Index, bib, ill, maps, p.476.On 25 June 1950 the invasion of South Korea by the Communist North launched one of the bloodiest conflicts of the last century. The seemingly limitless power of the Chinese-backed North was thrown against the ferocious firepower of the UN-backed South in a war that can be seen today as the stark prelude to Vietnam. Max Hastings has drawn on first-hand accounts of those who fought on both sides to produce this vivid and incisive reassessment of the Korean War, bringing the military and human dimensions into sharp focus.korean war 1950-1953 - history, korea - history

Index, bib, ill, map, p.234.non-fictionIn June 1950, No 77 squadron RAAF was in Japan and packing up to go home when North Korea invaded South Korea. Instead of going home to Australia, they found themselves with their mustang fighters in Korea as part of the UN forces opposing the rampaging North Koreans who occupied almost the whole peninsular within 8 weeks of the start of the invasion. The squadron played a major role in halting the invasion and driving the Koreans back almost to the Chinese border. Then the Chinese, equipped with their MIG 21 jet fighters, entered the war. The hopelessly outclassed mustangs were quickly replaced by meteor jet fighters to again play a major role in resisting the invasion forces. The squadron lost over 20 pilots over the course of the war, but succeeded in shooting down a number of MIG fighters and offering ground support to the UN forces. This is an action packed account of the men of that squadron.korean war - aerial combat, korean war 1950-1953 - australian involvement

Index, ill, map, p.176non-fictionRemembering Korea was written to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Korean War. George Odgers' text is a very readable account of the events of the war, paying tribute to the Australian servicemen and women who bravely fought and served.korean war 1950-1953 - australian involvement, korean war 1950-1953 - history

Index, ill, maps, p.305.non-fictionAn outstandingly written, first-person account of a decorated British soldier's experience of fighting Taliban forces in Afghanistan.afghan war 2001-2021 - military operations - britain, afghan war 2001-2021 - personal narratives - britain

Ill, maps, p.337.non-fictionReveals the war within the war: the battle not only for the hearts and minds of Afghanis but between soldiers and spies , between allies sharply divided by purpose.afghan war 2001-2021 - military operations - britain, afghan war 2001-2021 - political aspects

Bib, ill, maps, p.393.non-fictionThis is the true, dramatic account of a small band of Special Forces soldiers who entered Afghanistan immediately following 9/11 and, riding to war on horses, defeated the Taliban. Outnumbered 40 to 1, they capture the strategic Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif and thereby effectively defeat the Taliban throughout the rest of the country.afghan war 2001-2012, afghan war 2001-2021 - us participation

Index, ill, maps, p.251.non-fictionThe climax of this book is an account of the Battle of Long Tan, which is told here by the most senior ranking Australian soldier to survive the battle. vietnam conflict 1961-1975 - history, vietnam conflict - australian involvement, battle of long tan

Index, ill, map, p.240non-fictionThis comprehensive and balanced account provides a highly original look at the emotive impact of the first 'media' war, charting not only the course of the war in Vietnam, but also seeking to place American involvement in Vietnam in historical perspective. The book also includes first-hand testimony on the highly charged issue of American personnel who went missing in action. vietnam conflict 1961-1975 - history, vietnam war 1961-1975 - us involvement

Index, ill, p.244.non-fictionThe dramatic story of an Australian soldier who was awarded the VC for his extraordinary bravery in Vietnam, only to return home to spend years struggling with depression, alcohol and prescription drugs, before turning his life aroundvietnam conflict - australian involvement, vietnam conflict 1961-1975 - personal recollections

Ill, p.214.A personal account of an Australians Vietnam conflict experiencevietnam conflict - australian involvement, vietnam conflict 1961-1975 - personal recollections

Ill, p.199.non-fictionThe role of helicopters in the Vietnam conflictvietnam conflict 1961-1975 - aerial operations, military helicopters

p.240.non-fictionThe search for missing military personnel in Vietnamvietnam war 1961-1975 – us - involvement, vietnam war 1945-1975 - missing soldiers

non-fictionSheehan's tragic biography of John Paul Vann is also a sweeping history of America's seduction, entrapment and disillusionment in Vietnam. vietnam war 1961-1975 - american involvement, vietnam war 1961-1975 - biography

Index, bib, ill, maps, p.306.non-fictionRevealing biography of an Australian airforce hero of the Second World War who displayed great courage and integrity - both under fire and in civilian life.world war 1939-1945 - personal narratives - australia, world war ii - air warfare

Ill, p.155.non-fictionThe activites of frogmen during World War Twoworld war 1939-1945 - naval operations, underwater warfare

Index, ill, p.220.non-fictionThe amazing story of U 570 - captured by the British and used against the Germansworld war 1939-1945 - naval operations, submarine warfare - world war ii

Index, ill, p.331.During World War II, the U.S. Navy's submarine service suffered the highest percentage of casualties of any branch of the American armed forces. One in five submariners was lost. But despite the odds, these underwater warriors accounted for almost sixty percent of Japanese shipping losses and were a major factor in winning the war.submarine warfare - world war ii, world war 1939-1945 - naval operations - united states

Index, bib, ill, maps, p.282.non-fictionThe operations of U 862 in Australian and New Zealand waters in World War Two submarine warfare - world war ii, world war 1939-1945 - naval operations - germany

Index, ill, maps, p.198.A 25 year old Australian, James Boyle, was one of thousands of prisoners of war who worked in inhuman conditions to build the Thailand/Burma railway. He was determined to record his experiences and thos of his mates - at the limits of human endurance.japan - prisons and prisoners of war, burma - thailand railway

p.351.fictionThe heartrending story of British boy Jim's four year ordeal in a Japanese prison camp during the second world war. Based on J. G. Ballard's own childhood, this is the extraordinary account of a boy's life in Japanese-occupied wartime Shanghai--a mesmerising, hypnotically compelling novel of war, of starvation and survival, of internment camps and death marches. It blends searing honesty with an almost hallucinatory vision of a world thrown utterly out of joint. Rooted as it is in the author's own disturbing experience of war in our time, it is one of a handful of novels by which the twentieth century will be not only remembered but judged. world war 1939-1945 - fiction, world war 1939 – 1945 - prisons and prisoners - japanese

maps, p.157.non-fictionDavid James was serving in Motor Gun Boats when he was captured in February 1943. Imprisoned initially in Dulag Marlag, he immediately decided to escape. In December 1943 he succeeded in escaping disguised as an officer of the Royal Bulgarian Navy. He was captured while attempting to board a ship at Lubeck.Undeterred, in February 1944 he broke out again, this time dressed as a Swedish sailor. He eventually succeeded in reaching Stockholm after two and a half days in a ship's engine room. prisoners of war - germany - escapes, world war 1939 – 1945 - prisons and prisoners – germany

Index, ill, maps, p.320.non-fiction2000 survivors of the Burma railway were sent to Japan but their ship was sunk by an american submarine.world war 1939 – 1945 - prisons and prisoners - japanese, burma - thailand railway

p.350.non-fictionAn American news photographer is held in brutal captivity for fifteen months by Communist Pathet Lao - and for his courage is awarded the Medal of Freedom by President John F. Kennedyprisoners of war - abuse of - united states, vietnam war - 1961-1975

Index, bib, ill, map, p.220.non-fictionThe captivity experiences of Gull Force taken prisoner by the Japanese in Ambon in 1942world war 1939 – 1945 - prisons and prisoners - japanese, prison camp - ambon

Index, ill, maps, p.224.non-fictionOn June 23 1943 Lieutenant Jack Champ of the 2nd/6th Australian Infantry Battalion was marched into one of the most famous prisoner-of-war camps in Germany. Known then as Oflag IVC, it is now better know as Colditz. By the end of the war there were nineteen Australians in Colditz, and this is the first book to look at life there specifically from their point of view. It was a very special camp. It was designed to retain under escape-proof conditions, a select group of Allied prisoners who had already escaped from other camps and who had been recaptured whilst still in occupied territory. Having seen action in the Western Desert and in Greece, Jack Champ had been captured by the Germans in 1941. He was, however, a reluctant prisoner and took part in two escapes from different POW camps, one of which was a mass break-out of sixty officers through a tunnel that had taken weeks to make. Although the guards frequently outnumbered prisoners, there were more escapes from Colditz than from any other prison of comparable size during both World Wars. In this vivid book Jack Champ and Colin Burgess explain what it was like to be a prisoner in Nazi Germany. It is a curious blend of brutality and humanity, of routines and dreams, and occasional and dramatic excitement as men tried to turn those dreams into the reality of freedom.world war 1939 – 1945 - prisons and prisoners – germany, world war 1939-1945 - personal narratives - australia

Index, ill, map, p.242.non-fictionThe story of the infamous Bataan death marchworld war 1939 – 1945 - prisons and prisoners - japanese, atrocities - japan

Ill, p.165non-fictionAustralian prisoners of war in Japan in the aftermath of The Japanese surrenderworld war 1939 – 1945 - prisons and prisoners – japanese, world war 1939-1945 - personal narratives - australia

Index, ill, p.162.non-fictionThe story of the experiences of Australian Army nurses as Japanese prisoners of warworld war 1939 – 1945 - prisons and prisoners - japanese, australian army nursing service

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.151non-fictionPeter Firkins has produced a heroic figure comparable in courage and selflessness to that of the legendary 'Weary' Dunlop, and whose story should be known by all Australians in the same way. What a wonderful epitaph to a man born into a humble Yass family at the end of the nineteenth century who, by his own determination and intellect, won a scholarship for his secondary education at St Patrick's College, Goulburn and an Exhibition to study medicine at Sydney University. Almost by pure chance he pursued his medical career in an outpost of the British Empire then known as British North Borneo to become Principal Medical Officer at the time of the Japanese occupation during World War II. The Japanese allowed the civilian medical staff to remain at their posts with the status of 'simple confinement' while at the same time the bewildered local people looked to someone for leadership in their new and unaccustomed circumstances.Aided by his wonderful wife Celia he was imperceptibly drawn into the key role of organising the underground movement among loyal native and giving support to the Australian Prisoners of War transferred to Borneo from Singapore. In 1943 he was exposed to the Japanese, arrested and terribly tortured. Donated by Major General M.P.J. O'Brien, July 2018. Signed by authorworld war 1939 – 1945 - prisons and prisoners - japanese, world war 1939 – 1945 – personal narratives – australia