Letters and Stories

‘Men passing the fork in Monash Valley used to glance at the place (as one of them said) as a man looks at a haunted house.’ – Charles Bean.

March 1918 German offensive Russia withdraws from war with 15.8 million casualties on the Eastern Front.

Locked into entrenched stalemates with occasional costly but inconsequential forays, the Gallipoli campaign.

‘… there is nothing but shell holes in this part …’

‘… a glimpse of the sea – we knew perfectly well that this hill was the key to victory or defeat.’

Evacuation: a successful strategy at last – but soaked in blood and wreathed in the ghosts of sacrificed comrades.

Dernancourt, a village on the River Ancre in France, was the scene of desperate fighting during the German offensive.

French troops engaged in a diversionary landing on the Asiatic side of the Dardanelles.

200 metres of open ground was twice the distance recommended for a frontal charge at defences.

‘ … would sooner be … at old Pialba with the tent and fishing line … catching whiting.’

Germany’s invasion of neutral Belgium to attack France prompted Britain to declare war on Germany.

After the heat, hundreds freeze to death in trenches. ‘It has been snowing all day and my hands are like blocks of wood

Would the real Lone Pine please stand up?

The periscope rifle devised by Lance Corporal William Beech after five of his comrades were killed in the Turkish May offensive.

‘Throughout history, mounted troops have been known as the elite men of arms and the Australian Light Horse is a part of that legendary tradition.’