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German Anzacs Of The First World War

$24.95

Author - John F. Williams
Published in 2003 by UNSW Press, Australia
Softcover, 318 Pages
Size - 23.5cm * 16cm

By 1914 Australia's German immigrants were well-regarded in their communities and made up (after Irish and Scots) the fourth-largest white ethnic community in Australia. Initially, the outbreak of war brought about little change. However, as young Germans sought to enlist in the armed services, they began experiencing difficulties.

Some were rejected outright, and others were only accepted under an anglicised pseudonym. Rumours began circulating on the loyalty of Monash and other German Australians in command posts. Most Australians were slow to 'hate the Hun' and it was only after the notorious Bruce Report of early 1915 that the local German community began to feel the effects of real persecution.

This book is part cultural and part military history. It is set against the background of the history of German nineteenth century emigration and the contemporary history of Australian society. The motivations that impelled these men to volunteer, particularly in so far as they differed from those of British Australians, are assessed in the light of their attitudes to the war, to their ancestral and actual homelands, and the difficulties endured by their families on the homefront.

This book is a thoroughly readable history, on this mostly overlooked aspect of Australians in World War I, and includes lively anecdotal and personal material.

Contents:

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction

1. Edwardian dream-time
2. Kommt es zum weltkrieg
3. Fires of hate: the Bryce Report
4. What's in a name
5. 1914–5: six-bob-a-day-tourists
6. 1916: the first 'fair-dinkums'
7. Brothers-in-arms
8. Walter Scwartz: patriot, deserter, war-hero
9. 1917
10. From 'Tumba' to Bullecourt
11. Ein bloke aus Sydney
12. 1918: on the defensive
13. 1918: Monash's charge
14. Prisoners of the Reich
15. Fred Klingner's odyssey

Epilogue
Notes
Index