Anzacs On The Western Front

The First World War was only meant to last six months. When the Australians and New Zealanders arrived at the Western Front in 1916, the fighting had been going for a year and a half and there was no end in sight. The men took their place in a line of trenches that spread through Belgium and France from the North Sea to the Swiss Alps. Beyond the trenches was no-man's land, an eerie wasteland where rats lived in the ribs of the dead and the wounded cried for help. Beyond that was the German Army. The Anzacs had sailed for France to fight a war the whole world was talking about. Few who came home ever spoke about it again. Zero Hour is the third book by Leon Davidson, author of the best-selling and multi-award-winning Scarecrow Army: the Anzacs at Gallipoli and Red Haze: Australians & New Zealanders in Vietnam.

A lavishly illustrated account of the ANZACs involvement in the Western Front--complete with walking and driving tours of 28 battlefields With rare photographs and documents from the Australian War Memorial archive and extensive travel information, this is the most comprehensive guide to the battlefields of the Western Front on the market. Every chapter covers not just the battles, but the often larger-than-life personalities who took part in them. Following a chronological order from 1916 through 1918, the book leads readers through every major engagement the Australian and New Zealanders fought in and includes tactical considerations and extracts from the personal diaries of soldiers. This is the perfect book for anyone who wants to explore the battlefields of the Western Front, either in-person or from the comfort of home.

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

After their retreat from Gallipoli, and recuperation in Egypt, among the first AIF troops to be posted to the Western Front were the ANZACs of the 26th & 28th Battalions/ 7th Brigade. Two months after their arrival, volunteers were selected to engage the Germans in a night-time trench raid. This unique book covers the story of the AIFs first action in Europe in June 1916 and the 73 soldiers involved. It tells the story of that raid and of each of the 73 soldiers who were subsequently dubbed ?The Black ANZACs? by the newspapers of the day. The raid was an action of firsts:

Hidden under the shadow of Gallipoli for decades, the breathtaking story of what really happened on the Western Front has finally been brought into the bright light of day. Five times greater than Gallipoli, the Western Front had: five times more soldiers (250 000 rather than 50 000), more than five times the amount of men killed (46 000 compared to 8709), more than five times as many battles, with troops serving there for four times longer, and five times the sum of Victoria Crosses earned (a total of 53). Thankfully, the diggers serving in this first Australian Army Corps and under an Australian commander for the first time, actually helped win the war. Using hundreds of brutally honest and extraordinary eyewitness accounts of the diggers in the muddy and bloody trenches, Western Front Diaries reproduces their private diaries, letters and postcards to tell of their heart-rending experiences, battle by bloody battle. With its gallery of unpublished photographs, Western Front Diaries tells without embellishment the stories of the Australian soldiers and finally puts the Western Front on the map.

On 21 September 1918, with retreating German forces on their last legs, the 1st Battalion of the AIF was ordered to return to the front just as they were being relieved and preparing for a well-earnt rest. It wasn’t just the Germans who were on their last legs; the Australians were depleted and exhausted. In what was the largest such instance of mass ‘combat refusal’ in the AIF’s history, the men of one company in the 1st Battalion defied the order. The ‘mutiny’ spread to other companies, and when the battalion did eventually comply with the order, over 100 men were absent. The circumstances surrounding this mutiny have long been a matter of embarrassment for the AIF, and of fascination for military historians. While historians have approached the issue in purely military terms – the men as soldiers, over-extended service, rates of wounding, promotions, and so on – this book approaches these 100 plus men as human beings. Mutiny on the Western Front traces how these events played out in the context of the exhausting demands placed upon a unit that had seen practically continuous front-line action for weeks, if not months, in the war’s final, decisive stages. Author Greg Raffin considers what happens to men’s hearts and minds in the course of a prolonged conflict like the Great War. This story, which will surprise readers – is not just about a group of exhausted and war weary Australian soldiers in 1918, it is a story about humanity in war: about what men do in war, and what war does to men.

By 1914, Australia's German immigrants were well-regarded in their communities and made up (after Irish and Scots) the fourth-largest white ethnic community in Australia. This history traces the experience of the immigrants who enlisted for service in World War I and the difficulties they faced.

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.