Our great-hearted men / Peter Brune. Our great hearted men : the Australian Corps and the 100 days

Collection type	Library
Author	Brune, Peter, 1951-, author.;
Call Number	355.30994 B894o
Document type	Monograph
Year	2019. 2019. copyright2019.
Pagination	457 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits, maps ; 25 cm.
Publisher	HarperCollins Australia, HarperCollins Australia,
Note	"Hamel. Amiens. Mont St Quentin. Peronne. Hindeburg Line"--Cover. Includes bibliographical references and index. The AIF and the Hundred Days Battlefields such as Gallipoli, Fromelles, Pozieres, Bullecourt and Passchendaele are burnt into the Australian Great War psyche. Unfortunately the sheer guts, fortitude and sacrifice of the diggers in those battles had oftenbeen wasted by poor leadership and planning. From an Australian perspective, such sacrifice engendered bitterness and frustration, which resulted in an emergent sense of Australian nationalism. The AIF now sought a unification of its five divisions to fig ht under its own command and administration.By mid-1918, after the calamitous German March offensive in which 1200 square miles of hard-won territory had been lost, the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) had begun to learn its lessons. In just 100 action-p acked days Germany was brought to its knees. And Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash and his Australian Corps played a critical role in that stunning victory. In this authoritative account of the 100 days, Peter Brune traces the painstaking BEF acquisition of its tactical doctrine with regard to its artillery, tanks and its air force. And the consequence of this knowledge was a sophisticated inter-locking all arms approach to war: incorporating coordinated firepower rather than the futile expenditure of ma npower. However, it is Brune's use of participants' diaries that brings an immediacy to his story. The reader will be taken to the bloody interface of battle, hear the voices of some of the Australians involved, and gain a sense of the cost of ultimate vi ctory.
Place made	Sydney : Sydney :

Abstract

Michael -- Sharpening the tolls -- An enormous intellect -- The physical audacity -- ...so I drove over them -- ...the finest fighting day I have yet had -- ...the enemy''s invisible reaction -- Our horses hated it and whimpered -- ...an ignorant, wonderfu l lot of fools -- ...a stunning achievement -- ...some damn good men among them -- ...one dead man to every 2 yards of trench -- The equal of any -- ...great hearted men -- Appendix I : classification of BEF Field Armory -- Appendix II : conference of 31s t July, 1918 -- Appendix III : letter, Bean to White, 28 June 1918.