Over the Top With the Third Australian Division | Page 2

picture to realize the miracle which has
been wrought, or to understand in all their breadth the factors on which
it has depended; but, fundamentally, and overshadowing all other
factors, the result is based upon the character of the Australian people,
and upon the personality of the Australian soldier.
It is the latter factor which, to one who has been for so long in intimate
daily contact with him, makes the closest appeal. It is from that close
association, from the knowledge born of experience of him in every
phase of his daily life, that the Australian can be proclaimed as second
to none in the world both as a soldier and as a fighting man. For these
things are not synonymous, and the first lesson that every recruit has to
learn is that they are not synonymous; that the thing which converts a
mere fighting man into a soldier is the sense of discipline. This word
'discipline' is often cruelly misused and misunderstood. Upon it, in its
broadest and truest sense, depends the capacity of men, in the aggregate,
for successful concerted action. It is precisely because the Australian is
born with and develops in his national life the very instinct of discipline
that he has been enabled to prove himself so successful a soldier. He

obeys constituted authority because he knows that success depends
upon his doing so, whether his activities are devoted to the interests of
his football team or his industrial organization or his regiment. He has
an infinite capacity for 'team' work. And he brings to bear upon that
work a high order of intelligence and understanding. In his other
splendid qualities, his self-reliance, his devotion to his cause and his
comrades, and his unfailing cheerfulness under hardship and distress,
he displays other manifestations of that same instinct of discipline.
Some day cold and formal histories will record the deeds and
performances of the Australian soldiery; but it is not to them that we
shall turn for an illumination of his true character. It is to stories such
as these which follow, of his daily life, of his psychology, of his
personality, that we must look. And we shall look not in vain, when, as
in the following pages, the tale has been written down by one of
themselves, who has lived and worked among them, and who
understands them in a spirit of true sympathy and comradeship. The
Author of these sketches is himself true to his type, and an embodiment
of all that is most worthy and most admirable in the Australian soldier.
JOHN MONASH, _Major-General_.

CONTENTS
PAGE
FROM 'THERE' TO 'HERE' 17
AUSTRALIANS--IN VARIOUS MOODS 28
SUNDAY, 'SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE' 42
SOLDIERS' SUPERSTITIONS 49
ON THE EVE OF BATTLE 59
'OVER THE TOP' 64

SHELLS: A FEW SMILES AND A CONTRAST 77
MESSINES 88
BILL THE BUGLER 95
A TRAGEDY OF THE WAR 99
RECREATION BEHIND THE LINES 108
FOR THE CAUSE OF THE EMPIRE 119
OUR HEROIC DEAD 124
THE SILVER LINING 126

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Major-General Sir John Monash, K.C.B., V.D. Frontispiece PAGE The
Author Facing 8
The Trip across was not as comfortable as it might have been 21
Church buildings seem to have received special attention from enemy
artillery Facing 25
When you are perfectly sober and imagine you're not 26
'Where are you going, my man?' 31
The Ostrich 45
Despite good wishes from friends in the Homeland it was difficult to
keep warm 51
A silent tribute to the brave Facing 54
To the Widows of France " 58

To see ourselves as others see us 81
With the aid of electric torches ... we descended to the cellar 84
'Did you hear that one, Bill?' Facing 87
The Illustrator feeling happy, yet looking 'board' " 94
'She, smiling, takes the pennies' " 106
Off to the Horse Show 111
Sweet and low 114
Taff Williams, Musical Director 114
Sir Douglas Haig, G.C.B., G.C.V.O., and Sir A.J. Godley, K.C.B.,
K.C.M.G., at the 2nd Anzac Horse Show 116
'Bon Soir' 140

='OVER THE TOP'=
FROM 'THERE' TO 'HERE'
Towards the end of November, 1916, our hopes of moving out from
'where we then were' to 'where we now are' materialized to the evident
satisfaction of all. Few, if any, cared as to our probable destination; the
chief interest centred in the fact that we were to start for the Front. The
time spent Somewhere in the Motherland was by no means wasted.
Due regard had been paid to the training of the men, who reached a
standard of efficiency which earned for the Division a reputation
second to none. While in England the Third was the subject of scorn
and bitter criticism. Older Divisions could not forget, and possibly
regretted, the fact that they had had no