August 8 1918 – 30 Av 5678
Jewish Australian general John Monash, the most senior Jewish officer serving in World War One and commander of the Australian forces on the Western Front, directed the successful British attack in the second battle of Amiens. Monash had developed the strategy he used in the battle a month earlier in the Battle of Hamel, which was also his greatest military achievement.
Four days after the battle, on August 12, Monash was knighted on the battlefield by King George V for his outstanding action on the French front-lines. He was the first Jew, as well as the first Australian, to achieve the rank of general in the British army, and returned home after the war to popular and government acclaim.
An active Zionist, Monash was president of the Zionist Federation in Australia, but turned down a number of suggestions that he serve as British high commissioner in Mandate Palestine. Instead, he devoted all his energies to Australian endeavors, from utilities to education. On his death aged 66, a quarter of a million people turned out for his funeral – a combination of a Jewish ceremony with a 17-gun salute. A number of places and institutions are named for him in Australia, including the city of Monash with a population of a hundred thousand, and Monash University in Melbourne (the largest in Australia). His portrait appears on the 100 Australian dollar bill. In Israel, he’s commemorated by Moshav Kfar Monash in Emek Hefer.