so successful and also the reasons their triumph has been ignored. This concise and knowledgeable account will not sit comfortably with everyone. As the author admits, he slaps a number of ‘sacred cows’ on the rump and challenges some deeply held perceptions, but he hopes it will encourage a better understanding of the great victory of those men and how they achieved it.
Download or read book The 28th Battalion Australian Imperial Force written by Henry K. Kahan and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Bully Beef Balderdash written by Graham Wilson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Australian Imperial Force, first raised in 1914 for overseas war service, became better known by its initials - the "AIF". There was a distinct character to those who enlisted in the earliest months and who were destined to fight on Gallipoli. During the war the AIF took its place among the great armies of the world, on some of history's oldest battlefields. The Australians would attack at the Dardanelles, enter Jerusalem and Damascus, defend Amiens and Ypres, and swagger through the streets of Cairo, Paris, and London, with their distinctive slouch hats and comparative wealth of six shillings per day. However, the legend of the AIF is shrouded in myth and mystery. Was Beersheba the last great cavalry charge in history? Did the AIF storm the red light district of Cairo and burn it to ground while fighting running battles with the military police? Was the AIF the only all-volunteer army of World War I? Graham Wilson's Bully Beef and Balderdash shines an unforgiving light on these and other well-known myths of the AIF in World War I, arguing that these spectacular legends simply serve to diminish the hard-won reputation of the AIF as a fighting force. Graham Wilson mounts his own campaign to rehabilitate the historical reputation of the force and to demonstrate that misleading and inaccurate embellishment does nothing but hide the true story of Australia's World War I fighting army. Bully Beef and Balderdash deliberately tilts at some well-loved windmills and, for those who cherish the mythical story of the AIF, this will not be comfortable reading. Yet, given the extraordinary truth of the AIF's history, it is certainly compelling reading.
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 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 The Battle for Isurava written by David W. Cameron and published by . This book was released on 2022-03-02 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Within 24 hours of the Japanese invasion of northern New Guinea at Gona in July 1942, the Australian militiamen of 'B' Company, 39th Battalion, spent four weeks fighting a delaying action against a crack Japanese force outnumbered by three to one. By mid-August, the rest of the battalion had arrived, and these men took up a position at Isurava, in the heart of the cloud covered mountains and jungles of the Owen Stanley Range. At Isurava, this small militia force of the 39th Battalion now numbering around 300 men was determined to make a stand against a crack Japanese force of the 144th Regiment and supporting elements, numbering at least 1500. Then on the day the Japanese launched their attack, to the great relief of these militiamen, reinforcements from the 2nd AIF who had fought with great distinction in the Middle East began to arrive in the afternoon having spent days struggling up the track from Port Moresby. Even so, the Australians were still outnumbered, as the Japanese also received reinforcements, and unlike the Japanese, the Australians had no supporting artillery or medium machineguns. The battle for Isurava would be the defining battle of the Kokoda Campaign and has rightfully been described as Australia's Thermopylae. It was here that Australia's first Victoria Cross in the Pacific war was awarded when the Japanese conducted several ferocious attacks against the Australian perimetre. Private Bruce Kingsbury led an Australian counterattack, rushing forward sweeping the Japanese positions with his Bren gun, saving he situation when all seemed lost -- he was killed leading the charge. Another two men were also nominated for the VC during the fighting at Isurava. The outnumbered and poorly equipped Australians managed to hold back the Japanese advance for almost a week; only then did these battle scared and weary men begin a month long fighting withdraw towards Ioribaiwa Ridge just north of Port Morsby. However, their sacrifice provided time for the Australian 25th Brigade to be brought forward -- finally forcing the Japanese to withdrawal just as they glimpsed the lights of Port Morseby.
Download or read book Jungle Warriors written by Adrian Threlfall and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2014 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Australians are acknowledged as being among the best, if not the best, jungle fighters. This fascinating and revealing history explores how the Australian soldier evolved from being trained for and fighting European and desert wars, fought in open country often by large numbers of troops, to the very close warfare of jungle combat.
