Battle of Messines Ridge 7th June 1917 ;Schlacht von Messines Grat 1917
Precipitated by the detonation of 19 enormous mines under the German front lines (made famous in the Australian feature film Beneath Hill 60) video footage courtesy of Australian War Memorial. Songs Along the road to Gundagai and Waltzing Matilda performed by the late Peter Dawson The immediate origins of the war, however, lay in the decisions taken by statesmen and generals during the July Crisis of 1914 caused by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie by Gavrilo Princip, an irredentist Serb and member of the Serbian nationalist organization, the Black Hand.[1] The more immediate cause for the war was tensions over territory in the Balkans. Austria-Hungary competed with Serbia and Russia for territory and influence in the region and they pulled the rest of the Great Powers into the conflict through their various alliances and treaties. Australia were drawn into this conflict because of her ties to the mother country Great Britain. The Great War "The War to end all Wars" 1914 - 1918 Australians Served: 331,781 Died: 60,284 Wounded: 152,284 Men awarded the Victoria Cross: 66
Precipitated by the detonation of 19 enormous mines under the German front lines (made famous in the Australian feature film Beneath Hill 60) video footage courtesy of Australian War Memorial. Songs Along the road to Gundagai and Waltzing Matilda performed by the late Peter Dawson The immediate origins of the war, however, lay in the decisions taken by statesmen and generals during the July Crisis of 1914 caused by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie by Gavrilo Princip, an irredentist Serb and member of the Serbian nationalist organization, the Black Hand.[1] The more immediate cause for the war was tensions over territory in the Balkans. Austria-Hungary competed with Serbia and Russia for territory and influence in the region and they pulled the rest of the Great Powers into the conflict through their various alliances and treaties. Australia were drawn into this conflict because of her ties to the mother country Great Britain. The Great War "The War to end all Wars" 1914 - 1918 Australians Served: 331,781 Died: 60,284 Wounded: 152,284 Men awarded the Victoria Cross: 66