Monash's Masterpiece

Author: Peter FitzSimons
Publisher: Hachette Australia
ISBN: 0733640095
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 409

Book Description
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.

Does The Leadership Style And Command Method Of General Sir John Monash Remain Relevant To The Contemporary Commander?

Author: Major Colin Darryl Bassett
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1786252325
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 137

Book Description
This study examines the Allied evacuation of 130,000 men, nearly 10,000 animals, and huge quantities of weapons and equipment from the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915. A synopsis of the eight months preceding the evacuation illustrates the myriad problems facing the Allies during the ill-fated campaign to secure the Dardanelles straits. The study analyzes the decision to evacuate and the subsequent planning, preparation, and execution of the amphibious withdrawal. The Allies were able to conduct the withdrawal with no lives lost from enemy action and no man left behind. The study concludes that the successful evacuation of the Anzac, Suvla, and Helles beachheads was the result of close coordination, tactical ingenuity, disciplined troops, bold leadership, and good fortune: qualities essential to any amphibious operation. Though there is much to be learned from the Allied failures on the Gallipoli peninsula, so is there equally much to be learned from the brilliant success of its evacuation.

The Commanders

Author: D. M. Horner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000339246
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 444

Book Description
Originally published in 1984, this book tells the story of sixteen of Australia’s most eminent military men, as they performed under the stress of strategy-making and in the heat of battle. In scrutinising critical periods in the careers of such men as Brudenell White, Chauvel, Monash, Gordon Bennett, Blamey and Scherger, it addresses a number of fascinating questions: Is there an Australian style of command? How well have Australian officers been prepared for high command? How have Australian commanders handled the problems of coalition way or co-operation with allies? How have political direction, organisational structures and entrenched defence policy affected the performance of commanders in the field? Each re-evaluation compares performance with reputation. Some of the figures examined are familiar (What was the real basis of Monash’s reputation as a commander? Was Blamey worthy of the field-marshal’s baton?); some are given an appraisal long denied them. This roll-call of some of Australia’s greatest warriors presents a fascinating picture of the realities of war at the top. Each of the sixteen lives examined presents a revealing account of the conditions under which crucial military decisions are made and carried out – on the battlefield, at headquarters, in victory and defeat. The Commanders will appeal not only to students of military affairs but to everyone interested in Australian history and biography.

Routledge Library Editions: Historical Security

Author: Various
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000519368
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 3894

Book Description
This 12-volume set contains titles originally published between 1957 and 1992. International in scope, the set looks at security and military history covering several battles, particularly the first and second world wars. Highlighting the difference between theory and practice, it also explores the people involved in the policy making and strategy of war, and the leaders tasked with carrying those decisions out.

Lest

Author: Mark Dapin
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1761108077
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Book Description
From Simpson’s donkey and the Emu War to Vietnam and Ben Roberts-Smith, Australian military history is full of events that didn’t happen the way most people think they did. In his inimitable style, award-winning author Mark Dapin sets the record straight. Australia has many stories and statues ‘lest we forget’ our military past. But from Simpson’s donkey to Ben Roberts-Smith, our history is full of events that didn’t happen the way most people think they did. The first Anzac Day, for example, was far from being a solemn march – it was a celebration where people dressed as cavemen and dinosaurs, among other things. And is it true that British officers callously dispatched Australian soldiers to their deaths in the Dardanelles, as we’ve been told? Did we really hate the soldiers returning from Vietnam? Were the white-feather women of the First World War fact or fiction? In his inimitable style, award-winning author and historian Mark Dapin sets the record straight, showing that the reality was often completely different from the myth – and that in celebrating the wrong people we often overlook the real heroes. ‘With Lest, Mark Dapin transforms his trademark humour into serious history … It forces us to look again at stories we think we all know – or should know – and reframe them with intellectual rectitude and rigour … Lest offers new perspectives on the past from one of Australia’s most interesting and provocative thinkers.’ Clare Wright

War Letters of General Monash

Author: Sir John Monash
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781863957441
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Monash in his own words . . . "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 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. 'In the eyes of many Monash was the greatest Allied Field Commander of World War 1. His leadership of the Australian Army Corp in 1918 was exemplary.' -John Howard 'As a writer, Monash has a great eye.' -Les Carlyon 'His was the most brilliant leadership ever shown in any activity by an Australian.' -Bob Carr General Sir John Monash is regarded as the best Allied commander of World War I and as Australia's greatest general, whose brilliant leadership turned the tide of the war. Monash was also a born writer, and an intellectual as well as an engineer. His writing displays a delight in detail, mastery and grace.

Monash

Author: Peter Pedersen
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1925675300
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 729

Book Description
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.

Breaker Morant

Author: Peter FitzSimons
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1472131444
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 576

Book Description
The epic story of the Boer War and Harry 'Breaker' Morant: drover, horseman, bush poet - murderer or hero? Most people have heard of the Boer War and of Harry 'Breaker' Morant, a figure who rivals Ned Kelly as an archetypal Australian folk hero. But Morant was a complicated man. Born in England and immigrating to Queensland in 1883, he established a reputation as a rider, polo player and poet who submitted ballads to The Bulletin and counted Banjo Paterson as a friend. Travelling on his wits and the goodwill of others, Morant was quick to act when appeals were made for horsemen to serve in the war in South Africa. He joined up, first with the South Australian Mounted Rifles and then with a South African irregular unit, the Bushveldt Carbineers. The adventure would not go as Breaker planned. In October 1901 Lieutenant Harry Morant and two other Australians, Lieutenants Peter Handcock and George Witton, were arrested for the murder of Boer prisoners. Morant and Handcock were court-martialled and executed in February 1902 as the Boer War was in its closing stages, but the debate over their convictions continues to this day. With his masterful command of story, Peter FitzSimons takes us to the harsh landscape of southern Africa and into the bloody action of war against an unpredictable force using modern commando tactics. The truths FitzSimons uncovers about 'the Breaker' and the part he played in the Boer War are astonishing - and finally we will know if the Breaker was a hero, a cad, a scapegoat or a criminal.

Factory 19

Author: Dennis Glover
Publisher: Black Inc.
ISBN: 1743821425
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Book Description
We’re told that the future will be brighter. But what if human happiness really lies in the past? Hobart, 2022: a city with a declining population, in the grip of a dark recession. A rusty ship sails into the harbour and begins to unload its cargo on the site of the once famous but now abandoned Gallery of Future Art, known to the world as GoFA. One day the city’s residents are awoken by a high-pitched sound no one has heard for two generations: a factory whistle. GoFA’s owner, world-famous billionaire Dundas Faussett, is creating his most ambitious installation yet. He’s going to defeat technology’s dominance over our lives by establishing a new Year Zero: 1948. Those whose jobs have been destroyed by Amazon and Uber and Airbnb are invited to fight back in the only way that can possibly succeed: by living as if the internet had never been invented. The hold of Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg and their ilk starts to loosen as the revolutionary example of Factory 19 spreads. Can nostalgia really defeat the future? Can the little people win back the world? We are about to find out. ‘Like Orwell, of whom he has written so brilliantly, Dennis Glover’s work is charged with courage, intelligence and purpose. He is the complete writer, and one made for our times.’ —Don Watson ‘Savagely hilarious and unlike anything else you’ll read this year. It boils with the anger of the present moment.’ —Rohan Wilson

A World Undone

Author: G. J. Meyer
Publisher: Bantam
ISBN: 0553382403
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 818

Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Drawing on exhaustive research, this intimate account details how World War I reduced Europe’s mightiest empires to rubble, killed twenty million people, and cracked the foundations of our modern world “Thundering, magnificent . . . [A World Undone] is a book of true greatness that prompts moments of sheer joy and pleasure. . . . It will earn generations of admirers.”—The Washington Times On a summer day in 1914, a nineteen-year-old Serbian nationalist gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. While the world slumbered, monumental forces were shaken. In less than a month, a combination of ambition, deceit, fear, jealousy, missed opportunities, and miscalculation sent Austro-Hungarian troops marching into Serbia, German troops streaming toward Paris, and a vast Russian army into war, with England as its ally. As crowds cheered their armies on, no one could guess what lay ahead in the First World War: four long years of slaughter, physical and moral exhaustion, and the near collapse of a civilization that until 1914 had dominated the globe. Praise for A World Undone “Meyer’s sketches of the British Cabinet, the Russian Empire, the aging Austro-Hungarian Empire . . . are lifelike and plausible. His account of the tragic folly of Gallipoli is masterful. . . . [A World Undone] has an instructive value that can scarcely be measured”—Los Angeles Times “An original and very readable account of one of the most significant and often misunderstood events of the last century.”—Steve Gillon, resident historian, The History Channel