Essay On Australia's Involvement In World War 1

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World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war that centred in Europe and began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. More than 9 million soldiers and 7 million neutrals died as a result of the war. Australia’s involvement in the First World War began when Britain and Germany went to war on 4 August 1914, pledging full support for Britain. The outbreak of war was greeted in Australia, as in many other places, with great public enthusiasm. One of the most famous Australians in World War I was General Sir John Monash, an Australian who started off as a civil engineer and gradually became one of the best Allied generals of the First World War. Monash made his real mark in 1918, in the final year …show more content…

The battle and capture of Hamel was all planned by new Australian commander John Monash and executed by his 4th Division. This was the first time that a successful example of integrated warfare was performed. Before integrated warfare, people fought trench warfare in suiciding manners. Two groups would take turns getting out of the trench and charging at the other’s trench, while the other group fired machine guns fiercely and had huge amounts of barbed wire in front of the trenches. Attacks, were usually unsuccessful, but even if successful, often sustained severe casualties. But however, the Battle of Hamel was the first time that integrated warfare was used in war and brought mobility back to the battlefield. It marked the culmination of a learning progress involving the coordinated use of multiple arms: tanks, artillery, infantry, aircraft and signals. On 4 July, operations by the Australian Corps against Hamel and surrounding areas were launched. For the first time in the war, American troops acted as part of an offensive. As the opposite lines were only lightly defended and the attack completely caught the Germans by surprise, all objectives were achieved in just 93 minutes, only 3 minutes over Lieutenant General Sir John Monash’s predicted time. In the Battle of Hamel, Australian troops suffered …show more content…

It was the opening phrase of the Allied offensive later acknowledged as the Hundred Day Offensive that gradually led to the end of WWI. The Allied forces on that day were a mass of assembled, including Australians, launched an offensive to push through the German front lines to victory. The 1st French and 4th British armies were also involved, but were led by combined Australian and Canadian forces. Lieutenant General Sir John Monash was again the mastermind of this battle, he commanded the Australian army, sending 102,000 diggers out on an outstandingly planned attack at Amiens, 120 kilometres north of Paris, which delivered a knock-out blow from which the enemy never recovered. On August the 8th, the Allied forces gained over 11 kilometres, the Germans lost more ground on this day than on any other day on the Western Front. In total, the Allied forces captured 29,144 prisoners, 338 guns, and liberated 116 towns and villages. Ludendorff called 8 August "the black day of the German army". By August 12th the battle had lost momentum but the damage suffered in the initial attack had been sufficient to critically damage the German