Monash, Sir John

Monash, Sir John (b. 27 June 1865, d. 8 Oct. 1931). Australian general Born in Melbourne as the first-born son of Jewish immigrants, he graduated in engineering and law after a patchy university career, and took up a commission in the army, 1887. During World War I he served with some distinction at Gallipoli and, promoted to major-general, commanded the 3rd Division of the Australian Imperial Forces on the Western Front 1916–18. As lieutenant-general and corps commander from 1 June 1918 he was prominent both in halting the German final offensive in July, and in the last Allied counter-offensive in August 1918, when he led his troops to a series of unprecedented victories. After the war he organized the harmonious repatriation of 160,000 Australian soldiers. His reputation in the 1920s as perhaps the greatest living Australian reflected upon Australia's Jewish community as a whole, as it helped make anti-Semitism publicly unacceptable. He was Vice-Chancellor of Melbourne University (1923–31), and Victoria's second university is named after him.