Pompey Elliott at War: In His Own Words

Description

The wartime letters and diaries of Pompey Elliott, Australia's most famous fighting general, are exceptionally forthright. They are also remarkably illuminating about his volatile emotions. Pompey not only wrote frankly about what happened to him and the men he was commanding; he was also frank about what he felt about both. Having arranged a no-secrets pact with his wife for their correspondence before he left Australia in 1914, he adhered to that agreement throughout the conflict. Moreover, Pompey expressed himself vividly in his diaries and other correspondence. He wrote rapidly and fluently, deploying fertile imagery, a flair for simile, and an engaging turn of phrase. His extraordinary letters to his young children turned even the Western Front into a bedtime story. Pompey was prominent in iconic battles and numerous controversies. He was wounded at the Gallipoli landing, and four of his men were awarded the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery at Lone Pine. No one was more instrumental than Pompey in turning looming defeat into stunning victory at both Polygon Wood and Villers-Bretonneux. No Australian general was more revered by those he led or more famous outside his own command. This book, by the author of the award-winning and best-selling biography Pompey Elliott, will lead to a new appreciation of Pompey's character and his importance in the dramatic final year of World War I.

Ross McMullin is an award-winning historian, biographer, and storyteller. Life So Full of Promise is his sequel to Farewell, Dear People- biographies of Australia's lost generation, which won national awards, including the Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History. His biographies include Pompey Elliott, which also won multiple awards, and Will Dyson- Australia's radical genius, and he assembled Elliott's extraordinary letters in Pompey Elliott at War- in his own words. His political histories comprise The Light on the Hill and So Monstrous a Travesty- Chris Watson and the world's first national labour government. During the 1970s he played first-grade district cricket in Melbourne.