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Battle of Mont St Quentin 21st Battalion AIF

21st BATTALION BATTLE MEN OF MONT ST QUENTIN Between Victory Death

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Men of Mont St Quentin: Between Victory and Death by P. Stanley

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Men of Mont St Quentin: Between Victory and Death

This military book traces the History of a platoon of the 21st Battalion AIF during the Battle of Mont St Quentin. Thus is a valuable war book for the family historians researching 21st Battalion operations. Written by a leading Australian Military historian Peter Stanley who is currently Head of the Centre for Historical Research at the National Museum of Australia, but was for many years a Curator at The Australian War Memorial.

At exactly 1.30 p.m. on 1 September 1918, the dozen men of Nine Platoon, 21st Australian Infantry Battalion, rose from Elsa Trench and walked across a weedy beet-field toward the German defenders of Mont St Quentin, in France. Within hours, three were dead and five more were wounded, one of whom died six weeks later. The survivors returned from war, more-or-less intact, to live through the next sixty-odd years in the shadow of that traumatic event.

Men of Mont St Quentin tells the story of the men of Nine Platoon and their families. This is the first time that the story of such a group of Australians has been told — only made possible because Garry Roberts, the father of one of the dead, was so grieved by his son Frank’s death that he obsessively collected accounts of what happened that afternoon. The Roberts’ family papers, used here in this way for the first time, reveal the lives of Frank’s comrades and their families as they came to terms with loss and life after war. Interesting General Monash during a 1919 visit to the Battlefield with his daughter went out of his way to visit Frank's grave. Monash had a photograph taken of him and his daughter standing behind Frank's grave. Stanley investgates the mystery as to why Monash would visit Frank's grave of all the soldiers killed under his command.

In the hands of Peter Stanley, one of Australia’s leading military historians, a famous battlefield in France becomes unforgettably connected with Australian men and their families in the long aftermath of the Great War.

This story is an inspiration to all Australians.

Click to see a great companion read
Beaten Down By Blood History Mont St Quentin or

The Battle of Mont St Quentin-Peronne 1918 by Michele Bomford

Data sheet

Book Condition:: Scuffs to gloss on cover, slight edge wear, otherwise nice book
Outer Cover on Book:: Soft Cover
Total Pages:: 320
Publication Date:: 2009
Weight in grams:: 550