It is April 1916 and the war has been raging in France for twenty months. Since its formation the 1st Division had always been destined for the Western Front; a provisional British plan in 1914 proposed a BEF of fifty-four divisions organised in nine armies in which the 1st Australian Division would be placed in the eighth alongside the Canadians and New Zealanders. It was only the initial confusion in the British camps on Salisbury Plain and the geographical convenience of Egypt as a training arena that led to a detour, then Gallipoli added a further eight-month postponement. Now the men of the 1st Division have joined the real war.

It is on the Western Front where the 1st Division spends most of its service, where it suffers most of its casualties and, mythology of Gallipoli aside, where it really earns its reputation. In all, the division will spend 959 days here from the time divisional headquarters (DHQ) disembarks at Marseilles on 28 March 1916 until the Armistice on 11 November 1918. In contrast to Gallipoli, where most of its time was actually spent garrisoning the trenches, activities on the Western Front are more varied. In all, the division spends a little more than half its time engaged in operations (552 days), the other half being split between administration (198 days) and training (209 days). Nearly 90 per cent of its operational effort, however, remains defensive so, of its 552 operational days, 476 are spent holding the line, punctuated by major offensives. Although the cumulative time consumed actually attacking amounts to less than one month (24 days) out of thirty-one, this month accounts for almost 40 per cent of its total battle casualties.