John Monash

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Sir John Monash

Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, GCMG, KCB, VD (27 June 1865 – 8 October 1931), Australian military commander of the First World War, was born in Melbourne, Victoria, to parents of Prussian-Jewish origin (the family name was originally spelled Monasch). Most of his youth was spent in Jerilderie, New South Wales but he was educated at Scotch College in Melbourne and graduated from the University of Melbourne: in engineering in 1893 and in law in 1895. He worked as a civil engineer, introducing reinforced concrete to Australian engineering practice. He joined a militia unit, becoming a colonel in 1913.

When war broke out in 1914 Monash became a full-time Army officer. Despite the anti-German hysteria of the time, there seems to have been no adverse comment on his German origins. When the Australian Imperial Force was formed, he was sent with the 4th Infantry Brigade to Egypt. In 1915 his brigade, as part of the New Zealand and Australian Division under Major General Godley, participated in the disastrous Gallipoli campaign against the Ottoman Army. The brigade initially defended the line between Pope's Hill and Courtney's Post and the valley behind this line became known as "Monash Valley". There he made a name for himself with his independent decision-making and his organisational ability. He was promoted to brigadier-general in July. During the August offensive, Monash's objective was the capture of Hill 971, the highest point on the Sari Bair range, but a failure to get his troops through poorly mapped mountanous terrain prior to the battle resulted in disaster for the last co-ordinated effort to defeat the Turkish forces on the Gallipoli Peninsuala. This marked the lowest point of his military career. He commanded the final significant assault of the Gallipoli fighting in the attack on Hill 60 on August 21 which was only partially successful.

Monash during the First World War

By June 1916 Monash was in France, with the rank of major-general and in charge of the new Australian 3rd Division. He was involved in many actions, including Messines, Broodseinde and the First Battle of Passchendaele, with some successes but the usual heavy casualties. The British High Command was impressed by Monash's abilities and enthusiasm. In May 1918 he was promoted to lieutenant-general and made commander of the Australian Corps, at the time the largest corps on the Western Front.

Monash, not being a professionally trained officer, was free of the antiquated doctrines of many First World War officers. He believed in the co-ordinated use of infantry, aircraft, artillery and tanks. He wrote:

The true role of infantry is not to expend itself upon heroic physical effort, not to wither away under merciless machine-gun fire, not to impale itself on hostile bayonets, but on the contrary, to advance under the maximum possible protection of the maximum possible array of mechanical resources, in the form of guns, machine-guns, tanks, mortars and aeroplanes; to advance with as little impediment as possible; to be relieved as far as possible of the obligation to fight their way forward.

Charles Bean, the official Australian war historian, noted that Monash was more effective the higher he rose within the Army where he had greater capacity to use his skill for meticulous planning and organisation, and to innovate in the area of technology and tactics. Bean had been no great admirer of Monash in his early career, reflecting in part a general prejudice against Monash's Jewish-Prussian background, but more particularly because Monash did not fit Bean's concept of the quintessential Australian character that Bean was in the process of mythologising in his monumental work 'Australia in the War of 1914-1918'. Both Bean and Monash, however, having seen the very worst excesses of British military doctrines and the waste of life on the Western Front, were determined that role of the commander was to look after, and protect as far as possible, the troops under their command.

At the Battle of Hamel on 4 July 1918 Monash applied this doctrine, and led Australian Divisions, along with a small detachment of US troops, to win a decisive victory for the Allies. On 12 August he was knighted on the battlefield by King George V, the first time a British monarch had honoured a commander in such a way in 200 years. The Australians then achieved a series of victories against the Germans at Chignes, Mont St Quentin, Peronne and Hargicourt.

Statue of Sir John Monash in King's Domain, Melbourne.

By the end of the war Monash had acquired an outstanding reputation for intellect, personal magnetism, management and ingenuity. He also won the respect and loyalty of his troops: his motto was "Feed your troops on victory." Field-Marshal Bernard Montgomery later wrote: "I would name Sir John Monash as the best general on the western front in Europe."

After the war, Monash worked in prominent civilian positions, the most notable being head of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria. He was called upon by the Victorian Government of Harry Lawson in 1923 to organise 'special constables' to restore order during the 1923 Victorian Police strike. He was one of the principal organisers of the annual observance of ANZAC Day, and oversaw the planning for Melbourne's monumental war memorial, the Shrine of Remembrance. Monash was honoured with numerous awards and decorations from universities and foreign governments. He died in 1931 in Melbourne, where the City of Monash, Monash Medical Centre (the location of his bust that originally resided in former SECV town Yallourn) and Monash University are named after him. His face is on the Australian $100 note. Also named in his honour is Kfar Monash (Monash village) in Israel. Monash's success in part reflected the tolerance of Australian society, but to a larger degree his success - in the harshest experience the young nation had suffered - shaped that tolerance and demonstrated to Australians that the Australian character was diverse, multi-ethnic, and a blend of the traditions of the 'Bush' and the 'city'.

Monash's impact on Australian military thinking was significant in three areas. Firstly he was the first Australian overall commander of Australian forces and took, as subsequent Australian commanders did, a relatively independent line with his British and US superiors. Secondly, he promoted the concept of the commanders duty to ensure the safety and well being of his troops to a pre-eminent position. And finally, he, along with the brilliant Staff Officer Brudenell.White forcefully demonstrated the the benefit of thorough planning and integration of all arms of the forces available, and of all of the components supporting the front line forces, including logistical, medical and recreational services. Troops later recounted that one of the most extraordinary things about the Battle of Hamel was not the use of armoured cars, or simply the tremendous success of the operation, but the fact that in the midst of battle Monash had arranged delivery of hot meals up to the front line.

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John Monash

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