The AIF and the Hundred Days Battlefields such as Gallipoli, Fromelles, Pozières, Bullecourt and Passchendaele are burnt into the Australian Great War psyche. Unfortunately the sheer guts, fortitude and sacrifice of the diggers in those battles had often been wasted by poor leadership and planning. From an Australian perspective, such sacrifice engendered bitterness and frustration, which resulted in an emergent sense of Australian nationalism. The AIF now sought a unification of its five divisions to fight under its own command and administration. By mid-1918, after the calamitous German March offensive in which 1200 square miles of hard-won territory had been lost, the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) had begun to learn its lessons. In just 100 action-packed days Germany was brought to its knees. And Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash and his Australian Corps played a critical role in that stunning victory. In this authoritative account of the 100 days, Peter Brune traces the painstaking BEF acquisition of its tactical doctrine with regard to its artillery, tanks and its air force. And the consequence of this knowledge was a sophisticated inter-locking all arms approach to war: incorporating coordinated firepower rather than the futile expenditure of manpower. However, it is Brune's use of participants' diaries that brings an immediacy to his story. The reader will be taken to the bloody interface of battle, hear the voices of some of the Australians involved, and gain a sense of the cost of ultimate victory.
No man has the command of words needed for conveying...the courage and the cowardice; the loyalty and the treachery; the dedication and the dereliction; the strengths and the frailties; the kindness and the brutality; the integrity and depravity; the magnificence and the enormities of men, as revealed by and to those fated to pass through the entrails of hell, in Thailand Burma, during and after the Railway was built.' Descent into Hell is a scrupulously researched and groundbreaking account of one of the most traumatic calamities in Australian history - the Malayan Campaign, the fall of Singapore and the subsequent horrors of the Thai-Burma Railway. Unpicking the myths and legends of the war, Peter Brune goes to the heart of the Australian experience. He describes the shambolic planning by the British in Singapore and the failures and incompetence of some of the Australian command. He debunks the claims about Australian deserters in Singapore, and we learn of the black market in Changi and the beatings, torture and murder on the Thai-Burma Railway. Here too are stories of the war's many heroes and villains: of officers who looked after their men and optimised their chances of survival, and others who looked after themselves at their men's expense; the heroes of battle who became ineffectual and lost in the camps and on the Railway, and the least liked and least respected battlefield officers who came to be great leaders. And then there are countless acts of kindness and decency performed by one POW for another in the most cruel of circumstances. Impressive, compelling and rich in human spirit, Descent into Hell is an unprecedented chronicle by one of Australia's finest military historians.
The definitive account of the Australians on the Kokoda Trail - a story told through the eyes of the Australians who fought there, many of whom have now passed away.
In the spirit of Les Carlyon's bestselling Gallipoli, this book restores Milne Bay, Gona, Buna and Sanananda to their rightful place beside Kokoda as sacred ground, and a vital part of Australian history.
Between 1946 and 1966 large numbers of displaced persons (DPs) came to Australia to escape the horrors of war-torn Europe. Peter Brune’s latest work had its genesis in more than 40 interviews he conducted with DPs in the period 2001—2022. He spoke to migrants from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece and Hungary. Inspired by their resilience, their enterprise and their determination to make a new life for themselves in Australia, the author has written about their harrowing war experiences-—drawing largely on their own words—-their reception in Australia and their first responses to an alien culture. Their subsequent reflections on the journeys they undertook and how they fared here are both moving and revelatory. Peter also analyses the Chifley government’s immigration policies, which were driven by Arthur Calwell, and the selection criteria that were applied to assess applicants. Both Chifley and Calwell saw the need for a greater population for economic and security reasons; but they also felt an obligation to alleviate the deprivations suffered by millions of Europeans. Suffering, Redemption and Triumph is an extraordinary exposition of how mass postwar immigration created the modern, multicultural society in which we now live. Peter makes the case that it is one of the most significant periods in the Australian story.
Ralph Honner: Kokoda Hero is the story of one of Australia's great World War II battalion commanders. Honner fought as a junior officer in the first and triumphant North African battles of Bardia, Tobruk and Derna. He then took part in the heartbreaking and disastrous campaigns in Greece and Crete where he was one of the last Australians to be evacuated by submarine-three months after Crete's fall. But it was during 1942, at Isurava on the Kokoda Trail and at the Japanese beachhead of Gona in Papua New Guinea, that Ralph Honner played a decisive role in the making of an Australian legend. Worshipped by his men, he was severely wounded in 1943 and, after a long convalescence, served Australia with distinction as a public servant, political figure and diplomat. Written by one of Australia's bestselling military history authors, who knew Ralph Honner and had access to his private letters and papers, Ralph Honner: Kokoda Hero contains gripping, action-packed descriptions of the fighting in North Africa, Greece, Crete and Papua New Guinea. The story of a remarkable man, it covers events from Honner's adolescence in the last vestiges of pioneering Australia through to his distinguished political and diplomatic career, spanning nearly a century of his nation's history.
The biography of Lieutenant Ralph Honner, one of Australia's best-known soldiers from World War 2. We Band of Brothers is the story of Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Honner, one of Australia's great World War II battalion commanders. Honner fought as a junior officer in the first and triumphant North African battles of Bardia, Tobruk and Derna. He then took part in the heartbreaking and disastrous campaigns in Greece and Crete where he was one of the last Australians to be evacuated by submarine-three months after Crete's fall. But it was during 1942, at Isurava on the Kokoda Trail and at the Japanese beachhead of Gona in Papua New Guinea, that Ralph Honner played a decisive role in the making of an Australian legend. Worshipped by his men, he was severely wounded in 1943 and, after a long convalescence, served Australia with distinction as a public servant, political figure and diplomat. Written by one of Australia's bestselling military history authors, who knew Ralph Honner and had access to his private letters and papers, We Band of Brothers contains gripping, action-packed descriptions of the fighting in North Africa, Greece, Crete and Papua New Guinea. The story of a remarkable man, it covers events from Honner's adolescence in the last vestiges of pioneering Australia through to his distinguished political and diplomatic career, spanning nearly a century of his nation's history.
This volume presents the proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Socratic Dialogue held in Loccum, Germany, in 2000, convened by the Philosophical-Political Academy (PPA, Germany), the Society of Socratic Facilitators (GSP, Germany), the Society for the Furtherance of Critical Philosophy (SFCP, UK) and the Dutch Network of Socratic Facilitators. The proceedings focus on what Socratic Dialogue can contribute to ethical questions in different social fields. They range from philosophising with children to management consultancy and refer to projects and experiences with Socratic Dialogue in different countries demonstrating how to conduct ethical discourse on a global level.
Account of the capture of Gona, on the north coast of Papua, from the Japanese during WWII. Sources include interviews with veterans of the 21st Brigade and the 39th Battalion. Includes references and an index. By the author of TThose Ragged Bloody Heroes'.
The study tackles the subject in a new and unique way: Due to the fact that the borders between classical academic disciplines disappear at the nanoscale, a truly interdisciplinary approach is chosen. A functional definition of nanotechnology is developed by the authors as basis for the further sections of the study. The most important results enable recommendations with respect to scientific progress, industrial relevance, economic potential, educational needs, potential adverse health effects and philosophical aspects of nanotechnology. The book addresses the relevant decision levels, media, and academia.
‘an engrossing narrative, beautifully controlled by a master storyteller' Michael McKernan, Sydney Morning Herald The bestselling, acclaimed, authoritative account of one of the most famous battles in Australian military history – now established as a classic. For Australians, Kokoda is the iconic battle of World War II, yet few people know just what happened – and just what our troops achieved. In his bestselling book, Peter FitzSimons tells the Kokoda story in his distinctive gripping style. Conditions on the track were hellish – rain was constant, the terrain close to inhospitable, food and ammunition supplies were practically non-existent and the men constantly battled malaria and dysentery, as well as the Japanese. Kokoda was a defining battle for Australia – a small force of young, ill-equipped Australians engaged a highly experienced and hitherto unstoppable Japanese force on a narrow, precarious jungle track – and defeated them.
The fighting on the Kokoda Track in World War II is second only to Gallipoli in the Australian national consciousness. The Kokoda campaign of 1942 has taken on mythical status in Australian military history. According to the legend, Australian soldiers were vastly outnumbered by the Japanese, who suffered great losses in battle and as a result of the harsh conditions of the Kokoda Track. In this important book, Peter Williams seeks to dispel the Kokoda myth. Using extensive research and Japanese sources, he explains what really happened on the Kokoda Track in 1942. Unlike most other books written from an Australian perspective, The Kokoda Campaign 1942: Myth and reality focuses on the strategies, tactics and battle plans of the Japanese and shows that the Australians were in fact rarely outnumbered. For the first time, this book combines narrative with careful analysis to present an undistorted picture of the events of the campaign. It is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the truth of the Kokoda campaign of 1942.
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