Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Military history/News/August 2017/Book reviews
Latest comment: 7 years ago by Anthony Staunton
- At any price by Craig Deayton. I am intrigued at the title At any price since at first glance it makes the content opaque particularly since the size of the title overwhelms the sub-title. And while I agree with the reviewer that the work of Charles Bean's overshadows any author writing about the Australian Army in the First World War, I hope no one is intimidated by an 84-year-old volume. Having said that I am delighted the author has written about the whole of II Anzac Corps although disappointed the emphasis is on the Australian Army. Having read the review and having read the author's history of the 47th Australian Infantry Battalion, I will definitely be reading this book. Messines was a spectacular and morale boosting victory and it true that until then II Anzac Corps had done little to distinguish itself. However, was the author’s criticism also directed at I Anzac Corps, that would be renamed the Australian Corps in late 1917, on the Somme, in the approach to the Hindenburg Line and at Bullecourt? Anthony Staunton (talk) 16:11, 7 August 2017 (UTC)
- The title actually comes from an order from the German high command, "The enemy must not get the Messines Ridge at any price". (p. 2) Having decided that defence in depth was impractical, they were forced to fight on the ridge. In the Great War generals learned not to demand that positions be held (or captured) at all costs, because too often it came down to just that, and units could be wiped out with nothing to show for it. Shortly before writing the review I had lunch at at RSL in Melbourne, and they had a copy of the official history in a display case. I was asked if I had read any of them, and replied that I had read them all, some of them two or three times. They didn't believe me; clearly Bean's books are intimidating. The author was not intending to criticise the performance of the Anazac troops on the Somme, but to make it clear that at this stage of the war, there was little difference between the Anzac and British divisions in terms of doctrine, organisation, equipment or treatment by the British high command. A year later, none of this would be true. Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:03, 7 August 2017 (UTC)
- Thank you for ‘at any price’ background. I admire Bean and his work having bought six of the first seven volumes, new in their cardboard mailing boxes, for $2.10 each at the former Government Bookshop at what is now Museum station opposite the State Library of Victoria. It was then about forty years old and it is now 84 years ago. I look forward to reading II Anzac Corps at Messines. Anthony Staunton (talk) 12:53, 8 August 2017 (UTC)
- The title actually comes from an order from the German high command, "The enemy must not get the Messines Ridge at any price". (p. 2) Having decided that defence in depth was impractical, they were forced to fight on the ridge. In the Great War generals learned not to demand that positions be held (or captured) at all costs, because too often it came down to just that, and units could be wiped out with nothing to show for it. Shortly before writing the review I had lunch at at RSL in Melbourne, and they had a copy of the official history in a display case. I was asked if I had read any of them, and replied that I had read them all, some of them two or three times. They didn't believe me; clearly Bean's books are intimidating. The author was not intending to criticise the performance of the Anazac troops on the Somme, but to make it clear that at this stage of the war, there was little difference between the Anzac and British divisions in terms of doctrine, organisation, equipment or treatment by the British high command. A year later, none of this would be true. Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:03, 7 August 2017 (UTC)