The Fighting Nineteenth

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Matthews and Wilson have recently released their history of the 19th Battalion AIF, from its beginnings in Sydney in 1914 to its disbandment in the month before Armistice. The book is packed with comprehensive historical research and a level of scholarship that does them both proud. Not only is it a very professional, fully annotated military history, but Mathews and Wilson's account also flows in a very readable manner.

The publishers imply that the main readership for this book will be families tracing a relative's military service. While this is no doubt correct, anyone wanting to find out what it was really like to be in a WW1 infantry battalion could do no worse than picking up this comprehensive account. It also fills a gap in the list of AIF battalion histories and there are potential readers who like to compare the experiences of one battalion with another.

The book succeeds on many levels. From Gallipoli to the last days of the Hindenburg Line late in 1918, the 19th acquitted itself with distinction. The mud, the blood, the craters, the gas, the shelling, the lice - they are all there of course. However, it is the interpretation of and blending of varied accounts from service records and unit war diaries with individual private diaries that really brings the account to life. In Australia it is not hard these days to download a battalion war diary, Bean's account and the service records of those named. What is hard, what takes judgement, is to amalgamate these primary sources into an account that takes the reader with it. There is no doubt that Mathews and Wilson have succeeded here and you want to turn the page and find out what comes next, even if it is to read the harrowing account of Flers.

I understand that Wilson is responsible for a lot of the book's strategic picture and here he takes a balanced and mature approach. There are no facile "lions led by donkeys", where brave young soldiers are sent to their deaths by bad decisions from generals ensconced in a distant chateau. Wilson takes an even handed approach and in his account of the terrible fighting at Flers, refers to the blame attached by many to the 22nd Battalion. He then visits the 22nd Battalion's account where they blamed the 19th and tries for a reasoned analysis of both claims.

This is a mature approach to military history and the book shares a mixture of anecdotes on digger behaviour, reflecting the good and bad of Australian life in general. Another good example is the analysis of casualty figures - most stories of harrowing attacks conclude with a heartbreaking, but inaccurate statement of how many men answered the roll call the next day. Find 3 different historical accounts and you will read 4 different casualty figures. Wilson, without diminishing the terrible sacrifice made, analyses this and reaches a more realistic figure.

I was impressed by the number of private family photographs uncovered, suggesting years of effort in tracing family stories and artefacts, perhaps by a battalion association? Clearly these are highly valued by the families down the generations. In the 1930s, growing up in Sydney, my own father used to watch a man scrawling the word 'Eternity' on the pavements. That man, Private Stace was a soldier of the 19th and his story is documented here.

The book ships with expertly drawn but unattributed maps and a comprehensive CD which I understand took as much effort as the printed word. The CD contains large, colour versions of all the maps, together with larger photographs, website links and much searchable text. There is enough to keep an individual researcher active for months.

There were a few very minor things I disliked. The book is very readable and flows naturally, but the insistence of putting the soldier's regimental number in front of their name becomes irritating after a while. While the authors argue that this helps family historians, an appendix with page numbers would be just as easy. The authors seem to dislike metric measurements and after reading a temperature in Fahrenheit, I half expected to turn the page and discover how many furlongs to the nearest German trenches. There are a tiny number of typographical errors, to be expected in a work of over 500 pages. The war trophies were captured during the Battle of Amiens and this is later referred to as on the 18th August, rather than 10 days earlier. An unfortunate double negative told us that after Flers, the battalion 'ceased to be an ineffective fighting force'.

By way of comparison with other histories, 'The Forty Third', written by the 43rd Battalion's adjutant before he left France in 1919, provides an immediate impact on the reader as it is written while the diggers who had recently fought prepared to go home. However, time was too recent to allow the kind of historical analysis Wilson applies.

While unfortunately I do not know anything about Mathews, Wilson has had a lifelong interest in military history. As a young officer in the Australian Army, Wilson interviewed a number of surviving WW1 veterans and published his findings. He even took time out to assist with the 1982 Peter Weir film, Gallipoli. He is one of the AWM's battlefield tour guides and is active with the AIFFA and on specialist WW1 forums. His military knowledge shines through this book.

This is a standout book that deserves a wider audience, not only for anyone with an interest in a member of the battalion itself, but for anyone looking for an insight into what it might have been like to be part of the Great War.