Over the Top: A Digger’s Story of the Western Front

Harry Hartnett was 23 when he joined-up in 1915 – here he tells the real story of the battles and the boredom, of life and death, on the Western Front in World War I. Australia’s diggers didn’t go ‘over the top’ for King and Country, they did it for their mates and their battalion – extraordinary deeds performed by ordinary men. Henry George Hartnett, known as ‘Harry’, joined the Australian Imperial Force on 13 September 1915 at the age of 23. He saw action on the Western Front at Fromelles and on the Somme, receiving his first ‘Blighty’, a wound so serious he was sent back to Britain for treatment, in the Battle of Pozieres. Upon his recovery, he returned to ‘tour’ the front with his battalion – an endless cycle of fighting interspersed with brief rest periods behind the lines. In this book Harry recalls the battles, the long marches, and the many amusing events that provided escape from the horrors of the battlefront. His moving descriptions give the reader insight into the unshakeable bonds forged between men trapped in situations they could never have imagined.’Over the Top’ takes the reader on an eye-opening tour of life in and behind the trenches on the Western Front. Harry’s book, which has never before been published, is a magnificent gift to Australia.

xv, 326 p. : ill., maps, port., facsims. ; 20 cm. #270222 First Edition.

• 1. Marmalade days
• 2. The voyage to Suez
• 3. Egypt
• 4. Crossing the Mediterranean Sea
• 5. The ‘bull ring’, Étaples, France
• 6. The 2nd Battalion, AIF
• 7. The front line near Fleurbaix
• 8. The battle of Pozières
• 9. Dear old Blighty
• 10. Back to the front-line trenches at Hill 60 in Belgium
• 11. Marching on the cobblestones
• 12. Floundering in the mud at Flers
• 13. Christmas in the front line at Gueudecourt
• 14. Freezing in the snow-bound icy trenches at Eaucourt l’Abbaye
• 15. Easter 1917 : the capture of Hermies
• 16. The second battle of Bullecourt, May 1917
• 17. A return to marmalade days
• 18. The battle of Broodseinde Ridge
• 19. The battle of Passchendaele : unlucky days for C Company
• 20. Christmas 1917 at Kemmel
• 21. The 1st Brigade School at Dranoutre
• 22. Promotion for Jack Davis
• 23. Anxious days in March 1918
• 24. Hurrying south to Amiens
• 25. Helping to check the German advance on Hazebrouck
• 26. Weary months in hospital
• 27. Hopes realised
• 28. Home
• Appendix 1: Xmas milestones
• Appendix 2: Honours, decorations and ranks of the 2nd Battalion.

H.G. Hartnett was a digger on the Western Front. Over the Top is based on Harry’s diaries, which his family gave to Chris Bryett, a lawyer and World War I buff, to arrange for publication.