Chapter 102 – John

John Monash’s letters to his wife Victoria are preserved in War Letters of General Monash (full version 1935, or re-published by Black Inc, 2015). Dates shown are dates of letters, so are not exactly dates of events. Some details include:

14 February 1916 – 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Brigades are all to be split into two. The twin of the 4th Brigade was to be the new 12th Brigade.

5 March – The 4th, 12th and 13th Brigade are to form a new 4th Division. The command of the 4th Division has not been settled at this time, “… but it looks like as if they are going to give it to Major-General Sir Harry V. Cox… I have firmly resolved not to intrigue or canvass for promotion in any way, and if Australia chooses to let her forces be exploited to find jobs for unemployed senior British officers that is not my affair.”

15 April – In Cairo, on Thursday [13 April] a Khamsin hit camp and caused havoc, lasting twenty hours.

22 April – Monash learned that he will not receive a promotion to the role of Division Commander. “Birdwood preferred to entrust it to Cox, a Kitchener man and an old Indian colleague.”

26 April – Monash describes in detail the celebration of “Anzac Day” yesterday…

At 6:45am – the whole brigade turned out for a service. Men who served at Gallipoli wore blue ribbon on right breast. Men of the landing on 25 April 1915 wore a red ribbon also. Monash wore both ribbons. A short, dignified service ended with a fine stirring address by Chaplain Lieutenant-Colonel Wray (who landed with us). Then, while parade stood to attention, massed bands of brigade played the funeral anthem: “The Dead March in Saul”. Then massed buglers blew the “Last Post”.

“For the rest of the day everyone was given a whole holiday. We spent the morning playing cricket and other amusement, and in the afternoon the whole division went down to the canal to swim and take part in a great aquatic carnival. From Serapeum pontoon bridge both sloping banks of the Suez Canal for fully a mile north were one teeming mass of naked humanity. At times there were over 15,000 men in the water, and whenever the judges launch tooted to notify that the course must be cleared, the scamper to bank was sight worth seeing…”

“Godley and his staff came down from Ismalia, and at about five, the Prince of Wales came up his little pinnace from Suez where he had been spending the day, and stayed an hour with us, heartily enjoying the fun, and the afternoon tea, and the ovation of cheers the men gave him wherever he went. We sent cables to 5th Division, to Birdwood, and to 1st Anzac in France. In the evening we had mess dinners everywhere, and finished up with band concerts, and wished each other the opportunity of enjoying many happy returns of this famous day – Our Day .”

15 May – Monash does not think that the Turks are a serious threat to canal, but just demonstrating to hold British troops there. He expects to go to France soon, but has no definite orders yet. It is very hot and “…we are all hoping to get away from this dreadful desert before the end of the month.”

Details from The Other Anzacs – Nurses at War, 1914-1918 by Peter Rees:

p. 162-163 – Anzac Day memorial services were held in Cairo. A nurse’s description of one service includes the singing of Kipling’s Recessional. Some men near her were sobbing and “no man dared look into another man’s eye’s”

In the 4th Brigade War Diary , the entry for 25/4/16 simply reads: “ANZAC DAY ANNIVERSARY. Church Parade held in morning, Div. Sports & Swimming Carnival in the afternoon.”

Roland Perry states in Monash: The Outsider Who Won a War , that Monash’s brigade had 5,000 men in March 1916.” (p. 243)

Bible references – King James Version:

John 15:12-13 – “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”

Deuteronomy 6:12 – “Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.”