The launch of  One Hell at a Time occurred on Sunday, 15 October at the RSL Shepparton.

Roadblocks, detours and power blackouts could not dampen the spirits of the large gathering of around 90 people. We may have had no power, but that didn’t stop the event from going ahead and being a tremendous afternoon.

RSL member and veteran, Graham Bailey welcomed everyone to the venue before reciting the oath and handing over to Laura Spiby-Jones the MC, who was her usual brilliant bubbly self, and did a fantastic job!

Renowned military historian and researcher, Lieutenant Colonel Neil Smith, launched the book and the popular author, Hazel Edwards also spoke of Tracee’s journey to publication.

One Hell at a Time is Tracee’s first book and tells the incredible story of her grandfather, Albert Spiby and his experiences in World War I. The book provides an honest examination of the realities of war for a digger. It describes life in the trenches and behind the lines, the mud, the muck, and the lost mates, not just for him but for thousands of others who fought alongside him. It pulls no punches and covers everything from cantankerous donkeys to the incompetence of some of the generals who regarded them as expected wastage. Yet throughout it all, the poignancy of the individual experience, and the laconic humour of the Digger comes through.

The lack of a microphone and competing with the background noise did not deter Hazel Edwards or Lieutenant Colonel Neil Smith from speaking over the noise from outside and when the power came back on the guests were treated to homemade authentic Anzac biscuits with their cuppa, before leaving with their signed copies of the book.

Apart from its usefulness in the organisational and tactical sense, the battalion’s lasting worth is to be ever remembered by those who served in its ranks as, the unit. To them, the unit was home, in every sense of the word. They lived, suffered and too often died in or for the unit. It was where they belonged and will never be forgotten. Typically, such units, like the 46th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force have a lasting memorial in regimental histories, some of which boast personal anecdotes and experiences. But rarely does a unit history allow the reader to really re-live the life of an infantryman, whether in action or not. One Hell at a Time does exactly that.

Tracee Spiby triumphs with her work on the 46th Battalion in World War One, as seen through the eyes of her grandfather Albert Spiby and his brother Dixon. The letters of Alby Spiby in particular take the reader on a journey rarely traveled in regimental histories. With painstaking and meticulous research of official records and other anecdotal input, Tracee brings the lives of men like Alby alive. Much of what is said in the letters from his unit has been crafted by Tracee alone and is supported by sound historical analyses which allow the reader to follow the war as it progressed, most notably in the slime, mud and carnage of France and Flanders between 1916 and 1918.

Never before have I read such a truthful, detailed and graphic account of life in and out of the trenches for Australian infantrymen. To read it is to feel the freezing cold of a Flanders winter or suffer the pain of wrenching free from jagged barbed wire and the sucking, blood soaked mud which enveloped all living, dying and dead creatures. It is as if the reader’s ear can hear the constant chatter of small arms and machine gun fire, the crump of artillery shells falling all around and ever closer. The screams of pain and anguish from friend and foe alike. One feels the uncontrollable shudders of fear. We can almost smell the stench of putrefying corpses and bodily waste. We are able to imagine the aching bodies, raw from carrying heavy loads; feet blistered, bruised and bloodied from day after day of dust and heat. The ceaseless, mind numbing expectation of death or even worse. And what is really special is that these horrors went on and on and on. Scores of Alby’s letters are testament to the unending strain of trench warfare in an infantry battalion which left survivors suffering mentally and physically for life evermore.

One Hell at a Time is a story of unbelievable and usually unrecognised courage. Of devotion to fellow Diggers, of duty, of loyalty and above all – sacrifice. Students of military history in general and the Australian World War One Digger experience in particular owe a debt of gratitude to Tracee Spiby. She has truly assembled an array of complex experiences and frequently distasteful and disparate information into a thoroughly readable and compelling volume. Ian Polanski, author of the 46th Infantry Battalion unit history We Were the 46th was right when he said that it was our duty as Australians, to never forget the sacrifice that these men willingly gave to their country. Tracee’s work enables us to better understand the nature and extent of that sacrifice.

Lieutenant Colonel Neil C Smith, AM, Retd