The Australian Victories in France in 1918

by Sir John Monash

It was thus the largest of all Army Corps ever organized, in this or any other war, by any of the combatants—the largest both in point of numbers and of military resources of all descriptions, approaching, and in one case exceeding, a full Army command.

But even these great resources and responsibilities were added to, during the course of the operations, by the allocation, at successive times, to the Australian Corps of the 17th Imperial Division, the 32nd Imperial Division and the 27th and 30th American Divisions. Thus, during the closing days of September, 1918, the Corps numbered a total of nearly 200,000 men, exceeding more than fourfold the whole of the British troops under the command of the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo.

Of this total about one-half comprised Australian troops, the Heavy Artillery and other Army units attached to the Corps consisting of Imperial troops. The Commanders and Staffs from June, 1918, until the end consisted almost entirely of Australian officers, among whom the following were the senior:

Corps Commander	Lieut.-General Sir J. Monash,
	G.C.M.G., K.C.B., V.D.
Corps Chief-of-Staff	Brigadier-General T. A. Blamey,
	C.M.G., D.S.O.
Corps Artillery Commander	Brigadier-General W. A. Coxen,
	C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.
Chief Engineer	Brigadier-General C. H. Foott,
	C.B., C.M.G.
1st Div. Commander	Major-General Sir T. W. Glasgow,
	K.C.B., D.S.O.
General Staff Officer	Lieut.-Colonel A. M. Ross, C.M.G., D.S.O.
Chief Admin. Officer	Lieut.-Colonel H. G. Viney,
	C.M.G., D.S.O.
2nd Div. Commander	Major-General Sir C. Rosenthal,
	K.C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.
General Staff Officer	Lieut.-Colonel C. G. N. Miles,
	C.M.G., D.S.O.
Chief Admin. Officer	Lieut.-Colonel J. M. A. Durrant,
	C.M.G., D.S.O.
3rd Div. Commander	Major-General Sir J. Gellibrand,
	K.C.B., D.S.O.
General Staff Officer	Lieut.-Colonel C. H. Jess, C.M.G., D.S.O.
Chief Admin. Officer	Lieut.-Colonel R. E. Jackson, D.S.O.
4th Div. Commander	Major-General E. G. Sinclair-Maclagan,
	C.B., D.S.O.
General Staff Officer	Lieut.-Colonel J. D. Lavarack,
	C.M.G., D.S.O.
Chief Admin. Officer	Lieutenant-Colonel R. Dowse, D.S.O.
5th Div. Commander	Major-General Sir J. J. T. Hobbs,
	K.C.B., K.C.M.G., V.D.
General Staff Officer	Lieut.-Colonel J. H. Peck, C.M.G., D.S.O.
and later	Lieut.-Colonel J. T. McColl, O.B.E., M.C.
Chief Admin. Officer	Colonel J. H. Bruche, C.B., C.M.G.

All the above were Australian Officers, and most of them were of Australian birth. There were also two senior staff officers of the Regular Army, Brigadier-General R. A. Carruthers, C.B., C.M.G., who was Chief of the Administrative Services, and Brigadier-General L. D. Fraser, C.B., C.M.G., who was in immediate command of the Heavy Artillery of the Corps.[2]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] A Division consists of three Infantry Brigades, Divisional Artillery, three Field Companies of Engineers, three Field Ambulances, a Pioneer Battalion, a Machine Gun Battalion, together with Supply, Sanitary and Veterinary Services. Its nominal strength is 20,000.

An Infantry Brigade consists of four Infantry Battalions, each of 1,000 men, and a Light Trench Mortar Battery.

Divisional Artillery comprises two Brigades each of four batteries, each of six guns or howitzers, also one Heavy and three medium Trench Mortar Batteries, and the Divisional Ammunition Column.

This composition of a Division was modified in detail during the course of the war.