Don T Forget Me Cobber

Summary: A comprehensive account of WW1 and Australians' battlefield experiences at Gallipoli, on the Western Front and in the Middle East. Includes the desert campaigns fought by the lighthorsemen and the contribution of the Navy, Flying Corps and the nurses.

On the evening of 19 July 1916 on a strip of farmland north of Fromelles, the AIF fought its first battle in France. Outnumbered two to one, a well-organised German division faced two divisions, one Australian and the other British, and yet inflicted a costly defeat. By dusk the following day there were 2436 Allies dead and 4123 wounded, no territory gained and only 501 Germans killed and 943 injured. As far as the Australians were concerned, at the disastrous battle of Fromelles, their commander, Major General McCay, was obsessed with ambition and glory on the battlefield. At dawn on 20 July, McCay went to survey the aftermath and was heard to remark that 'they'll get used to it'. After the war McCay's powerful friends ensured that Fromelles was never examined in any depth, and when it was, all blame was put on the British. Don't forget me, cobber is the extraordinary story of the lead up to the battle, the battle itself, as well as the successful search for the 'missing of Fromelles'. Lost in mass grave pits since 1916, some 190 Australians and 328 British soldiers have been discovered after seven years of campaigning by Lambis Englezos, who also writes of his experience here. The book also includes a complete Roll of Honour of the British and Australians killed, as well as some of the Germans.

The battles fought by the British army in 1915, in the second year of the First World War, are less well known than those fought immediately after the outbreak of war in 1914 and those that followed in 1916 which culminated in the Battle of the Somme. But the fighting at Aubers Ridge, Festubert, Neuve Chapelle and Loos was just as severe – as was the 1916 battle at Fromelles – and the battlefields are just as interesting to explore today. This volume in the Battle Lines series is the perfect guide to them.?Expert guides Jon Cooksey and Jerry Murland take visitors over a series of routes that can be walked, biked or driven, explaining the fighting that occurred at each place in vivid detail. They describe what happened, where it happened and why and who was involved, and point out the sights that remain for the visitor to see. Their highly illustrated guidebook is essential reading for visitors who wish to enhance their understanding of warfare on the Western Front.

Despite the substantial output of revisionist scholarship over the last decade reappraising the performance of the British Army on the Western Front during the First World War, there still remains a stubborn perception that its commanders were incompetent, inflexible and unimaginative. Whilst much ink has been spilled vilifying or defending individual commanders, or looking for overarching trends and ’learning curves’, this is the first work to examine systematically the vertical nature of command - that is the transmission of plans from the high-command down through the rank structure to the front line. Through such an investigation, a much more rounded measure of the effectiveness of British commanders can be gained; one moves the argument beyond the overly simplistic ’casualties to ground gained’ equation that is usually offered. The Battle of Fromelles (19-20 July 1916) was selected as the case study as it was relatively small in scale, in the right period, and retains sufficient primary sources available to sustain the analysis. It also witnessed the first time Australian forces were used in offensive operations on the Western Front, and thus looms large in wider Commonwealth perceptions of ’Bumbling British Generals’. The book follows the progress of the battle plan from its inception in the strategic designs of the supreme commander down through the various intermediate level commands at operational and tactical headquarters until it became the orders that sent the infantry forward into the attack. In so doing it provides a unique insight into the strengths and weaknesses of British command structure, allowing a much more scholarly judgement of its overall effectiveness.

This book provides a generously illustrated, engaging and moving account of the history of the stretcher-bearer.

Third Language Dictionary is a guide to everyday language that is peculiar to and used by Australian folks from all walks of life no matter what or who they are or the level of success, education, credence, or place in society they have attained.

There has never been a book like Pilgrimagebefore. Journeying through time and place, author Garrie Hutchinson visits the battlefields where Australians have fought and reveals their past and present. We hear the voices of those who fought in World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Korea and East Timor and the stories of the key Australian battles. We travel to Australia's special places - including Anzac Cove, Tobruk, the Kokoda Track, the Thai-Burma Railway, Long Tan and Maryang San. Pilgrimageis unique in being a comprehensive and up-to-date travel companion, complete with maps, illustrations and invaluable tips for visitors. Lavishly illustrated with photos from Europe and North Africa, the Middle East and South-East Asia, it also introduces the cemeteries, museums and memorials that commemorate each conflict. Ideal for armchair travellers and lovers of history, Pilgrimageinvites readers on a voyage of discovery.