John Monash

Sir John Monash
Sir John Monash c.1920s
Born	(1865-06-27)27 June 1865 Melbourne, Victoria
Died	8 October 1931(1931-10-08) (aged 66) Melbourne, Victoria
Allegiance	Australia
Service/branch	Australian Army
Years of service	1884–1920
Rank	General
Commands held	Australian Corps (1918) 3rd Division (1916–18) 4th Infantry Brigade (1914–16) 13th Infantry Brigade (1913–14)
Battles/wars	First World War Gallipoli Campaign Battle of Messines Battle of Broodseinde First Battle of Passchendaele Battle of Hamel Battle of Amiens Battle of St. Quentin Canal
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Volunteer Decoration Mentioned in Despatches (6) Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour (France) Croix de Guerre (France) Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Croix de Guerre (Belgium) Distinguished Service Medal (United States)
Other work	Manager State Electricity Commission of Victoria (1920–31) Vice-Chancellor University of Melbourne (1923–31)

First World War

General Sir John Monash, GCMG, KCB, VD (/ˈmɒnæʃ/; 27 June 1865 – 8 October 1931) was a civil engineer and an Australian military commander of the First World War. He commanded the 13th Infantry Brigade before the war and then, shortly after its outbreak, became commander of the 4th Brigade in Egypt, with whom he took part in the Gallipoli campaign. In July 1916 he took charge of the newly raised 3rd Division in northwestern France and in May 1918 became commander of the Australian Corps, at the time the largest corps on the Western Front. The successful Allied attack at the Battle of Amiens on 8 August 1918, which expedited the end of the war, was planned by Monash and spearheaded by British forces including the Australian and Canadian Corps under Monash and Arthur Currie. Monash is considered one of the best Allied generals of the First World War and the most famous commander in Australian history.

Monash was born in Dudley Street,West Melbourne, Victoria, on 27 June 1865, the son of Louis Monash and his wife Bertha, née Manasse. He was born to Jewish parents, both from Krotoschin, in the Posen province, Kingdom of Prussia (now Krotoszyn in the Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland); the family name was originally spelt Monasch (pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable). The family spoke German as their native language. As might have been expected from a man brought up by cultivated German parents who had arrived in Australia barely two years before John's birth, Monash spoke, read, and wrote German fluently. However, from 1914 until his death, Sir John Monash had no good reason to attract attention to his German background.