The epic story of the Australians on history’s greatest battlefront, 1916-1918

‘We sprang to our feet with one mighty yell and ran and jumped into the German trench and got to work with bayonets and bombs. We were in there no more than half an hour when the German artillery found out and turned their big guns on us. He gave us 7 hours of perfect inferno.’

August 1914: German troops cross the border and advance into Belgium and France. Two days later, Britain declares war on Germany. With Australian foreign relations conducted through Britain, Australia is now also at war with Germany. Three-hundred thousand young Australians will depart to face the inferno of the Western Front; forty-six thousand will not return.

Inferno is the story of Australians fighting in France and Belgium from 1916 to 1918, on the greatest battlefront in history, told through the eyes of the Diggers and the Germans. Each of the major Australian battles is recounted from the soldiers’ viewpoints in rich historical detail, much of which has been uncovered for the first time.

Written by bestselling military historian Phillip Bradley, Inferno is an epic of our wartime history, a comprehensive account of Australians on the Western Front. Amid the largest tragedy in Australian history, this is the legend of the Diggers brought to life.