Victor Harbor High Old Scholars
Interesting books to look for
The history of the First World War told through the real-life stories of the people who survived it, in their own words, Forgotten Voices is an important record of the monumental events of 1914 - 1918. Compiled from the Imperial War Museum’s aural archive, this is a compelling history of World War One from those that experienced it first hand.
The untold stories of the under-age soldiers who fought in the First World War. by Paul Byrnes. In the First World War of 1914–1918, thousands of boys across Australia and New Zealand lied about their age, forged a parent's signature and left to fight on the other side of the world.
From the private papers of Winston Churchill to the tender notes of an unknown Tommy in the trenches, Love Letters of the Great War brings together some of the most romantic correspondence ever written.
Many of the letters collected here are eloquent declarations of love and longing; others contain wrenching accounts of fear, jealousy and betrayal; and a number share sweet dreams of home. But in all the correspondence – whether from British, American, French, German, Russian, Australian and Canadian troops in the height of battle, or from the heartbroken wives and sweethearts left behind – there lies a truly human portrait of love and war.
A century on from the First World War, these letters offer an intimate glimpse into the hearts of men and women separated by conflict, and show how love can transcend even the bleakest and most devastating of realities.
Edited and introduced by Mandy Kirkby, with a foreword from Orange Prize-winner Helen Dunmore.
A World on Edge reveals Europe in 1918, left in ruins by World War I. With the end of hostilities, a radical new start seems not only possible, but essential. Unorthodox ideas light up the age: new politics, new societies, new art and culture, new thinking.
The struggle to determine the future has begun. Historian Daniel Schönpflug describes this watershed year as it was experienced on the ground from the vantage points of people who lived through the turmoil – open ended, unfathomable, its outcome unclear.
Uncensored diaries WWl
Australian nurse Anne Donnell writes vividly of the fear felt by Australian troops in her diary in November, 1917 from the 48th Casualty Clearing Station (CCS), near Amiens, France on the Western front.
"The expressions on those dear boys' faces as they come pouring in with their frightened anxious hunted look combined with the suffering of pain, fear and shock," she writes in her wartime diary.
"Boys who could see would be the leaders of queues of blind, bandaged boys each placing their hands on the other's shoulders and so feeling their way."
The "Fritz" (Germans) had broken through in their counter attack and were "three miles away".
She describes the "full fury" of the noise and the "tremendous and continuous humming" of scores of aeroplanes overhead.
"The wounded boys and the gassed boys are making their way in streams towards the CCS. I shall never forget it."
" … every available space under cover is packed, and not only inside but outside as well. I leave my wounded men and go over to the gas side … there we go on hour after hour putting cocaine in those poor smarting eyes then soda bicarb pads and a bandage."
For nearly a century, the diaries of World War 1 Australian nurse Anne Donnell were packed away and forgotten.
Hilda McNaught WW1 Nurse
ANZACS at Gallipoli
Australian Casualties
According to the First World War page on the Australian War Memorial website from a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men enlisted, of which over 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner. The latest figure for those killed is given as 62,000.Mar 18, 2020
At the end of the First World War, the Renown was refitted as a royal yacht. It transported Edward, the Prince of Wales, to Australia on his highly successful Royal Tour in 1920; a tour to thank the people of Australia officially for the sacrifices made during the Great War.
Aboriginal soldiers were among those who fought at Gallipoli, with over 1000 Aboriginal and Torres Islanders serving in World War I in total. For the first time many of the soldiers were treated as equals, but unfortunately were subjected to the same discrimination and prejudice when they returned to civilian life.
