Index, bibliography, notes, ill (maps), p.816.In the Trenches of Hell On 19 July 1916, 7000 Australian soldiers - in the first major action of the AIF on the Western Front - attacked entrenched German positions at Fromelles in northern France. By the next day, there were over 5500 casualties, including nearly 2000 dead - a bloodbath that the Australian War Memorial describes as 'the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history. Just days later, three Australian Divisions attacked German positions at nearby Pozi�res, and over the next six weeks they suffered another 23,000 casualties. Of that bitter battle, the great Australian war correspondent Charles Bean would write, 'The field of Pozi�res is more consecrated by Australian fighting and more hallowed by Australian blood than any field which has ever existed . . .' Yet the sad truth is that, nearly a century on from those battles, Australians know only a fraction of what occurred. This book brings the battles back to life and puts the reader in the moment, illustrating both the heroism displayed and the insanity of the British plan. With his extraordinary vigour and commitment to research, Peter FitzSimons shows why this is a story about which all Australians can be proud. And angry.world war 1914-1918 - campaigns - western front, world war 1914-1918 - australian participation - fromelles and pozieres

Index, bibliography, notes, ill (maps), p.565.non-fictionPasschendaele epitomises everything that was most terrible about the Western Front. The photographs never sleep of this four-month battle, fought from July to November 1917, the worst year of the war- blackened tree stumps rising out of a field of mud, corpses of men and horses drowned in shell holes, terrified soldiers huddled in trenches awaiting the whistle. The intervening century, the most violent in human history, has not disarmed these pictures of their power to shock. At the very least they ask us, on the 100th anniversary of the battle, to see and to try to understand what happened here. Yes, we commemorate the event. Yes, we adorn our breasts with poppies. But have we seen? Have we understood? Have we dared to reason why? What happened at Passchendaele was the expression of the 'wearing-down war', the war of pure attrition at its most spectacular and ferocious. Paul Ham's Passchendaele- Requiem for Doomed Youth shows how ordinary men on both sides endured this constant state of siege, with a very real awareness that they were being gradually, deliberately, wiped out. Yet the men never broke- they went over the top, when ordered, again and again and again. And if they fell dead or wounded, they were casualties in the 'normal wastage', as the commanders described them, of attritional war. Only the soldier's friends at the front knew him as a man, with thoughts and feelings. His family back home knew him as a son, husband or brother, before he had enlisted. By the end of 1917 he was a different creature- his experiences on the Western Front were simply beyond their powers of comprehension. The book tells the story of ordinary men in the grip of a political and military power struggle that determined their fate and has foreshadowed the destiny of the world for a century. Passchendaele lays down a powerful challenge to the idea of war as an inevitable expression of the human will, and examines the culpability of governments and military commanders in a catastrophe that destroyed the best part of a generation. Collapse summary world war 1914-1918 - campaigns - western front, france - campaigns - passchaendaele

Index, bibliography, ill (maps), p.248.non-fictionThis abridged edition of the bestselling 'Fromelles' includes the recent discovery of the largest mass war grave since the Second World War, the recovery of the missing Diggers' remains and the names of those who have been identified, as well as the opening of the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery in 2010.world war 1914 - 1918 - campaigns - western front - fromelles, war graves - france

Index, notes, bibliography, ill, p.298.non-fictionIn the hands of Peter Stanley, one of Australia's leading military historians, a famous battlefield in France becomes unforgettably connected with Australian men and their families in the long aftermath of the Great War.australian army - 21st battalion - 9 platoon - history, world war 1914-1918 - 2nd battle of the somme

Index, bibliography, notes, ill, maps, p.592.non-fictionEven Stalin was awed by D-Day. 'In the whole history of war, ' he wrote to Churchill, 'there has never been such an undertaking.' Those who took part in the great cross-Channel invasion, whether soldier, sailor or airman, would never forget the sight. It was by far the largest invasion fleet ever known.world war 1939-1945 - campaigns - france, operation overlord

Index, notes,ill, maps, p.655.non-fictionOn the basis of 1,400 oral histories from the men who were there, Eisenhower biographer and World War II historian Stephen E. Ambrose reveals for the first time anywhere that the intricate plan for the invasion of France in June 1944, had to be abandoned before the first shot was fired.operation overlord, world war 1939-1945 - campaigns - france

Index, bibliography, notes, ill, maps, p.528.non-fictionhis sequel to D-DAY opens at 00:01 hours, June 7, 1944 on the Normandy Beaches and ends at 02:45 hours, May 7, 1945. In between comes the battles in the hedgerows of Normandy, the breakout of Saint-Lo, the Falaise gap, Patton tearing through France, the liberation of Paris, the attempt to leap the Rhine in operation Market-Garden, the near-miraculous German recovery, the battles around Metz and in the Huertgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, the capture of the bridge at Remagen and, finally, the overunning of Germany. From the enlisted men and junior officers, Ambrose draws on hundreds of interviews and oral histories from those on both sides of the war. The experience of these citizen soldiers reveals the ordinary sufferings and hardships of war. They overcame their fear and inexperience, the mistakes of their high command and their enemy to win the war. operation overlord, world war 1939-1945 - campaigns - europe

Index, ill, p.368non-fictionToday it is almost forgotten that the D-Day landings of 6 June 1944 did not bring a single, isolate victory. As this masterly book reminds us, that first foothold on enemy shores was won at enormous cost, and for two months afterwards a fierce battle raged for the control of Caen. Using the personal accounts of those who took part in the fighting, both Allied and German, and of the French civilians caught up in the conflict, McKee brilliantly reconstructs the bitter struggle that ravaged Normandy throughout the summer of 1944 before the Allied position in Europe was finally secured.world war 1939-1945 - campaigns france, d-day - normandy

Index, bibliography, ill, plans, p.528.non-fictionAn account of a little known aspect of the Battle of the Bulge: the air war over the Ardennes in 1944 and 1945world war 1939 to 1945 - aerial operations - france, battle of ardennes 1944-1945

Index, bibliography, maps, p.766.non-fictionA broad summary of the battles on both the Western and Eastern fronts for the liberation of Europe in 1944-1945world war 1939-1945 - campaigns france, world war 1939-1945 - campaigns - eastern europe

Index, ill (b/w plates), p.342.non-fictionThe story of Douglas Bader's life is the stuff of legend. After losing both his legs in a flying accident he returned to the RAF at the beginning the Second World War to become Britain's most famous airman and hero. In the Battle of Britain he led his squadron of Spitfires to kill after kill, keeping them going with his unstoppable banter. Shot down in occupied France, his German captors had to confiscate his tin legs in order to stop him trying to escape. And Bader faced it all, disability, leadership and capture, with a charm and determination that was to become an inspiration to all around himbader douglas - biography, battle of britain - history

p.394.fictionWhen war was declared on 3 September 1939, No. 1 Squadron was posted to France to help the BEF halt the German advance. The Squadron is hardy, intensely loyal, and at the beginning of the campaign, hugely successful in shooting down German planes when they are often outnumbered. Then the offensive begins in earnest, the losses mount and the horror of the retreat to Dunkirk gives a whole new meaning to the concept of total war.Told through the experiences of an English pilot, Kit Curtis, who dreams of gallant deeds and personal glory, and a more battle hardened American, Ossie Wolf, this is 'Band of Brothers' for the RAF, a no-holds-barred, action packed war thriller.world war 1939-1945 - britain - aerial operations - fiction, fighter pilots - fiction

index, bib, ill (plates), maps, ports, p.863.non-fictionLes Carlyon's The Great War is the epic story of the fighting men who wove themselves into legend as part of the largest tragedy in Australian history - 179,000 dead and wounded - leaving a nation to mourn its fallen heroes in 'one long national funeral' into the 1930s and, now again, a century later. As he did with the best-seller Gallipoli, Carlyon leads the reader behind the lines, across the western front and other theatres of battle, and deep into the minds of the men who are witnesses to war. Having walked the fields of France, Belgium and Turkey on his quest for a truth beyond the myth, Carlyon weaves us a mesmerising narrative that shifts seamlessly from the hatching of grand strategies in the political salons of London and St Petersburg to the muddy, bloody trenches of Pozieres and Passchendaele where ordinary soldiers descended into a maelstrom unimaginable. australian army - history, world war 1914-1918 - campaigns - western front

index, ill, maps, p.224.non-fictionThe Western Front in World War I was the scene of devastating trench warfare and astonishing human loss: nearly 750,000 soldiers perished in the battles fought in France and Belgium from 1914 to 1918. In The Western Front, renowned historian Richard Holmes traces the path those soldiers took, and presents the political, military, and human dilemmas of a bitter and bloody war.world war 1914-1918 - western front - history, world war 1914-1918 - military history

Index, bibliography, notes, ill, maps, p.722.non-fictionVietnam became the Western world's most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the United States in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. He portrays the set pieces of Dienbienphu, the Tet offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam, and less familiar battles such as the bloodbath at Daido, where a US Marine battalion was almost wiped out, together with extraordinary recollections of Ho Chi Minh's warriors. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed 2 million people. Many writers treat the war as a US tragedy, yet Hastings sees it as overwhelmingly that of the Vietnamese people, of whom forty died for every American. While all the world has seen the image of a screaming, naked girl seared by napalm, it forgets countless eviscerations, beheadings and murders carried out by the communists. The people of both former Vietnams paid a bitter price for the Northerners' victory in privation and oppression. Here is testimony from Vietcong guerrillas, Southern paratroopers, Saigon bargirls and Hanoi students alongside that of infantrymen from South Dakota, Marines from North Carolina, Huey pilots from Arkansas.vietnam war 1961-1975 – history, vietnam war 1961-1975 – personal recollections

Index, bibliography, notes, ill, maps, p.734.non-fictionMartin Windrow's book is an account of the battle of Dien Bien Phu, the first defeat of modern Western forces by a guerilla army.vietnam war 1945-1975 – french involvement, battle of dien bien phu

Ill, p.159.non-fictionThe battle of Vimy ridge that was instrumental in stopping the German advance in 1914 and subsequent eventsworld war 1914-1918 - campaigns - france, world war 1914-1918 - military history

Index, ill, maps, p.336.non-fictionBetween the wars A second A.I.F. The volunteers To the Middle East After the fall of France Victory at Sidi Barrani Before Bardia The battle of Bardia The capture of Tobruk The engagement at Derna Beda Fomm and Benghazi The capture of Giarabub Appendixes : 1. The A.I.F. in the United Kingdom ; 2. The 6th Division's operation order for the capture of Bardia ; 3. Abbreviations ; 4. A.I.F. colour patches, 1941. world war 1939-1945 - campaigns - north africa, world war 1939-1945 - australian involvement

Index, ill, p.292.non-fictionIn war, great commanders lead soldiers into hell to do the impossible. They were called Easy Company--but their mission was never easy. Immortalized as the Band of Brothers, they suffered 150 percent casualties while liberating Europe, an unparalleled record of bravery under fire. Dick Winters was their commander, "the best combat leader in World War II" to his men. This is his story, told in his own words for the first time. On D-Day, Dick Winters parachuted into France and assumed leadership of the Band of Brothers when their commander was killed. He led them through the Battle of the Bulge, the attack on Foy--where Easy Company reached its breaking point--and into Germany, by which time each member had been wounded. Neither a protest against war nor a glamorization of combat, this is a moving tribute to the human spirit by a man who earned the love and respect of the men of Easy Company and the adulation of new generations worldwide. world war 1939 – 1945 – personal narratives – united states, united states army - history

Index, ill, maps, p.193.non-fictionBy the summer of 1940, the overwhelming might of the German air force had triumphed over Poland, Norway, France, Holland and Belgium. As the fighters and bombers of the Luftwaffe amassed on the north west coast of Europe, they had no reason to believe that the heavily outnumbered squadrons of the Royal Air Force (RAF) would prove any more difficult to overcome than their earlier opponents. However, these illusions of invulnerability were soon to be shattered in whirling combats over southern England in the conflict that would be known as the Battle of Britain.world war 1939-1945 - aerial operations - britain, battle of britain

Index, bib, ill, p.241.non-fictionIn 1968, in the western jungle of Vietnam near Laos, a Special Forces Company, under the command of an Australian Army Captain, supported by a Marine artillery detachment, occupied an old French fort, on a hill known as Ngok Tavak. The circumstances of the battle that ensued, and the subsequent retreat from Ngok Tavak, left in their wake issues that cried out for resolution for decades after the event. A number of American bodies were left where they had fallen during the battle, and another American, the nephew of Katharine Hepburn, went missing. After speaking extensively to the battle survivors and loved ones of the American warriors, and searching through accounts from official reports that included Vietnamese documents, eyewitness statements and war diaries, Bruce Davies has pieced together the evidence that will bring resolution to the questions that still haunt many of those connected to the battle. A story that needed to be told for the veterans who survived and for those who did not, for their families and for the sake of history. Lieutenant Colonel Brian Cooper (Retd), Australian Infantry, South Vietnam 1971-72vietnam - history 1945-1975, vietnam - special forces

The mine was named after Lochnagar Street, the British trench from which the gallery was driven. It was one of 19 mines that were placed beneath the German lines on the British section of the Somme front to assist the infantry advance at the start of the battle. The Lochnagar mine was sprung at 7:28 a.m. on 1 July 1916 and left a crater 98 ft (30 m) deep and 330 ft (100 m) wide, which was captured and held by British troops. The attack on either flank was defeated by German small-arms and artillery fire, except on the extreme right flank and just south of La Boisselle, north of the Lochnagar Crater. The crater has been preserved as a memorial and a religious service is held each 1 July. (Wikipedia)A number of photographs of a crater which was created at the Somme, on the Western Front during World War One. lochnagar crater, tunnellers, the somme, world war one, western front, france

In May 1968, in the western jungle of Vietnam near Laos, a Special Force Company under the command of an Australian army captain, supported by a U.S. Marine Marine artillery detachedment, occupied an old French Fort on a hill known as Ngok Tavak.australia. army training team, vietnam., united states. marine corps -- history -- vietnam war, 1961-1975, battle of ngok tavak

In the mid 1960' the youth of the Western world were largely preoccupied with "flower power" and the music of the Beatles. Meanwhile, in distant Indochina, young American GIs were engaged in a savage war of attrition in the jungles of a small divided country that had been a French colony.vietnam war, 1961-1975, vietnam history - august revolution, dien bien phu, ap bac, the gulf of tonkin, operation starlite, the ia drang campaign, long tan, battle of long tan, operation attleboro, operation bolo, operation junction city, rach ba rai river, khe sanh, tet offensive, hamburger hill, operation lam son 719, an loc, thanh hoa bridge

The Royal Institute of International Affairs in an unofficial and non-political body, founded in 1920 to encourage and facilitate the scientific study of international questions. The Institute, as such, is precluded by the terms of its Royal Charter from expressing an opinion on any aspect of international affairs. Any opinions expressed in this publication are not, therefore, those of the Institute.indochina - history -1945, dien bien phu, battle of, vietnam, 1954, north vietnam, republic of vietnam

In the mid 1960' the youth of the Western world were largely preoccupied with "flower power" and the music of the Beatles. Meanwhile, in distant Indochina, young American GIs were engaged in a savage war of attrition in the jungles of a small divided country that had been a French colony.vietnam war, dien bien phu, ap bac, the gulf of tonkin, operation starlite, the ia drang campaign, long tan, battle of long tan, operation attleboro, operation bolo, operation junction city, rach ba rai river, tet offensive, hamburger hill, operation lam son 719, an l, an loc, thanh hoa bridge

62 pages, typewritten, on white paper with a brown paper cover. Bound along one side by 3 brass metal fasteners.non-fictionA detailed account of Pte Price's experience of WWI from his embarkation to his return. Sections include: Description of Journey (Arrival at Albany WA; From Albany to Cape Town; Cape Town to Vincent, Verde Island; The Village Blacksmith; Four Days Holiday in London; Back at Camp; Second Visit to London); Review by King George; Zeppelin Air Raids; Embarking for France; The Idea of a Raid; St Omer; Battle of Messines; Bombardment Prior to Advance on Messines; A Visit to France by King George & Prince of Wales; Five Days March from Senlicques; First Battle of Ypres; Preparation for Second Battle of Ypres; 14 Days Leave from France to England; 14 Days Sick Leavewwi, world war i, f g price

North Wangaratta State School 2391 was opened in May 1881 and closed October 26 1969. Today a plaque commemorates the site of the old school in Eldorado Road North Wangaratta. The Honour Board preserves the names of past students who enlisted to serve their country during the First World War and commemorates those who lost their lives. In 1965 after being stored in a woodshed for two years the Honour Board was put on display at The Eldorado Memorial Hall. The Eldorado Memorial Hall Committee became Trustees of the Honour Board and 1992 approved its transfer to the Vine Hotel Museum for public display. In 1996 at a meeting held on February 7, the Wangaratta North State School No 2391 Memorial Committee moved a motion that all memorabilia pertinent to the Wangaratta North State School be displayed at the Vine Hotel Museum under the guardianship of trustees appointed by the Wangaratta North State School Memorial Committee. In 2005 The North Wangaratta State School Trustees donated the Honour Board along with two photographs of WW1 soldiers to the Wangaratta RSL for safe keeping and display to the public. Students who enlisted include:- Private (Shoeing Smith) John BLAIKIE 2341 who was born at Wangaratta. He was a Blacksmith and at the age of 42 enlisted on May 28 1915. He embarked on August 10 1915 and served with the 14th Battalion. He returned to Australia in January 1918 and discharged medically unfit on April 10 1918. 5692 Private William Thomas BYRNE was born on 21/9/1890 at Docker Plains. He was educated at Docker Plains and Wangaratta State schools. A farmer when he enlisted on 13/10/1914. He trained at Broadmeadows and embarked on Hororata on 17/4/1915. He served with the 3rd Light Horse and 12th and/or 27th ASC - Army Service Corps as a Driver. 5347 Private Cyril BUCKLER, 14th Battalion. A postman from Wangaratta, Victoria, prior to enlistment on 16 February 1916 he embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Euripides on 4 April 1916 for Egypt. His unit relocated to the Western Front, France, in June 1916. Pte Buckler was killed in action near Pozieres, France, on 7 August 1916. He has no known grave and he is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial 3451A Private Sydney Spencer PLUM 1st Pioneer Battalion A.I.F, Born January 3rd 1894 at Dockers Plains. He was educated at North Wangaratta and Docker's Plains State School. He was a blacksmith when he enlisted June 12th 1915. He was trained at Flemington Racecourse and embarked on SS "Nestor" October 11th 1915. He fought in battles; Peronne, Cambrai, Somme. Being wounded 3 times. He embarked for home per SS "Orontes"; disembarked January 28th 1919 and he was discharged March 16th 1919. He died on July 25 1958. 483 Private Percy Albert TIPPETT served with the 6th Battalion AIF and was wounded on the 25/4/15 during the initial landing at Gallipoli and later died on 28/4/1915. 1981 Private Francis John VONARX Enlisted at Wangaratta on 15/6/1915 aged 33 years and embarked on 26/8/1915. Served with the 23rd Infantry Battalion and 2nd Machine Gun Battalion. Returned to Australia on 8/4/1919Honour Board listing the 52 names of North Wangaratta State School students who enlisted to serve their country during the First World War and commemorates those who lost their lives. Large solid timber Honour Board with two carved minature cannons on top and above side columns."North Wangaratta State School/Roll of Honour/The Great War 1914 to 1919" 52 names in gold paint.north wangaratta state school 2391, honour board ww1

Private Louis (Joe) Murdoch Murray, 8th Light Horse Regiment, WW1. Joe enlisted 15/01/1915 and embarked for overseas on 07/05/1915. He served at Gallipoli and in France where he was badly wounded at the battle of Ypres in 1917. After returning from the war he took up farming on land donated to him by the Austin family. However, he never fully recovered either physically or mentally from his war service and lost his farm in the Depression. He spent his final years in an Old Soldiers Home in Frankston. He is buried in Melbourne.murray, 8th light horse regiment, ww1, gallipoli, ypres, austin, old soldiers home - frankston, melbourne.

Private Hugh O'Rorke enlisted 28/03/1916 in 39th Infantry Battalion and embarked for France 27/05/1916. He was gassed and then severely wounded during the Battle for Broodseinde Ridge on 04/10.1917. After convalescence in England he returned to Australia and was discharged in 1918. He took up a Soldier Settlement block at Westmere and named it Killigrew'. Ray and Jan O'Brien live in the house now.' He was awarded an MBE in 1955 for services to the CFA. He died in 1962, aged 72.o'rorke, 39th infantry battalion, france, battle for broodseinde ridge, soldier settler, westmere, o'brien, mbe, cfa