Index, bibliography, ill (col), p.172.non-fictionOn 7 June 1917, the British Second Army launched its attack on Messines Ridge, detonating 19 giant mines beneath the German front-line positions. By the end of the day, one of the strongest positions on the Western Front had fallen, a place of such importance that the Germans had pledged to hold it at any cost. It was the greatest British victory in three years of war. The first two years of the First World War had represented an almost unending catalogue of disaster for the Australians. Messines was not only their first real victory, it was also the first test in senior command for Major General John Monash who commanded the newly formed 3rd Division and would later be hailed as Australia's greatest soldier. Messines was a baptism of fire for the 3rd Division which came into the line alongside the battle-scarred 4th Australian Division, badly mauled at Bullecourt just six weeks earlier in one of the worst defeats of the war. The fighting at Messines would descend into unimaginable savagery, a lethal and sometimes hand-to-hand affair of bayonets, clubs, bombs and incessant machine-gun fire, described by one Australian as '72 hours of Hell'. After their string of bloody defeats over 1915 and 1916, Messines would be the ultimate test for the Australians. Collapse summary world war 1914-1918- campaigns - western front, battles of messines - australian participation - 1917

Ill, p.62.non-fictionStarting the war with only 35 aircraft, Austro-Hungarian industry went on to produce only moderate numbers of poor quality aircraft. The fliers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire operating on the Serbian and Russian fronts were fortunate at first, finding themselves faced by small numbers of aircraft yet more obsolescent than their own. Serbia fell in 1915, but when Italy declared war the Austro-Hungarians were still faced with a two-front war ' a static front against Italy, and a far more fluid one against Russia. Austro-Hungarian fighter pilots performed bravely and often very effectively under extremely difficult geographic, climatic and operational conditions. world war 1914-1918 - aerial operations - austria, fighter pilots - austria

Ill, p.63.non-fictionStarting the war with only 35 aircraft, Austro-Hungarian industry went on to produce only moderate numbers of poor quality aircraft. The fliers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire operating on the Serbian and Russian fronts were fortunate at first, finding themselves faced by small numbers of aircraft yet more obsolescent than their own. Serbia fell in 1915, but when Italy declared war the Austro-Hungarians were still faced with a two-front war ' a static front against Italy, and a far more fluid one against Russia. Austro-Hungarian fighter pilots performed bravely and often very effectively under extremely difficult geographic, climatic and operational conditions. world war 1914-1918- aerial operations - austria, fighter pilots - austria

Ill, p.64.non-fictionAt the outset of World War I the British had some 110 assorted aircraft, used mostly for the visual reconnaissance role. With the advent of faster and more agile single-seaters, the Allies and their adversaries raced to outdo each other in the creation of genuinely effective fighters with fixed forward-firing machine gun armament. It was not until 1917 that the British developed a truly effective interrupter gear, which paved the way for excellent single seaters such as the Sopwith Triplane Camel and the RAF S.E.5., later joined by the Bristol F.2B - the war's best two-seat fighter. This volume traces the rapid development of the fighter in World War I and the amazing exploits of the British and Empire aces who flew them.worls war 1914-1918 - aerial operations - britain, fighter pilots - british empire

Index, bibliography, ill, maps, p.187.non-fictionThe biography of Capt George Ingram VC, MM, the last Australian VC recipient of the First World War. From country childhood in Bagshot and Seville to a gunner with the Australian Garrison Artillery and the Tropical Force's Matupi Battery. He then served with the 24th Battalion AIF on the Western Front where he was awarded the Military Medal and the Victoria Cross. After the war he became a soldier settler, an original Shrine Guard and during World War Two he served with the Royal Australian Engineers. Throughout his life he carried the physical and mental scars of his service in the war.soldiers - victoria - biography, george ingram - biography

Bibliography, notes, ill, maps, p.245.non-fictionRetrace Australia's role in the First World War from the trenches of Somme Mud to the wider war on the Western Front. Imagine this. You are a country boy and just eighteen. The war has been raging for two years and because of your age, you have not been eligible for enlistment. Your mates, older by a few months are joining up and disappearing to the great adventure across the world in Europe. And there is forever talk of the need for reinforcements, for men like you to join up and support the Empire, Australia and your mates in the line. Such was the case for Edward Francis Lynch, a typical country boy from Perthville, near Bathurst. When war was declared in early August 1914, he was just sixteen and still at school, but like a generation of young males in Australia, there was something to prove and a need to be there. Will Davies, editor of the bestselling Somme Mud, meticulously tracked Lynch and his battalion's travels; their long route marches to flea ridden billets, into the frontline at such places as Messines, Dernancourt, Stormy Trench and Villers Bretonneux, to rest areas behind the lines and finally, on the great push to the final victory after August 1918. In words and pictures Davies fills in the gaps in Private Lynch's story and through the movements of the other battalions of the AIF provides impact and context to their plight and achievements. Looking at these battlefields today, the pilgrims who visit and those who attend to the land we come to understand how the spirit of Australia developed and of our enduring role in world politics.world war 1914-1918 - personal narratives - australia, western front 1914-1918 - australian participation

Index, bibliography, notes, ill, maps, p.712.non-fictionAbout 1300 Australians died in the desert campaigns of World War I, while another 3500 died in North Africa and the Middle East during World War II. Thousands more carried the wounds of war for the rest of their lives. Countless families were left behind to mourn the dead and comfort the injured. A ripple effect of grief passed down the generations. This is the story of Australia's desert wars as never before told. Using letters, diaries, interviews and unpublished memoirs, Desert Boys provides an intensely personal and gripping insight into the thoughts, feelings and experiences of two generations of Australian soldiers. In many cases these were fathers and sons going to successive wars with all the tragedy, adventure and hardship that brought.australian army - desert campaigns, desert warfare - 20th century

Ill, p.222.non-fictionA history of RAAF operations in the South West Pacific theatre during World war Twoworld war 1939-1945 - aerial operations - australia - sw pacific, royal australian air force

Index, notes, p.361.non-fictionDissent or Conform examines how churches reacted to, and were affected by, two world wars. Its underlying theme, however, is how the Church can be a creatively dissenting community, focusing on how easily the church can turn into a conforming community that only encourages the occurrence of uncreative dissenters, the ones who criticize the power without offering solutions and leading to a real change. -- Wilkinson opposes this trait of the church, especially given the impact that it has on society as a messenger of the gospel. To this end, the author depicts religious groups during three periods of time: English Nonconformity before and during WWI, pacifists and pacifiers between the two wars and Christianity during WWII, focusing on how church history interacts with the developments in history and society. -- This book is of particular interest to social and church historians of the 20th century, and to all interested in the history and ethics of war and pacifism. It will also appeal to those attracted by the interaction between church and society. religious dissenters - england - 20th century, pacifism - religious aspects

Index, bibliography, notes, ill, p.271.non-fictionIn 1941 in the midst of the British military defeats in Greece and the Middle East, a bitter conflict was taking place between two of the most charismatic leaders of the time. Robert Menzies and Winston Churchill were engaged in a war of polite public faces and behind the scenes lobbying and manipulationaustralia - foreign relations - great britain - 1939-1945, world war 1939-1945 - diplomatic history

Index, ill, p.368non-fictionToday it is almost forgotten that the D-Day landings of 6 June 1944 did not bring a single, isolate victory. As this masterly book reminds us, that first foothold on enemy shores was won at enormous cost, and for two months afterwards a fierce battle raged for the control of Caen. Using the personal accounts of those who took part in the fighting, both Allied and German, and of the French civilians caught up in the conflict, McKee brilliantly reconstructs the bitter struggle that ravaged Normandy throughout the summer of 1944 before the Allied position in Europe was finally secured.world war 1939-1945 - campaigns france, d-day - normandy

Ill, maps, p.288.non-fictionProbably the most daring exploit of World War Two was the plan to destroy the great dock of St Nazaire. Operation Chariot was carried out in 1942saint nazaire 1942, world war 1939-1945 - campaigns -france

Ill, p.204.non-fictionThe rise and fall of the Luftwaffe during World War Two world war 1939-1945 - aerial operations - germany, luftwaffe - history

Index, bibliography, notes, ill, maps, p.266.non-fictionStephen Bungay's Alamein is a trenchant re-examination of an event now cloaked in myth. Though the propaganda of the time focused on personalities, this was a desert war, he reveals, determined largely by logistics. In a conflict that for two years had ebbed and flowed along the North African littoral, victory was always going to go to the side that mastered its supply lines - in Britain's case not least by withstanding the epic siege of Malta. He also gets beyond the polemics and eulogies of many past writers in re-assessing Alamein's chief protaganists, Montgomery and Rommel, to show how it was precisely the most unattractive side of Montgomery's character that was needed to transform the Eighth Army into a force capable of fighting a battle it could win.battle of alamein - 1942, world war 1939-1945 - campaigns - north africa

Ill, maps, p.167.non-fictionA pictorial account of the Australian army involvement in the North Africa and Syrian campaigns during World war twoworld war 1939 – 1945 – campaigns – north africa – syria, australian army - pictorial works - north africa - syria

p.100.non-fictionAn abbreviated account of the Kokoda campaign during World War Twoworld war 1939 – 1945 – campaigns – kokoda, kokoda track - papua new guinea

Index, ill, maps, p.164.non-fictionAn account of the clandestine operations launced from Australiaon the Japanese occupied islands to its north during World War Two.australian army - independent company - 2/2. 2/4., australian army - clandestine operations

Index, bibliography, ill, diagrams, p.281.non-fictionAn examination of the machinery and motives of self sacrifice during World War Twoworld war 1939 – 1945 – aerial operations - japan, kamikaze attacks

Index, ill, p.190.non-fictionThe biography of Joe Leach and his exploits in World War twoworld war 1939 – 1945 – aerial operations - australia, joe leach - biography

Ill, p.140non-fictionStories of daring and heroism of men who beat the odds during RAAF air operations in World War two.world war 1939 – 1945 – aerial operations - australia, raaf - air pilots - biographies

Index, notes, ill, maps, p.346.non-fictionThis book covers every ocean and every naval battle during World War Twoworld war 1939 – 1945 –naval operations, war at sea

Index, bibliography, notes, ill, p.250.non-fictionTwenty-two U-boat veterans tell their stories in this collection of their experiences, recorded by the author during several years of travel throughout Germany. While many books have been written about the U-boat war, this is one of the few that focuses on the lives of the submariners, and rarer still is its concentration on the crewmen rather than the officers. Melanie Wiggins interviewed seventeen men of the enlisted ranks, along with five commanders, to take readers into the terrifying world of underwater warfare, where every single crewman made a crucial difference in the fate of his boat. As she searched for and interviewed U-boat men, Wiggins also collected photographs from scrapbooks and archives, and consulted war-era personnel records and secret diaries. Her attendance at a reunion of the crew of U-682 netted a wealth of information as did her interviews with submarine veterans in Gؤrlitz, former East Germany. Her interviews with Admiral Otto Kretschmer just two months before his death and ninety-four-year-old Commander Jѓrgen Wattenberg in Hamburg add important dimensions to the work. Among the individual sagas included are Radioman Hans Bѓrck's description of his 1942 patrol to Aruba and the visit of Japanese submarine I-30 at Lorient; Fireman 2nd Class Josef Erben's explanation of how his boat, U-128, got stuck on a large rock and had to be hauled free; POW Ernst Gؤ:thling's memories of being wounded in a British prison camp when German planes mistakenly dropped bombs in the area.world war 1939 – 1945 –naval operations - germany, germany - u-boats

Ill, p.210.non-fictionAn account of the author's experiences in two World Wars, as a Sergeant Major in a machine gun battalion and as a prisoner of the Japanese in Java, Singapore and Thailand. world war 1939 – 1945 – personal narratives – australia, prisoners of war - australia

Ill, maps, p.223.non-fictionWith sixteen other POWs, author Charles McCormac broke out from his POW camp in Japanese-occupied Singapore and began a two-thousand-mile escape from Singapore, through the jungles of Indonesia to Australia. The POWs' escape took a staggering five months and only two out of the original seventeen men survived. This is McCormac's compelling true account of one of the most horrifying and amazing escapes in World War Two. It is a story of courage, endurance and compassion, and makes for a very gripping read.world war 1939 – 1945 - prisons and prisoners – japanese, prisoner of war escapes - singapore

bibliography, index, pg.402.non-fictionGordon Thomas is a leading expert on intelligence communities. This book provides the definitive historu of the famed MI5 and MI6intelligence services - great britain - history, great britain mi5 - history, great britain mi6 - history

Bibliography, index, ill (b/w) (plates), p,263.non-fiction This history traces Legacy's first fifty years in considerable detail, but places it firmly within its social environment. It will be of interest, not only to current and past members of Legacy, but students of Australian history and society, and all who are concerned with Australia's welfare services. legacy clubs of australia - history, australia - returned service personel

Bibliography, Index, Chronology, ill (plates, col, b/w) maps. p.452.non-fictionFrom longbow, pike, and musket to Challenger tanks, from the Napoleonic Wars to the Gulf campaign, the Duke of Marlborough to Field Marshal Montgomery, The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Army recounts the history of the British army from its medieval antecedents to the present day. Drawing on the latest scholarship, this survey shows how British fighting forces have evolved over the last five centuries. The continuities revealed are sometimes surprising: narrow recruitment patterns, friction between soldiers and civilians, financial constraints and recurrent political pressure for economies are constant themes. Commanders, campaigns, battles, organization, and weaponry are covered in detail within the wider context of the social, economic, and political environment in which armies exist and fight. The British army has been remarkably successful in fighting terms, losing only one major war (of American Independence 1775-83). As one of the engines of empire it has been active all over the world, as well as shaping the internal destiny of the nation in civil war and revolution. Its history is charted in a sequence of chronological chapters, each containing special feature articles, beginning with the medieval, Elizabethan, and Restoration army and moving on through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to the two world wars of the twentieth. The book concludes with accounts of the army of British India, the amateur military tradition, the British way in warfare, and an assessment of what the future may hold in the light of the Options for Change review. Extensively illustrated in black and white and colour, and with a detailed chronology and further reading lists, this is the definitive one-volume history of the British army for specialists and non-specialists alike.great britain - military history, great britain - military tradition

Index, Notes, Bibliography, ill (b/w)non-fictionThe Australian digger represents all the virtues Australians hold dear - mateship, equality, bravery and irreverence. But before 1914 Australia had no military tradition. Jane Ross has analysed the nature and origins of the myth of the digger.australian army - history, australia - military culture