The First ANZACS
Apr 28, 2026
George Hulse and Jimmy Thomson, Zoom Meeting
The First ANZACS
George Hulse and Jimmy Thomson are the authors of The First ANZACS
'This is the unknown story of the combat engineers who kept World War I running. Although it has been repeatedly denied by the army, they were the first Australians and New Zealanders to land at Anzac Cove: in any combat, even today, sappers are always the first in and last out.
They were airbrushed out of history. Official historian Charles Bean claimed the first Australian ashore at the Gallipoli landing on 25 April 1915 was an infantry officer. But Bean wasn't there, and a bunch of Australian and New Zealand army engineers were. Even today, the army is reluctant to accept that sappers were among the very first ANZACs ashore.
This is the untold story of World War I Australian and New Zealand sappers—combat engineers—with extracts from their diaries. They were always in the vanguard, clearing defences, and building bridges, roads and walkways, usually under fire, for the troops who followed. At Gallipoli, strafed by machine guns and targeted by snipers, they dug trenches and tunnels to advance on the Turkish defences. On the Western Front, they burrowed under the German lines to plant massive explosives. In Egypt they demolished a Turkish railway in a day'.
This is the untold story of World War I Australian and New Zealand sappers—combat engineers—with extracts from their diaries. They were always in the vanguard, clearing defences, and building bridges, roads and walkways, usually under fire, for the troops who followed. At Gallipoli, strafed by machine guns and targeted by snipers, they dug trenches and tunnels to advance on the Turkish defences. On the Western Front, they burrowed under the German lines to plant massive explosives. In Egypt they demolished a Turkish railway in a day'.
M.C.: TBA
Photo and Words: Allen and Unwin