Extracts from "the Australians' final campaign 1918″

[spikydipple]

Monash was an amazing guy. He was a civil engineer as well as a soldier.

Look up his work on the roads and bridges in Victoria, Australia.

[vaan7777]

i have been studying Sir John Monash for a long time now and he was indeed the greatest commander in WW1, if the war had continued longer it is almost doubtless that he wouldve become the commander in cheif of all the allied forces. in just over 5 months he had changed the situation from full retreat to complete victory, something that haig could not do in 3-4 years

[MilitiaHQ]

Sir John Monash was a unrecognized legend whos strategy ultimately broke the Germans last line of defense which was the Hindenburg line, Monash stood out from all the other Allied commanders as he was a great humanitarian were as the rest of the them were a shower of pompous bastards who didnt give a damn about the Australians or for their own soldiers for that matter it was nothing but a glorified game of chess to some. RIP John Monash a great Australian hero.

[torpedodropkick]

Please do not engage in this silly argument about who was better or at fault. The war was fought with modern equipment withold fashion war tactics...finally through trial and error did the war turn for the allies. Canadian and ANZAC troops did well, but so did many British units which saw alot of action. Monash pushed his troops until they dropped and he encountered threats of munity from many Australian battalions. You can read some excerpts from the AWM about that too...

[douglasgleeson]

Great vid. Particularly like the bit on 4 mins where the POW with the bicycle is 'ushered' away :)

[matt2house]

that's because monash had put the blitzkrieg tactic to good use where as other generals had founded the tanks to be unreliable. I'd say monash was the only scientific minded commander in the entire war being a former artillery officer.

[MISHMIAH]

Lieutenant General Sir John Monash must be THE most underrated historical figure of the 20th Century. Hamel, Mont ST Quentin, Peronne, Hindenburg Line.... What more can you say?

[montbrehain]

Exellent piece of film... Love the smiles on their dials (even when there wasnt much to smile about) Lest we forget....

[conc1469]

RIP too our Diggers and thanks too the AWM from a 17th Battalion Decendant

Lest we Forget

[zevenel]

Any idea where precisely this was?

[youngwidow2007]

i have a question

how did they manage to record this in 1918 when video cameras weren't aound then?

[AustWarMemorial]

Hi youngwidow2007, the movie camera was originally developed in 1888, 30 years before this footage was shot.

We have the original 35mm film that was used, this was then captured onto digital-betacam and then output to a digital media file. Which is how you are now watching it on Youtube.

[JoezettE88]

@youngwidow2007

...>_>

[PlaystationNation2k9]

I will never forget an exerpt i read of a british journalist on Galipoli 25th of April 1915. It was something like "I have never seen anything like it. Through the firestorm, came the Australians, running up the hill that was brimming with machingun nests.Men fell, gaps were filled with another body. They reached their first object. Ignoring their COs, they kept going taking position after position. Men missing legs, eyes and arms kept running. One blinded man pistol in one hand, club in other.

[Sonicfury234]

Love it! and now i will never forget that either. )

[ConvictRover]

Great video. War was tough for everyone involved. The British commanders did the best they could given that noone was ready for the technological age warfare. As an Aussie I am proud of what our Diggers did. No more blame game. The English lost 20,000 on one day on the Somme. Rule Brittania and Rule Commonwealth. It is memories like this that show how nations united can overcome anything. Lets stay united.

[MISHMIAH]

Two words mate, John Monash. Monash was the antithesis of Haig but was loved by him. Haig broke down and cried in front of Aussie commanders after Monash's low attrition tactics proved effective in 1918. The 19th C had just never prepared senior British commanders for a 20th C war, it is that simple.

[Dakotahidatsa]

that was a good rifle drill to see at the end is that the way present arms is done today

[MISHMIAH]

Drill is influenced, as are aspects of uniform, by the physical nature of the infantry soldier's weapon and its various attachments and the necessity of carrying ammunition etc. For example, aspects of drill undertaken by troops carrying the Lee Enfield 303 are different from that taught to more contemporary troops using the SLR or the Steyr. Present arms is a very good example of how these aspects differ relative to the specific weapon.

[archdaf]

Thank you for posting this.

[wattlebough]

Watching our blokes towards the end doing their rifle drill old style and "at the slope" was absolutely fantastic. A real pearler of a piece of footage from the archives. Thank you to the people of the AWM for sharing that with us. It gives us aussies all something to be immensely proud of when we see this stuff. We don't see enough of it. We will remember them. Lest we forget.

[boltonbhoy99]

Love it. Rule Britannia and the Commonwealth!

[VonTripps]

Forget about "rule Britannia" mate, today we remember our fallen but we also remember the incompetence that was Churchill, Haig and the other "Donkeys" that led to the slaughter that was Gallipoli, Fromelles, Passchendaele etc...

Lest we forget the heroes AND the Villains.

Never again rule britannia..up your arse!

Never forget Singapore 15/2/42 either!

Australia will be a Republic VERY soon and not before time!

[Wally1967]

Most ppl said no on republic during the vote few years ago so why bring that up again?

but dont take it on the poms!

Yes Aussie were use as cannon fodder that's why Gen Monash ended up in charge of the Aussies and win the war with far less losses.

my great Grandparents lost 2 sons, 1 was killed in Ponzeirs and other was at Villers Brettoneux

I blame the British incompetence Generals/Officers but not the British troops they also fought and died there far more than the Aussies.

[VonTripps]

Yes indeed, quite right. The soldiers are the ones we pause to remember. They were the innocent fighting for a belief that was honourable. We had our fair share of "Donkeys" like Blamey in WW2.

Many French lives were lost as well due to Joffre, Petain and the "butcher" Gen Robert Nivelle. The French had heroes too like Col Emile Driant who was killed at Verdun in the trenches with his men. What a waste of life, what a waste and for what? Remember them all..cheers.

[matt2house]

Ironically britain never held executive power over australia since it became a nation. and we still dont anyways.

[matt2house]

you werent used as cannon fodder at all, the AIF we're under british command seeing that australia had willing volunteered and they pretty much wanted their forces to be commanded by britain seeing that australia and the rest of the dominion had felt the same imperial zeal as britain did. Secondly you should really be blaming kitchener because he suggested to land ground forces at gallipoli. thirdly the brits & the french had lost more than the aussies did

[bovverboots86]

@matt2house We lost an entire generation of men in Australia by the end of WW1 so don't try and trivialise our loss, in proportion to our population at the time it was a major loss of life for us. Secondly, conscription was also used to get people into the army to fight by PM Billy Hughes in 1916, it lead to the splitting of the Labour Party. Haig looked down on the ANZAC troops and he was a complete fuckin' dog.

[robinaboy]

10 per cent of the Australian population at the time enlisted for WW1. Half of them were killed or wounded. If you consider that of 5 million total population, only 2 million were eligible to serve (ie men aged 18-35), that's a fairly big loss for a little country to take.

Comparing Australia's losses to the Poms and Frogs is ridiculous and borders on complete insanity considering the total populations of those countries.

[qdros]

@matt2house

Actually, Australian divisions were spread around various British Army Corps for much of the early part of WW1, and only after substantial lobbying were they centralised into Australian army corps with Australian command later in the war.

In terms of casualties, agreed - France and the UK suffered greater total casualties, but Australia had the highest casualty rate per head of population of all combatant nations. Hardly a number to be proud of, but they were all volunteers.

[rmjackaman]

@VonTripps Yeah, don't let a little thing like a referendum get in the way. The Von in your nomme de plume is very ironic.

[noelschneider]

You bloody ripper Aussies! So proud of you guys.