‘FEED THE TROOPS ON VICTORY’: A STUDY OF THE AUSTRALIAN CORPS AND ITS OPERATIONS DURING AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER 1918. RICHARD MONTAGU STOBO Thesis prepared in requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Humanities and Social Sciences University of New South Wales, Canberra June 2020 Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname/Family Name : Stobo Given Name/s : Richard Montagu Abbreviation for degree as given in the : PhD University calendar Faculty : History School : Humanities and Social Sciences ‘Feed the Troops on Victory’: A Study of the Australian Corps Thesis Title : and its Operations During August and September 1918. Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE) This thesis examines reasons for the success of the Australian Corps in August and September 1918, its final two months in the line on the Western Front. For more than a century, the Corps’ achievements during that time have been used to reinforce a cherished belief in national military exceptionalism by highlighting the exploits and extraordinary fighting ability of the Australian infantrymen, and the modern progressive tactical approach of their native-born commander, Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash. This study re-evaluates the Corps’ performance by examining it at a more comprehensive and granular operational level than has hitherto been the case. What emerges is a complex picture of impressive battlefield success despite significant internal difficulties that stemmed from the particularly strenuous nature of the advance and a desperate shortage of manpower. These played out in chronic levels of exhaustion, absenteeism and ill-discipline within the ranks, and threatened to undermine the Corps’ combat capability. In order to reconcile this paradox, the thesis locates the Corps’ performance within the wider context of the British army and its operational organisation in 1918. While the study shows that the Australian Corps did comprise an unusually large percentage of experienced, well-trained and battle-hardened soldiers, it concludes that its high level of combat effectiveness was due essentially to the massive, sophisticated and resilient network of supply and support systems in place by that stage of the war. At its core, therefore, this is a study in microcosm of the BEF's doctrinal, tactical and technological evolution (or ‘learning process’), of which the Australians were prime beneficiaries. The thesis argues that, given the serious internal difficulties it faced, the Australian Corps’ success in August and September 1918 was only possible because it advanced for those two months at the absolute pinnacle of the British Army’s military development and operational capability, and against an enemy in serious decline. ii Declaration relating to disposition of project thesis/dissertation I hereby grant to the University of New South Wales or its agents a non-exclusive licence to archive and to make available (including to members of the public) my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known. I acknowledge that I retain all intellectual property rights which subsist in my thesis or dissertation, such as copyright and patent rights, subject to applicable law. I also retain the right to use all or part of my thesis or dissertation in future works (such as articles or books). 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Candidate’s Name Signature Date (dd/mm/yy) iv ORIGINALITY STATEMENT ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ Signed. 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Date iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS If it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a small community to raise a PhD candidate. When I first considered embarking on this project, I asked a colleague who had been through the process about his experience. His reply was simple and to the point: “There’s only one requirement,” he told me. “You have to sell your soul.” A little melodramatic, perhaps, but it nevertheless pointed to an essential truth: working towards a PhD is extraordinarily demanding and is made possible only by of the support, advice and encouragement of a large number of people. I must first thank John Connor and Bob Stevenson, my supervisors at UNSW (Canberra). Being a part-time candidate working full-time and living 300 kilometres from Canberra created a unique set of challenges; without John’s patient reassurance, I doubt this thesis would ever have been completed. While John helped with the big picture, Bob’s intricate but wide-ranging knowledge of battlefield operations and processes is quite simply extraordinary. His interest and encouragement apparently knew no bounds and I always looked forward to our conversations. Bob’s suggestions and feedback were invaluable. Because this is an Anglo-Australian story, I have been fortunate to attend and present at conferences both in Australia and overseas. In the process, I have had the opportunity to spend time with some of the Commonwealth’s finest scholars of the Great War. I have continually been struck by the generosity of the international community of military historians, and the fact that so many have shown interest in the work of a schoolmaster from Sydney. There are too many to acknowledge all individually but I would like to single out Professor Gary Sheffield, Professor Peter Simkins, Professor Peter Stanley, Dr Jonathan Boff, Dr Andy Simpson, Dr Alison Hine, Dr Lewis Frederickson, and Dr Debbie Lackerstein, either for reading chapter drafts, making time to discuss the project, or simply offering suggestions and pointing me in the direction of useful resources. All provided advice, insight and encouragement that was greatly appreciated. v Particularly memorable experiences among many during the course of my research included: being invited to spend time with Peter Simkins at his home in England in 2016; being given the opportunity to present a paper at the outstanding ‘1918–2018: The End of the War & The Reshaping of a Century’ conference two years later at Wolverhampton; and weeks spent trawling over almost every inch of the Somme battlefields of northern France. Good times. I acknowledge in particular the help and advice of Professor Carl Bridge, of King’s College, London. Carl suggested the idea for my BA Honours thesis all those years ago and he was an important sounding board when I was considering whether or not to embark on a PhD.