In this very well written book, the author of this book makes a compelling case as why John Monash and Harry Chauvel were the two of the best performing generals in the first world war. These men and the armies they led have largely been written out of history by the self-serving English professional officer class in the case of Monash and the Arabists of the British foreign services in the case of Chauve

A Very Well Written Book on the Campaigns of Two of the Most Outstanding Generals of WWI

In this very well written book, the author of this book makes a compelling case as why John Monash and Harry Chauvel were the two of the best performing generals in the first world war. These men and the armies they led have largely been written out of history by the self-serving English professional officer class in the case of Monash and the Arabists of the British foreign services in the case of Chauvel. The author believes it is time to right this wrong and that both these men should be promoted to Field Marshal in recognition of the impact they and their armies had on the war’s outcome.

I have always been against Australia getting involved in the current Middle Eastern wars. What has anything there, got to do with Australia. Well, after reading this book, it seems that it was the heavily outnumbered Australian Light Horse mounted infantry led by Chauvel that drove the Otterman Turks out of the middle east. This was done by a serious of well brilliantly executed flanking movements. This allowed the victors to set up the artificial nations that are the source of much of the conflict in the Middle East today. So Australia can not really walk away from a mess that we were a part of creating. But that is not taking anything away from the brilliant work of Harry Chauvel and the troops he led.

But my pick for the best of the best general of WWI is Monash. In 1918 the four Australian divisions were placed together in one army corps commanded by an John Monash, the Australian son of a German Jewish immigrant family. This resulted in Monash being a widely respected public figure in Australia, and I have always been a fan of his, but I knew nothing of his military achievements. My admiration was because he put the Australia’s growing band of fascist pretenders in their place during the great depression of the 1930s with the statement: “Depend upon it, the only hope for Australia is the ballot box and an educated electorate.” This stopped a potential coup d’état dead in its tracks and meant that Australia remained one of the ever-shrinking number of democratic nations during this troubled period of world history.

I was aware that newly formed Australian corps he led performed well but I just accepted the view put by British historians that they were the only decent solders left standing by 1918 and that John Monash was good at planning set piece battles and little else. Having read this well researched book I have come to the view that these people are mainly spreading bovine manure. John Monash was a brilliant all round general. Probably, the best all round general in war.

This book details his planning and politicking the resulted in the Battle of Amiens of August 8th. This decisive battle that was the start of the end for the Germans. The thing I found most astounding was that the German general Guderian, studied this battle and used Monash’s tactics as the basis for his blitzkrieg battle plans that were devastatingly effective in the Second World War.

The book then documents the battles that follow where the Australian army was forced to switch to what Monash called “open warfare”. Ground was taken by using fire and movement tactics because the Australians had run out of tanks. Plus, the heavy artillery could not keep up with their rate of advance. Here, Monash pioneered the use of heavy and light machine guns as offensive weapons which he keep supplied with ammunition by drops from planes with parachutes. Revolutionary tactics at the time but extremely effective in that it allowed the Australians to punch through last line of German defence, the supposedly impenetrable Hindenburg line, on the 5th October. This defeat immediately caused the Germans to sue for peace and thus end the war. According to author the four half strength divisions of John Monash’s Australian Army Corps had achieved the following:



“Over the past six months they had taken 29,144 prisoners, and liberated 116 towns and villages over 660 square kilometres. No one knows precisely how many enemy soldiers were killed but 60,000 wold have been a conservative figure. In the same period, Australia lost 5500 soldiers and had 24,000 casualties. They had taken on 39 enemy divisions and defeated every one of them, from crack Prussian Guards, to cobbled-together forces that ran when attached”

“The period of the last thrust from 8th August to 5th October, (the period that the Australian Army Corps was under his command), was the least ‘costly’ period of active duty for the AIF despite it providing the shock troops and spear heading the campaign”

And unlike other allied general Monash did not treat his men as cannon fodder. He did everything in his power to reduce the risk of a casualty occurring. The author notes that Monash is proud that:If you want to read an excellent book about the outstanding contribution of two great leaders and their armies to the winning of WWI I recommend you read this one.