The impact of World War I still ripples through time. In this moving and essential book, historian Patricia Skehan brings to light secret details of Anzac experiences on the Western Front.

In the annals of human history, the stakes are highest in war. And in World War I, what was at stake was the future of the world. Anzac troops, fighting and dying so far from home, were crucial to the result that shaped the twentieth century. Those troops wrote letters and diaries, materials that now form the record for the human face of war.

Patricia Skehan reveals riveting secrets from the diaries of James Armitage, a young Sydney man who enlisted on his eighteenth birthday, as well as the writings of General Sir John Monash, the military mastermind leading the Anzac troops. With permission from both their descendants, their records of the Western Front are combined in this moving portrait of catastrophic events set on Anzac Ridge, in Flanders fields.

Skehan masterfully interweaves the stories of other characters who appear in documents she discovered, including doctors, nurses, gunners and many more.

The Secrets of Anzac Ridge shows us how much humans care for each other even when the world is at its darkest, illuminating the courage and heart of those living in the trenches.

Details: Non-fiction / military history, published 2025.

Format: Soft cover, 336 pages.

Dimensions: 23.3 cm (h) x 15.4 cm (w) x 3.1 cm (d) / 430 grams.