Over the Top With the Third Australian Division

Waiting in rain and darkness, a soldier thinks about worn boots and future leave while shells are about to transform the ground around him. G. P. Cuttriss uses such shifts between ordinary concerns and battle to describe life with the Third Australian Division during the First World War. His collection of sketches and stories begins with the men leaving their English training camp for the front in November 1916, carrying both eagerness and uncertainty into their departure.

The contents range from soldiers' superstitions and Sunday life in France to recreation behind the lines and remembrance of fallen comrades. John Monash's introduction places particular weight on discipline, cooperation and the Australian soldier's character. Written amid active service, these pages offer the perspective of someone living among the men he describes. Readers interested in wartime experience will find humor, practical discomfort and patriotic feeling alongside the strain of combat.