By the end of the First World War the combat formations of the
Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in both France and the Middle East were
considered among the British Empire's most effective troops. While
sometimes a source of pride and not a little boasting, how the force
came to be so was not due to any inherent national prowess or trait.
Instead it was the culmination of years of training, organisational
change, battlefield experimentation and hard-won experience--a process
that included not just the Australians, but the wider British imperial
armies as well.
This book brings together some of Australia's foremost military
historians to outline how the military neophytes that left Australia's
shores in 1914 became the battle winning troops of 1918. It will trace
the evolution of several of the key arms of the AIF, including the
infantry, the light horse, the artillery, and the flying corps, and also
consider how the various arms worked together alongside other troops of
the British Empire to achieve a remarkably high level of battlefield
effectiveness.