Dimensions
154 x 234 x 27mm
Publishing in the run up to the centenary of Gallipoli, this collection of 100 true stories of Aussie courage and mateship in World War I is the first in a series carrying the imprimatur of the RSL, an Australian icon which has supported serving and ex-service Defence Forces for nearly 100 years, stamping this series with authority and authenticity.
The stories have the human element: intimate, eyewitness accounts across the breadth of Australia's war from Gallipoli to the Western Front, related with humour, pathos and vivid detail. For example:
- The Gallipoli landing as related in an Anzac's letter home.
- An engineer who was one of the first ashore at Gallipoli and who cut steps up the cliffs for those who followed.
- General Monash on a mysterious meeting on an Anzac beach.
- Major General Pompey Elliott's story of a crackshot sniper.
- The curious case of the stolen cheese.
- Firsthand accounts of HMAS Sydney's victory over the Emden and a battle between HMAS Sydney and a Zeppelin.
- Charles Kingsford-Smith on meeting a German pilot after the war.
- A Light Horse patrol daringly slipping through advancing Turkish troops to warn their mates of danger.
- A sapper's account of the battle of Fromelles.
- How the Melbourne Cup was run on the Western Front.
And there's so much more: daring rescues in 'no man's land' and desperate action in the trenches; stories from POWs, medicos, stretcherbearers and nurses; an account of the torpedoing of a ship repatriating wounded soldiers and one about the game of two-up and how it maintained morale among frontline soldiers - you'll even find out why soldiers wore women's underwear on the Western Front.
