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EDITION NO.3 * 2013

PUBLISHED BY PETER MASTERS & ASSOCIATES | MILITARY BOOKS OF INTEREST -SIGN UP FOR OUR REGULAR CATALOGUES | PAGE 1

BOOKS EDITOR: Peter Mastersemail [email protected]

PUBLISHER: Judy Hinz, m. 0411 592 386email [email protected]

RECENT RELEASES Click on the cover image for more information >>

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BOOKS OF INTEREST


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EDITION NO.3 * 2013

BOOKS EDITOR: Peter Mastersemail [email protected]

PUBLISHER & ENQUIRIES: Judy Hinz,m. 0411 592 386 email [email protected]

RECENT RELEASES

BOOKS OF INTEREST

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CONTACT: Judy Hinz e. [email protected] | Books Editor Peter Masters e. [email protected]

MILITARY TIMES BOOKS OF INTEREST NEWSLETTER EDITION 3 2013 | PAGE 3

EDITION NO.3 * 2013

BOOKS EDITOR: Peter Masters

email [email protected]

PUBLISHER & ENQUIRIES: Judy Hinz,m. 0411 592 386 email [email protected]

WORLD WAR II

Coastal Dawn: Blenheims in action fromthe Phoney War through the Battle ofBritain by Andrew Bird............................4

Dinner with Churchill: Policy making atthe dinner table by Cita Stelzer................4

Hitlers Eagles: the Luftwaffe 1933-45 byChris McNab...........................................5

The Pointblank Directive: Three Generalsand the untold story of the Daring Planthat saved D-Day by L. Douglas Keeney..5

The Rice Paddy Navy: US Sailorsundercover in China by Linda Kush ........6

The White Rose of Stalingrad by BillYenne.......................................................6

WORLD WAR I

The Missing of the Somme

by Geoff Dyer..........................................7AUSTRALIAN WAR HISTORY

Unknown Warrior: The search forAustralias great ace by Mike Rosel .........7

Our Schools and the Warby Rosalie Triolo .....................................7

CONTEMPORARY

Concrete Hell: Urban warfare fromStalingrad to Iraq by Louis A Di Marco ..8

Distant Thunder: A helicopter pilotsletters from the War in Iraq andAfghanistan by Don Harward .................8

Dig WW2: Rediscovering the GreatWartime Battles by Jean Hood.................9

Special Forces Sniper Skillsby Robert Stirling ....................................9

GENERAL MILITARY HISTORY

Empire of the Seas: The remarkable storyof how the Navy forged the modern world

by Brian Lavery .......................................9

Love, Tommy: Letters Home, from theGreat War to the present day by AndrewRoberts..................................................10

Warship 2012: Volume XXXIVby John Jordan (ed.) ..............................10

Victor Boys: True stories from 40memorable years of the last V Bomber byTony Blackman and Garry OKeefe.......11

Wings: 100 years of British aerial warfareby Patrick Bishop...................................11

Iraq Full Circle: From shock and awe tothe last combat patrol in Baghdad andbeyond by Col. Darron L Wright...........12

Zero Six Bravo: 60 Special Forces100,000 enemy. The explosive true storyby Damien Lewis ...................................12

Bolt Action: World War II Wargames rulesby Alessio Cavatore and Rick Priestley..13

House of Stone: A memoir of Home andFamily and a lost Middle Eastby Anthony Shadid................................13

Legacies of War by Nigel Starck (ed.) ....14

Not Me: Memoirs of a GermanChildhood by Joachim Fest....................14

Eleven Eleven by Paul Dowswell ...........14

Airship: Design, developmentand disaster by John Swinfield...............15

Commander: The life and exploits ofBritains Greatest Frigate Captain byStephen Taylor.......................................15

The Challenge: Britain against America inthe Naval War of 1812by Andrew Lambert...............................16

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CONTENTS


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Click to return tocontents pages

EDITION NO.3 * 2013

BOOKS EDITOR Peter Mastersemail [email protected]

PUBLISHER & ENQUIRIES Judy Hinz,m. 0411 592 386 email [email protected]

Welcome and enjoy

Welcome to the latest edition of our MILITARYTIMES,Books of Interestnewsletter.

These newsletters are published several times ayear to keep readers abreast of the latest booksemerging from the major publishers in the militaryhistory genre.

The newsletter is free anyone wanting to be onthe email list, should email me directly or you canpass it along freely to your friends.

Ive also incorporated recent Books of Interestpages fromAustralian Defence Magazine (ADM).

From time to time I release a list of good qualitysecond hand military history titles for sale. If you areinterested in adding to your personal library, makesure you check out the lists - ask to be put on the listif you are not already on it.

Judy HinzPublisher - Military Times

m. 0411 592 386email [email protected]

NEW BOOKS

Coastal Dawn

Blenheims in action fromthe Phoney War throughthe Battle of Britain

By Andrew BirdPublished by GrubStreet, UK in 2012Distributed by Capri-corn LinkISBN 9781906502690Hardback | 224 pages |

RRP $39.99

SYNOPSIS: In 1940, the defence of Great Britainrested with a handful of volunteer aircrew,

Churchills few. Overshadowed in later folklore bythe more famous Spitfire and Hurricane pilots,there were other pilots, observers and air gunners just as courageous flying the Bristol BlenheimMKIV-F.

Remarkably little has been chronicled of thesemen and their aircraft the trade protectionsquadrons formed by Hugh Dowding allotted to11 Group in October 1939. The aircrafts range andendurance made it suitable for defence of coastalshipping against attack on the southern and eastern

shores of Britain, and for operations further afield.Indeed during bitter fighting casualties among 235,236, 248 and 254 Squadron Blenheims were high onoperations over Norway, Holland, France, Dunkirkand then the Battle of Britain where the Blenheimswere completely outclassed by Messerschmitt 109and 110 fighters and fell easy victims, scythed fromthe sky.

But the record of the aircraft and their crew wasan immensely proud one. Drawing on contemporary

diaries, periodicals, letters, logbooks, memoirs andinterviews with survivors, lauded historian AndyBird reassesses the vital role they played and reposi-tions it in history.

COMMENT: This book has been well receivedwith one reviewer praising it for shining a well de-served spotlight on the Blenheim Trade Protec-tion Squadrons who carried out highly dangerousoperations under both Fighter and Coastal Com-mand from the outbreak of War and during theBattle of Britain and suffered heavy casualties.

Dinner withChurchillPolicy making at the dinnertable

By Cita StelzerPublished by ShortBooks, UK, 2012

ISBN 9781780720388Paperback | 332 pages |RRP $24.99

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SYNOPSIS: A freelance editor and journalist, CitaStelzer has produced a delightful book that shedsnew light on the character of Britains wartimeleader Winston Churchill. We find out about thefood he ate, the champagnes he loved, the whiskyand brandy he drank and the important dinnersaround which his life revolved.

It comes as no surprise that his doctor advisedhim to eat lightly every few hours to calm his both-ersome digestion, which no doubt at times was sorelytested if the menus are anything to go by.

COMMENT:This book is much more than lists offood and wines, it gives us an intimate insight intothe daily lives of important people during a criti-cal time in world affairs.

It is a refreshing way to bring a general reader to anunderstanding of the background to wartime andpost-war international relations. Id really recom-mend it. Its easy to read and very revealing. JudyHinz

Hitlers EaglesThe Luftwaffe 1933-45

By Chris McNabPublished by Osprey Pub-lishing, UK, 2012;Dist: Capricorn LinkISBN 9781780962832Hardback | 400 pagesRRP $49.99

SYNOPSIS: At the begin-ning of World War II, the Luftwaffe was the worldsmost advanced air force. With superior tactics, air-craft and training, it cut through opposition air forces.Despite this auspicious beginning, by 1945 the Luft-waffe was a dying force.

The Allies were destroying German aircraft at un-equal rates, and Luftwaffe aviators were dying intheir thousands in an unbalanced battle to save Ger-many from destruction. Hitlers Eagles charts the

turbulent history of the Luftwaffe from its earliestdays to its downfall.

Once Hitler was in power, the Luftwaffe came outof the shadows and expanded under a massive rear-mament programme, then embarked upon the warthat would define its existence.

As well as providing a detailed history of the Luft-waffes combat experience, the book expands on itshuman and material aspects. Aces and commandersare profiled and aircraft are described both techno-logically and tactically. The book conveys all thedrama of the Luftwaffes existence with Ospreys fa-mous aviation artwork bringing the story incompa-

rably to life.

COMMENT: I read one review of this book thatsuggested some of the photos had incorrect cap-tions. I emailed the publishers for a comment butnone was forthcoming, unfortunately. Judy Hinz

The PointblankDirective

Three Generals and theuntold story of the DaringPlan that saved D-Day

By L. Douglas KeeneyPublished by OspreyPublishing, UK, 2012Distributed by CapricornLinkISBN 9781849089333

Hardback | 272 pages | RRP $39.99

SYNOPSIS:Where was the Luftwaffe on D-Day?Following decades of debate, 2010 saw a formerly

classified history restored and in it was a new set ofanswers.

Pointblank is the result of extensive new researchthat creates a richly textured portrait of perhaps thelast untold story of D-Day: three uniquely talentedmen and why the German Air Force was unable tomount an effective combat against the invasionforces.

Following a year of unremarkable bombingagainst German aircraft industries, General HenryH. Hap Arnold, commander of the U.S. Army Air

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Forces, placed his lifelong friend General Carl A.Tooey Spaatz in command of the strategic bomb-ing forces in Europe, and his protg, General JamesJimmy Doolittle, command of the Eighth Air Forcein England.

For these fellow aviation strategists, he had oneset of orders sweep the skies clean of the Luftwaffeby June 1944. Spaatz and Doolittle couldnt do thatbut they could clear the skies sufficiently to gain airsuperiority over the D-Day beaches.

The plan was called Pointblank.

The Rice PaddyNavyUS Sailors undercover inChina

By Linda KushPublished by OspreyPublishing, UK, 2012;Distributed byCapricorn LinkISBN 9781849088114Hardback | 294 pages |RRP $39.99

SYNOPSIS: After the attack on Pearl Harbor, theU.S. Navy knew it would need vital informationfrom the Pacific. After a meeting and a handshakeagreement with Chiang Kai-shek, the Sino-Ameri-can Cooperative Organization was born. This top-

secret network worked hand in hand with theNationalist Chinese to fight the Japanese occupa-tion of China while it intercepted Japanese code,laid mines, and trained Chinese peasants in guer-rilla warfare.

Its work supplied critical information to the U.S.and contributed to the felling of more than 70,000Japanese while losing only five of their own men.SACO the rice paddy navy was one of the best-kept secrets of the war. Linda Kush uncovers the mil-itary accomplishments and political wrangling that

coloured one of the most successful and littleknown efforts of World War II.

COMMENT: Writing for the Naval HistoricalFoundation, reviewer David Kronenfeld describedKushs work as highly readable and a worthwhileaddition to the library of anyone interested inAsian history or American unconventional opera-tions in World War II - See more at:http://www.navyhistory.org

The White Rose of

StalingradBy Bill YennePublished by OspreyPublishing, UK, 2013Distributed by CapricornLinkISBN 9781849088107Hardback | 319 pagesRRP $39.99

SYNOPSIS: Of all the major air forces that were

engaged in the war, only the Red Air Force hadunits comprised specifically of women. Initially theRed Air Force maintained an all-male policy amongits combat pilots.

However, as the apparently invincible Germanjuggernaut sliced through Soviet defenses, the RedAir Force began to rethink its ban on women. By Oc-tober 1941, authorization was forthcoming for threeground attack regiments of women pilots. Amongthese women, Lidiya Vladimirovna Lilya Litvyaksoon emerged as a rising star.

She shot down five German aircraft over the Stal-ingrad Front, and thus become historys first femaleace. She scored 12 documented victories over Ger-man aircraft between September 1942 and July 1943.She also had many victories shared with other pilots,bringing her possible total to around 20.

The fact that she was a 21-year-old woman acewas not lost on the hero-hungry Soviet media, andsoon this colourful character, whom the Germansdubbed The White Rose of Stalingrad, became

both folk heroine and martyr.

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The Missing of theSomme

By Geoff DyerPublished by CanongateBooks, UK, 2012Disributed by Allen & UnwinISBN 9780857862723Paperback | 204 pages | RRP$19.99

SYNOPSIS: Head bowed, rifle on his back, a sol-dier is silhouetted against the going down of thesun, looking at the grave of a dead comrade, re-membering him. A photograph from the war, isalso a photograph of the way the war will be re-membered. It is a photograph of the future, of thefutures view of the past.

First published in 1994, Geoff Dyers classic bookis an original and personal meditation upon war andremembrance. It weaves a network of myth andmemory, photos and films, poetry and sculptures,graveyards and ceremonies that illuminate our un-derstanding of, and relationship to, the Great War.

Unknown WarriorThe search for Australiasgreat ace

By Mike Rosel

Published by AustralianScholarly Publishing,2012ISBN 9781921875748Paperback | 142 pages |$34.95

SYNOPSIS: Despite the growing interest in Aus-tralias military history, the story of Captain AlecLittle - the young Victorian World War I air acecredited with 47 victories - is virtually unknown toordinary Australians. He was only 22 when he died

in his Sopwith Camel in a solo night pursuit of Ger-man bombers above the Western Front on 27 May1918.

Little combined nerve and aggression in his pre-ferred close-quarter combat, a compulsion for thelone hunt, lethal marksmanship, superb eyesight andreckless bravery in pushing his aircraft to the limit.The qualities which made him a consummate com-bat pilot were reinforced by astonishing luck overthree years of training and combat which earnedAlec Little a DSO and Bar, DSC and Bar and Croix deGuerre, but only fleeting fame.

So how did he get overlooked in Australias col-lective wartime memory? Melbourne writer Mike

Rosel, intrigued by coming across Littles first fighterat the Royal Air Force Museum, has recreated hismotivations and meteoric life and death in the con-text of the long-gone Anglo-Australian culture. Roselhas resurrected Little through his logbooks, fellowpilots reminiscences, research in France, Britain andAustralia, and the documents and tales of descen-dants and his old school.

This first biography on Little is also a fair go pleafor better recognition for the thousands of Aus-

tralians who fought the same enemy, but in Allieduniforms.

COMMENT: ABC Radios Phillip Adams inter-viewed author Mike Rosel earlier this year on hisLate Night Live program. To listen to the podcast,go to the ABC Radio National website and searchfor the link: www.abc.net.au/radionational

Our Schools and theWar

By Rosalie TrioloPublished by AustralianScholarly Publishing,2012 | ISBN9781921875564Paperback | 363 pages |$39.95

SYNOPSIS: The Great War profoundly touchedthe lives of Australian teachers, school children andlocal communities, and with lasting consequences.

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Every teacher had the task of explaining the war totheir students. Many teachers, a disproportionatelylarge number, fought and died, and were joined bytheir older students.

For years after, the names of those who fell wererespectfully displayed on school honour boards, inhonour books and remembered by other commem-orative means, including through the introductionof Anzac Day.

How teachers and school communities were af-

fected by patriotic appeals and activities, and howthey responded to the long years of grim news fromGallipoli, the Western Front and other sites of train-ing, fighting and convalescence, is revealed in an ac-count that historians, general readers and todaysstudents will find illuminating and deeply moving.

COMMENT: This was the topic of Dr Rosalie Tri-olos PhD thesis. Dr Triolo is a lecturer at MonashUniversity with an impressive list of published ar-ticles and expert commentary. For anyone inter-ested in the social impact of war, this is a good read.

Concrete HellUrban warfare fromStalingrad to Iraq

By Louis A Di MarcoPublished by OspreyPublishing, UK, 2012Dist. by Capricorn LinkISBN 9781849087926Hardback | 232 pages |RRP $39.99

SYNOPSIS:Throughout history cities have been atthe center of warfare, from sieges to street-fighting,from peace-keeping to coups de mains. Sun Tzu ad-monished his readers of The Art of War that the low-est realization of warfare was to attack a fortified city.

Indeed, although strategists have advised against itacross the millennia, armies and generals have beenforced nonetheless to attack and defend cities, and vic-

tory has required that they do it well. In Concrete HellLouis DiMarco has provided a masterful study of the

brutal realities of urban warfare, of what it means toseize and hold a city literally block by block. Di Marcoasesses the successes and failures of past battles inorder to provide lessons for todays tacticians.

Distant ThunderA helicopter pilots

letters from the War inIraq and Afghanistan

By Don HarwardGrub Street, UK, 2012Distributed by Capri-corn LinkISBN 9781908117281Hardback | 189 pagesRRP $39.99

SYNOPSIS: Distant Thunder details the engross-ing experiences of a helicopter pilots tales of wartold through letters that come straight from theheart. Often the author laboured well into the nightafter a mission still wearing the dusty flight suitwhich bore witness to the events he penned.

Don Harward was torn between two worlds; hisloyalty to his family and to his country. Like so manyother soldiers, even on leave, he can always hear thedim roar of guns, the distant thunder of war, and isalways summoned towards the sound.

Pacific Wings, a prestigious New Zealand-based

magazine, has previously published some letterswhich have been praised by a growing readership,both aviator and non flyer alike, for their ability totransport the reader into the world of war.

Includes superb action photographs from Donspersonal collection. A twenty-five-year veteran of theUS Army, he details action over Panama, Saudi Ara-bia, Iraq and Afghanistan, including OperationDesert Shield and Desert Storm, drawing also fromhis days in Army Special Ops, operating with 2-2

SAS. As a 160th SOAR pilot for a lot of his militarycareer, his is a story that goes above and beyond thenormal military lifestyle. An inspiring read.


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ReviewsAn engrossing account that details one helicopter

pilots experiences of war, told through his oftenmoving letters home. Military History Monthly

There are eight pages of excellent colour photo-graphs to complement this very readable accountfrom the front-line, and as an inspiring read it is un-hesitatingly recommended. Michael Armitage,The Bulletin of the Military Historical Society

Dig WW2Rediscovering theGreat Wartime Battles

By Jean HoodPublished byConway, UK, 2012ISBN9781844861507Hardback | 272

pages | RRP $49.99

SYNOPSIS: Based on the popular BBC TV series,Dig WW2 takes an archeological journey throughthe Allied battle for Europe, unearthing such treas-ures as a Spitfire buried in a Donegal peat bog anda sealed bunker on a D-Day beach.

Delving deeply into these stories, Jean Hood re-veals neglected, forgotten, and secretive accounts ofBritains relationship with neutral Ireland andAmerica, the program of starfish sites, and the mys-

tery of the launch ramps pointing at London.COMMENT: I have seen some of the episodes ofthe Dig WW2 series fronted by historian DanSnow. Its interesting how military archeology canthrow new light on wartime events.

This book is a welcome adjunct to the series whichdoesnt yet appear to be available on DVD. More in-formation at this link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18035910

Special ForcesSniper Skills

By Robert StirlingPublished by OspreyPublishing, UK, 2012;Distributed by CapricornLinkISBN 9781780960036Hardback | 221 pagesRRP $39.99

SYNOPSIS: SpecialForces Sniper Skills is a

hard hitting account of the men, weapons and tech-niques used to coldly eliminate high value targetson the battlefield.

Though many books have become best-sellersthrough telling one side of the story a snipers ex-periences, a training manual or a weapons catalogue none before have combined the whole spectrum ofa snipers life and skills into one gripping book. Thisbook examines the role of the sniper, and the uniqueskills employed, when serving as part of a SpecialForces unit including the British SAS, the US NavySeals and the Russian Spetznaz. The book is illus-trated with photographs of every aspect of thesnipers trade and stories from the real-life experi-ences of the authors comrades: men who haveserved in almost every overt and covert conflict sinceWorld War II.

Empire of the SeasThe remarkable story ofhow the Navy forged themodern world

By Brian LaveryPublished by Conway,UK, 2012; Distributed byCapricorn LinkISBN 9781844861323

Paperback | 336 pagesRRP $19.99

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SYNOPSIS: The year 1588 marked a turningpoint in our national story. Victory over the Span-ish Armada transformed us into a seafaring nationand it sparked a myth that one day would becomea reality that the nations new destiny, the sourceof her future wealth and power lay out on theoceans.

This book tells the story of how the navy ex-panded from a tiny force to become the most com-plex industrial enterprise on earth; how the need toorganise it laid the foundations of our civil service

and our economy; and how it transformed our cul-ture, our sense of national identity and our democ-racy.

Re-issued in trade paperback format Brian Lav-erys narrative explores the navys rise over four cen-turies; a key factor in propelling Britain to its statusas the most powerful nation on earth, and assessesthe turning point of Jutland and the First World War.He creates a compelling read that is every bit as en-gaging as the TV series itself.

About the author:

Brian Lavery is one of Britains leading naval his-torians and a prolific author. A Curator Emeritus atthe National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, and arenowned expert on the sailing navy and the RoyalNavy, in 2007 he won the prestigious Desmond Wet-tern Maritime Media Award. His naval writing wasfurther honoured in 2008 with the Society of Nauti-cal Researchs Anderson Medal. His recent titles in-clude Able Seamen (2011), Royal Tars (2010), We

Shall Fight On The Beaches (2009), In Which TheyServed (2008), Churchills Navy (2006), and the Sun-day Times bestseller Empire of the Seas (2010).

Keep abreast of new military titles.Subscribe to Military Times Books of Interest.

Its free. Email [email protected] to sign up.

Love, TommyLetters Home, from theGreat War to the presentday

By Andrew RobertsPublished by OspreyPublishing, UK, 2012ISBN 9781849087919Hardback | 255 pages

RRP $39.99

SYNOPSIS: Over the last 100 years the ImperialWar Museum has been gathering together a collec-tion of tens of thousands of letters and archivesfrom British and Commonwealth troops servingon the front line, in conflicts from the First WorldWar through to the ongoing war in Afghanistan.

Revealing the most intimate details of the lives ofthese soldiers, this collection uncovers the startlingsimilarities between the men across the century. Par-

ticularly poignant are letters such as the father, in1916, writing to a daughter he knows he will neversee again because he is dying.

Correspondence which includes expressions oflove, hope and fear sit alongside amusing anecdotes,grumbles about rations and thoughtful reflections,all of which reveal how, despite the passage of time,many experiences of fighting men are shared incountless wars and battles.

Warship 2012Volume XXXIV

By John Jordan (ed.)Published by Conway,UK, 2012; Distributedby Capricorn LinkISBN 9781844861569Hardback | 208 pagesRRP $49.99

SYNOPSIS: The 2012 edition of this highly ac-claimed annual maintains the well established im-

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pressive standards of scholarship, research, newsand reviews from the field of warship history.

This edition features articles on a range of diversesubjects, including: the construction of the RoyalNavys Grand Fleet in the period 190616; the careerof the French pre-dreadnought Gaulois; the story ofTB191 Tasmanias only torpedo boat; the IJN bat-tlecruisers of the Kongo class; the loss of the Italianarmoured cruiser the Giuseppe Garibaldi; the twoauxiliary vessels Jules Verne and Le Gladiateur builtfor the Marine Nationale; the second part of an arti-

cle on French fire control from 190013; an accountof the light cruiser Yahagi at the Battle of Leyte Gulf;Russian monitors of the mid to late 1800s and a pieceon the new generation of non-nuclear air-indepen-dent submarines. Contributors to the 2012 annualinclude Ian Johnston, Philippe Caresse, Mark Briggs,Hans Lengerer, Zvonimir Freivogel, John Spencer,Conrad Waters, Mike Williams and StephenMcLaughlin. The customary Warship notes andgallery sections complete the annual. It also includesa helpful summary of Naval Books of the Year.

COMMENT: This is the first time we have ever re-ceived this series for review but others are probablywell aware of it. I notice that the 2013 edition is nowavailable too from Conway. I couldnt help but re-flect that the article on Modern Air-IndependentPropulsion Equipped Submarines might be ofsome use as Australia moves to a decision on theFuture Submarine to replace the Collins class cur-rently in service. Judy Hinz

Victor BoysTrue stories from 40memorable years of thelast V Bomber

By Tony Blackman andGarry OKeefePublished by GrubStreet, UK, 2012;Dist. by Capricorn Link

ISBN 9781908117458Hardback | 198 pagesRRP $39.99

SYNOPSIS: The Handley Page Victor was thethird of the three V Bombers and the most longlasting, serving in the RAF until 1993, and stilldoing invaluable service in the first Iraq war. More-over, in 1982 it was only the Victor tanker fleetbased on Ascension Island that made possible theVulcan Black Buck bombing of Port Stanley airfieldand the long-range reconnaissance of Argentina byNimrods.

Victor Boys tells the story of all the great thingsthat were achieved, recounted first hand by the op-

erators themselves, aircrew and ground crew. Start-ing with accounts by test pilot Johnny Allam, whoundertook the major development of the aircraft,through its work as a nuclear bomber during thecold war, testing Blue Steel in Australia, to its superbwork during the Falklands war and later as a firstclass air-to-air refuelling tanker and vital supporttool for fighters and other aircraft.

Published to co-incide with the Victors 60th an-niversary, the gripping text is superbly illustrated

with photographs from the operators themselves,never released before.

The stories are collated and set in context by TonyBlackman, ex chief test pilot of Avros who helped de-velop the Vulcan and initiated the development ofthe Victor K2 tanker. For him, initially, the Victorseemed a competitor but he now readily admits whata wonderful aircraft the Victor became.

Wings100 years of British aerialwarfare

By Patrick BishopPublished by Atlantic,UK, 2012; Distributedby Allen & UnwinISBN 9781848878921Hardback | 402 pagesRRP $49.99

SYNOPSIS: The RoyalAir Force is synonymous with its heroic achieve-ments in the summer of 1940, when Winston

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Churchills famous few - the Hurricane and Spit-fire pilots of RAF Fighter Command - held Goer-ings Luftwaffe at bay in the Battle of Britain,thereby changing the course of the war.

For much of the twentieth century, warplaneswere fixed in the worlds imagination, a symbol ofthe perils and excitements of the modern era. Butwithin the space of a hundred years, military avia-tion has morphed from the exotic to the mundane.An activity which was charged with danger - the do-main of the daring - is now carried out by comput-

ers and pilotless drones.

Aviators have always seemed different to soldiersand sailors - more adventurous, questing and imag-inative. Their stories gripped the public and in bothwars and air aces dominated each sides propaganda,capturing hearts and dreams. Writing with the verve,passion and the sheer narrative aplomb familiar tomany thousands of readers from his bestselling Sec-ond World War aerial histories, Fighter Boys andBomber Boys, Patrick Bishops Wings is a rich and

compelling account of military flying from its heroicearly days to the present.

COMMENT:This is the stuff of schoolboy dreams- well, it used to be for people of my vintage. In thisbook, Patrick Bishop has done full justice to hissubject, and confirmed himself as one of Britainsfinest popular military historians. Judy Hinz

Iraq Full CircleFrom shock and awe tothe last combat patrol inBaghdad and beyond

By Col. Darron L WrightPublished by OspreyPublishing, UK, 2012;Dist. by Capricorn LinkISBN 9781849088121Hardback | 378 pages |RRP $39.99

SYNOPSIS: From 2003 through 2010, more than200,000 men and women were deployed in Iraq. Forseven years, they fought ferociously in the blister-

ing sands in the Land Between the Two Rivers.Some fought for pride or survival, some to bringdemocracy to a forsaken land that has known onlytyranny and strife.

Scores of books have been published about thewar, most criticizing the strategies and execution.Some have been personal memoirs capturing theheroism and sacrifice. Here U.S. Army LTC DarronWright, a proven combat leader, joins forces with au-thor Mike Walling to lift the veil on the Iraq War, re-vealing the build-up of troops; the equipping,

training, and planning; the capture of Saddam Hus-sein; the formation of the new Government; and thelast patrol. Through vivid stories and military docu-ments, this provides readers with a first-hand ac-count of the full conflict.

Zero Six Bravo60 Special Forces 100,000enemy. The explosive truestory

By Damien LewisPublished by Quercus,UK, 2013ISBN 9781782060819Paperback | 318 pagesRRP $29.99

SYNOPSIS: Zero Six Bravo tells of 60 SpecialForces operators forced to remain silent in the faceof accusations of cowardice and running away from

the Iraqis in the 2003 war.In the face of such savage media criticism, and

being branded as incompetent cowards, the menwho served in this epic mission had no way to telltheir side of the story and clear their names. It is aclassic account of elite soldiering that ranks withBravo Two Zero and the very greatest Special Forcesmissions of our time.

COMMENT:Damien Lewis has spent twenty yearsreporting from war, disaster and conflict zones

around the world. He has written a dozen non-fic-tion and fiction books, topping bestseller lists world-wide, and is published in some thirty languages.

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Bolt ActionWorld War II Wargamesrules

By Alessio Cavatoreand Rick PriestleyPublished byOsprey Publishing,UK, 2012ISBN 9781780960869

Hardback | 216 pagesRRP $49.99

SYNOPSIS: Written by veteran game designersAlessio Cavatore and Rick Priestley, Bolt Actionprovides all the rules needed to bring the great bat-tles of World War II to your tabletop. Using minia-ture soldiers, tanks and terrain, you can fightbattles in the shattered towns of occupied France,the barren deserts of North Africa, and even thesweltering jungles of the Pacific.

Players get to decide which of the major or minorWorld War II powers they would like to represent,and then construct their armies from the lists pro-vided. Army options are almost limitless, allowingyou to build the kind of army that most appeals toyour style of play, from heavily armored tank forcesto lightly armed, but highly skilled. The choice isyours. Created as a joint project between WarlordGames, the premiere historical miniatures company,and Published by Osprey Publishing, the leading in-dependent military history publisher, Bolt Action is

sure to be the most popular new wargame on themarket.

COMMENT: When we first received this book, Iimmediately thought of the online gaming world.And then I looked at it in more detail. For anyone ofmy vintage and interests, the first thing thatsprings to mind is the character of David Callan inthe UK TV show Callan of the 1970s starring Ed-ward Woodward, who was obsessed by miniaturesoldiers. I now understand how the rules ofengagement work. A much safer way to conduct

warfare in my opinion. Judy Hinz

House of StoneA memoir of Home and Family and

a lost Middle East

By Anthony ShadidPublished by Granta, UK,2012; Dist. by Allen &Unwin | PaperbackISBN 9781847087362311 pages | RRP $24.99

SYNOPSIS: In spring 2011, Anthony Shadid wasone of fourNew York Times reporters captured inLibya as that country was seized by revolution.When he was freed, he went home. Not to Bostonor Beirut where he lived or to Oklahoma City,where his Lebanese-American family had settled.Instead, he returned to his great-grandfathers es-tate in Lebanon, a house that, over three years ear-lier, Shadid had begun to rebuild.

House of Stone is the story of a battle-scarred

home and a war correspondents jostled spirit, andof how reconstructing the one came to fortify theother. Shadid creates a mosaic of past and present,tracing the houses renewal alongside his familysflight from Lebanon and resettlement in America. Hememorializes a lost world and provides profound in-sights into this volatile landscape.

COMMENT: There is no happy ending for An-thony Shadid. He was a foreign correspondent forthe New York Times and former Baghdad bureauchief of the Washington Post. Over a fifteen-year

career, he reported from most countries in the Mid-dle East. He won his first Pulitzer Prize in 2004 inInternational Reporting for his coverage of the U.S.invasion of Iraq and the occupation which fol-lowed. He won a second in 2010 for his coverage ofIraq as the United States began its withdrawal. Sha-did is the author of two previous books, Legacy ofthe Prophet: Despots, Democrats and the New Pol-itics of Islam (2001), and Night Draws Near: IraqsPeople in the Shadow of Americas War (2005).Sadly, Shadid died of an asthma attack while

attempting to leave Syria on horseback on 16 Feb-ruary 2012. Judy Hinz

BOOKS OF INTEREST


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EDITION NO.3 * 2013



Legacies of War

By Nigel Starck (ed.)Australian ScholarlyPublishing, 2012ISBN 9781921875592Paperback | 230 pagesRRP $39.95

SYNOPSIS: Sixteen writerswith a shared passion for

military history combine their talents for story-telling in Legacies of War. There are tales of courageand triumph, destruction and waste, forgivenessand despair.

Four themes underpin the narrative: Wounds ofWar; Artefacts of War; Writing War; Memory andMemorial. Each, in turn, presents the research dis-coveries and field observations of four specialist au-thors. These stories were first told at a University ofSouth Australia symposium; now, through the

agency of this book, they reach out to a wider audi-ence. Legacies of War adds a vivid chapter to thechronicles of conflict.

Not MeMemoirs of a GermanChildhood

by Joachim FestPublished by Atlantic, UK,

2012; Distributed by Allen& UnwinISBN 9781848875753Paperback | 316 pages |RRP $32.99

SYNOPSIS: Few others have influenced our un-derstanding of the Third Reich as much as JoachimFest. Fierce and intransigent, German born Festwas a relentless interrogator of his nations mod-ern history. His analysis, The Face of the Third

Reich, his biographies of Adolf Hitler and AlbertSpeer and his descriptions of the last days in theFuehrers bunker have all reached a worldwide au-

dience of millions - but how did he, the contempo-rary historian born in 1926 - personally experienceNational Socialism, the Second World War and adefeated Germany?

In this autobiography of his childhood and youth,Joachim Fest chronicles his own extraordinary life,providing an intimate picture of his immediate ex-periences of those dark years of conflict. Whether de-scribing his Catholic home in a Berlin suburb, hisfathers early working ban or his own expulsion fromschool, these are the long-awaited personal reflec-

tions of a born observer.

COMMENT: This book, published posthumously,can be seen as completing the circle of JoachimFests work and life. He captures the naivety of hisyouth and upbringing in a household opposed toHitler and all he stood for.

Eleven Eleven

By Paul DowswellPublished by Bloomsbury,UK, 2012ISBN 9781408826232Paperback | 205 pagesRRP $15.99

SYNOPSIS: Set during thefinal 24 hours before the

armistice at 11 a.m. on 11th November 1918, thestory follows a German storm trooper, an Ameri-can airman and a British Tommy.

Their destinies converge during the death throesof the first ever conflict to spread across the globe.War becomes incredibly personal as nationality andgeography cease to matter to each of these teenagerson the Western Front, and friendship becomes thedefining aspect of their encounter. But who will liveand who will die before the end of the day?

COMMENT: This is a departure from our usualrange of well-researched non-fiction. As the authorhimself explains, What haunted me the most,

when I began to study the war, was the terrible dis-parity between the patriotism, the doing our bit,

BOOKS OF INTEREST


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EDITION NO.3 * 2013



the enthusiastic crowds who rushed to join up, andthe awful fate that awaited them in the mud andsqualor of the trenches. His story is about threeteenagers, each drawn from a different combatantnation, all caught up in the confusion and horrorof that final day. This is a book for the young adultreader.

AirshipDesign, development anddisaster

John SwinfieldConway, UK, 2012; Distrib-uted by Capricorn LinkISBN 9781844861385Hardback | 336 pagesRRP $49.99

SYNOPSIS: Airship chartsthe history of lighter-than-air craft from the conti-nental pioneers of the late 19th century through to

European airship stations in the Great War, Ger-manys pre-eminent commercial and military zep-pelins, the construction of British behemoths R100and its sister ship R101 and the calamitous lossesof USS Akron in 1933 and LZ129 Hindenburg in1937, events which ultimately heralded the end oflarge-scale airship production.

The historical development of airships is seen tobe protracted and fractious, as the armed forces ofleading European and US powers toyed with com-mercial propositions while trying to bend them tomilitary uses. The book examines the axial role ofCount Zeppelin, the development of the Zeppelin inGermany as bomber and reconnaissance craft, andthe way the British Admiralty, French, Italian andAmerican engineers attempted to imitate Germandesign.

The airship coincided with a time of internationalstrife: mass unemployment, General Strikes, the WallStreet Crash and the growing shadow of fascist tu-mult. Airship draws on original sources, official doc-

uments and private letters including interviews withfigures like Mary Stopes-Roe, daughter of the airshipbuilder Barnes Wallis.

The book is fully referenced with newly discov-ered first-hand material and a detailed bibliography.

COMMENT: We recommend this as a very goodread for aviation fans and students of the inter-waryears.

CommanderThe life and exploits ofBritains Greatest Frigate

CaptainBy Stephen TaylorFaber and Faber, UK, 2012ISBN 9780571277117Hardback | 354 pagesRRP $39.99

SYNOPSIS: Edward Pellew,captain of the legendary Indefatigable, was quitesimply the greatest frigate captain in the age of sail.

An incomparable seaman, ferociously combative

yet chivalrous, a master of the quarterdeck and an ath-lete of the tops, he was as quick to welcome a gallant foeinto his cabin as to dive to the rescue of a man over-board. He is the likely model for the heroic but all-too-human Jack Aubrey in Patrick OBrians novels.

Pellew was orphaned at eight, left with a penni-less mother and five siblings, but fought his way fromthe very bottom of the Navy to fleet command and aviscountcy. Victories and eye-catching feats won hima public following. Yet as an outsider with a gift forantagonizing his better-born peers, he made power-

ful enemies. Redemption came with his last com-mand, when he set off to do battle with the BarbaryStates and free thousands of European slaves. Con-temporary opinion held this to be an impossiblemission, and Pellew himself, in leading from thefront in the style of his direct contemporary Nelson,did not expect to survive.

Pellews humanity as much as his gallantry, fond-ness for subordinates and blind love for his family,the warmth and intimacy of his letters, make him a

hugely engaging and sympathetic figure. In StephenTaylors magnificent new life he at last has the biog-raphy he deserves.

BOOKS OF INTEREST


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EDITION NO.3 * 2013



COMMENT: The Daily Telegraph reviewer KeithLowe notes that this is not a biography in themodern, tell-all sense, but an entertaining, swash-buckling adventure, filled to the brim with derring-do. As Lowe says, the fact that his wife destroyedall their correspondence specifically to inhibit thebiographer does not assist the writers cause.

For a more detailed review go tohttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/and use the search function.

The ChallengeBritain against America in theNaval War of 1812

By Andrew LambertPublished by Faber andFaber, UK, 2012Dist. by Allen & UnwinISBN 9780571273195

Hardback | 538 pages |RRP $39.99

SYNOPSIS: In the summer of 1812 Britain stoodalone, fighting for her very survival against a vastEuropean Empire. Only the Royal Navy stood be-tween Napoleons legions and ultimate victory. Inthat dark hour America saw its chance to challengeBritish dominance. In three titanic single ship ac-tions, the challenge was decisively met.

British frigates closed with the Chesapeake, theEssexand the President, flagship of American navalambition. Both sides found new heroes but nonecould equal Captain Philip Broke, champion of his-torys greatest frigate battle, when HMS Shannoncaptured the USS Chesapeake in thirteen blood-soaked minutes. Brokes victory secured British con-trol of the Atlantic, and within a year Washington,D.C. had been taken and burnt by British troops.

In examining these extraordinary battles, AndrewLambert shows that the much-mythologised War of1812 was actually a disaster for the US and sparked

some of Britains finest moments at sea. With hismastery of the subject and narrative brilliance, hethrows new light on a war which until now has been

little understood, detailing the gripping set-pieceswith passion and expertise.

COMMENT: This book revealed the gaps in myknowledge - Britains naval defeat of the Americansin 1812 leading to the burning of Washington DCin 1814. With America the global power du jour, itsa step back in time to have Britain cast in the roleand the author describing the unimaginable follyof a government that deliberately picked a fightwith a global power .... without bothering to raisean army or navy capable of defending the country.

Money was a problem too - isnt it always after pro-longed wars? The author notes that Americanpaper money was trading at a 20-25 per cent dis-count.

This is a nicely presented book that will engage thereader keen on 19th century military matters.

Judy Hinz

ABOUT US

Military Times BOOKS OF INTERESTnewsletter ispublished by Peter Masters & Associates.

To have military historybooks included in theMilitary Times BOOKS OF INTERESTnewsletterplease send review copies to:

Peter Masters or Judy Hinz

Military Times Books of InterestEditors

Peter Masters & Associates

PO Box 5197Manly Qld 4179

ADM Office Tel 07 3348 6966

Judy Mobile 0411 592 386

Peter Mobile 0488 224 929

Peter isBooks of Interest Editor for AustralianDefence Magazine(ADM)

Judy isManaging Editor of Australian DefenceMagazine(ADM)

[A husband and wife team of long standing.]

BOOKS OF INTEREST


17/20




EDITION NO.3 * 2013

BOOKS EDITOR: Peter Masters

email [email protected]

PUBLISHER & ENQUIRIES: Judy Hinz,m. 0411 592 386 email [email protected] OF INTEREST

APRIL 2013

The Civil War in Color: A photographicreenactment of the war between the States

The Changi Camera: A unique record ofChangi and the Thai-Burma Railway

The Lost Battlefield of Kokoda: Theextraordinary story behind the discoveryof a forgotten World War

Letters from Berlin

MAY 2013

On the Front Line: Real life stories of spy-ing, escaping and surviving war

Pacific 360: Australias Battle for Survivalin World War II

Destiny in the Desert: The road to ElAlamein the battle that turned the tide

Soldaten: On fighting, killing, and dying.The secret WWII transcripts of GermanPOWs

JUNE 2013

A Parting Shot: Shelling of Australia byJapanese submarines 1942

Gallipoli: A ridge too far

100 Stories From the Australian NationalMaritime Museum

Anzacs In the Middle East: Australiansoldiers, their allies and the local people inWorld War II

REVIEWS IN ADM

APRIL, MAY AND JUNE 2013


18/20

The Civil Warin Color

A photographic re-enactment of the war

between the States

By John C Guntzelman

Foreword by Bob Zeller,

President of The Center for

Civil War Photography

Published by Sterling New

York; Distr ibuted by Capri-

corn Link

RRP $45.00 hardcover

ISBN 9781402790812

John Guntzelman, an expe-

rienced and award-winning

cinematographer, director, andCivil War buff, has produced a

book of extraordinarily vivid

colorized photographs of this

important turning point in

American history. My rst

thought when I opened the

book was that I could see every

Civil War enthusiast reaching

for their credit card as soon as

they see this book. The images

might have been painstakingly

enhanced with the aid of digi-

tal tools but the research be-

hind the decision-making on

each image is clear to see. No

longer are we looking at dusty

old black and white pictures

but life-like images that look

as if they were taken yesterday.

Over 200 photographs from the

Library of Congresss archives

include both well-known and

rarely seen images. As a bo-

nus, there is also a ne art

ready-to-frame photographic

print of a stunning colorized

Civil War photograph. As I say

to all you Civil War buffs out

there, get your credit card out

and order it now. You wont

be disappointed.

The ChangiCamera

A unique recordof Changi and the

Thai-Burma Railway

By Tim Bowden

Published by Hachette Australia

RRP $35.00 in hardcover

ISBN 9780733629624

Originally published by Wil-

liam Collins and the ABC in

1984 as Changi Photographer,

The Changi Camera is now re-

published by Hachette Austra-

lia with a new essay by author

Tim Bowden on the experiences

of Australian prisoners of warwho passed through Changi

on their way to various work

camps over three-and-a-half

excruciatingly difcult years.

The origins of the books go

back to the early 1980s when

Tim Bowden rst interviewed

George Aspinall and discovered

that George, who died in 1991,

had about 100 images still re-

maining of the photographs he

had taken simply as a record of

his captivity for his family. Part

II of this book includes George

Aspinalls own story, includ-

ing how he chanced upon extra

lm for his camera.

I was intrigued by one in-

sight from George about how

they were told all sorts of non-

sense about the Japanese sol-

diers, how they could hardly

see and how they didnt ght

at night and a lot of other rub-

bish. I have to say this mirrors

my own late fathers experience

in New Guinea where the men

were told similar stories that

turned out to be pure ction.

This is a ne book. Some of the

images are grainy, as you would

expect, but the fact that they

survived and were discovered

by someone who understood

their importance is remarkable.

The Lost Battleeldof KokodaThe extraordinarystory behind thediscovery of aforgotten World WarTwo battleeldBy Brian Freeman

Published by Macmillan

Australia

RRP $32.99 in paperback

ISBN 9781742611181Author Brian Freeman is a for-

mer Special Forces soldier who

has led dozens of treks along

the Kokoda Trail as part of his

adventure trekking company.

After years of friendship with

local villagers, Brian was en-

trusted with a secret that had

been hidden from outsiders

since 1942, only passed down

among the villagers, from

generation to generation. The

long-kept secret was the loca-

tion of a lost WWII battleeld

where Australian and Japanese

forces engaged in what was one

of the bloodiest engagements of

the campaign.

Inaccurate mapping of the

area, post-war, meant that the

battleeld was forgotten and

lost to the jungle. This is a fas-

cinating book in that it is as

much an archaeological quest

as the history of a lost battle-

eld. It will be of particular in-

terest to those who have made

the Kokoda trek or for those

who still have this on their

to do list. It is an important

discovery which is still be as-

sessed. Freeman has included

a good range of photographs,

including photographs of relics

uncovered from the lost battle-

eld. Subsequent to the publi-

cation of the book, the Depart-ment of Defence has conrmed

that the DNA analysis of the

intact skeleton found at the

site are the remains of an adult

male of Asian ancestry, and

not those of an unknown Aus-

tralian soldier as rst thought.

Letters from BerlinBy Margarete Dos and

Kerstin Lieff

Published by Vintage BooksRRP $32.95 in paperback

ISBN 9781742752945

Six years before Margarete

Dos passed away at the age of

81, Kerstin Lieff, her daughter,

recorded hundreds of hours of

taped interviews over an ex-

tended period of time. It is from

these interviews and a cache

of unknown and unmailed

love letters discovered after

her mothers death that Lieff

has assembled the story of her

mothers terrible suffering dur-

ing WWII. This is a very per-

sonal story, simply told, at the

insistence of her daughter.

It offers us an intimate pic-

ture of life in wartime Germa-

ny: of a life lived in fear and

of the terrible privations she,

her family and millions of oth-

ers suffered. Yet it was a part

of her life that her mother had

never spoken of to her family.

Lieff has produced an engag-

ing memoir of her mothers

wartime life; what emerges is a

picture of a determined young

woman who never lost her

sense of hope.

Books of InterestCompiled by | Peter Masters

62 | ADM april 2013 www.austra l iandefence.com.au


19/20

On the Front LineReal life stories ofspying, escaping andsurviving warBy Michael Hambrook

Published by New Holland


ISBN 9781742572871

On the Front Line is an inter-

esting collection of stories

from people who experienced

life on the front line and

survived. For example, Dutch

national Paul Couvret whowas working as a POW at the

Nagasaki shipyard on the day

the atomic bomb was dropped

gives us a compelling eye wit-

ness account of this terrible

event. The books appeal lies

in the wide variety of subjects

Hambrook has chosen to in-

clude. The common theme is

that each of the storytellers

witnessed historical events at

rst hand and survived to

tell the tale, often against con-

siderable odds.

Pacifc 360Australias Battle forSurvival in World War II

By Roland Perry

Published by Hachette Australia


ISBN 9780733627040

In early 1942, the Australian

Government and the Austra-

lian people believed that the

country was facing the real

threat of invasion by Japan. Ro-

land Perry examines the verac-

ity of this belief in his sweeping

study of Australias Pacic War

from 1941-1945. Much aboutthis time in Australian history

would be known to our readers.

However, Perry has chosen to

approach the subject different-

ly by concentrating his study

on the key gures in power at

the time, and determining how

their actions and decisions im-

pacted on the Pacic War.

For obvious reasons, Perry

devotes considerable column

space to the key protagonist,

Australian Prime Minister JohnCurtin and US General Doug-

las MacArthur, the Supreme

Commander of Allied Forces in

South-West Pacic. These two

men, from vastly different back-

grounds, struck up an unlikely

rapport which ensured a sound

working relationship between

the forces. Perry describes at

some length, the strengths and

weaknesses of these men. Both

in their own way, served their

country well. A very readable

and engaging account of Aus-

tralias Pacic War.

Destinyin the DesertThe road to ElAlamein the battlethat turned the tideBy Jonathan Dimbleby

Published by Profle Books;

Distributed by Allen & Unwin

RRP $49.99 hardcoverISBN 9781846684449

Renowned broadcaster and

historian Jonathan Dimbleby

presents the full story of the

desert victory that cleared a

path into Europe. It was theBritish victory at the Battle of

El Alamein in November 1942

that inspired one of Church ills

most famous aphorisms: This

is not the end, it is not even

the beginning of the end, but

it is, perhaps, the end of the

beginning.

In this entertaining account,

Jonathan Dimbleby describes

the political and strategic reali-

ties that lay behind the battle.

He acknowledges in his prefacethat there are those who be-

lieved the battle need not have

even been fought, rendering

the loss of 13,500 men largely

from Britain and its Common-

wealth allies a terrible waste

of lives. But this view ignores,

he says, Churchills interest

in saving Britains vast global

empire. Australians might well

question this altruistic view

of Churchills intentions. That

aside, this is an interesting and

well-researched book, aided by

useful maps of activities in the

Mediterranean and Middle East

1940-42 and British military

operations for the same period.

SoldatenOn ghting, killing,and dying. The secretWWII transcripts ofGerman POWs

By Snke Neitzel andHarald Welzer

Published by Scribe

RRP $35.00 in paperback

ISBN 9781921844980

Discovered on a visit to the

British National Archives in2001, these secretly recorded

conversations add a chilling

new dimension to World War

II from a German perspective.

Speaking candidly amongst

themselves, the German pris-

oners-of-war exhibit a callous

disregard for the welfare of

the civilians caught up in the

European conict. Boasting

about raping Soviet women or

describing how Jews were un-

ceremoniously executed arenot exactly new revelations

but the fact that the German

servicemen, in the main, could

dismiss such atrocities casu-

ally says a great deal about

the mindset of these men. Not

all the recorded conversations

were about such matters. Ger-

man ofcers discussed wide

ranging subjects such as the

possibility of death; the merits

of the Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler and

the likely repercussions if Ger-

many was defeated. Interest-

ingly, the recorded conversa-

tions indicate that the majority

of German POWs were aware

of the Jewish concentration

camps and the subsequent mass

executions. This is at odds with

the widespread belief that the

ordinary German soldier was

ignorant of these happenings.

While Soldaten is a disturb-

ing book, it is also incredibly

revealing in that it documents

the factors that motivated

German soldiers to ght and

kill. Many of those factors are

applicable to any sort of mili-

tary conict.


36 | ADM may 2013 www.austra l iandefence.com.au


20/20

A Parting ShotShelling of Australiaby Japanese

submarines 1942

By Terry Jones &

Steven Carruthers

Published by Caspar

Publishing

RRP$34.95 in paperback

ISBN 9780977506347

Most people would be aware

of the attack on Sydney Har-

bour by three Japanese midget

submarines on the night of 31

May 1942. Twenty-one sail-

ors on board HMAS Kuttabulwere killed that night. But the

bombardments of the east-

ern suburbs of Sydney and

Newcastle Harbour eight days

later are not so well known.

Terry Jones and Steven Car-

ruthers have painstakingly

assembled the details of these

shellings and the reaction that

followed. They have also un-

covered some marvellous old

photographs which graphically

illustrate the damage to houses

in Bellevue Hill. Fortunately,

not all of the shells exploded

many were only discovered

years later. Following these

attacks and fearing further

excursions, some residents ed

to the safety of the Blue Moun-

tains. And while there was no

repeat of these attacks, Japa-

nese submarines continued to

plunder merchant ships up and

down Australias east coast.

Theories abounded as to the

motivation for these bombard-ments. A prelude to a possible

Japanese invasion? This no-

tion however was quickly dis-

missed The authors are quite

certain that the intention was

to unsettle the Australian pop-

ulation, and as this book illus-

trates, they succeeded. A Part-ing Shot is an excellent piece

of investigatory journalism.

Gallipoli:A ridge too farEdited by Ashley Ekins

Published by Exisle

Publishing

RRP $49.99 in hardcover

ISBN 9781921966002

Gallipoli: A ridge too far had

its genesis at an internationalconference held at the Austra-

lian War memorial (AWM) in

2010 to mark the 95th anniver-

sary of the Gallipoli campaign.

Experts from many countries

presented papers on various

aspects of the campaign, and

these form the basis of this

book. It is the divergence of

views that is the real s trength

of the book. Ken Celik, one of

Turkeys leading authorities

on the Gallipoli campaign,

addresses Turkish soldiers

reactions to the August offen-

sive, while Holger Aferbach

examines the impact of the

German military command.

These contributions provide

a different perspective to this

much scrutinised campaign.

Ashley Ekins, the Head of

the Military History section

that AWM, believes that while

much has been written about

the campaign, the largest and

most sustained battles, thoseof the August offensive, have

been often overlooked. This

book redresses this situation

and presents a compelling

argument to support the idea

that the Allied Forces should

have been evacuated much

earlier and certainly beforethe launching of the August

offensive. With the 100th

anniversary of Anzac Day

fast approaching, this book

should be a highly prized

addition to any reading list on

the Gallipoli campaign.

100 Stories Fromthe AustralianNational MaritimeMuseum

Published by

New South Publishing

RRP$39.95 in paperback

ISBN 9781742233208

This beautifully presented book

takes the reader on a fascinating

journey through the treasures

contained in the Australian

National Maritime Museum.

But as the title suggests, this

book is much more than a pho-

to collection of objects. It also

tells the stories they represent.

With over 130,000 items in the

collection, the Museum was

faced with the difcult task

of selecting a handful for this

commemorative presentation.

The most historic item is the

small silver disk, 7.4cm in di-

ameter, known as The Charlotte

Medal, which was designed by

Thomas Barrett, a thief, forger

and mutineer, who arrived in

Australia with the First Fleetin January 1788. The medal de-

picts the convict ship, Charlotte,

at anchor in Botany Bay. It is

one of very few objects surviv-

ing from the First Fleet. This

book abounds with stories of

adventure and hardship it

would make a nice gift for some-one with maritime interests.

Anzacs In theMiddle EastAustralian soldiers,their allies and thelocal people in WorldWar IIBy Mark Johnston

Published by Cambridge

University PressRRP $59.95 in hardcover

ISBN 9781107030961

Produced as part of the Aus-

tralian Army History Series,

Anzacs in the Middle East ex-

plores the early years of World

War II when fresh-faced Aus-

tralian soldiers left the coun-

try in their thousands to

battle the Germans and Ital-

ians in the Middle East. Mark

Johnston believes that the

Australians were motivated

to enlist by, amongst other

things, a desire to experience

a great adventure. Quoting

extensively from interviews

and personal papers, Johnston

reveals the uctuating rela-

tionships between the ordi-

nary Australian soldiers, their

allies and the local people. The

British, I know, were appalled

by the lax attitude of Austra-

lian soldiers who often failed

to salute ofcers I know this

from my late fathers experi-ence in the Middle East. John-

ston has produced an excel-

lent book that is well-written

and engaging


digitaled 6 lr

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