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THE WESTERN FRONT DIARIES : The ANZACs' Own Story, Battle By Battle
The ANZAC's Western Front campaign had a greater impact than Gallipoli in almost every respect: five times more soldiers served and were killed there, more than five times as many battles took place, and it was there that an astounding 53 Victoria crosses were awarded to Australians.
620 pages, Hardcover
First published June 24, 2015
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June 8, 2018Informative, inspiring … an incredible story.
Peter Fitzsimons, Journalist and Author
It’s absolutely incredible. It’s five hundred pages of absolutely absorbing material the likes of which you otherwise can’t get your hands on.
Jon Faine, ABC Radio, The Conversation Hour
Peter Fitzsimons, Journalist and Author
It’s absolutely incredible. It’s five hundred pages of absolutely absorbing material the likes of which you otherwise can’t get your hands on.
Jon Faine, ABC Radio, The Conversation Hour
March 30, 2021
The author here has constructed a well written history of the battles the Australians fought on along the Western Front through the eyes of the men in the trenches utilising the letters sent home and their diaries. Many of them did not survive the trenches and those who did often were scarred not just physically, but also mentally.
These are the stories that need to be told when telling the history of war. As interesting as it always has been to read the military’s top brass, it is the ordinary soldier whose memory tends to fade into the background.
These are the stories that need to be told when telling the history of war. As interesting as it always has been to read the military’s top brass, it is the ordinary soldier whose memory tends to fade into the background.
June 22, 2018
A harrowing account of all that was, in the eyes of the soldiers of the Australian Army in World War One
September 20, 2022
I had no idea how much Australia contributed to WWI. An all-volunteer army, they fought from beginning to end and many gave their lives.
August 15, 2011
An incredibly enlightening and exciting book that takes the reader to the front lines and into the war room. Interspersed throughout the almost three years of battles with stunning and vivid accounts of the actions by Australian soldiers who secured a Victoria Cross for heroism in action, The Western Front Diaries is as far from a dry military read as you can imagine. Life on the front lines is captured effectively, with the horrors and mercies of war and men under pressure brought to life throughout its the pages.
Australian commander, Major General John Monash, was long overlooked for promotion, being of Jewish and German descent, but today remains one of the war’s most influential leaders of strategy and of men—Monash introduced the blitzkrieg mode of attack, and some of his battle strategies (Hamel) are to today used by militaries throughout the world as text book examples of perfect manoeuvring.
The Western Front Diaries also puts to rest the notion the battle of Gallipoli was Australia’s defining battle of WWI. While 50,000 soldiers died at Gallipoli, 250,000 died on The Western Front—with 52 Victoria Crosses awarded. The bloody and brutal battles of Fromelles, Passchendaele, Pozieres, Flanders, and Mouquet Farm are visceral and urgent.
But this book isn’t about mathematics and body-counts, it’s about the men who served—their character, their sense of humour, their hopes and their follies. Author Jonathan King displays as much skill as restraint in the Herculean task of collating the hundreds of personal letters, diaries and photographs borrowed from returned servicemen and their families and distilling the information into sharp day-by-day, month-by-month accounts of what life on The Western Front was truly like.
An excerpt taken from a letter by William Fincham to his sister, in June 1918, reads:
“I must say something about the man walking back from the line. More than once I have seen two men, an Australian and a German, both wounded, limping toward the dressing stations—each with his arm around the other. They could scarcely walk alone, but, supporting one another, were going to be dressed by the same Doctor—they who less than an hour previously had rushed together with bayonets or bombs trying to kill each other.”
One of the few assets of war is the camaraderie it engenders between men on the firing line, and the personal stories of our many Victoria Cross winners will have you laughing as much as grieving for the men of our past who fought so valiantly for our country.
The Western Front Diaries brings to life the personalities of the men who fought The Great War as clearly as if you were sharing a trench with them yourself. This is an outstanding and exceptional book.
Australian commander, Major General John Monash, was long overlooked for promotion, being of Jewish and German descent, but today remains one of the war’s most influential leaders of strategy and of men—Monash introduced the blitzkrieg mode of attack, and some of his battle strategies (Hamel) are to today used by militaries throughout the world as text book examples of perfect manoeuvring.
The Western Front Diaries also puts to rest the notion the battle of Gallipoli was Australia’s defining battle of WWI. While 50,000 soldiers died at Gallipoli, 250,000 died on The Western Front—with 52 Victoria Crosses awarded. The bloody and brutal battles of Fromelles, Passchendaele, Pozieres, Flanders, and Mouquet Farm are visceral and urgent.
But this book isn’t about mathematics and body-counts, it’s about the men who served—their character, their sense of humour, their hopes and their follies. Author Jonathan King displays as much skill as restraint in the Herculean task of collating the hundreds of personal letters, diaries and photographs borrowed from returned servicemen and their families and distilling the information into sharp day-by-day, month-by-month accounts of what life on The Western Front was truly like.
An excerpt taken from a letter by William Fincham to his sister, in June 1918, reads:
“I must say something about the man walking back from the line. More than once I have seen two men, an Australian and a German, both wounded, limping toward the dressing stations—each with his arm around the other. They could scarcely walk alone, but, supporting one another, were going to be dressed by the same Doctor—they who less than an hour previously had rushed together with bayonets or bombs trying to kill each other.”
One of the few assets of war is the camaraderie it engenders between men on the firing line, and the personal stories of our many Victoria Cross winners will have you laughing as much as grieving for the men of our past who fought so valiantly for our country.
The Western Front Diaries brings to life the personalities of the men who fought The Great War as clearly as if you were sharing a trench with them yourself. This is an outstanding and exceptional book.
September 28, 2016
Brilliant account of the battles and hardships faced by Digger's in WWI. Gives a heroic and descriptive portrayal of each of the Victoria Cross recipients as the timeline of the war proceeds. Every 2nd Page contains either a photo, map or something similar which gives the reader an accurate picture of the issues the Allies were tasked with. Brilliant, from cover to cover. Recommended to every Australian who wishes to know the extremes our forefathers faced and the amazing accounts of individual soldiers.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews