text:
The rough-and-ready fighting spirit of the Australians had become refined by an experienced battle technique supported by staff work of the highest order. The Australians were probably the most effective troops employed in the war on either side.

Major General John O'Ryan, US 27th Division

CONTENTS

COVER

TITLE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

FOREWORD

AUSTRALIA JOINS THE WAR

THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN

FIGHTING IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM

FINAL YEAR ON THE WESTERN FRONT

THE LIGHT HORSE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

THE WAR ENDS

INDEX

COPYRIGHT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A medieval town in ruins: the remains of St Martin's Cathedral, Ypres, 8 October 1917. AWM E01117
FOREWORD

A century ago Australia became swept up in the First World War, and a period of commitment, physical stress, and emotional pain descended upon the nation. There had never been armed conflict on such a scale before, and it became known as "The Great War". When it finally ended, four years later, the war left shattered nations, destroyed empires, ruined communities, displaced civilians, huge debt, and a terrible loss of life. Decades of grief and mourning followed in its wake.

Australia was pledged to the allies' cause right from the start. Most notably, hundreds of thousands of its citizens became soldiers, sailors, airmen or nurses for the duration of the struggle. They were all volunteers. More than 350,000 of them went off to serve on foreign battlegrounds, or in the air, or on far-off seas. On the shores of Gallipoli, the sands of the Sinai, and the muddy fields of France, they took part in some of the war's most famous battles, winning praise for their courage and irrepressible spirit. But the cost was high. Tragically, more than 60,000 failed to return; almost one in five of those who fought had been killed in battle, died of wounds, or succumbed to sickness or disease. Many of those who did survive would continue to bear mental and physical injuries.

The losses sustained by our young nation, and the stories of its countrymen's suffering, their inspirational deeds, and their many brave achievements, ensured that Australia's experience of the war became a dominant story in our history.

More than a decade has passed since the death of the last Anzac of the Great War. But that war remains with us still. It is not only present in the local memorials and the annual national commemoration of Anzac Day, but also in small rituals: the use of the poppy for remembrance, words in our language such as "digger" and "Anzac", and the symbolism of the soldier's slouch hat. It is also seen in the many acts of remembrance, both public and private, in publications and other commemorative programs, and in the continuing pilgrimages to the former battlefields.

Australia's First World War official historian and founder of the Australian War Memorial was Charles Bean. He landed with the Australian troops on Gallipoli and stayed with them at the front until the war's end. To conclude his final volume of the official history, he said this:

What these men did nothing can alter now. The good and the bad, the greatness and smallness of their story will stand. Whatever of glory it contains nothing now can lessen. It rises, as it will always rise, above the mists of ages, a monument to great-hearted men; and, for their nation, a possession for ever.

Australia's national anthem calls on us as a nation to rejoice that we are "young and free". We are also as a nation grateful for the legacy given us by these men and women, a legacy born of idealism and forged in bloody sacrifice.

Few people know more than Peter Burness about the role Australians played in the First World War. Australians at the Great War 1914–1918 represents the distillation of many years spent researching, and reflecting on, this important story. During the writing of this work Peter was generously funded by The De Lambert Largesse Foundation, and it is with deep gratitude that I acknowledge this support.

This highly illustrated book provides a clear explanation of Australia's role in the battles of the Great War. It is a story that should never be forgotten. As Charles Bean observed, it is indeed our possession for ever.

Dr Brendan Nelson
Director, Australian War Memorial

AUSTRALIA JOINS THE WAR

Australia entered the twentieth century as a newly federated nation brimming with optimism and hopes of peace and prosperity, but it soon had to face a world war that brought four years of hardship, commitment, and terrible loss of life. In 1914, on the other side of the world, events in the Balkans and across Europe plunged the world into a dreadful international conflict that would change the course of history and leave a legacy of grief, debt, and waste.

Australia was a young, progressive, and largely urban nation. The population was still under 5 million. Most of its citizens maintained an interest in European matters and had a close affection for Britain. There was never a doubt that it would stand with the rest of the British empire in time of strife. Once Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August after its invasion of Belgium and France, Australia was committed too.

The military machinery was soon under way. The Australian navy's ships began coaling, and inside the Defence Department heads were bent over plans to raise, equip, and despatch an army of volunteers to be called the Australian Imperial Force, under the command of Major General William Bridges, to stand beside Britain on the battlefields of Europe. Meanwhile, a small separate force, called the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) was sent off to seize the German New Guinea colonies.

Arthur Wardle, The empire needs men (1915, lithograph on paper, 74.8 x 50.4 cm, AWM ARTV00819)

The British lion calls on her dominions and colonies to provide troops for the war.

The 20,000-strong AIF contingent began leaving its home ports in September to assemble in St George's Sound at Albany, Western Australia. Twenty-six troopships were joined by ten from New Zealand, while two more took on local troops in Fremantle. On 1 November they were all under way, a convoy of eager men destined for the fighting front. But instead of going to Europe, as they had expected, these troops were diverted to defend Egypt and the Suez Canal, because Turkey had just joined the war on Germany's side.

The first contingent was just a beginning for the AIF. It would eventually grow into a large force comprising five infantry divisions and virtually two of light horse.

THE AIF

In 1914 military service was compulsory for young males in Australia, but it was only part-time. This militia was for local defence and not available for use beyond Australia. Following the outbreak of the war, it was necessary to raise a separate army for overseas service. Regarded as a part of the empire's overall effort, the new all-volunteer expeditionary force was named the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) by General Bridges. A similar thing was done in the Second World War, and that force became known as the Second AIF.

Coming from all walks of life, early volunteers in Broadmeadows camp outside Melbourne, already living in canvas tents and issued with rifles, have yet to receive their uniforms. AWM H18392

Men of the AN&MEF march to the wharf accompanied by family and friends. Sent to take over the German New Guinea colonies, they were the first troops to leave Australia in 1914. AWM H11567

Private William Fell, an experienced photographer, captured the sense of occasion in the assembly of an Australian and New Zealand troop convoy at Albany, Western Australia, in 1914. Fell later became part of the tragedy of the war, dying of wounds in May 1918.AWM P00252.002

On 9 November the convoy was in the vicinity of the Cocos Keeling Islands when an SOS message was received indicating that the SMS Emden, a heavily armed German raider, was there. HMAS Sydney, one of the convoy's escorts, was despatched and by mid-morning had found the enemy warship and destroyed it in an unequal contest. At home, Australians were thrilled to receive the news of this great victory.

Once in Egypt, the Australians and New Zealanders continued their training and together were formed into the ANZAC Corps, which was placed under the command of a British officer of the Indian army, Sir William Birdwood. The corps' initiation to battle came in an ambitious attempt to knock Turkey out of the war.

The plan was to have British and French warships pass through the Dardanelles Straits and directly threaten Constantinople. After an attempt by the navy to force the Straits failed, with the loss of three battleships, it was decided to mount a seaborne invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli peninsula, beginning on 25 April 1915.

Australian sailors from HMAS Sydney  row towards the shattered wreck of SMS Emden. The destruction of the German raider so early in the war thrilled Australians. It was to be their young navy's most famous triumph. AWM G01442A

George Coates and Dora Meeson, General William Bridges and his staff watching the manoeuvres of the 1st Australian Division in the desert in Egypt, March 1915 (1922–26, oil on canvas, 116.9 x 160.3 cm, AWM ART09425)

Instead of being sent to Europe, General Bridges' division remained in Egypt to undergo further training. While there, the war against Turkey became an immediate concern; on 25 April 1915 the division landed on the Turkish Gallipoli peninsula.

ANZAC

A corps is a large military formation, usually consisting of two or more divisions (each about 20,000 men). The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was at first formed in Egypt from the 1st Australian Division (commanded by Major General William Bridges) and a composite division called the New Zealand and Australian Division (commanded by Major General Sir Alexander Godley). The corps quickly became known by its acronym, created as a telegraphic code, "Anzac". Soon, the troops called themselves Anzacs, and the place where they landed on Gallipoli was also given the name. On the Western Front, following the expansion of the Australian and New Zealand forces, two corps were formed – these were called I ANZAC Corps and II ANZAC Corps. This lasted until late 1917, when the Australian divisions were brought together as the Australian Corps.

James Quinn, General Sir William Birdwood (1918, oil on canvas, 76 x 63.6 cmAWM ART03339)

THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN

In the early morning before dawn, battleships, destroyers, and troopships approached the Turkish coast where the Australians and New Zealanders were to land. The Australian division's 3rd Brigade was to be the covering force, with other brigades to come ashore throughout that day and the next.

Leaving the big ships, the heavily laden infantrymen were mostly towed in boats and then rowed the final distance to the shore. There was some confusion in the darkness, and the boats landed out of position. Once off the beach, the men faced high hills, cliffs, and ravines. The terrain was not what they had been told to expect, and the enemy fire began as soon as the first men came ashore. The traditional explanation blames strong currents, or even a change in orders, for the mix-up at the landing, but it is more likely that the task simply required more accurate navigation from those in the ships and the boats than was then possible in darkness.

At first, the Australians were met by a thin force of Turkish defenders and the main beach was swiftly taken. For a while, the hills around them provided some protection for the Anzacs, but these wild slopes, covered with thick prickly scrub, soon became a formidable barrier to further advance.

By 8 am 8,000 men, including the main force, were ashore. By the end of the day, there were twice that number. The beach at Anzac Cove was never the bloodbath that some writers and illustrators have depicted; most casualties occurred during the fighting that followed in the hills. Some men penetrated further that day than anyone would for the rest of the campaign, only to be cut off, surrounded and killed, or forced back. Just a few reached the third ridge, but they could not hold on. Meanwhile, the British troops, who had the vital task of landing at points on the tip of the peninsula at Cape Helles, were having mixed success. At some places they were machine-gunned even before stepping onto the shore.

George Lambert, Anzac, the landing, 1915 (1920–22, oil on canvas, 190.5 x 350.5 cm, AWM ART02873)

Leaving the boats that had brought them ashore, the troops were confronted by steep hills, gullies, and thick scrub. After the Anzacs scrambled up the slopes, heavy fighting took place along the high ground, particularly once the Turks brought up reinforcements.

HMS London (in the foreground), carrying Western Australian troops, was part of the fleet heading to Gallipoli. AWM A02465

By mid-morning the Turks had rushed up reinforcements. They had orders to fight to the death. The Turks met the Australians in the hills and fierce fighting took place, often at close range and sometimes with bayonets. Many positions were lost to the enemy's counter-attacks. The Turks continued to hold the main ridge and the heights, while the Anzacs clung to a narrow strip of hills overlooking their landing beaches that would soon come to be known simply as "Anzac".

As the day drew on, the casualties overwhelmed the medical services. With no firm front line, the fighting flowing and ebbing, and with no place to set up medical tents, problems quickly mounted. Worse still, no arrangements had been made for taking so many critically wounded men to the ships lying offshore before all the troops and stores were landed. It was early evening before boats and lighters became available, and many of the maimed and bleeding were sent off in filthy barges. By nightfall few of the wounded had received aid, and it is estimated that hundreds more lay in the hills, out of reach of help. The casualties' suffering became pitiful, and many died.

Despite innumerable brave acts and desperate endeavours, the day of the landing did not go well. Some feared the Anzacs would be forced back into the sea. That night a pessimistic Birdwood got a message to Sir Ian Hamilton, the overall commander of the campaign. "If we are to re-embark it must be at once," it said. The navy advised that this was not possible. Hamilton responded, sending the order: "You have got through the difficult business, now you have only to dig, dig, dig, until you are safe." A line was made and there the Anzacs held on, and that line did not change much for the rest of the campaign.

Australians wade onto the beach at Anzac while HMS Bacchante comes in close to give supporting fire. AWM A05292

The landing at Anzac. As the boats reach the shore in the early morning, the troops move quickly to the hills. AWM P02226.014

Australians moving under fire in the thick scrub in the hills overlooking Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915. AWM G00907

Troops clamber down rope ladders into boats to be taken ashore on the morning of the landing. AWM J05589

The news of the landing at Anzac became the basis of an enduring national legend. Back in Australia, the public thrilled at the stories of the fighting and the many heroic deeds performed by their countrymen, although it was a fortnight before detailed accounts appeared in the newspapers. Notifications of deaths or woundings were even slower in reaching many of the soldiers' families. An excited Australian public was told of the "success" of the landing and the gallantry of their troops, but was ill-informed about the human cost.

No one knows for sure how many Australians died on the first day as counts were not made until a short while afterwards, although 650 is a plausible estimate. Total casualties, including wounded, must have been about 2,000. The New Zealanders lost about 600. Remarkably, a month after the landing only 350 deaths had been listed in the Australian papers, despite almost double this number having died in the first 24 hours. The public might have been less enthusiastic had they known the real figure.

Australian wounded being brought down towards Anzac Cove for treatment and evacuation. AWM G00920

The Anzacs were ordered to dig in; the front line did not change much over the next eight months. AWM A03301

A Turkish machine-gun company marches up to reinforce troops defending the Gallipoli peninsula. AWM P04411.095

Ellis Silas, Roll call (1920, oil on canvas, 101.8 x 153.1 cm, AWM ART02436)

The artist, a member of the 16th Battalion, depicted the sad remnants of his company at Anzac, having been relieved after the first week of fighting.

The survivors of a company of the 7th Battalion, AIF, after their ill-fated attack at Krithia on 8 May 1915. The 2nd Australian Brigade and the New Zealand Brigade had been briefly sent to Cape Helles to help in a major British attack there. Rushed into action, they suffered appalling casualties. AWM A03308

Lance Corporal Albert Jacka won the AIF's first Victoria Cross when he drove off a heavy Turkish attack on 19–20 May 1915. He was later commissioned and extended his fame on the Western Front. AWM A03408

The weeks of bloody fighting that followed the landings took a further heavy toll on lives on both sides. At Anzac, the Turks had quickly contained the Australians and New Zealanders, after which the opposing forces repulsed each other's further assaults. Both sides were determined not to be beaten. On 15 May the Australian commander, Major General Bridges, was shot by a sniper; he died three days later. With the loss of Bridges, administrative control of the AIF was passed to Birdwood, bringing to an end the Australian government's wish that the force be commanded by an Australian.

The Turks made a particularly heavy attack on 19 May, throwing themselves at various strong points along the ragged front line. Machine-guns and rifle fire shot them to pieces. That day Lance Corporal Albert Jacka won the Australians' first Victoria Cross of the war for single-handedly defending a section of the trenches at Courtney's Post. So heavy was the slaughter throughout the day that it was not long afterwards that a short armistice was declared to allow the burial of the decomposing dead.

Months of more fighting failed to break the deadlock. Still, the British command did not abandon the campaign. More troops were provided and in August a fresh offensive was launched at Anzac with the objective of capturing the high ground, the northern peaks of the Sari Bair Range – Chunuk Bair and Hill 971. The British also made landings at nearby Suvla, although this was a distinct operation under separate command. Throughout that month there was fresh and determined fighting at all points, but few gains. The names of battles such as Lone Pine, The Nek, and Chunuk Bair became synonymous with brave sacrifice. The newly arrived 2nd Australian Division joined some of the action at Hill 60. Overall, the results were disheartening: the Turks still held the hills and by the end of the month the whole campaign had slipped back into stalemate.

The battle of Lone Pine is still remembered long after the other attacks conducted during August have faded from memory. Here there had been some small success. The Turks' trenches at Lone Pine were captured in a bayonet charge on 6 August, but it was in furious fighting over this ground throughout the following three days that some of the most remarkable actions were recorded. In that period, seven Australians won the Victoria Cross. The battle of Lone Pine is defined by the taking of enemy ground even after it was found that many of their trenches had been covered with logs, by the savagery of the fighting that followed with bombs and bayonets, by the cluster of high awards given, and by the high price paid – more than 2,000 casualties.

We now found that the attack on German Officers' Trench had failed. There was no sign of the New Zealanders on Chunuk Bair. A few shrapnel burst over our objective – but nothing in the nature of a bombardment. Nevertheless our order to attack [Quinn's Post] still stood.

Major George Bourne, The history of the 2nd Light Horse Regiment

Australian troops in the Turkish trenches at Lone Pine after having captured them in a charge on 6 August 1915. Days of fighting followed as the enemy tried in vain to wrest back their lost positions. AWM A02022

On 24 May 1915 a short armistice was called on Anzac to bury the dead following the Turks' futile attacks a few days earlier. It had become necessary for health reasons as the dead lay thick in no man's land, stinking and attracting swarms of flies. AWM H03920

THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT HORSE

Within weeks there was an acute need for reinforcements on Gallipoli. By mid-May three brigades of light horse had been landed to serve in the trenches – their regiments were mostly intact but they had been required to leave their horses behind. Some of the regiments were thrown into futile bayonet attacks on 7 August, sustaining terrible losses. At The Nek, four waves of men from the 8th and 10th Regiments were cut down by intense machine-gun and rifle fire before they could reach the enemy's lines; at Quinn's Post, an attack by the 2nd Regiment was destroyed as soon as it began; at Pope's Hill, men from the 1st Light Horse got well into the enemy's trenches even though, with most of them killed or wounded, they soon had to give them up. The courage of men charging into heavy fire epitomised the August offensive.

Frank Crozier, The beach at Anzac (1919, oil on canvas, 123.4 x 184.6 cm, AWM ART02161)

The Anzacs doggedly clung to a small strip of the Gallipoli coast that was only accessible by sea for supplies and reinforcements.

Unable to drive back the Turks, the Anzacs dug in on the slopes above the beach at Anzac. The whole place, occupied by men who were mostly tired and often sick, resembled a mining camp. AWM G00544

The failure of the August offensive doomed the rest of the campaign. Blame soon fell on Sir Ian Hamilton, and in October he was sacked. His replacement, General Sir Charles Monro, was quick to recommend abandoning the whole show. Being told this, but not accepting it, Lord Kitchener, the British War Secretary, went to see for himself. What he found convinced him too, and by early December the War Cabinet ordered a withdrawal. There was no time to delay as winter had arrived. Intense planning followed, with the hope of reducing the forces on the peninsula and evacuating the last troops under the noses of the unsuspecting Turks. Remarkably, they pulled it off; the last boats departed Anzac in the morning darkness on 20 December, bound for Egypt. British and French troops left Helles a few weeks later. The Australians had suffered 28,000 casualties in the eight-month campaign; the dead numbered 8,700.

In Egypt, by early 1916, the battle-worn divisions that had fought on Gallipoli were joined by large numbers of assembled reinforcements and more men arriving from Australia. The AIF was now a much larger force so the two divisions were able to expand to four, while a further division (the 3rd Division) was raised in Australia and sent straight on to Britain.

Lord Kitchener, the British Secretary of State for War, visited Anzac on 13 November 1915. He reluctantly accepted that the campaign was a failure and an evacuation was ordered soon afterwards. AWM H10354

C. Wall, Remember Gallipoli! (c. 1915, photolithograph on paper, 63.6 x 81.4 cm, AWM ARTV08939)

Heroic stories of recent battles were used to encourage enlistment throughout the war. In particular, accounts and depictions of the landing at Anzac were employed to inspire the nation.

The Anzac battlefield – the front line after the August fighting, 1915. Cartographer: Keith Mitchell.

FIGHTING IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM

From March 1916 the first of the re-organised AIF divisions sailed from Egypt and began arriving in France, on the so-called Western Front. A year earlier, Australia had committed four infantry brigades to the Gallipoli landing; further brigades of infantry and light horse came afterwards. Now, on the Western Front, they had four entire divisions (each of three brigades). These, the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Divisions, were initially sent to the region of the Belgian border to gain familiarity with some of the new weapons and tactics of modern warfare, including gas. They then moved into the front-line trenches near Armentières, in an area dubbed "the nursery".

Although the Australians were in a relatively quiet sector, there were periods of sharp fighting, shelling, and some heavy raids; by the end of June over 600 men had been killed. Only a few days earlier, Private William Jackson became the first man of the AIF to win the Victoria Cross in France. He rescued wounded members of his raiding party from no man's land until his arm was blown off by a shell burst.

By now the British army's main efforts in France were shifting to the Somme region, over 100 kilometres to the south, where, with the French alongside, a great offensive was launched on 1 July 1916. On this main front, the British attacks were repulsed with 60,000 casualties, including 20,000 dead, on the first day. Only a little ground was taken. Over the next few weeks the fighting and killing continued and the Australians soon became drawn in, with three of their divisions sent to join the struggle. However, the most recently arrived Australian division on the Western Front, the 5th, remained in French Flanders; there it went into the trenches opposite the shattered village of Fromelles, which sat on commanding ground behind the German front line.

British troops had fought around Fromelles in 1915 with heavy losses, and now the village was about to give its name to further tragedy. On the evening of 19 July the Australian 5th Division and the British 61st Division, both of them poorly prepared, attacked the Fromelles ridge in a diversionary attack intended to draw German attention from the allies' operations in the Somme.

The two divisions chosen for the battle were both new to the sector and lacked local battle experience. The men had to assault over open fields criss-crossed with drainage ditches and into the face of heavy machine-gun and artillery fire. Many fell under the shrapnel and machine-gun fire, while others were overwhelmed by German counter-attacks. The attack failed, with 5,500 Australian casualties and no ground taken. It was a cruel introduction to major combat, one from which the Australian division was a long time recovering.

Frank Crozier, Grave of a pal (1919, oil on canvas, 50.4 x 61 cm, AWM ART00219)

A lonely grave stands by the duckboards along which troops made their way across the fields of mud towards the winter front-line trenches.

The "Men from Snowy River" recruiting march passes over the Queanbeyan Bridge in New South Wales in January 1916. The eventual decline in voluntary enlistments caused Prime Minister Billy Hughes to try to introduce conscription. AWM P01095.001

Lieutenant General Sir William Birdwood addresses troops bound for France in March 1916. The Australians had been in large camps in Egypt and only after the Gallipoli campaign were they available to go to France to take part in the fighting on the Western Front. AWM G01527

Brigadier General H.E. "Pompey" Elliott, a veteran officer who commanded the 5th Division's 15th Brigade, later said: "Practically all my best officers, the Anzac men who helped to build up my brigade, are dead. I presume there was some plan at the back of the attack but it is difficult to know what it was."

Meanwhile, far to the south, further British attacks on the Somme had brought the front line close to the ruins of the village of Pozières. There, in darkness on 23 July, the 1st Australian Division made an assault supported by strong artillery fire. The shattered village was taken in hard and intense fighting and enemy counter-attacks were repelled. The Germans responded by pounding the area with their artillery. The capture of Pozières was a significant achievement, but in five bloody days the division lost 5,000 men. Sergeant Archie Barwick wrote in his diary: "Heavy fighting – simply murder ... men falling everywhere ... expecting death at every second. Dead and dying everywhere. Some men simply blown to pieces. Tired and sore at heart."

The 1st Division was replaced by the 2nd, whose first attack met with disastrous losses. In further fighting, the division captured some ground but suffered even more casualties – overall, almost 7,000 in 12 days. The 4th Division was the next to take part, pressing its attacks towards the adjoining Mouquet Farm. With this move, the Australians were trying to threaten the enemy's hold on positions at Thiepval, where British troops had been stuck fighting for weeks. However, in attacking on a narrow front the Australians became even more exposed to murderous shell-fire and yet more counter-attacks.

Troops in a farmyard shortly after their arrival in France. Following some initial local training, the men moved into the trenches in a relatively quiet sector of the front line near Armentières. AWM EZ0037

An Australian watches the German line with a periscope. The men are enjoying the warm summer sun while getting accustomed to trench routine. AWM EZ0006

TRENCH WARFARE

In 1914 the Germans invaded Belgium and northern France, and almost reached Paris before being stopped. In the developing deadlock, each side tried to outflank the other. The result was a line of trenches that eventually stretched from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border. The Germans named this the "Western Front" and, curiously, the allies adopted the term.

By the time the Australians reached the Western Front in 1916, the early war of movement had descended into siege warfare, with the advantage usually held by the defender.

Mortars, illumination flares, machine-guns, and the standard rifle and bayonet were normal trench weapons, with artillery, connected by telephone, remaining some way behind the front line but in constant support.

Each side tried to dominate "no man's land" between the opposing lines and rows of barbed-wire with patrols and raids. Raiders would be armed with a further array of grenades, knives, and clubs. Patrolling ensured that troops, even in defence, maintained an aggressive spirit and constant vigilance.

Men of the 2nd Division gaining trench experience near Bois-Grenier in June 1916. They have recently been issued with Lewis light machine-guns, steel helmets, and satchels containing cloth gas hoods. AWM EZ0007

Men of the 53rd Battalion wait in the trenches on 19 July 1916 as the time for the attack at Fromelles approaches. All the men in the photograph were killed or wounded soon afterwards. AWM A03042

Standing ready with bayonets fixed, men of the 53rd Battalion await the order to attack at Fromelles on 19 July 1916. AWM H16396

Australian dead lying among the German defences on 20 July 1916 following the ill-fated attack at Fromelles. AWM A01554

A signboard from one of the saps in the trench line (actually above-ground breastworks) from which the Australians attacked Fromelles on 19 July 1916. AWM RELAWM00543

We came out this morning as best we could. We are a very shaken lot. I saw some awful things although I never got a mark; we are all on edge... our nerves are wrecked. We lost some fine men.

Sergeant R.T. Baldwin, 27th Battalion, 7 August 1916

Gunners of an Australian 9.2-inch heavy artillery battery fired on German positions during the initial British Somme attacks, and then supported the Australian assault on Pozières. AWM EZ0147

THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY

The First World War was characterised by the spread of ever more destructive weapons and technologies. Greater firepower, trenches, and barbed wire rendered the use of cavalry and the older forms of warfare increasingly redundant. Advances in artillery design and production, the widespread adoption of the machine-gun, the efficiency of the modern bolt-action rifle, and the use of smokeless powder (cordite)transformed the battlefield even before aeroplanes and motor vehicles, including tanks, made an impact. The new form of warfare caused devastation on a scale not previously imagined.

Having arrived on the Western Front, the Australians soon saw the power of artillery to utterly transform the battlefield. Shrapnel tore men to pieces and high-explosive shells blew them to bits and demolished trenches and fortifications. Smoke and fumes covered the battlefield and to this could be added choking gas. Motorcycles, cars, lorries and big tractors were challenging the armies' traditional dependence on mules and horses. The steel helmet and gas mask appeared; the old Maxim guns were replaced by the modern Vickers machine-gun; the introduction of the Lewis light machine-gun brought changes to infantry tactics; aircraft were active in reconnaissance and observation; there was telephone communication and some use of wireless; and, in September 1916, the British used tanks for the first time.

SHRAPNEL

Artillery fire was the cause of the most casualties, and shrapnel was used by both sides. Shells bursting in mid-air pelted the ground with deadly metal balls. Highly favoured by artillery in the early years, shrapnel remained in extensive use, together with an increasing use of high-explosive shells, throughout the war.

Men going into and coming out of action. Two Australian columns pass at Casualty Corner on the road up to the Pozières battlefield. Those in the foreground are members of a machine-gun company. AWM EZ0079

Where Pozières had stood. Little remains of the village after the intense shelling by both sides. In the front are some sandbags marking the line of a former trench where Australians fought on 23 July 1916. AWM EZ0097

An abandoned trench line at Pozières during October 1916. Despite the fighting having passed on a few kilometres, the debris of war still lay on the old battlefield. AWM E00007

An Australian mortally wounded at Pozières is buried. A chaplain reads a service over the grave of a soldier at Bècourt near Albert in August 1916. AWM EZ0064

The three Australian divisions took their turns at Pozières, and each came out of the action exhausted and severely reduced from heavy losses. Then, with their numbers built up to only two-thirds strength, each division was sent into the inferno for a second time. By the end, over a period of 42 days, the Australians made 19 attacks, 16 of them at night; the casualties finally totalled a staggering 23,000 men, of whom 6,800 were killed.

For men thrown into the fighting at Pozières, the experience was simply hell. The battlefield had become the focus of artillery fire from both sides. Attacks went in, some ground was taken, and then the Germans would counter-attack. Throughout the action the fighting was wild, and all the time the shelling tore up the ground, folded the trenches in, and blew away any protection. Never before, or since, have Australian troops suffered under such intense and prolonged shell-fire.

Five Victoria Crosses were won over these terrible weeks. One was a posthumous award made to Private Tom Cooke, a 35-year-old husband and father whose hobby before the war had been playing cornet in a band. A Lewis (light machine-gun) gunner, he fought a lone action against impossible odds until he was killed. His body was never recovered.

The ordeal at Pozières, both physical and mental, was more than most men could put up with for long. Courage made little difference; what each man needed was endurance and luck. Stretcher-bearers worked to exhaustion, usually exposed to deadly fire, carrying men to the aid posts close behind the front line.

Sergeant Albert Coates recorded in his diary: "Many men buried and torn to pieces by high explosive. For a mile behind the trenches it is a perfect hell of shell-fire. Terrible sights. The stretcher-bearers are having a terrible time, some blown to pieces together with their living freight."

Finally, in early September the Australian divisions were taken out of the main battle and sent back to Flanders to recover and rebuild their strength. During this time the New Zealanders went into action, fighting an important battle near Flers, a few kilometres from Pozières; it was an action in which tanks were used for the first time.

WAR IN THE AIR

From small beginnings, aviation went on to play a significant role in the conduct of the war, and Australians had a part. The most important and immediate task for military aircraft was observation and reconnaissance in support of the forces on the ground. Artillery fire could be directed and the enemy's lines even photographed from fragile machines made of wood, fabric, and wire. Soon planes were also used in aerial combat and for bombing and ground attack. Australia had its own small Australian Flying Corps (AFC) and also contributed men to Britain's Royal Flying Corps, the Royal Naval Air Service and, from 1918, the Royal Air Force.

Troops from the 2nd Australian Division resting. They are on their way to Pozières to join in the Somme battles, where their losses would be heavy. AWM EZ0074

Will Dyson, Stretcher-bearers near Butte de Warlencourt (1917, charcoal and pencil with wash on paper, 48 x 60.4 cm, AWM ART02266)

Frank Crozier, Nurse and patient, 3rd Australian Casualty Clearing Station (c. 1918, oil on wood panel, 23.8 x 27.4 cm, AWM ART13338)

W.M. "Billy" Hughes, who had been Australian Labor prime minister since October 1915, saw that the scale of the fighting on the Western Front would make heavy demands on the nation. He had wanted to introduce conscription rather than rely solely on voluntary recruitment, and the losses at Pozières only reinforced his views. However, the party was split on his proposal, and he knew not to expect support in the Senate. Finally, the matter was put to the nation in a referendum on 28 October 1916. The "No" vote narrowly prevailed, but the population remained bitterly divided on the issue. Eventually forced from the Labor Party, largely over conscription, Hughes formed a new coalition government.

Meanwhile, in Flanders, where the divisions had been recovering, the Australians got the grim news that they were to return to the Somme. This time, the 5th Division was also included in the move. Back on the old battlefields once more, in November Australians made attacks near Gueudecourt and Flers, but the muddy conditions destroyed any hopes of success. The great battle of the Somme that had commenced in July came to an end on 18 November in the rain, mud, and slush of the oncoming winter.

Over the next months the armies were virtually immobile. Winter trench duty, with its shelling and raids, became almost unendurable and improved only a bit when the mud froze hard. The wet and the cold made the soldiers' lives wretched. Respiratory diseases, "trench foot" (caused by prolonged standing in the wet), rheumatism, and frostbite were common. Many survivors would later say that this was the worst period of the war and never did their spirits sink lower. Large-scale fighting did not resume until early 1917, when spring approached.

The 3rd Australian Division had been training in Britain and so missed the heaviest battles of 1916. It finally reached France in December that year and went into the front line near Houplines not far from Armentières. There it too had to suffer through the terrible winter conditions. There were now five Australian divisions in France, but they were not together.

The allies and the Germans had suffered heavily throughout the battle of the Somme. The high casualty rate nearly crippled the British volunteer "Kitchener army", partly made up of those who had responded to the famous "Your country needs you" appeals. Casualties also tore the strength from the AIF. Thereafter the British government relied on conscription to maintain its army's strength, but Australia would have to make do with reduced intakes of volunteer reinforcements.

By the start of 1917, after a couple of years of war, tens of thousands of the fit, willing, and adventurous Australians who had joined up early had already either been killed or wounded, or returned home maimed or suffering serious illnesses. It was now clear how destructive and deadly modern warfare was, and victory seemed nowhere in sight. It could be observed that the men of the AIF were now different, in character and attitude, from those in the heady days of patriotic enthusiasm at the beginning of the war.

Sir William Birdwood on a winter road. The I ANZAC Corps staff car passes an Australian transport column on a muddy Somme road. AWM E00083

Australian nurses outside their tent at No. 3 Australian General Hospital, a major centre for the treatment and evacuation of sick and wounded troops, Abbeville, France, 1917. AWM H16063

NURSES

Australian women played a vital role serving as members of the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), or with the British army nursing service, or under the auspices of the Red Cross. The AIF nurses were required to be unmarried and more than half were aged in their twenties. About 500 were regularly employed on the Western Front at any time and those in Casualty Clearing Stations were sometimes exposed to bombing; during 1917, six Australian nurses were awarded the Military Medal for "bravery in the field", and another award was made in 1918. Nursing the wounded and comforting the dying was stressful, physically demanding and often emotionally painful work.

Prime Minister Billy Hughes addresses the crowd in Martin Place, Sydney, during the conscription campaign in 1916. AWM A03376

Norman Lindsay, The last call (c. 1914–18, lithograph on paper, 23 x 15.2 cm, AWM ARTV05395)

A poster by Norman Lindsay intended to encourage voluntary enlistment in the AIF.

Frank Crozier, Snow scene near Mametz (1919, oil on wax-lined canvas, 76.2 x 127.6 cm, AWM ART02158)

For those who experienced them, the winter conditions on the Somme were an unforgettable ordeal of cold and misery. Some considered it the worst period of the war.

The arrival of the wounded from the trenches. A light railway carried some of the wounded on stretchers from the winter front line beyond Longueval in December 1916. AWM E00080

Men of the 5th Australian Division reached the Somme during the winter of 1916. They are making their way up the muddy route to the front line. Major offensives could not resume until the spring. AWM E00019

Frank Crozier, The mud of desolation (1918, oil on canvas, 50.8 x 61 cm, AWM ART00211)

Comfort and civilisation were far away from the desolation, the freezing cold, and the destroyed villages encountered during the winter on the Somme.

Gunner Frederick Priddle was buried in Gordon Dump cemetery under this cross made by his mates. It was recovered by his father after the war when it was replaced by a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone. AWM RELAWM12223

Visiting a mate's grave. Behind the front line stood numerous war cemeteries containing the dead from the Somme battles fought between July and November 1916. AWM E00166

George Benson, The ration limber: a Somme winter sketch (c. 1917, oil on canvas, 40.6 x 50.6 cm, AWM ART03599)

Through the winter, troops and supplies had to come across kilometres of desolate wasteland over which battles had been earlier fought.

A change in morale came briefly in late February, and hopes were lifted. Along the Somme front line and elsewhere, the Germans began to withdraw several kilometres to a newly developed defensive zone, which the British dubbed "the Hindenburg Line". The apparent retreat was a tonic for the troops, who advanced in pursuit, and several heavy actions took place. But it was an illusion – the Germans were only staging a voluntary withdrawal to stronger and better-prepared positions.

In March the Australians entered the large town of Bapaume, which the Germans had left in near ruins. Between the town and the Hindenburg Line was a scattering of small villages that the enemy had turned into a network of defended outposts. The fighting across open fields or to take each village was often sharp and heavy, and many Australians died around places such as Morchies, Beaumetz, Lagnicourt and Noreuil. By April the British and Australians were facing the Hindenburg Line.

Four AIF divisions (1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th) of I ANZAC Corps were part of the British Fifth Army under General Sir Hubert Gough, the general who had commanded the costly operations at Pozières. Gough wanted to attack the Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt to support an important offensive by the British Third Army to the north and French forces further to the south. However, the attack he launched with too little planning on 11 April was a disaster. Despite this, a further attack across the same ground was ordered for 3 May. In the second battle, which lasted a fortnight, the Australians broke into and took part of the Hindenburg Line. But sadly no great military advantage was gained by this, and in the two murderous battles the AIF lost a further 10,000 men, killed, wounded, or taken prisoner.

In the first battle of Bullecourt, Gough used the 4th Australian Division, with the 62nd British Division alongside. Rather than wait for sufficient artillery resources, he decided to employ a dozen tanks to lead the troops through the fields of enemy barbed wire. An attack set for 10 April was abandoned at the last moment when the tanks did not arrive. Instead, it went ahead next morning, with terrible results. As comrades fell around them, the Australians gamely fought their way into enemy trenches while constantly exposed to deadly machine-gun and artillery fire and heavy enemy counter-attacks. As the morning wore on and casualties mounted, the Australians were forced back to their own lines, while the tanks stood broken down or burning on the battlefield. With thousands killed or wounded, the men were bitter about such futile waste.

In the next attack on Bullecourt, on 3 May, the 2nd Australian Division again fought alongside the British. In the ensuing action, although the Australian brigade on the right faltered under deadly machine-gun fire, the 6th Brigade on the left got into the enemy trenches and tenaciously held on. The savage fighting continued for days; then the 1st Division relieved the exhausted 2nd before the 5th Division took its turn. Finally, after more than two weeks, the Germans gave up the blood-soaked fields and the depleted Australian battalions were withdrawn to recover. Writing later, Sergeant Walter Downing described Bullecourt as representing "for Australians a greater sum of sorrow and honour than any other place in the world".

ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY

Australian ships and crews saw service protecting ports and coastlines, keeping trade routes open, enabling the passage of troops, and directly engaging the enemy; the sinking of the German raider SMS Emden was the young RAN's greatest achievement. Many crews were away for a long time. At the beginning of the war, Australia possessed an impressive flagship, the battle cruiser HMAS Australia, and more than a dozen other commissioned ships. By 1920 it had grown to 37 vessels and more than 5,000 men. Submarines AE1 and AE2 were the only losses suffered; the latter had a heroic part in the Gallipoli campaign when it successfully negotiated a passage through the Straits on the day of the landing. Australian warships operated in the North Sea with the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet, and those of the Australian Destroyer Flotilla served in the Mediterranean escorting troop transports and patrolling for enemy submarines.

The band of the 5th Brigade marching through the rubble-strewn town square, Bapaume, 19 March 1917. AWM E00426

Troops resting outside Bapaume shortly before the town was entered, 17 March 1917. AWM E00345

An Australian machine-gun officer looks towards Bullecourt from a sunken road near Noreuil, 23 April 1917. AWM E00603

Australians outside a captured German dug-out in the Hindenburg Line, Bullecourt, May 1917. AWM E00518

Australian troops coming out of recent action pass through the village of Vaulx-Vraucourt, 20 April 1917. AWM E00589

THE DIGGER

By 1917 it was observed that the Australians were commonly referring to each other as "digger". It is said that the word had first appeared among the New Zealanders. However, it did have earlier and widespread use on the goldfields of Australia and now seemed most apt for men engaged in trench warfare. "Digger" fell into easy use, and it became an increasingly familiar form of address on the Western Front. It described the ordinary foot soldier, although Prime Minister Hughes was delighted when the nickname "the little digger" was extended to him. The popular soldiers' name has endured through later generations and other conflicts.

Following the failure of the allies' offensives in April and mutinies in the over-strained French army, the British were forced to assume an even greater role in the war on the Western Front. For Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, the commander-in-chief, this meant he could shift his attention back to Flanders where the British army had been engaged since 1914. Haig planned to attack from Ypres to drive the Germans from the dominant ridges surrounding the town, even hoping to reach the Belgian coast. But first he had to remove the threat to his flank by taking the Messines–Wytschaete ridge to the south.

The battle of Messines was fought on 7 June 1917, with the British forces under the command of General Sir Herbert Plumer, who was familiar with the region. He also ensured that the planning was thorough and the troops well prepared. For the Australians, this was their first large-scale encounter in Belgium and it marked the entry of the 3rd Division into a significant battle. While the other three divisions were recovering from their parts in the Bullecourt ordeal, the battle-worn 4th Division (which had made the 11 April attack) was brought across to join the new action.

The battle was launched by the explosion of massive mines detonated under the enemy's lines. These mighty eruptions, combined with devastating artillery fire, some tanks, and new platoon tactics for the infantry, soon overwhelmed a stunned and shattered enemy. Just south of Messines village, the 3rd Division attacked alongside the New Zealanders, re-establishing the Anzac connection in battle, and the 4th Division followed through. To the north there were heavy British attacks and by the evening an important victory had been won.

An Australian 18-pounder field gun in action on the Western Front. AWM E00600

Charles Wheeler, The death of Major Black (1923, oil on canvas, 129.7 x 236.8 cm, AWM ART03558)

Percy Black was killed while heroically leading his men at Bullecourt on 11 April 1917.

One of several portable bridges laid over the Douve River – actually little more than a stream – for the Australian advance in the battle of Messines, 7 June 1917. It was built by the 10th Field Company, Australian Engineers. One of these bridges is now in the Australian War Memorial's collection. AWM RELAWM00500; AWM EO1286

A steel helmet gathered by an Australian visiting the site where his friend, Private Charles Forbes, was killed 20 years earlier during the fighting at Messines. AWM REL29549

German prisoners of war carrying a wounded soldier during the battle of Messines, 7 June 1917. AWM E01414

Following the Messines success, Haig unleashed his main offensive on 31 July; it was the start of a string of battles that would become known as the Third Battle of Ypres. Results were disappointing, as unexpected wet weather slowed everything down. Australian infantry joined the big offensive when they took part in the battle of Menin Road on 20 September. Again Plumer was in charge, and a fortunate change in the weather brought better fighting conditions. The side-by-side advance of the 1st and 2nd Divisions took them across torn-up ground, dotted with enemy concrete blockhouses, to the splintered remnants of Polygon Wood, not far from the ruins of Zonnebeke.

The battle paused for a few days while the guns of the artillery were brought forward on hastily made roads for the next thrust. The 4th and 5th Australian Divisions took over and, as part of the wider effort, attacked on 26 September in what became known as the battle of Polygon Wood. The two divisions were in the centre of an attack by several divisions over a tenkilometre front. Charles Bean recorded: "The barrage which descended at 5.50 am... was the most perfect that ever protected Australian troops ... It seemed to break out... with a single crash. Roaring, deafening, it rolled ahead of the troops 'like a Gippsland bush fire'."

The fighting was bloody in both of the September 1917 battles. Many men fell under shrapnel and machine-gun fire. But with strong artillery support, the objectives were taken and enemy counter-attacks were held off. These systematic step-by-step advances, staying within range of the supporting artillery, moved the line forward by a few kilometres. But the push was made at a heavy cost; in just over a week there were almost 11,000 Australian casualties.

The British continued with their advance as Plumer brought in the II ANZAC Corps containing the 3rd Australian Division and the New Zealand Division. He proposed that they attack alongside the 1st and 2nd Australian Divisions, as part of a dozen divisions spread over a 12-kilometre frontage. For the first time divisions from I and II ANZAC Corps were fighting together. The Australian advance was now side-stepped to the left and rested on the ruins of Zonnebeke. The remains of Broodseinde village stood on a ridge in front of them. The enemy still held this higher ground and had an almost uninterrupted view across the British Ypres salient.

HILL 60

The battle of Messines was fought on a wide frontage with the Australian infantry taking part in the south of the line, while to the north, closer to Ypres, Australian tunnellers had a vital role in detonating part of the series of 19 massive mines set beneath the enemy's trenches. The 1st Australian Tunnelling Company had worked in the region for months, extending shafts and sometimes encountering similar German underground works. It was dangerous, uncomfortable, and stressful work. The culmination of their efforts was a huge explosion that had a devastating effect – and an impact that some said they felt in London. Many of the enemy were killed in the massive eruptions, and the survivors were stunned and demoralised, even before the infantry attacked. A memorial to the Australian company still stands on the site of Hill 60.

H. Septimus Power, Battle of Menin Road (1917, watercolour, charcoal, gouache on paper on cardboard, 54.2 x 76 cm, AWM ART03327)

The battle of Menin Road, the Australians' opening major attack in the 1917 Ypres campaign, was successfully conducted while the weather was still fine.

On 4 October the artillery bombardment opened at 6 am. The Australians started off along the front under the protective barrage. They advanced, says the official history, "with the casual manner that marked them in every battle; they lit cigarettes and moved forward". In some places the resistance was light but elsewhere, around blockhouses, there were many heavy and bloody actions. Lewis gunners again engaged their targets while bombers with grenades supported the assaults by the rifle and bayonet men. One by one, the objectives were taken.

Broodseinde was a success. "Indeed the most complete yet won by the British army in France [and Belgium] in that war," declared Charles Bean. Two weeks of fighting had culminated in the capture of this intermediate ridge and, for a moment, the troops again saw a glimmer of possible victory; at last it seemed the generals might have found a way to fight this war. Certainly, Haig believed the Germans were being beaten and would not be able to withstand much more hammering.

But then it began to rain. Five days later the 2nd Division suffered heavily in a further attack in the slimy muck. After that, the rain continued to fall, transforming the firm ground into a field of mud, which the artillery fire continually churned up; men struggled to move in these conditions while guns became bogged. Haig called for a final effort, but in this weather it was all too late.

On 12 October a further attack, involving the 3rd Division and the New Zealanders, assisted by the 4th Division, was made against the village of Passchendaele, a ruin atop the main ridge. The war photographer Frank Hurley wrote in his diary: "God knows how those red-tabbed blighters at headquarters expect our men to gain such a strong position when they have to drag themselves through the mud."

From the beginning of the battle the artillery support was weak. The infantry found it difficult to keep direction and pace in the conditions and there were still some blockhouses standing in the way. Amazingly, a small group of Australians reached the ruined village before they had to withdraw.

The Anzacs were now stuck in the mud in front of heavy machine-gun fire, while shrapnel and high explosives cut swathes through their positions. Everywhere there were reports of high casualties. By the afternoon the position was untenable and it was raining again. Then the enemy counter-attacks came. Wounded men lay in muddy slime while others, exhausted from their efforts, were simply stuck. Retreat, for those who could, was inevitable. In some places it was a rout, while elsewhere there were orderly withdrawals. The 3rd Division and the New Zealand Division each lost 3,000 men, while the 4th lost 1,000.

South Australians of the 27th Battalion in a trench looking over the ground taken in the battle of Menin Road, 20 September 1917. AWM E00774

The Westhoek signboard marking the area from where Australian troops successfully advanced in the battle of Menin Road, 20 September 1917. AWM RELAWM00605

The Canadians took over, taking the heights on 10 November in a series of local attacks with I ANZAC Corps providing some support on the southern flank. But by now, nothing more was possible. Four days later the last of the Australian divisions left the battlefield to rest and rebuild. Charles Bean later wrote that the "casualties, which amounted to 38,000 in the five Australian divisions in eight weeks... left for Australia an insoluble problem of reinforcements". Faced with continually mounting losses and a decline in recruiting, Prime Minister Hughes tried, for a second time, to introduce conscription by referendum. On 20 December 1917, he once again went to the people and returned with a narrow "No" majority vote. The AIF would have to rely on a declining pool of volunteers until the end of the war.

For the ordinary soldier, the beginning of 1918 seemed to bring only the prospect of another year of squalid trenches, continued fighting, and further deaths. The recent collapse of Russia in the wake of the Bolshevik revolution had released more German divisions for the Western Front. On the other hand, America had now joined the conflict on the allies' side.

There were about 120,000 Australians in France and Belgium, including hundreds of nurses, but the fighting units were under strain. Only the most optimistic could sustain any hope that the war would end in this year. The past years of fighting had affected all the armies and now another bitter winter only added to the soldiers' ordeals. With no resolution to the war in sight, there was a widespread feeling of exhaustion; the British had lost heavily at Ypres and the French, drained from years of fighting on their own soil, were holding out for the arrival of the Americans. There was also the threat that the Germans would attack in the spring of the new year.

Despite the declining situation, the Australians' morale remained high, and they retained a strong sense of national pride and identity, which they had continually built upon over the recent years since the landing at Anzac. By now the men were referring to themselves as "diggers"; and just before the end of 1917 the five divisions had been brought together as a national force called the Australian Corps. The two ANZAC corps ceased to be, yet the new corps remained under the command of Birdwood, the British general who had been leading Australians since the Gallipoli days.

THE MENIN GATE MEMORIALTO THE MISSING

The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres is the most imposing of four memorials bearing the names of British and Commonwealth troops who were killed in Belgium and have no known grave. The Menin Gate has almost 55,000 names, including among them over 6,000 members of the AIF. It was unveiled by Field Marshal Lord Plumer on 24 July 1927, a decade after the terrible fighting of the Third Battle of Ypres. The artist Will Longstaff attended the ceremony and then set about painting his famous Menin Gate at midnight in which the imagined ghosts of soldiers fill the fields in front of the huge monument. The Last Post is sounded under the memorial's great arch every evening.

The Western Front – the region of Australian operations, 1916–18. Cartographer: Keith Mitchell

A battered and blood-stained stretcher used by the 10th Field Ambulance during the fighting at Messines and in the Third Battle of Ypres. The names of those killed in the unit are carved into the handles. AWM REL09800

A collecting post for wounded on the Menin Road, 20 September 1917. AWM E00731

Fred Leist, Australian infantry attack in Polygon Wood (1919, oil on canvas, 122.5 x 245 cm, ART02927)

An inspirational young officer, Lieutenant John Turnour, was mortally wounded in the attack on a German blockhouse during the battle of Polygon Wood.

German dead around a concrete-block blockhouse the day after the capture of Polygon Wood, 21 September 1917. AWM E00777

The shattered remains of Polygon Wood, with the mound of the old shooting butte the only identifiable feature, 28 September 1917. AWM E01912

The grave marker of Sergeant Lewis McGee, 40th Battalion, who is buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery, not far from where he was killed during the battle of Passchendaele, 12 October 1917. McGee had won the Victoria Cross only a few days earlier. AWM P00735.005

PRISONERS OF WAR

More than 200 Australians were taken prisoner by the Turks on Gallipoli or in the fighting in the Sinai and Palestine. A much higher number, 3,840, were taken by the Germans on the Western Front, including 1,170 at Bullecourt in 1917. The harsh terrain and rampant disease in Turkey claimed the lives of 31 men. By the war's end, a total of 327 Australian prisoners of war had died in German captivity, although most of these deaths were from wounds received earlier in action.

GAS

Although they had experimented with poison gas earlier, the Germans' first effective use of gas was in Belgium in 1915. The allies soon adopted it as a weapon too.

Gas could be released from cylinders, or, more often, from shells fired by artillery or mortars. Three main types – chlorine, phosgene, and mustard gas – were widely used, and the Australians encountered all of these on the Western Front. Gas did not usually cause death and, if the small box respirator ("gas mask") was worn, the effects could be minimised. However, a heavy dose of gas could cause burning, blistering, vomiting, choking, and even suffocation. For many, the effects, particularly lung and bronchial ailments, lasted well beyond the war years. AWM E00825

Dead, wounded, and exhausted men in the railway cutting on Broodseinde Ridge, 12 October 1917. The photographer Frank Hurley described this scene in his diary: "I noticed one awful sight... Under a questionably sheltered bank lay a group of dead men. Sitting by them... sat a few living; but so emaciated by fatigue and shellshock that it was hard to differentiate." AWM E03864

Australians occupy one of two blockhouses, known as "Kit and Kat", on the muddy battlefield near Zonnebeke, 29 October 1917. Both blockhouses had been captured a little over a week earlier during the battle of Menin Road. On different occasions, they were used for shelter by British, Canadian, and Australian troops. AWM E01069

Teams of pack mules and a group of German prisoners passing near the Menin Gate on the outskirts of Ypres, 20 September 1917. AWM E04638

A column of Australians crossing the town square, with the ruins of the Cloth Hall in the background, Ypres, 25 October 1917. AWM E04612

A medieval town in ruins: the remains of St Martin's Cathedral and the Cloth Hall (at far right), Ypres, 8 October 1917. AWM E01117

H. Septimus Power, Stretcher-bearers (1922, oil on canvas, 92.4 x 117.5 cm, AWM ART03645)

Everyone admired the stretcher-bearers who would go out under fire, at the constant risk of their own lives, to bring in wounded men for treatment.

A hand-finished print of Frank Hurley's famous composite photograph of a first-aid post near Zonnebeke, 12 October 1917. AWM P05464.001

Fred Leist, Cloth Hall, Ypres (1917, oil on board, 51.4 x 63.2 cm, AWM ART02884)

The stark ruins of the Cloth Hall stand out amid the rubble of Ypres. The building was eventually rebuilt after the war.

Survivors of the battles at Messines and the Third Battle of Ypres parading after the presentation of medals, 4 December 1917. AWM E01275

FINAL YEAR ON THE WESTERN FRONT

In March 1918 the Germans struck. They launched a particularly large offensive in the Somme region. It was a powerful blow, using massed artillery and "stormtrooper" tactics. They quickly forced the British army back over 50 kilometres, and still they kept pressing forward. The situation was desperate; one after another, places so savagely fought over in past years were falling back into German hands. The enemy was advancing across the old battlefields and literally over the graves of the dead from previous fighting.

In the face of overwhelming force, General Gough's Fifth Army (to which the Australians had once belonged) fell back to within sight of Amiens. The old city, which was a vital communications hub, was under direct threat, and so too was the connection between the French and British forces. Meanwhile, the Australians were 100 kilometres away in Flanders. They were needed urgently, so the divisions were quickly gathered and rushed south to the Somme to fill gaps in the line. They were soon spread along the 20-kilometre front, from near Albert down to Villers-Bretonneux, extending out on both sides of the Somme River.

By the time the Australians took up their positions, the German offensive was beginning to lose momentum. However, the diggers were determined that they would not let the enemy pass. On 4 April the Germans attacked heavily at Villers-Bretonneux, but were driven off. The next day, they attacked at Hébuterne and Dernancourt and were again repulsed. The fierce German attack at Dernancourt was described by Charles Bean as "the strongest made against Australian troops in that war".

Finally, on 24 April, a major enemy attack was made on Villers-Bretonneux and British troops were again forced to withdraw. Only a quick and powerful counter-attack could save the situation. That night, two Australian brigades, with some British units, attacked in a pincer movement. In the face of machine-gun fire, the men fought their way over unfamiliar ground in the dark, yelling as they charged. By next morning – Anzac Day – large numbers of the enemy had been killed, captured, or driven back. The Germans had lost their chance to reach Amiens. They would not try again.

By the end of April the German offensive on the Somme had been halted and by June some ground was recovered. At this time there were major changes to the Australian Corps. The British Fifth Army was being re-formed and Birdwood, the most senior British general then leading a corps, was chosen to command it. His departure from the Australian Corps created an opportunity for an Australian to be placed in command. The appointment went to Sir John Monash.

Will Longstaff, Night attack by 13th Brigade on Villers–Bretonneux (1919, oil on canvas, 107.5 x 183.9 cm, AWM ART03028)

In a bold attack fighting in the dark, the Australians retook Villers-Bretonneux on Anzac Day 1918.

Amiens under German shelling; the enemy reached within sight of the principal Somme city during their March offensive. AWM H09699

Standing on the front line in April 1918, the town of Villers-Bretonneux was battered to rubble by artillery fire. AWM E02157

VILLERS-BRETONNEUX MEMORIAL

The hill overlooking Villers-Bretonneux – Hill 104 – was selected as the site for the Australian National Memorial even before the troops had returned home. The monument, which carries the names of the 11,000 AIF missing in France, was dedicated on 22 July 1938; it is dignified in form, but less imposing than the one that had been initially proposed. The Great Depression had interrupted plans, and it was not until 20 years after the war that the memorial was completed. It took only a couple more years before it was badly damaged during the Second World War. Remarkably, in early 1945, No. 464 Squadron, RAAF, was based not far from Villers-Bretonneux. When they visited the memorial, the Australian airmen found it broken, scarred, and bullet-pocked. After the war, all the serious damage was repaired and the memorial came into the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Today it is a centre of Australian commemoration in France and draws large crowds each Anzac Day.

An elderly French woman who remained in her house throughout the German attack on Villers-Bretonneux on 4 April 1918. AWM E02392

Major General Sir John Monash, commander of the 3rd Australian Division, shortly before his promotion to lead the Australian Corps. AWM E02350

Monash, the son of Jewish emigrants from Prussia, had been leading the 3rd Australian Division. As a general, he extended the skills he had learnt in peacetime as a civil engineer and militia officer in Melbourne; he was experienced in large enterprises, understood the need for management and detailed organisation, and recognised the importance of initiative and morale. And he keenly embraced the possibilities inherent in modern technology and new ideas. Not long after his appointment, other British generals holding senior appointments in the corps were also replaced by Australians.

The Australian Corps was now a large national force under Australian command. It was several weeks, however, before all five divisions could be brought together, because the 1st Division was still in Flanders. Like the other divisions, the 1st had been rushed to the Somme, but after marching towards the front line it had been turned around and sent back north to meet a further German threat developing there. The division took up the defensive line in front of Hazebrouck, where it played a vital part in the local fighting. It would be early August before it was reunited with the rest of the corps.

Meanwhile, the four Australian divisions on the Somme were consolidating along a line just to the east of Villers-Bretonneux. But the enemy still held high ground near Le Hamel, close to the Somme River, allowing them to dominate an area well beyond what they occupied. The allies were preparing to strike back, and Monash would commence with an attack at Le Hamel. To bolster his resources, he includedfour companies of Americans, and to acknowledge them the battle was set for 4 July, American Independence Day.

The infantry advanced, supported by tanks, aircraft, and lots of artillery. Launched in the early dim mist, by 5 am the action was over and the Australians were digging in on their objectives. It was a brilliantly planned attack, expertly carried out. The battle of Hamel is still regarded by many Australians as one of the AIF's greatest achievements on the Western Front. It certainly established Monash's reputation as a commander, proved the reliability of the new Mark V tanks (which were a great improvement on those used at Bullecourt a year earlier) and confirmed the artillery's dominance on the battlefield.

FIREPOWER

By 1918 artillery firing shrapnel, high-explosive, gas or smoke shells had come to dominate the battlefield and was causing the most casualties. The use of the now numerous guns and howitzers of various sizes had evolved into a science. In attack, the artillery could provide a creeping barrage, a curtain of fire for the infantry to advance behind, as well as counter-battery fire to neutralise the enemy's batteries.

Gas was widely used and equally despised by both sides. Tanks, constantly being improved, were increasingly effective. Aircraft, whose main task was observation, also undertook bombing, interception, and ground attacks. The ordinary infantryman was now cross-trained in a variety of arms, and many more automatic weapons were in use; wherever possible, each platoon now had two Lewis light machine-guns.

The French Prime Minister, Georges Clemenceau (centre), visited the Australians to congratulate them after their capture of Le Hamel. He was accompanied by General Sir Henry Rawlinson (fifth from the left), commander of the British Fourth Army. AWM P03631.212

Despite the Germans' successes earlier in the year, it was becoming evident that their formations were weaker and not up to the standard of a year or two earlier. For their part, the allies, strengthened by the arrival of the Americans, now looked to go on the offensive. On the Somme, General Sir Henry Rawlinson planned a mighty blow to be delivered by his British Fourth Army. The Australian Corps was given a central role in this, forming the spearhead of the attack, with the British III Corps on the left and the Canadian Corps on the right.

Surprise and firepower were the keys to the allies' plans. The battle was launched in thick fog on 8 August; the artillery opened up with a mighty storm of fire, which quickly put out of action many of the enemy batteries and machine-gun posts. The infantry advanced with tanks and under heavy protection from the guns. The Australians attacked on a frontage of two divisions, with two more divisions leap-frogging through to the final objective. There were many heavy encounters – the Australians suffered 2,000 casualties – but by the end of the day the enemy was left shattered, prompting their General Erich Ludendorff to a sombre declaration. This was, he said, Der schwarze Tag – Germany's "Black Day".

In this battle, sometimes called the "battle of Amiens", the Germans were forced back and the allies advanced as far as the heavily equipped infantrymen could hope to, while under fire, in a single day. But there was no let-up. Over the next weeks Monash kept driving his tired troops on. Now the Australians crossed the Somme again and pursued the Germans on both sides of the river, until they reached Péronne. Here, overlooked by the fortified hill of Mont St Quentin, the enemy could make a stand. Anxious to strike before the oncoming wet season, Monash hardly paused.

For centuries the important town of Péronne had been protected by the River Somme, with its tributaries and wide marshes, and by ancient ramparts. This time the German defenders also had modern artillery, barbed-wire, and machine-guns. Monash had no chance to bring up tanks or lay down a creeping artillery barrage. However, with well learned infantry tactics the 2nd Division boldly attacked Mont St Quentin, and the 5th was set against Péronne. Close fighting with bombs, bayonets, and machine-guns ensued. More Victoria Crosses were won here – eight over three days – than in any other Australian operation.

On 1 September Mont St Quentin was taken; its capture has been called by some the most brilliant achievement of the AIF. Péronne fell too.

George Bell, Dawn at Hamel, 4 July 1918 (1921, oil on canvas, 127.7 x 244 cm, AWM ART03590)

In a battle that combined artillery, infantry, tanks and aircraft, the Australians achieved a quick and decisive victory at Le Hamel.

Stretcher-bearers crossing the fields captured by Australian and American troops a few days earlier at Le Hamel, 7 July 1918. AWM E02692

Model of the Cerisy-to-Chipilly bridge built by the 3rd Australian Pioneer Battalion in August 1918. A single bridge, built from two destroyed by the retreating Germans, gave access to both sides of Somme River. AWM RELAWM04189

Noticeboard, with a piece of jumping-off tape attached, used during the assembly for the battle of Hamel, 4 July 1918. AWM RELAWM00781

LIFE BEYOND THE TRENCHES

Behind the lines in France there were small villages and long straight roads lined with trees running through rich agricultural land with fields of corn, beet, and wheat. Spread among these there were also headquarters, billeting places, rail centres, supply bases, and training areas. Hundreds of men were often accommodated in a village's barns, stables, and lofts. Some centres had longed-for warm baths, delousing facilities, and laundries. When free from training or other tasks, troops might visit village cafés and estaminets for a plate of egg and chips and glasses of beer or wine. It was also an opportunity to get a glimpse of domestic life.

Brigadier General T.W. "Bill" Glasgow commanded the 13th Brigade at Dernancourt and Villers-Bretonneux before being promoted to command the 1st Australian Division. AWM E02807

Australians resting at Querrieu. The troops were often billeted in village barns, lofts and stables. AWM E02176

Will Longstaff, 8th August, 1918 (1918–19, oil on canvas, 107 x 274 cm, AWM ART03022)

The Australians were at the spearhead of the British advance that struck a vital blow against the enemy on the Somme on 8 August 1918.

A platoon of the 29th Battalion, severely reduced in strength, receiving orders before the final advance on 8 August 1918. AWM E02790

Following the success of the first phase of the attack, men of the 5th Brigade gather around a British tank, 8 August 1918. AWM E04922

The sword used by King George V to bestow a knighthood on Sir John Monash at his headquarters at Bertangles, Somme, 12 August 1918. AWM REL/16089

Model of British Mk V tank presented to Sir John Monash by the commander of the 5th Tank Brigade on 4 July 1918. Tanks provided vital support to most major Australian operations in 1918. AWM RELAWM15132

King George V congratulates Sir John Monash, following his investiture as a KCB on the steps of the Australian Corps headquarters at Bertangles, Somme, on 12 August 1918. AWM E02839

Men of the 6th Brigade move up for their final assault on Mont St Quentin, 1 September 1918. AWM E03139

While an artillery barrage falls on Mont St Quentin, men of the 24th Battalion wait to attack, 1 September 1918. AWM E03142

Fred Leist, Capture of Mont St Quentin (1920, oil on canvas, 122.3 x 245 cm, AWM ART02929)

The fortified hill of Mont St Quentin blocked the way of the British advance until captured in a brilliant attack on 1 September 1918.

After the capture of Mont St Quentin, the Germans could do little more than stage a fighting withdrawal towards their Hindenburg Line. But by this time the Australians' casualty list had become crippling. The AIF was receiving less than half its needed reinforcements. As the months passed, the strain had got worse. Sometimes battalions had only 200 riflemen; a strong battalion might have 350, less than half its full establishment.

The Australian Corps tried unsuccessfully to maintain its brigades at a strength of four battalions, although the British army was already operating on three to each. In April, three battalions, too weak to continue, had been forced to disband. In September there was an outcry at the proposal to do away with more. Eventually, after further casualties, reductions became inevitable and several more proud battalions went out of existence.

By late in the year, with the winter coming, it had become a race against time to break through the Hindenburg Line's wide defensive zone of machine-guns, artillery, barbed-wire, trenches, and tunnels. Although Monash's Australians were desperate for a rest, he kept them advancing and on 18 September they forced the enemy back onto his main line near the St Quentin Canal. Then Monash was offered the use of the Second American Corps.

In his climactic attack on 29 September 1918 Monash had more American infantry than Australian under his operational command. The so-called "doughboys" were strong and eager, while the diggers were experienced and battle-wise. The Americans were to lead the attack and the Australian divisions would follow through onto the final objective.

The battle began poorly. On the left the Americans' attack faltered under murderous fire, while elsewhere their inexperience showed and they sometimes advanced too far without mopping up strong points as they went. The Australians following through had to fight themselves out of trouble. Fortunately, British troops attacking on the right threatened to outflank the enemy, who fell back. During the next week the Australians fought their final battles around a scatter of villages before handing over to the Americans and going off, at last, to rest and recover. The last Australian infantry battle was fought at Montbrehain on 5 October 1918. The Germans were now retreating rapidly. The Australian losses in the final year of the war on the Western Front totalled over 12,000 killed and 36,000 wounded.

THE LAST TO FALL

After success at Montbrehain on 5 October 1918, the last AIF battalions were withdrawn to join all the others sent to rest and recover from the recent battles. Just a handful of Australian units, including some artillery batteries, continued to serve at the front for a little while longer. Among them were tunnellers, now being used on general engineering tasks including bridge-building, and a couple of AFC squadrons. On 4 November 1918 – a week before the war's end – three Australian pilots (two of them were aces), and three tunnellers working with a British army attack were killed; they were the last Australians killed in action on the Western Front.

British tanks accompanying the American and Australian troops moving into action in the attack on the Hindenburg Line, 29 September 1918. AWM H12514

In late 1918 most Australian platoons operated with two of these Lewis light machine-guns. AWM RELAWM36378

British 18-pounder field gun. The fire from artillery of different sizes dominated the battlefield. AWM RELAWM19250.001–002

Will Longstaff, Breaking the Hindenburg Line (1918, oil on canvas, 127 x 234 cm, AWM ART03023)

British, American and Australian troops attacked the Hindenburg Line on 29 September 1918. The hard-fought breakthrough forced the enemy into a hasty retreat.

The last action of the Australian infantry on the Western Front was at Montbrehain on 5 October 1918. AWM EO3779

Major General Sir Talbot Hobbs with Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig. Once the war ended, Hobbs took over command of the Australian Corps from Monash. AWM E04972

THE LIGHT HORSE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Between 1916 and 1918, while five Australian divisions served on the Western Front, other troops were fighting against the Turkish Ottoman forces in Egypt, Palestine and Syria. These were the mounted units of the Australian Light Horse. The light horsemen had a different role and organisation from that of the infantry. They also tended not to use the Australian soldiers' description of "digger". Instead, they called each other by the everyman's nickname, "billjim". The name did not survive long into peacetime. Many of the regiments wore emu plumes in their hats as part of their distinctive identity.

The light horse had been around from the beginning. In 1914 it had been proposed that a mounted brigade accompany the first contingent sent to the war. Within weeks, it was announced that this contribution would be expanded and a further brigade was formed; by October, a third had followed. Eventually, there were five AIF light horse brigades forming the larger part of two mounted divisions.

Australians considered the light horse trooper as the military embodiment of the Australian bushman. In stereotype, at least, he combined the rural pioneers' qualities of hardiness, independence, and initiative with those of the natural soldier. Colonel Harry Chauvel, who had a long association with the bush and the military, was given command of the original 1st Light Horse Brigade. He would soon become the best known light horseman of all.

The light horse did not take part in the famous Gallipoli landing in April 1915 and for a while the regiments thought they had been side-lined. They were soon needed, however, so they went to Anzac without their horses to serve in the trenches. When the infantry went off to the Western Front after the Gallipoli campaign, it seemed once again that the light horse had been left behind. But in the forthcoming Middle East operations against the Turks, undertaken across desert, hills, and plains, they were able to demonstrate their courage, endurance, and mobility. The light horse filled a local need and soon proved invaluable.

George Lambert, The charge of the Australian Light Horse at Beersheba, 1917 (1920, oil on canvas, 122.7 x 247.1 cm, AWM ART02811)

Depiction of the famous action of the 4th and 12th Light Horse Regiments when they captured the town on 31 October 1917.

In 1916 the three light horse brigades (each of three regiments) were placed with the brigade of New Zealand Mounted Rifles to form the Anzac Mounted Division and put under Chauvel. Next year a further division, the Imperial Mounted Division, was formed by taking the 3rd Brigade and adding the 4th Brigade. In June it was renamed the Australian Mounted Division. When the 5th Brigade was created in 1918, it too was included.

The Australians fought their first big mounted action at Romani; then, having repulsed the Turks' push, they advanced beyond the desert of the Sinai. By mid-1917 the British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, was anxious for success in Palestine. He appointed General Sir Edmund "Bull" Allenby to take over from General Archibald Murray, who had suffered two reverses at Gaza. Almost 20 years earlier, Allenby, a cavalryman, had worked with some of the Australians in the Boer War. Shifting reluctantly to the Middle East from command of the Third Army in France, he took charge of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force from June 1917 and quickly stamped his authority on it.

Australia's Harry Chauvel had already been knighted and, since April, was leading the Desert Mounted Column. Allenby now appointed him to lead the newly named Desert Mounted Corps and thus confirmed him as the first Australian in permanent command of a corps with the rank of lieutenant general. Meanwhile, more men, guns, and equipment were sent to the Middle East; Lloyd George made it clear that he wanted the capture of Jerusalem by Christmas. But Gaza still stood in the way.

For the third attempt on Gaza, Allenby undertook to make an attack at Beersheba. This provided the light horse with the opportunity to create its own legend. On 31 October 1917 the British assault began. There was hard fighting through the day, but progress was slow and time was running out. It became vital that the horses get water. Finally, the light horsemen were ordered to make an audacious move.

Brigadier General William Grant was a university-educated Queensland pastoralist. Now he would lead a brigade in what has come to be regarded as one of the last cavalry-style charges in history. At 4.30 pm squadrons of the 4th and 12th Light Horse Regiments – about 800 horsemen – set off at the trot. They were armed with bayonets instead of cavalry swords. Over the last few kilometres they charged at full pace. Some men fell under rifle, machine-gun, and shrapnel fire, but the lines of the charging regiments were an unstoppable force. Beersheba and its wells were taken, and Gaza was abandoned by the Turks after some more fighting on 6 November. The British advanced and the Turks withdrew from Jerusalem on 9 December. Lloyd George got his Christmas present.

Beersheba remains the light horse's best remembered battle, but tends to over-shadow other operations that were more gruelling, more brutal, and more costly. The ill-fated advances across the Jordan valley that followed, for example, made heavier demands on the men and their horses. After suffering reverses, the British could do little more throughout the summer. The light horse was stuck in the Jordan Valley, contending with heat, flies, lice, scorpions, dust, and sickness. The official war historian, Charles Bean, called it their "hardest service in the war".

From time to time there was talk of sending the light horse to the Western Front, but this did not happen. There were some changes though, and in 1918 the Australian Mounted Division was issued with swords, allowing them to fight from horseback in the old manner of cavalry. In September Australians took part in a big British offensive on the coastal flank that combined artillery, infantry, and mounted troops in a largely cavalry role. The AFC's No. 1 Squadron played a part too. The breakthrough forced the Turks to retreat with the light horse in pursuit. Finally, the Australians cemented their reputation by their part in the climactic capture of Damascus.

Throughout the war the light horse regiments were at the centre of the British army's achievements in the Sinai and Palestine. An army from a nation not 20 years old had won victories across some of history's most ancient battlegrounds. They were there from the initial advance from the Suez Canal until the defeat of the Turkish forces.

Henry Gullet, the war historian, observed them around Damascus: "They rode, very dusty and unshaved, their big hats battered and drooping, through the tumultuous populace of the oldest city in the world, with the same easy, casual bearing, and the same self-confidence that are their distinctive characteristics on their country tracks at home."

The light horsemen did not share all of the ordeals that faced their countrymen on the Western Front. But they fought long and hard campaigns over great distances, often in extremes of temperature and weather, and sometimes across terrible country. Their sacrifice and achievements, and the fate of their horses, which had to be left behind after the war, are a unique part of the story of Australia in the war. In these operations, about 1,500 men were killed in action or died of wounds or from other causes; sickness and disease took a particularly heavy toll.

THE HORSES STAYED

It is estimated that 130,000 horses left Australia during the war. With the single exception of General Bridges' horse, none would return when it ended. In the Middle East it was decided that the army's horses would be sold, transferred to the British or Indian armies, or shot. It was primarily an issue of quarantine and cost. Many Australian troopers said they preferred to shoot their "walers" (a name long ago given to horses bred for the military that were described as being from New South Wales) rather than have them put to cruel use. In later years, whenever light horsemen spoke of the war, the talk quickly turned to their beloved horses, and the tragedy of leaving them behind.

Men of the 1st Australian Light Horse Brigade watering their horses in January 1918. AWM B01507

A former light horseman, Captain Ross Smith, a leading pilot with No. 1 Squadron, AFC, with his observer and their Bristol Fighter at Mejdel near Jaffa in February 1918. The Australian squadron worked closely with the Desert Mounted Corps and Lawrence's Arabs. AWM P03631.013

Troops of the 5th Light Horse Regiment holding the bridgehead at Ghoraniye, Palestine, in April 1918. AWM B00010

H. Septimus Power, Damascus incident (1923, oil on canvas, 158 x 237.5 cm, AWM ART03647)

The 10th Light Horse Regiment entered Damascus on 1 October 1918. They were riding to cut off the Turks' retreat along the Homs Road.

The emu-plumed slouch hat came to proudly symbolise the light horse, although not every regiment adopted the feathers. AWM REL/07732

A light horseman camped on a hillside in the hot and inhospitable Jordan Valley during July 1918. AWM J05984

Egypt and Palestine – the region of light horse mounted operations, 1916–18. Cartographer: Keith Mitchell

THE WAR ENDS

The end came abruptly. In the early morning of 11 November 1918 the Germans signed an armistice, and a few hours later the fighting stopped. Turkey had signed an armistice less than a fortnight earlier. On all sides, what mattered was to bring the troops home. For the Australians, this would take another year.

The Australians had been spared none of the horrors of the battlefields. They had come through battles whose names are now synonymous with slaughter; on the Western Front the diggers had faced the most destructive weapons then available, including poison gas, liquid fire, machine-guns, and crashing artillery. And yet, until the war's final months, they had still been leading in battle and drawing praise for their courage and irrepressible spirit.

The 60,000 Australian dead lay across numerous battlefields, under temporary markers, or were simply "missing". In the following decades their sacrifice would be acknowledged by the building of war cemeteries and memorials. Among the survivors were tens of thousands who had been wounded, maimed, blinded, or driven mad.

The armistice brought victory, but little sense of triumph. Back home, there seemed too little to show for the dreadful loss of lives and all the anguish and disruption. Yet Australia had changed. Amid the sorrow and suffering, there was a pride in the young country's achievements and a new confidence about its place in the world. Australians had played their part on the famous battlefields of the Middle East and Europe. They had helped preserve liberal democracy, freed invaded territories, and prevented the German domination of Europe – and they had brought fame to their nation.

But they did not yet know the poignant truth that it would all have to be done again by the next generation.

Will Longstaff, Menin Gate at midnight (1927, oil on canvas, 137 x 270 cm, AWM ART09807)

The artist was present when the Menin Gate Memorial was dedicated to the missing in 1927. He imagined the ghosts of those men passing by.

A member of the 27th Battalion attends the grave of a comrade at Franvillers, Somme, a few months after the war. AWM J00030

ANZAC DAY

The first Anzac Day was conducted on 25 April 1916 on the anniversary of the Gallipoli landing; it was the start of an enduring national annual commemoration. The form of the day soon came to embrace solemn services for the dead as well as public acknowledgement of the surviving veterans. Like the war memorials scattered across the country, Anzac Day gave some consolation for bereaved families. By 1925 huge Anzac Day marches were being conducted in all the main Australian cities. Smaller places also had their observances. Most states marked the day with a public holiday, and by 1927 they all did. Servicemen and women, and families, of the later conflicts have accepted Anzac Day as theirs too. Its importance as a national day in Australia and New Zealand remains undiminished.

King George VI addresses the assembled crowd at the dedication of the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux in July 1938. AWM H17455

Citizens of Herberton, Queensland, commemorate Anzac Day in 1944 around their local war memorial. AWM 065880

First World War veterans march down St Kilda Road, Melbourne, on Anzac Day, 1946. AWM 127204

The Australian Imperial Force is not dead. That famous army of generous men marches still down the long lane of its country's history, with bands playing and rifles slung, with packs on shoulders, white dust on boots, and bayonets, scabbards and entrenching tools flapping on countless thighs.

Charles Bean, Australian official war historian (1942)

An Australian sculptor working in Rome, Dora Ohlfsen produced this medallion for sale in Britain and Australia, with the proceeds going to disabled Australian and New Zealand veterans. AWM REL/15692
INDEX

  * A
  * Abbeville
  * AE1, HMAS
  * AE2, HMAS
  * Albany, WA
  * Albert
  * Allenby, Sir Edmund "Bull"
  * Amiens
  * ANZAC Corps (I)
  * ANZAC Corps (II)
  * Anzac (Cove)
  * Anzac Day
  * Armentières
  * Australia, HMAS
  * Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS)
  * Australian Corps
  * Australian Flying Corps (AFC)
  * Australian Imperial Force (AIF)
  * Australian Light Horse
  * Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF)
  * Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC)

  * B
  * Bacchante, HMS
  * Bapaume
  * Barwick, Sergeant Archie
  * Bean, Charles
  * Beaumetz
  * Bécourt
  * Beersheba
  * "billjim"
  * Birdwood, Sir William
  * Black, Major Percy
  * Bois-Grenier
  * Bourne, Major George
  * Bridges, Sir William
  * Broodseinde
  * Bullecourt

  * C
  * Cape Helles
  * Casualty Corner
  * Chauvel, Sir Harry
  * Chunuk Bair
  * Clemenceau, (French) Prime Minister Georges
  * Coates, Sergeant Albert
  * Cocos Keeling Islands
  * Conscription
  * Constantinople
  * Cooke, Private Tom
  * Courtney's Post

  * D
  * Damascus
  * Dardanelles Straits
  * Dernancourt
  * "digger"
  * Douve River
  * Downing, Sergeant Walter

  * E
  * Egyptian Expeditionary Force
  * Elliott, Brigadier General H.E. "Pompey"
  * Emden, SMS

  * F
  * Fell, Private William
  * Flanders
  * Flers
  * Fromelles

  * G
  * Gallipoli
  * Gaza
  * Ghoraniye
  * Glasgow, Sir William
  * Godley, Sir Alexander
  * Gough, Sir Hubert
  * Grant, Brigadier General William
  * Gueudecourt
  * Gullett, Sir Henry

  * H
  * Haig, Sir Douglas
  * Hamel, Le
  * Hamilton, Sir Ian
  * Hazebrouck
  * Hébuterne
  * Hill
  * Hill
  * Hill 971
  * Hindenburg Line
  * Hobbs, Sir Talbot
  * Houplines
  * Hughes, Prime Minister, William Morris
  * Hurley, Frank

  * J
  * Jacka, Lance Corporal Albert
  * Jackson, Private William
  * Jerusalem
  * Jordan Valley

  * K
  * King George V
  * King George VI
  * Kitchener, Lord
  * Krithia

  * L
  * Lagnicourt
  * Lloyd George, (British) Prime Minister, David
  * London, HMS
  * Lone Pine
  * Longueval
  * Ludendorff, General Erich

  * M
  * McGee, Sergeant Lewis
  * Menin Gate Memorial
  * Menin Road
  * Messines
  * Monash, Sir John
  * Monro, Sir Charles
  * Mont St Quentin
  * Montbrehain
  * Morchies
  * Mouquet Farm
  * Murray, Sir Archibald

  * N
  * Noreuil

  * P
  * Passchendaele
  * Péronne
  * Plumer, Sir Herbert
  * Polygon Wood
  * Pope's Hill
  * Pozières
  * Priddle, Gunner Frederick

  * Q
  * Querrieu
  * Quinn's Post

  * R
  * Rawlinson, Sir Henry
  * Romani
  * Royal Australian Navy (RAN)

  * S
  * Sari Bair Range
  * Sinai, the
  * Smith, Sir Ross
  * Somme, the
  * Somme River
  * St Quentin Canal
  * Suez Canal
  * Suvla
  * Sydney, HMAS

  * T
  * The Nek
  * Thiepval
  * Turnour, Lieutenant John

  * V
  * Vaulx-Vraucourt
  * Victoria Cross
  * Villers-Bretonneux

  * W
  * Western Front
  * Westhoek

  * Y
  * Ypres

  * Z
  * Zonnebeke

Published in 2015 by Murdoch Books, an imprint of Allen & Unwin

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Author: Peter Burness, Australian War Memorial Lambert Gallipoli Fellow
Publisher: Diana Hill
Designer: Brett Hatherly of Fivefold Creative
Cartography: Keith Mitchell
Editor: Robert Nichols
Australian War Memorial project team: Kelda McManus, Kate Burge, Charis May, Multimedia Team
Production: Mary Bjelobrk

Text and design © Australian War Memorial 2015
Every reasonable effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright materials in this book, but in some instances this has proven impossible. The Australian War Memorial will be glad to receive information leading to more complete acknowledgements in subsequent printings of the book and in the meantime extend their apologies for any omissions.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

A cataloguing-in-publication entry is available from the catalogue of the National Library of Australia at www.nla.gov.au
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 9781925266436 (ebook).

Colour separation by Splitting Image, Clayton, Victoria
Acknowledgements

A century since the Great War all those who fought in it are gone. This means today there are among us many who had a close and personal contact with these people, while at the same time there is a generation, many of them now young adults, who did not know them at all. This small book is an attempt to hold on to the memory of these men and women, and to provide an outline of what they did and why we have an obligation to remember them.

The book was the idea of Mary-Lou Pooley, and Mark Small made sure it happened. The De Lambert Largesse Foundation provided me with the resources to write it. Robert Nichols was invaluable as a sounding board, a superb editor and a friend. Kelda McManus kept the project on track, and with good humour. I am also grateful to others on the Memorial's staff, Ashley Ekins, Andrew McDonald, Kate Burge, Charis May, and the Multimedia Team, for their work on this publication. The Memorial's Director, Dr Brendan Nelson, willingly contributed the foreword. The designer, Brett Hatherly, provided an outstanding design, and Keith Mitchell did the same with the maps.

Finally, I am grateful to Murdoch Books for taking on this project and bringing it to completion.

Peter Burness

Canberra, May 2014

PETER BURNESS

Australian War Memorial Lambert Gallipoli Fellow

Peter Burness is a senior historian at the Australian War Memorial where he has worked since 1973. Formerly Head of the Military Heraldry and Technology Section and a senior curator in the Exhibitions Section, he has been involved in numerous travelling, temporary, and permanent exhibitions. He has a special interest in the First World War. Peter is also the author of The Nek: a Gallipoli tragedy (2nd ed., 2012).

Australians at the Great War is an authoritative and concise survey, in words and over 120 images, of Australia's involvement in the 1914–1918 war. This highly illustrated book features works of art, weapons and vehicles, and contemporary photographs from the Memorial's National Collection, as well as maps locating the main battles. Peter Burness provides an explanation of Australia's role in the Great War, from the Gallipoli campaign to the fighting in France and Belgium, and the actions of the light horse in the Middle East. He also looks at the war years on the home front, and the end of the war and its remembrance.

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