> Behalf Of Doug Me: >The stupid part about > WW1, though, > > was that Civil War style tactics were used in the South > African (Boer) War > > of 1899-03, by both sides. Including British generals like Hamilton > > (Gallipoli) and Haig (France/Belgium) both of whom promptly seem to have > > forgotten those lessons in 1914-18. > Doug > Interesting stuff, Brett. Is the history of conflict a hobby or > related to your profession? > > > I did notice that you didn't mention Longstreet. I have gleaned > that his innovations in defensive warfare were influential > especially the use of traversed trenches first developed at > Fredericksburg > - at least according to Foote.
Unlike Monash, I'm not an expert on the US Civil War. I remember a fair bit of Ken Burns' documentary series but otherwise it's just bits and pieces. Oh, and there was the scandal when the CSS Shenandoah called in at Melbourne in 1865, became a social hit, did some repairs and left with about a dozen new crew. Cost the British government (Victoria then being a British colony) hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation for all the Union ships the Shenandoah subsequently sank or captured. I used to work where the Shenandoah tied up. It's more Australian involvement in conflict that I'm interested in. Heaven knows we've been involved plenty of times in our short history. Having a great-grandfather who fought in South Africa in the Victorian Mounted Rifles - pre-Federation - and various cousins who fought in WW1 and WW2 also helps. World War One had an enormous effect on Australia. Our true national day is Anzac Day on 25 April, commemorating the landing of Australian troops at Gallipoli in Turkey (1915). The Light Horse fought the desert campaign from 1915 to 1918 from the Nile to Damascus, against Turkey, and included some of the last massed and successful cavalry charges in wartime. In France and Belgium more than 50,000 Australians were killed and about 150,000 wounded - this out of a force of about 300,000. Australian casualties were, proportionately, amongst the highest of all forces involved in WW1, largely because they were often used as shock troops. Especially when under Monash's command, they were one of the most effective parts of the British forces. John Monash was quite a fascinating bloke. A civil engineer and lawyer, citizen soldier, Jewish of German extraction, fluent in French and German, he set the standard for a twentieth century general. He is credited as one of the very few WW1 generals who would probably have been similarly successful in WW2 style warfare. His troops idolised him, because they knew that if he planned an attack it would probably work. He worked his troops hard, especially after June 1918, but he and they had a continuous run British Prime Minister Lloyd-George wrote after the war that, had WW1 gone into 1919 he wanted to replace Haig with Monash. Monash was knighted by the King in the field in 1918, the first person to have been for some 200 years. Especially important when you realise the feelings of the British establishment towards a colonial Jew. Actually, two of the greatest Australians of the twentieth century, General John Monash and the first Australian born Governor General (in 1931), Isaac Isaacs, were Jewish. I think that that is something Australia can rightly be proud of. Enough, Cheers, Brett
