At precisely 3.10am, the guns thundered into life and the soldiers rose, lit up cigarettes and followed the booming artillery barrage into battle, their objective a French village named Le Hamel. As dawn loomed it was all over. The village had fallen, casualties were mercifully light (by World War One standards) and victory was complete. In his detailed planning, Australian commander Lieutenant General John Monash calculated this would take 90 minutes. It actually took 93. The Battle of Hamel, fought on July 4, 1918, was a sign of what was to come as allied forces achieved battlefield mastery after three...