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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Dominion troops


paul guthrie

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This is the kind of subjective topic that Chris loves. We recently discussed best British Divisions. Most people think the Dominion Divisions, all of them, and the South African Brigade, were among the best.

There is a belief that the men were bigger and fitter. Is there any empirical data to prove/disprove this?

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Certainly not in the case of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Recent research has shown how the majority who served in the AIF lived in towns and cities, and were not all 6-foot bronzed bushmen!

I think there are many more complicated reasons for their good battle performance - particularly in 1918. The CEF were the only ones to keep 4 battalions in a Brigade, for example, which made the 4 Canadian divisions far more powerful that the equivalent British ones.

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If you listen to the media around Anzac Day you would get the impression that the majority of the AIF were all 6 foot tall.

However this was the case with the 1st Contingent which sailed for Gallipoli, and also perhaps the 5th Brigade many of whose personnel had served against the Germans in New Guinea thus were not available when the 1st Division sailed for Egypt.

At this time the standards for enlistment were severe and many men who were rejected when they went to enlist in late 1914/early 1915 were gladly accepted later in the war.

Wasn't it John Masefield who called the first AIF contingent 'The finest body of men'?

I think it was Charles Bean who noted that it was still possible in 1918 to pick out the originals of the AIF due to their impressive stature.

My own family who served were all around the 5 foot 8 mark, plus the VC winner from the 48th Bn, Pte Woods was only around 5 foot 2.

Being tall doesn't make a man more courageous, but being fit certainly helps a soldier, so does initiative which most of the Australian troops seemed to have.

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