SECRETS OF WAR PERIOD

Taranaki Daily News, 7 June 1930, Page 9

SECRETS OF WAR PERIOD

AUSTRALIAN’S EXPLOITS SI'R JOHN MONASH’S PART MR. HUGHES DISREGARDED By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. Rec. 5.5 p.m. London, June 5. A remarkable tribute to Sir John Monash is paid by the Daily Telegraph’s military correspondent in the course of a lengthy reference to Sir John’s statement regarding Mr. W. M. Hughes’ attitude. The correspondent says there was no surprise to those’ who peep behind the veil covering the autumn of 1918. Sir John’s facts tally with those already known regarding Mr. Hughes’ constant pressure to secure relief for the Australian forces, which began weeks before the September attack on the Hindenburg Line. One of tflie most amusing inner stories of the war relates to August 8, 1918. The secret of the attack on the front at Amiens was so well kept that the War Council at home knew nothing before it had been launched and had succeeded. During a meeting of that assembly Mr. Hughes was making a vehement speech demanding that the Australians should be taken out of the line when the news came that the Australians were attacking with brilliant success and were already far inside the German line. Recall was too late. Mr. Hughes, however, did net relax his demand for relief, but happily it did not prevent the Australian line from repeating its triumph, first at the storming of St. Quentin and then at the breaking of the Hindenburg Line. Mr. Hughes’ attitude seems partly to have been inspired by internal pressure in Australia and partly by his feeling that the Australians had been called on to do more than the troops of the Mother Country. Certainly the Australians played the star role more often than any formation in 1918. Although Mr. Hughes’ demand began before the chief run of success commenced, it should be remembered that the Australians had not, like the others, borne the brunt of the German hammer blows earlier, though they came up each time to help in bringing the German advance to a standstill, and one may question whether tho majority of Australians would have wished to avoid the vital role thus given them. Perhaps the great part played by Sir John Monash in 1918 has never been fully appreciated. A civilian himself, he vzas perhaps the ablest of all the commanders on the Western Front. The war ended before he had had a chance to reveal his full scope, but he had done enough to bring high honour on the citizen forces of the Empire. The latest revelations show tho pressure from the rear »which he had to withstand in standing by the troops . of the Motherland and the other Dominions.