World War 1: Books and Films

The artillery bombardment did not let up for days. How anyone, on either side, could still be alive, was beyond me. The stream of casualties soon turned into a rivera raging, flooded river. The 'cooee' call to arms takes Syd from the Mallee to the fields of France. As part of the mobile veterinary unit, his horses are trained for war but face new and deadly weapons. Battle-weary diggers, shipped from Gallipoli and joined by fresh recruits from home, are met by a formidable enemy at Fromelles and along the River Somme, in a year that will be forged in legend and memory, in the trenches and the conscription battles at home.

The German planes patrolled in hunting squads. They flew fast fighting craft, streaking across the sky in tight formation. The greatest of them was the Red Barron, the deadliest ace on the Front. He'd shot down twenty-one of our planes in a single month. And now we were in his firing line. The war in France rages in the skies, and support for the war in Australia turns cold. Alex flies high above the trenches of the Western Front, while a world away his sister Maggie finds herself in the midst of political upheaval. Somehow, both must find the courage to fight on.

The planes kept flying low above them. They were dropping bombs and the noise drowned out all other sounds. After an hour the signal rang out and they surged forward through the smoke. Thousands of men screaming and yelling, their line was kilometres wide. Behind them came Monash's tanks, those huge, new mobile machines. They smothered the land they ran over; flattening the crops and then any wire left standing. With Russia out of the war, the Germans have sent all the troops to the Western Front. Almost defeated, a small group of Australians fight to hold the enemy back at Villers Brettoneux. Weary after years of fighting and deadlock, Ned and his mates know that the war will be lost if they can't turn the tide. More and more, Ned's thoughts turn to home, not knowing if he will ever see his family, or his brother, again?

Well dear Jim it breaks my heart to write this letter. Our dear [brother] was killed yesterday morning at 5.30. The bullet killed him instantly and he never spoke a word. I had just left him and gone down the trench to see the other lads when I was called back. Oh Jim it is awful...oh I do hope he is the last. It is April 27, 1918, Jim's brother writes from the battlefields of France. Of five brothers serving on the Western Front, three have given their lives; another has been hospitalised. Six agonising months of brutal warfare were yet to be endured. The Great War was a senseless tragedy. Its long shadow darkened the four corners of the world. In Mologa, Victoria, once a bustling community, stands a lonely stone memorial. Etched within the granite are the names of the Marlow brothers and their mates; a testament to ordinary people who became heroes. Anzac Sons is composed from a collection of over five hundred letters and postcards written by the brothers who served, four in the 38th Battalion and another in the 2nd Light Trench Mortar Battery. From the training grounds of Victoria, Egypt and England, to the Western Front battlefields - Pozieres, Bullecourt, Messines, Menin Road, Passchendaele, Villers-Bretonneux and the village battles of 1918 - this true story was compiled by the granddaughter of a surviving brother. She takes us on her journey as she walks in the footsteps of her ancestors. This is a story of mateship, bravery and sacrifice; it is a heartbreaking account of a family torn apart by war.

Generals Die in Bed is an anti-war novella by the Canadian writer Charles Yale Harrison. Based on the author's own experiences in combat, it tells the story of a young soldier fighting in the trenches of World War I.

The Battle of Beersheba, a redeeming win for the Anzacs who lost at Gallipoli, has slipped through the cracks of Australia's historical consciousness. The sunset charge by 800 Anzacs mounted on horses defeated 400 Turks, captured Beersheba, which led to the liberation of Jerusalem and the fall of the Ottoman Empire.