General Sir John Monash (/ˈmɒnæʃ/; 27 June 1865 – 8 October 1931) was an Australian civil engineer and military commander of the First World War.

Monash was born in 58 Dudley Street,[2] West Melbourne, Victoria,[3] to Jewish parents, both from Krotoschin in the Prussian province of Posen (now Krotoszyn, Poland).

[4] He was the first child of Louis Monash and his wife Bertha, née Manasse, who had arrived in Melbourne on the Empire of Peace on 5 June 1864.

[10] In 1874, the family moved to the small town of Jerilderie, in the Riverina region of New South Wales, where his father ran a store.

Although his parents had largely abandoned religious practice, Monash celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation and sang in its choir.

Monash had previously engaged in an affair with Annie Gabriel, the wife of one of his colleagues, which ended as an active matter after his conscious choice of 'Vic' for marriage (though communication continued many years afterwards).

When the partnership was dissolved in 1905 he joined with the builder David Mitchell and industrial chemist John Gibson to form the Reinforced Concrete & Monier Pipe Construction Co, and in 1906 with them and businessmen from South Australia, to form the S. A. Reinforced Concrete Co.[14] He took a leading part in his profession and became president of the Victorian Institute of Engineers and a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, London.

[18] When the First World War broke out in August 1914, Monash became a full-time army officer, accepting an appointment as the chief censor in Australia.

After arriving in Egypt in January 1915, Monash's brigade established itself at Heliopolis, where it was assigned to the New Zealand and Australian Division under Major General Alexander Godley.

[25] He was promoted to brigadier general in July, although the news was marred by spiteful rumours that were passed in Cairo, Melbourne and London about him being a "German spy".

[26][27] During the August offensive, launched by the Allies to break the deadlock on the peninsula, Monash's brigade was to conduct a "left hook" to capture of Hill 971, the highest point on the Sari Bair range.

[28] On the evening of 6/7 August, the brigade launched its attack, but poor maps, heavy resistance and the mountainous terrain defeated them.

While on Gallipoli he "wrote very freely to his wife revealing much current information" and "opened himself to the criticism that he would not keep the rules by which his juniors had strictly to adhere.

Early the following year, after the Germans launched their Spring Offensive, the 3rd Division was deployed to undertake defensive operations around Amiens.

[5] Monash later described the recapture of the town of Villers-Bretonneux on 25 April 1918, after the Germans had overrun the 8th British Division under General William Heneker, as the turning-point of the war.

[49][46] Historian Burness noted that Bean did recognise Monash's ability and was not concerned that he should be promoted, but he considered Brudenell White was better fitted to command the fighting corps.

[51] His depth of knowledge not only of military matters, but also of engineering and business, ensured that his operational plans were the product of meticulous preparation and thorough and rigorous scrutiny.

"[53][54] At the Battle of Hamel on 4 July 1918, Monash, with the support of the British 4th Army commander Sir Henry Rawlinson, commanded the 4th Australian Division, supported by the British 5th Tank Brigade, along with a detachment of American troops, to win a small but operationally significant victory for the Allies.

Monash gave them, as a key objective in the first phase, the capture of enemy artillery, in order to minimise the potential harm to the attacking forces.

[5][59] After that, the Australians achieved under Monash a series of victories against the Germans at Chuignes, Mont St Quentin, Peronne and Hargicourt.

Of the battle of Mt St Quentin and the subsequent taking of the town of Peronne, Charles Bean wrote in the Official History: "the dash, intelligence, and persistence of the troops dealt a stunning blow to five German divisions, drove the enemy from one of its key positions in France, and took 2,600 prisoners at a cost of slightly over 3,000 casualties.

[63] Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery later wrote: "I would name Sir John Monash as the best general on the western front in Europe".

As he wrote in the book:[76]... the true role of infantry was not to expend itself upon heroic physical effort, not to wither away under merciless machine-gun fire, not to impale itself on hostile bayonets, nor to tear itself to pieces in hostile entanglements—(I am thinking of Pozières and Stormy Trench and Bullecourt, and other bloody fields)—but on the contrary, to advance under the maximum possible protection of the maximum possible array of mechanical resources, in the form of guns, machine-guns, tanks, mortars and aeroplanes; to advance with as little impediment as possible; to be relieved as far as possible of the obligation to fight their way forward; to march, resolutely, regardless of the din and tumult of battle, to the appointed goal; and there to hold and defend the territory gained; and to gather in the form of prisoners, guns and stores, the fruits of victory.He returned to Australia on 26 December 1919 to an enthusiastic welcome.

[80] Later, Monash worked in prominent civilian positions, the most notable being as head of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV) after October 1920.

[82] He was one of the principal organisers of the annual observance of ANZAC Day and oversaw the planning for Melbourne's monumental war memorial, the Shrine of Remembrance.

[83] In a final sign of humility, despite his achievements, honours and titles, he instructed that his tombstone simply bear the words "John Monash".

Second, he promoted the concept of the commander's duty to ensure the safety and well-being of his troops to a pre-eminent position in a philosophy of "collective individualism".

[93] According to Fischer, Monash was denied promotion during his life due to discrimination, including as a result of his German-Jewish ancestry and his status as a reservist rather than professional soldier.

[96][97] On 14 April 2018, Neil James, Executive Director of the Australian Defence Association, suggested that posthumously promoting Monash was unnecessary and "would demean his record."

[98] Three days after James' comments the Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, announced that Monash would not be promoted posthumously to field marshal.