Fromelles and Pozières

Author: Peter FitzSimons
Publisher: Random House Australia
ISBN: 0143783300
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 817

Book Description
In the Trenches of Hell On July 19, 1916, 7000 Australian soldiers - in the first major action of the AIF on the Western Front - attacked entrenched German positions at Fromelles in northern France. By the next day, there were over 5500 casualties, including nearly 2000 dead - a bloodbath that the Australian War Memorial describes as 'the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history. Just days later, three Australian Divisions attacked German positions at nearby Pozières, and over the next six weeks they suffered another 23,000 casualties. Of that bitter battle, the great Australian war correspondent Charles Bean would write, "The field of Pozières is more consecrated by Australian fighting and more hallowed by Australian blood than any field which has ever existed . . ." Yet the sad truth is that, nearly a century on from those battles, Australians know only a fraction of what occurred. This book brings the battles back to life and puts the reader in the moment, illustrating both the heroism displayed and the insanity of the British plan. With his extraordinary vigour and commitment to research, Peter FitzSimons shows why this is a story about which all Australians can be proud. And angry.

Fromelles and Pozires

Author: Peter FitzSimons
Publisher: Random House Australia
ISBN: 0143786342
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 818

Book Description
THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER On 19 July 1916, 7000 Australian soldiers - in the first major action of the AIF on the Western Front - attacked entrenched German positions at Fromelles in northern France. By the next day, there were over 5500 casualties, including nearly 2000 dead - a bloodbath that the Australian War Memorial describes as 'the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history. Just days later, three Australian Divisions attacked German positions at nearby Pozi res, and over the next six weeks they suffered another 23,000 casualties. Of that bitter battle, the great Australian war correspondent Charles Bean would write, 'The field of Pozi res is more consecrated by Australian fighting and more hallowed by Australian blood than any field which has ever existed . . .' Yet the sad truth is that, nearly a century on from those battles, Australians know only a fraction of what occurred. This book brings the battles back to life and puts the reader in the moment, illustrating both the heroism displayed and the insanity of the British plan. With his extraordinary vigour and commitment to research, Peter FitzSimons shows why this is a story about which all Australians can be proud. And angry. _____________________________ PRAISE FOR PETER FITZSIMONS 'Peter FitzSimons is an Australian phenomenon.' The Canberra Times ' FitzSimons knows how to make words race like eager sled dogs on their homeward run.' Newcastle Herald 'Meticulously researched, well-written and incredibly presented.' Weekend Notes

Broken Nation

Author: Joan Beaumont
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1741751381
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 660

Book Description
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

"Over There" With the Australians

Author: R. Hugh Knyvett
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 3752310103
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 166

Book Description
Reproduction of the original: "Over There" With the Australians by R. Hugh Knyvett

The Battle of the Bellicourt Tunnel

Author: Dale Blair
Publisher: Frontline Books
ISBN: 1848325878
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Book Description
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 armys 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.

Great Anzac Stories

Author: Graham Seal
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1743310595
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Book Description
Stories of heroism, suffering and endurance, and humour, from the main wars in which Australians have fought. Includes stories from WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, plus the home front. Most of the stories haven't been seen since they were first published in newspapers and memoirs. Many were sourced from unpublished diaries.

The Western Front Diaries

Author: Jonathan King
Publisher: Scribe Us
ISBN: 9781925106695
Category : Soldiers
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
"A Special 100th-anniversary edition"--Title-page. "Revised edition"--Verso.

The Nameless Names

Author: Scott Bennett
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781761381089
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Scott Bennett deftly tells the story of such missing Anzacs through the personal experience of three sets of brothers - the Reids, Pflaums, and Allens - whose names he selected from the Memorials to the Missing. Bennett traces their paths from small, peaceful towns to three devastating battlefields of the Great War- Gallipoli, Fromelles, and Ypres. He reveals the carnage that led to their disappearance, and their families' subsequent grief and endless search for elusive facts. Bennett's unflinching account addresses many painful questions. What circumstances resulted in the disappearance of so many soldiers? Why did the Australian government fail in its solemn pledge to recover the missing? Why were so many families left without answers about the fate of their loved ones - despite the dedicated efforts of Vera Deakin and her co-workers at the Australian Red Cross inquiry bureau, first in Cairo and then in London? Vera, a daughter of Australia's second prime minister, had had a privileged upbringing, and yet devoted herself tirelessly to seeking answers for the families of the missing. The Nameless Nameslays bare the emotional toll inflicted upon families, describing those caught between clinging to hope and letting go, those who felt compelled to journey to distant battlefields for answers, and those who shunned conventional religion and resorted to spiritualism for solace. 'This admirable book, superbly researched and insightfully written, illuminates the profound and enduring consequences for so many Australian families whose loved ones were among the missing in World War I.' -Ross McMullin, author of Farewell, Dear People 'Bennett's book reminds us that these men may still be missing, but they are not forgotten.' -Frances Whiting, Courier Mail Praise for Pozi res- 'Bennett ... has deftly reconstructed the battles through a variety of accounts from historians and participants. One of Bennett's many strengths is his ability to transport himself and the reader into the shoes of the different protagonists, elucidating the battle from a variety of perspectives.' -Martin Croft, The Age

Legs-Eleven

Author: Captain Walter C. Belford
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
ISBN: 1781496315
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 678

Book Description
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.

Anzac to Amiens

Author: Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : World War, 1914-1918
Languages : en
Pages : 634

Book Description