Index, notes, ill, p.368.non-fictionMany books have been written, and continue to be written, about the Second World War: military histories, histories of the Holocaust, the war in Asia, or collaboration and resistance in Europe. Few books have taken a close look at the immediate aftermath of the worldwide catastrophe.world war 1939-1945 - peace, 20th century - history

Index, bibliography, map, p.268.non-fictionA Sudden Rampage describes the origins, the methods and the results of imperial Japan's occupation of Southeast Asia during the Second World War.world war 1939-1945 - japan - occupied territories, japan - foreign relations - 1941-1945

Index, bibliography, notes, ill, maps, p.193.non-fictionAustralia lost its innocence in 1942. Japan had conquered Asia and the Pacific,and were at our doorstep. Our finest troops were fighting in the Middle East. All that stood between the Japanese onslaught and our homeland was a handful of 18-year-old militia troops who had never fired a shot in angerworld war 1939 – 1945 – campaigns – kokoda, kokoda track papua new guinea

Index, bibliography, notes, ill, maps, p.262.non-fictionThe story of POW's captured at Hong Kong is told for the first time in this book. A gripping tale of courage and enduranceworld war 1939 – 1945 – campaigns – hong kong, world war 1939-1945 - prisoners and prisons - japan

Index, bibliography,ill, maps, p.310.non-fictionIn the last months of 1944, a group of elite Australian and British commandos was selected for the biggest Allied behind-the-scenes operation of the Pacific War. Their mission: to devastate the enemy's shipping by destroying the Japanese ships at anchor in Singapore Harbour. Operation Rimau, Britain's last throw of the colonial dice in South-East Asia, was intended as a body blow to the Japanese and a signal to the world that she would reclaim her Eastern Empire. Britain was trying to reclaim past glory - while Australia's wartime prime minister, John Curtin, had turned to America. In this atmosphere, Operation Rimau was planned ... Operation Rimau takes us inside the fierce conflict, and tells what really happened to these brave commandos - from the very beginnings of the operation through to their intense and courageous fighting in the South China Seas, and its aftermath. It exposes the sloppy planning behind the raid, and names the officers who betrayed and abandoned them in their hour of need, and details the political double-dealing which for so many years hid the real story behind red tape and bureaucratic lies.world war 1939-1945 - covert operations - australia, krait (ship)

p.155fictionA disturbing novel of army life and war in South East Asia involving five complex charactersvietnam war - fiction, psychological fiction

Index, bibliography, ill, maps, p.164.non-fictionThe colourful story of Australia's first military intervention in Asiaboxer rebellion - china - 1899-1901, royal navy - colonial forces - australia

Index,notes, p274.non-fictionhe presence of Osama bin Laden and his terrorist bases in Afghanistan has brought the Taliban into sharp focus as the most radical and extreme Islamist movement in the world today. Little is known about the Taliban because of the deep secrecy that surrounds the organization, its leaders and aims." "The Taliban has become a major player in the new 'Great Game' - harking back to the late-nineteenth-century British and Russian confrontation in the region - involving competition between Western oil companies, manipulation from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran, and covert operations by the CIA. Taliban sheds new light on a shadowy movement which poses a real threat to world peace.afghanistan - politics and government, afghanistan - islam and politics

Index, notes, ill, p.601.non-fictionTake a journey back to the front line with two Australian veterans as they retrace the footsteps of soldiers and politicians, villagers and the enemy in a meticulously researched new history of the Vietnam War. Thirty years after the end of the Vietnam war comes an objective analysis of Australia's involvement. The book shows the extent of Australia's engagement in the Vietnam war and its contribution compared to its allies. "For Australians, Vietnam remains one of the most difficult-and controversial-wars we have fought. On the fiftieth anniversary of Australia's first involvement comes Vietnam: the complete story of the Australian war, for anyone who wishes to understand why Australia went to war, and who wants to make sense of the intensely unrelenting warfare. For Bruce Davies and Gary McKay, the history of Vietnam-its wars, colonial domination, its search for freedom and its subsequent loss-speaks to an Australian anxiety of a very small population far away from the centre of an empire to which it was firmly committed. The rise of Japan, the war in the Pacific and the postcolonial independence of the peoples of southeast Asia, coupled with the mercurial influence of Ho Chi Minh and the rise of communism, form the background to the commitment of Australian forces. Vietnam takes the reader to the front line, describing the experiences of soldier, politician, villager, enemy; and into the war room to unpick the military and political strategies. We see the challenges the Australians faced against not only a dogged enemy, but also those by the allies in the quest to defeat a powerful counterinsurgency. ... Meticulously researched and marked with acute critical analysis and a deep understanding of the place and the war, Vietnam shows the experience of Australian soldiers as never before.vietnam war 1961-1975 – history, vietnam war 1961-1975 – australian involvement

Index, bib, ill, p.208.non-fictionAn account of the campaigns and battles between Japan and the Allied nations in the Pacific and Asia during World War II.world war 1939-1945 - campaigns - pacific area, japan - history - 1912-1945

Index, bib, ill, maps, p.279.non-fictionRecollections of RAAF members flying and servicing Catalina flying boats in WWIIworld war 1939-1945 - aerial operations - australia, flying boats - catalina

Ill, maps, p.159A collection of stories of capture, imprisonment and escape in World War I and II. Covering experiences in Europe and in South East Asia, the book presents contrasting PoW experiences - of daring escapes from Colditz Castle, and of endurance and slow suffering in Japanese camps.world war 1939 – 1945 - prisons and prisoners - japanese, world war 1939 – 1945 - prisons and prisoners – germany

Index, bib, ill, maps, p.224.Within three months of the Japanese entering World War II on December 8, 1941 over 22 000 Australians had become prisoners-of-war. They went into camps in Timor, Ambon, New Britain, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Singapore and Malaya, and a few were scattered to other points in what was briefly part of the Japanese empire. Later most of the prisoners were to be shifted further north into South-east Asia, Formosa, Korea, Manchuria and Japan itself. They were captives within lands and cultures and to experiences alien to those known to all other Australians. At the end of the war in August 1945, 14315 servicemen and thirty service women were alive to put on new, loose-fitting uniforms and go home. One in three of the prisoners had died. That is, nearly half of the deaths suffered by Australians in the war in the Pacific were among men and women who had surrendered. Another 8174 Australians had been captured in the fighting in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: but of these men only 265 died as a result of wounds, disease or execution.By any quantitative measure the imprisonment of so many Australians is a major event in Australian history. For many soldiers it was living --and dying --in captivity which made World War II different from that of World War I. But the prisoners have received no permanent place in Australian history. Their story is not immediately recalled on celebratory occasions. In a general history of the nation in which a chapter is given to the war the prisoners might be mentioned in a sentence, or part of a sentence. Where the horror, stoicism and gallantry of Gallipoli have become part of a common tradition shared by all Australians, the ex-prisoners are granted just the horror. The public may be sympathetic; but the horror is for the prisoners alone. To make another comparison: in five months of fighting on the Kokoda Trail in 1942 the Australians lost 625 dead, less than the number who died on Ambon. Yet the events on Ambon are unknown to most Australians. There were no reporters or cameramen on Ambon and, for the 309 who defended Ambon's Laha airfield, no survivors. How many of them died in battle or died as prisoners will never be known. But there are more than just practical reasons why the record of the prisoners of war is so slight and uneven in the general knowledge of Australians. They have not tried to find out. No historian has written a book to cover the range of camps and experiences, and only in specialist medical publications has anyone investigated the impact of prison life on subsequent physical and mental health. The complexity of the experience and its impact on particular lives have not been expressed in a way to give them significance for other Australians.world war 1939 – 1945 - prisons and prisoners – japanese, world war 1939-1945 - personal narrativies - australia

Ill, p.336.non-fictionIn the harsh Libyan desert in the middle of the second world war, Private Jim Moody, a signaller with the First Australian Machine Gun Battalion, found a starving puppy on a sand dune. Moody called the dog Horrie. Much more than a mascot, Horrie's exceptional hearing picked up the whine of enemy aircraft two minutes before his human counterparts and repeatedly saved the lives of the thousand-strong contingent. The little Egyptian Terrier's ritual of sitting, barking, then dashing for the trenches, had the gunners running for cover before their camp was strafed and bombed. Where Moody went, Horrie went too, through the battle zones of the Middle East and far beyond. As the Japanese forces began their assault in Asia Moody and his soldier mates joined the fight, but not before they had smuggled Horrie onto a troop ship and a harrowing journey back to Australia where they thought their little friend would be safe. The war over, Moody brought Horrie out of hiding to raise money for the Red Cross, and the brave little dog's story became widely known. When quarantine officers pounced and demanded that the dog be put down there was a huge public outcry. Horrie had saved a thousand lives. How could a cruel bureaucracy heartlessly kill him? But defying the authorities would mean gaol for Moody and certain death for Horrie. Was Horrie, the gunner's hero, condemned to die or could Moody devise a scheme to save him? animals - war use, australia - armed forces - mascots

Index, ill, bib, p.559.non-fictionFor months during 1943 there was no night in Hellfire Pass. By the light of flares, carbide lamps and bamboo fires, men near-naked and skeletal cut a passage through stone to make way for a railway. Among these men were some of the 22,000 Australian soldiers taken prisoner by the Japanese during World War II. In camps across Asia and the Pacific, they struggled, died, and survived with a little help from their mates. 'Hellfire' was researched in Australia, Japan and across South-East Asia. It draws on 50 first-person interviews, ranging from former prisoners to an old Mon villager deep in the Burmese jungle, and from Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew to veterans of the Imperial Japanese Army. The result is a tour de force, a powerful and searing history of the prisoners of the Japanese. world war 1939-1945 - prisoners and prisons - japan, burma - siam railway

Index, bib, ill, maps, p.613.non-fictionThis major global history of the twentieth century is written by four prominent international historians for first-year undergraduate level and upward. Using their thematic and regional expertise, the authors cover events in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas from the last century and beyond. Among the areas this book covers are: the decline of European hegemony over the international order; the diffusion of power to the two superpowers; the rise of newly independent states in Asia and Africa; and, the course and consequences of the major global conflicts of the twentieth century. This second edition is thoroughly updated, and includes extended coverage of European integration, the rise of supra-governmental organizations, and the 'global War on Terror'.world politics - 20th century, world politics 21st century

Ill, maps, p.359.non-fictionHell′s Heroes is the story of the POW camp that never was − so dubbed by one old soldier because the atrocities that occurred there went largely unreported at the time. For while the Burma−Thai railway‚ the Bataan death march and events at Changi and in many other parts of Asia became synonymous with Japanese brutality‚ most of the camps which were set up to provide slave labour for the enemy military machine at home were slowly forgotten in the aftermath of World War II.world war 1939 – 1945 - prisons and prisoners - japanese, atrocities - japan

Index, bib, p.578.non-fictionAUSTRALIA IN PEACE AND WAR is the first work to trace the development of Australia’s external relations from their colonial origins to the present. It shows how successive Australian governments have seen the world, what their attitudes have been, their actions and (much more often) their reactions. This important and controversial book details the successes and failures of Australian foreign policy over two centuries. It shows how geographical aspects of the world's largest island, anchored off the south-east corner of Asia, have increasingly impinged on perceptions and attitudes historically derived from Europe. It pleads for recognition that Australia can adapt the best of its European traditions in coming to terms with and helping to shape its Asia-Pacific environment. australia - foreign relations, australia - history - military

Bib, maps, p.70.non-fictionHistorical account of the Balkan area - includes Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania and Macadonia - over the last 2000 years. Considers its geographical position as a corridor from central Europe and inner Asia to the Mediterranean and the ordeals suffered by the peoples of the Balkans in the light of European competetion for access. Includes a list of important dates, a glossary and bibliography and a fold-out map of the area. balkan peninsula - history, armed conflict - history and teaching

Index, bib, ill, p.602.non-fictionFor the first time ever, the compelling story of the infamous Kokoda Track campaign has been told from both sides of the conflict. In a unique and balanced portrayal, renowned journalist Paul Ham recounts both the Australian and Japanese perspectives of the events on the hellish Papuan jungle trail where thousands fought and died during World War II. Based on extensive research in Australia and Japan, and including previously unpublished documents, Kokoda intimately relates the stories of ordinary soldiers in 'the world's worst killing field', and examines the role of commanders in sending ill-equipped, unqualified Australian troops into battles that resulted in near 100 per cent casualty rates. It was a war without mercy, fought back and forth along 90 miles (145 km) of river crossings, steep inclines and precipitous descents, with both sides wracked by hunger and disease, and terrified of falling into enemy hands. Defeat was unthinkable: the Australian soldier was fighting for his homeland against an unyielding aggressor; the Japanese ordered to fight to the death in a bid to conquer 'Greater East Asiaworld war 1939 – 1945 – campaigns – kokoda, world war 1939-1945 - campaigns - south west pacific

Multicoloured embroidered cloth in the shape of a disc. Features four segments red, blue and cream - bordered by words"71.72 Laos; Vietnam; Cambodia)participant, south east asia war games

Tucked between India and china is a bulge known as Indochina and south and west of this bulge are the Malayan Peninsula, the three thousand islands of Indonesia, and the seven thousand islands of the Philippines.southeast asia - history, indochina

A collection of histories by US Air Force and allied forward Air Controllers from the Southeast Asia War 1961-1975vietnamese conflict, 1961-1975 - aerial operations - american, us air force

There are many coloured and black and white photographs in this book with a descrition on each one. This book is dedicated to the brave men who rode these machines into battle in the Southeast Asiam48 (tank) -- pictorial works, vietnam war, 1961-1975 -- tank warfare -- pictorial works, southeast asia