Elsewhere on the web

Worth a look:

The BBC website has a specialised History area which includes an extensive range of topics including Ancient History, British History, World Wars and Recent History. To visit the BBC History site click here.

Inside the BBC History World War One pages topics include:

• Descent into War
• Campaigns and Battles
• The World at War
• Human Experiences
• The Trenches – Virtual Tours
• Debates
• Making Peace

To view this section of the site click here.

On the site there is also a section on Australia in World War One, click here to view.

Also worth a look is the British National Army Museum, which has is currently carrying an exhibition tracing the action on the Western Front during 1918, through to the Armistice. This includes a well balanced summary of the German Spring Offensive and how it was turned back in the Allied offensive commencing on 8 August and continuing for the final “hundred days”.  The account acknowledges General Rawlinson’s British Fourth Army, spearheaded by the Australian and the Canadian Corps, attack at Amiens and how the British had perfected how to combine infantry, artillery, tanks and aircraft in a co-coordinated attack. While Australians are generally familiar with the role of the Australian Corps commanded by Sir John Monash, this account places this in the perspective of the British Fourth Army, supported by the Third and First Armies.  Even in this context, the account notes that “the British Fourth Army also resumed its offensive, and the Australian Corps crossed the River Somme on 31 August, breaking the German lines at St Quentin and Péronne. General Rawlinson described the Australian advance as the greatest military achievement of the war.”  To view the site click here – worth bookmarking.

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Have you checked the Plugstreet Archaeological Site recently. They have added some impressive photos from their most recent find:
On 6th August 2008, No-Man’s-Land Archaeology, a multi-national archaeology group who specialise in the First World War, found the body of an Australian soldier of the Great War whilst excavating German trenches near St Yves in Wallonia, Belgium. The soldier was in full battle order with all his well-preserved equipment, medical kit, weaponry and parts of his uniform. His shoulder and collar titles identified him as an Australian. The area was attacked by the Australian 3rd Division on the morning of 7th June 1917 as part of the Battle of Messines, a prelude to the better known battle of 3rd Ypres (Passchendaele). Unlike recent discoveries at Fromelles, this was a battlefield casualty in full kit buried where he fell rather than a burial in a grave behind the lines.

To view the most recent photos, click here.