AUSTRALIAN MILITARY

The life and times – at the front, at rest and on leave – of the soldiers of the Australian Army in France and Belgium from 1916 until 1918.

Drawing on superb anecdotal accounts from the diggers themselves, Diggers in France describes the life and times – at the front, at rest and on leave – of the soldiers of the Australian Army in France and Belgium from 1916 until 1918.

During the First World War, Australia maintained an army of around 150,000 fit, young men. On the Western Front, they not only fought in some of the toughest battles of the Great War, they also lived for three years on close and intimate terms with the citizens of France and Belgium, and with Allied soldiers from Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, France, India and many other countries who shared their lot in the front line.

Diggers in France gives an account of the epic battles in which the diggers fought, describing their experience of fighting under impetuous – and imperious – British Generals, who disliked the Australian approach to soldiering, and the gradual development of a truly identifiable Australian Corps which, fighting under the famous Australian General Monash, played a leading role in the decisive battles of 1918.

pp. 304 illusts First Edition #070223