MONASH WAR LETTERS

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 98, 27 April 1935, Page 24

MONASH WAR LETTERS

Books which owe their parentage to the Great War continue to flow unceasingly from the publishers. Many are merely personal recollections and are of no value to the historian, but a few from authoritative sources do place facts in a new and correct perspective and these are the ones which will be studied in the future. In the latter category may be placed the letters of General Monash which, edited by P. M. Cutlack, one of Australia's war correspondents, have been published by Angus and Robertson (Sydney). Wh^n Sir John Monash died in 1931, Captain Liddell. Hart, the well-known British military critic, wrote in a memoir: "If the war had.lasted another year Sir John Monash would almost certainly have risen to an army commander, or might easily have been Commander-in-Chief of the British Armies in the field. He probably had the greatest capacity for command in modern war among all who held command." Consequently a collection of letters written by one who had such a great reputation is of considerable importance. Written from the front, mostly to his wife and daughter, and coming from one who was in the closest touch with the personalities of the Allies, the letters describe events which were fresh in the mind of the yriter, and many of them give a new angle on outstanding occurrences. Little is said in the letters about the Gallipoli landing, the writer holding that the greater achievement was the fighting afterwards to gain and then consolidate positions. The evacuation of Anzac is well described. General Monash was justifiably proud of the men under his command, of whom he wrote: "I am more than ever satisfied that after the destruction of the regular army in France no other troops at the Empire's disposal cou\d have got and held a footing on Gallipoli except the Australians and New Zealanders." Maps and photographs add to the value of the letters.