First my thanks to my publisher Meredith Curnow. I have now worked with Meredith on four books, and have always been grateful for her patience, support and help through the anguish of the edit. I would also like to thank my editors, Tom Langshaw and Deonie Fiford.
My thanks to Dr Roger Lee, Brad Manera and Dr Peter Stanley for historical back-up and suggestions. Thank you, too, to Elise Edmonds, Senior Curator at the State Library of New South Wales, for her suggestions with soldiers’ diaries.
Thanks to the staff at the Australian War Memorial and its Research Centre, especially for the online resources available to historians and writers. I must thank Dr Peter Pedersen and his co-author Chris Roberts for the wonderful ANZACS on the Western Front: The Australian War Memorial Battlefield Guide, an indispensable publication for anyone researching or wandering the battlefields.
Similarly, thanks to the National Archives of Australia for the personal files of men enlisted in the Great War, again an indispensable resource.
My thanks to my wife, Heather, for giving me the time to write, and to my grandchildren for the spontaneous visits and disruptions. I am very lucky.
Finally, to my friends and colleagues who seemed to continually ask, ‘When will the book be out?’ – you have kept me going and kept me focused. Thank you.