SIR JOHN MONASH

Otago Witness, Issue 4048, 13 October 1931, Page 27

SIR JOHN MONASH

“OUR GREATST AUSTRALIAN.” A NATIONAL LOSS. MELBOURNE, October 8. The death is announced of Sir John Monash. He was 66 years of age. The announcement of Sir John Monash's death was received throughout Australia with profound sorrow. He is described as Australia’s greatest soldier and th<* most conspicuous figure in Victorian public life. Sir George Pearce, a former Minister of Defence, paid a tribute to him as a man of extraordinary military genius. Dr Bean, the Australian war correspondent, said: “Sir John Monash was known to all Australians as our greatest Australian. lie possessed an intellect which gave him a comprehensive grasp of any subject, whether music, art, or engineering.” The Federal Government is according him a State funeral. AN AMERICAN TRIBUTE NEW YORK, October 8. The. New York Times, in a leader, says: “It is no exaggeration to say that Sir John Mona<h was one of the ablest soldiers that the British dominions sent to the war. It was characteristic of him that he painstakingly prepared his troops for the front and no emergency was so desperate as to shake his iron nerve. The American divisions knew the calibre of the Australian commander because they witnessed his handling of the Australian troops when breaking the Hindenburg line.” NEW ZEALAND’S SYMPATHY WELLINGTON. October 9. The Governor-General (Lord Bledisloe) sent the following message to Ihe Governor-General of Australia in connection with the death of Sir John Monasb : “ I desire to assure your Excellency of the deep sympathy felt throughout the Dominion in the loss which Australia sustained by the death of Sir John Monash, one of her most distinguished sons.”

MORNING POST'S TRIBUTE. LONDON, October 9

The Morning Post says: “Sir John Monash was another of the small steadily diminishing band of great soldiers. England, no less than Australia, recalls with pride the remarkable genius for constructive leadership which he displayed in one of the greatest battles in history, and Marshal Ludendorff himself admitted that the Australians’ break through at Hamel was Germany's black day a.id the turning point of the war. Sir John Monash’s brilliant handling of 60 tanks established that weapon as a spearhead of the Allies’ assault. Sir John, in a literal sense, led the way to victory.”

General Sir John Monash was born at Melbourne on June 27, 1865, and educated at the Scotch College and the University of Melbourne. In 1884 he commenced practice as a civil engineer, and in 1900 he introduced reinforced concrete construction into Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia. From his university days he was an enthusiastic officer of the citizen forces, and his power of keen, lucid exposition was noticed by Sir lan Hamilton and other inspecting officers who visited Australia. On the outbreak of war he was appointed chief censor for Australia, but within a month he was given command of the 4th Infantry Brigade, which became part of the New Zealand and Australian Division under Major-general Godley. He accompanied his brigade to Gallipoli, where, during the landing operations, it reinforced the battalions holding the centre, and shortly afterwards became responsible for the defence of that sector at the head of Monash Valley. In the great offensive in August his brigade was given the task of reaching, by a night operation through the foothills, the summit of Hill 791, some four miles distant. In the morning, at a critical moment, Monash himself made his way to its head and directed it into the hills, but the effort failed. Shortly after the transfer of his brigade to France he was appointed to command the 3rd Australian Division, which he trained in England and led to the Western Front, where it took part in the battle of Messines, the third battle of Ypres, and the operations which checked the direct German advance upon Amiens. His obvious capacity, especially in the higher command, marked him to succeed Sir William Birdwood in command of the Australian Army Corps in France when, in May, 1918, Birdwood was transferred to the Fifth British Army. The sector of the Australian Corps was chosen for the commencement of the Allied offensive of August 8, 1918, and during the advance Sir John Monash at times commanded no fewer than eight divisions. By - October 6, when the Australian division, after the piercing of the Hindenburg line, were withdrawn for rest, their leader had become recognised as one of the ablest commanders in the British Army. After the Armistice he was appointed Director-general of Demobilisation for the A.I.F. In August, 1920, the Victorian Government appointed Sir John chairman of the State’s Electricity Supply Commission, | and in 1924 he was president of the , Australian Association for the Advancement of Science.