The Secrets of Anzac Ridge: in Flanders Fields
Patricia Skehan
Hachette Australia, 2025
The Secrets of Anzac Ridge is a wide-ranging commentary on World War 1, primarily from an Australian perspective. Patricia Skehan presents an eclectic story of many facets of life in and out of the Western Front trenches in France and Belgium. Using short linking commentary, she draws substantially on other peoples’ writings – the prime ones being the diary of a soldier (Gunner Jim Armitage), Sir John Monsh’s diaries/papers, a couple of other interesting characters and newspaper articles of the time. These interweave a discourse which presents in an unusual manner from the typical war history.
Patricia is a military historian with a particular interest in the Western Front and she writes from a personal interest perspective. Additional to extensive public speaking engagements and radio presentations, she uses diaries, personal papers and old newspaper sources, primarily through Trove. These supplement military history publications as the prime source of evidence in the book. She is internationally travelled, during which time further research on topics other than military history has also been carried out.
The title of this book leads one to presuppose that it is primarily about fighting in Flanders with a focus on a feature known as Anzac Ridge. The Flanders battlefields were on both sides of the Franco-Belgian border depending on what year one is talking about over the period 1915-1918. Anzac Ridge is in Belgium not far from Ypres, and a small town called Steenwerck is in France. These two locations feature in the book, however a very sizeable portion it has little to do with that area. Much of it addresses general war concepts ranging from enlistment and training through to the end of the war and what happens in between. Much of the book deals with 1916-18 battles fought around Amiens and then the Allied offensive that broke the Hindenburg Line in 1918, bringing the war to an end. Those portions have little to do with Anzac Ridge itself.
A common factor is Armitage’s diaries and Monash’s references; both of them were in Flanders and then France, one a young gunner and the other a divisional and then corps commander. Armitage lived to 100 years of age and kept a detailed diary on the Western Front, and it is perhaps his experiences after he left Flanders, along with Monash’s papers, that compelled the author to devote part of the book covering 1918 there.
One might be forgiven for wondering whether this interesting but diverse content is accurately served by the title. Book promotion also indicates that ‘secrets’ are revealed from Armitage’s diary and Monash’s writings and some other individual sources. I am not convinced that is the case from the events covered; perhaps the author considered some matters identified during research as ‘secrets’ but other military historians might not agree.
There are good, compassionate sections where the human face of tragedy in war is well presented through the technique of linking of brief commentary and lengthy quoted passages. These lend themselves to informative discussion of what it might have been like as told through the diaries and newspaper publications of the time.
Chapter names provide sound guidance through the vestiges of war generally, and the research findings about the key players and places specifically. Each addresses a theme or issue, several tragic. Some are very short and don’t need to be read sequentially. A general timeline of the battle is provided as an aid to the lay reader; again, other historians would dispute some of the names and dates eg Battle of Hellfire Corner, 1915-1918. Centrally positioned imagery provides a degree of visual support and includes Armitage, courtesy of family. Endnotes provide source data and demonstrate an in-depth cross-spread of source material.
Overall, the book is presented with enthusiasm and nicely packaged around personalities identified during research, with some good investigative and deduction skills. Its sub-title ‘An extraordinary account of life in and out of the trenches World War1’ might have been the better selection as the prime name as the book in my opinion does not really serve ‘The Secrets of Anzac Ridge: In Flanders Fields’. The latter is at best a portion of the book because the link between Armitage, Monash and the town of Steenwerck. An interesting and passionate work that should appeal to the general reader.
Reviewer: LTCOL Russell Linwood, ASM (Retd)
