"No man is a hero in their own country"
John Monash 1865-1931
John Monash 1865-1931
John Monash
1865-1931
As the grenades and bullets exploded on the town of Le Hamel, the Germans were attacked by the allied forces. pushing back the enemies and securing their objective; flushing out the Germans of Le Hamel, Le Hamel was a town situated in France that had recently been overtaken by enemy forces. The mastermind and brain behind this operation was an Australian-born general called Sir General John Monash, who was of German descent.
Sir General John Monash was responsible for the lives of 208,000 men from all different countries including New Zealand, England, America, Australia and France. He was born in West Melbourne on the 27th of June 1865 and died on the 8th October 1931, he was only 66 but had changed the course of history, and turned the war to a close.
1865-1883
Born on the 27th of June 1865 to Jewish parents, both of whom were from Krotoschin in the Prussian province of Posen. The family spoke German as it was his parent's native language. John grew up speaking, reading, and writing in German, until 1914. When the war began he decided to renounce his German heritage and speak and communicate in English only.
In 1874, the family moved to the town of Jerilderie in New South Wales where his father ran a small store. He later claimed to have met Ned Kelly during the raid there in 1879. John attended a state school and his Intelligence was noticed, the school then advised the family to return to Melbourne for John to be able to reach his true potential and this they did in 1877. His parents largely abandoned their religious practice but John did celebrate his Bar Mitzvah. He was educated in Scotch College in Melbourne where he passed the matriculation exam. when he was only 14 years of age. At age 16 he was awarded dux of the school. He studied and graduated from the University of Melbourne with a masters of Engineering in 1893. Bachelor degree of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws in 1895. And a Doctor of Engineering degree in 1921.
1883-1921
On the 8th of April 1891 he married a woman called Hannah Victoria Moss (1871-1920) and their only child was Bertha Monash born in 1893. He worked as a Civil engineer in a huge role for introducing reinforced concrete to Australian engineering. In 1906 he took a leading role in the profession and became the president of the Victorian Institute of Engineers. He joined the university company of the militia in 1884 and then he became a lieutenant in the north Melbourne battery command. Monash was upgraded to the captain position in 1895 and in April he was promoted to major position and given command of that same battery which he served for eleven years. John was a driven young man who was intelligent and ambitious.
1914-1918
Monash joined the army reserves and was called to arms in 1914. He suffered racism and anti Semitic because his backgrounds were Jewish and German Descent. He commanded an infantry brigade of 4,000 men at Gallipoli in 1915. He then was transported to the Western front in 1916. Over a period of two years he was building a reputation as a brilliant field commander and a man of great compassion and cared a lot for his troops. At the peak of his military powers he had over 200,000 men under his command. Between mid to late 1918 he commanded allied troops at the significant battles of Amiens, Villiners Brettenoux and Hamel where his armies inflicted the first major defeats on the German army which then led to the surrender of Germany in November of 1918.
1914-1918
Monash’s tactical approach to war was very different to the English: He added tanks and air support and artillery to the equation. He considered the welfare of his troops like his family and treated them like family. He worked out tactics to avoid heavy casualties and injuries. He always made sure that all his troops had hot meals in the front line. Military historians consider him to be the greatest field commander of WW1.
1918-1931
After demobilisation Monash returned to Victoria where he was appointed to the head of Victorian Electricity Commission and became Vice Chancellor of Melbourne University. He also was a driving force in establishing Anzac Day. To this day his face is on the 100 dollar bill, it is sad that not many people use the 100 for he was the main driving force for making the Germans surrender (stopping WW1) and the reason for less casualties for both the allied and the enemy troops.
He suffered a heart attack and sadly passed away at 66 in 1931 in Gordon Sydney NSW.