Index, ill, p.390.

non-fiction

In war, there is no easy victory. When troops invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein's regime, most people expected an easy victory. Instead, the gamble we took was a grave mistake, and its ramifications continue to reverberate through the lives of millions, in Iraq and the West. As we gain more distance from those events, it can be argued that many of the issues facing us today - the rise of the Islamic State, increased Islamic terrorism, intensified violence in the Middle East, mass migration, and more - can be traced back to the decision to invade Iraq.

iraq war - personal recollections, iraq war 2003-2011 - history

Index, bib, ill, maps, p.398.

non-fiction

In the last winter of the Second World War, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin arrived in the Crimean resort of Yalta. Over eight days of bargaining, bombast and intermittent bonhomie they decided on the conduct of the final stages of the war against Germany, on how a defeated and occupied Germany should be governed, on the constitution of the nascent United Nations and on spheres of influence in Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Greece. Only three months later, less than a week after the German surrender, Roosevelt was dead and Churchill was writing to the new President, Harry S. Truman, of 'an iron curtain' that was now 'drawn down upon [the Soviets'] front'. Diana Preston chronicles eight days that created the post-war world, revealing Roosevelt's determination to bring about the dissolution of the British Empire and Churchill’s conviction that he and the dying President would run rings round the Soviet premier. But Stalin monitored everything they said and made only paper concessions, while his territorial ambitions would soon result in the imposition of Communism throughout Eastern Europe.

world war 1939-1945 - diplomatic history, yalta conference - crimea- 1945

Index, ill, maps, p.243.

non-fiction

Describes the events of December 7, 1941, before, during, and after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, as well as the reactions of the men who lived through the attack.

pearl harbour attack, world war 1939 – 1945 –naval operations

Index, bib, ill, maps, p.296.

non-fiction

The simple tale of Simpson and his donkey is the pre-eminent legend of heroism. It is the story of a humble water-carrier, a rescuer of wounded men, a tale of compassion, stoic persistence, with a tragic end. His tale is an integral part of the Anzac story. Across time, a simple tale can acquire a complicated history. This is what happened to the man with the donkey and is the subject of this book, Simpson's 'afterlife', the legend.

world war 1914-1918 - campaigns - gallipoli, gallipoli campaign - medical corps - history

Ill, index, p.192.

non-fiction

Biographical account of the travails of an p Australian risoner on the Burma railway

burma - thailand railway, world war 1939 – 1945 - prisons and prisoners - japanese

Index, ill, p.224.

non-fiction

In this text, Deighton and Hastings look at how the few defended Britain in the Battle of Britain. They depict the reality of the battle and how it was enacted by those who took part, whether in the air, on the ground, in the planning rooms or at home in towns and villages.

world war 1939-1945 - battle of britain 1940, world war 1914-1918 - aerial operations - britain

p.222.

fiction

Another in the fictional series around the famous 633squadron

world war 1939-1945 - britain - aerial operations - fiction, 633 squadron

Ill, p.320.

non-fiction

Illustrated summary of the second World War

world war 1939-1945 - history, world war 1939-1945 - victory celebrations

Bib, ill, maps, p.305.

non-fiction

Bomber Boys is the extraordinary and little known story of more than 100 Dutch airmen stranded in Australia with no country to return to who were joined by a contingent of Australians to make up the RAAF's No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies Squadron). Formed in Canberra in April 1942, the squadron flew operational coastal patrols before eventually being relocated to the secret MacDonald Airfield, north of Pine Creek in the Northern Territory and then Batchelor near Darwin.

royal australian air force - 18th squadron, world war two 1939-1945 - aerial operations - australia

Index, bib, ill, maps, p.610.

non-fiction

No other warship in the history of the Royal Australian Navy has inspired and fired the public imagination like HMAS Sydney (II). This is the story of the ship and the men who served in her.

hmas sydney, world war 1939-1945 - naval operations - australia

p.390.

fiction

World War II novel about submarine hunters in the North Atlantic. The action follows lieutenant Ned Yorke of the British Navy, who is sent to investigate a rash of unexplained convoy sinkings. He must find out how German submarines are arriving undetected in the midst of the convoys and why a mysterious Swedish vessel is always present. Posing as a shipwrecked sailor, he manages to get aboard the Swedish ship.

world war 1939 - 1945 - fiction, naval operations - fictional

Index, bib, ill, p.348.

non-fiction

Will Dyson (1880-1938) was a brilliant and versatile artist, and much more besides. His prodigious talents struggled to find a niche in Australia, but he burst into prominence with cartoons of extraordinary vigour and resource on the London Daily Herald. These whole-page cartoons with wordy, witty captions were revered by workers and intellectuals alike. Dyson was also a talented writer, a scintillating humourist and an arresting speaker. A stunning overnight success, he was described as the most famous Australian in the world. In 1916 Dyson became Australia's first official war artist. His drawings of profound empathy and sympathy remain a unique record of the Western Front experience. Once again he complemented his art with exquisite writing. Returning to Australia in 1925, he took up etching to international acclaim, confirming that whatever he did he did well. Absorbing, illuminating, and lavishly illustrated, this is a fascinating story of the life and times of a remarkable and under-recognised Australian.

will dyson 1880-1938, cartoonists - australia

Index, ill, ,maps, p.380.

non-fiction

In the Second World War, thousands of Australian boys lied about their age and volunteered for a war the scale of which they could never have imagined. Like many of their fathers in the Great War, they went with their eyes wide shut: under-trained, under-equipped and under-age. Some were as young as thirteen - too young even to shave. Many did not grow old; others came back broken. A handful are still alive to tell their tales. This extraordinary book captures the bold and untold stories of forty Australian children who fought in the deadliest war in history. Follow these boys through Libya and Palestine, Greece and Crete, to the jungles of Malaya, Papua New Guinea and Borneo, fighting for their lives, their country, their mates. Many of the photographs have never been seen. Haunting images of youths in training camps and behind the lines stand beside moving portraits of old men who have not forgotten.

world war 1939-1945 - australia - under age soldiers, world war 1939-1945 - personal narratives - australia

Index, ill, p.190.

non-fiction

Douglas Bader tells the inspiring story of the Battle of Britain from the viewpoint of 'The Few'. Using superb illustrations he traces the development of the Spitfire and Hurricane and describes the nail-biting actions of those who flew them against far superior numbers of enemy aircraft. As an added bonus, other well-known fighter aces including Johnnie Johnson, 'Laddie' Lucas and Max Aikten contribute to Douglas's book, no doubt out of affe.

world war 1939-1945 - aerial operarions - britain, spitfire, hurricane

Bib, ill, p.180.

non-fiction

A history of the Bentleigh RSL from the Boer war to the present.

returned services league - victorian branch, bentleigh rsl

Index, bib, ill, p.453.

non-fiction

This book unravels the complex workings of these deadly secret armies hidden from public scrutiny

special forces - operations - 20th century, military history - 20th century

Ill, p.260.

non-fiction

The boyhood and war time experiences of a young German

world war 1939-1945 - personal narratives - germany, soldiers - germany - biography

p.205.

fiction

Second World War thriller. British Intelligence wants to capture a U-boat to learn the secrets, but one man, branded a coward, tries to stop them.

world war 1939 - 1945 - fiction, submarine warfare - world war ii

p.341.

fiction

The breathtaking sequel to the all-time classic, THE EAGLE HAS LANDED, reissued for a new generation The greatest World War Two story of all time - is not over...By the end of 1943, all evidence of the abortive German attempt to assassinate Winston Churchill has been carefully buried in an unmarked grave in the Norfolk village of Studley Constable. But two of the most wanted ringleaders are still alive...In the fourth hard winter of war, British Intelligence pick up disturbing reports from Heinrich Himmler's power base in Wewelsburg Castle. The mission is not yet accomplished. For the Fatherland, the Reichsfuhrer is demanding the Eagle's return...

world war- 1939-1945 - secret operations - germany - fiction., world war 1939 - 1945 - fiction

Index, ill, map, p.354.

non-fiction

Before Bletchley Park could break the German war machine's code, its daily military communications had to be monitored and recorded by 'the Listening Service', the wartime department whose bases moved with every theatre of war (Cairo, Malta, Gibraltar, Iraq, Cyprus) as well as having listening stations along the eastern coast of Britain to intercept radio traffic in the European theatre. This is the story of the - usually very young - men and women sent out to farflung outposts to listen in for Bletchley Park, an oral history of exotic locations and ordinary lives turned upside down by a sudden remote posting - the heady nightlife in Cairo, filing cabinets full of snakes in North Africa, and flights out to Delhi by luxurious flying boat.

world war 1939-1945 - great britain - intelligence, world war 1939-1945 - cryptography

Index, bib, ill, maps, p.384.

non-fiction

The true story of an epic voyage of destruction in World War One. July 1917: the First World War is about to enter its fourth horrendous year and ships are mysteriously disappearing off Australia and New Zealand, as a young Australian woman named Mary Cameron sails with her husband and daughter across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Sydney. Less than a thousand miles from Sydney, a black-hulled freighter appears out of the vast blue emptiness, and Mary and her daughter rush to the deck to greet her. Suddenly, two hinged iron sections of the freighter's bulwarks drop down to reveal she is bristling with guns. She is in fact the German warship the Wolf, and the Cameron family are about to find themselves captive on one of the century's most extraordinary wartime sea voyages.

naval warfare - germany, commerce raiders - germany

p.224.

fiction

For Stanley Woolley, commanding officer of Goshawk Squadron, the romance of chivalry in the clouds is just a myth. The code he drums into his men is simple and savage: shoot the enemy in the back before he knows you're there. Even so, he believes the whole squadron will be dead within three months.

air warfare - fiction, world war 1914-1918 - aerial operations

Index, ill, p.259.

non-fiction

ebastian Haffner was a non-Jewish German who emigrated to England in 1938. This memoir (written in 1939 but only published now for the first time) begins in 1914 when the family summer holiday is cut short by the outbreak of war, and ends with Hitler's assumption of power in 1933. It is a portrait of himself and his own generation in Germany, those born between 1900 and 1910, and brilliantly explains through his own experiences and those of his friends how that generation came to be seduced by Hitler and Nazism.

germany - history - 20th century, national socialism - germany

Ill, maps, p.244.

non-fiction

The Carthew brothers participated in some of history's most legendary battles, but theirs is more than a story of guns and bullets - it is also a lovestory; of the love and devotion of three brothers for their womenfolk and their country.

world war 1914-1918 - personal narratives, world war 1914-1918 - campaigns - gallipoli

Index, ill, maps, p.184.

non-fiction

An account of the experiences of Allied POW's held in Buchenwald concentration camp.

concentration camps - buchenwald, world war 1939-1945 - prisoners of war - germany

Bib, ill, maps, p.243.

non-fiction

Australia's Submariners are a group with an extremely strong sense of identity that goes well beyond occupational comradeship or the esprit de corps of military life in peace or war. Since 1914, the unique skills, attitudes, values and demands of the work they do and the environment in which they do it have forged unparalleled camaraderie. A camaraderie that extends beyond nationality, embracing submariners past and present of every other nation. No one but submariners understand the experience of diving deep beneath the waves in technology filled tubes of steel, each submariner totally dependent on the other for a safe return to the surface. The ethos of Australia's submariners is based upon these factors and remains strong even when they leave the sea and take up other occupations. Australia's future submarines will certainly present challenges in terms of sophistication, technology and capability however the characteristics of our submariners evolved over previous generations will remain much the same; trained and equipped to meet the challenges; just as they have been met and surmounted so many times, in silence, over a century of service.

royal australian navy - submarine forces, submarine warfare

Index, ill, p.253.

non-fiction

An account of a husband and wife interned in Singapore during Wprld War Two.

world war 1939 – 1945 - prisons and prisoners - japanese, changi prison - singapore

Ill, maps, p.336.

non-fiction

On the afternoon of 18 August 1966, just five kilometres from the main Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat, a group of Viet Cong soldiers walked into the right flank of Delta Company, 6 RAR. Under a blanket of mist and heavy monsoon rain, amid the mud and shattered rubber trees, a dispersed Company of 108 men held its ground with courage and grim determination against a three-sided attack from a force of 2,500 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army troops. When the battle subsided, 18 Australian soldiers lay dead and 24 had been wounded. Battlefield clearance revealed 245 enemy bodies with captured documents later confirming the count at over 500 enemy killed and 800 wounded. These men were led by a gruff and gusty perfectionist, Major Harry Smith. Now, some 47 years after the battle, Harry tells his story for the first time. But Long Tan is more than just an account of a historic battle. Harry Smith takes his readers on an extraordinary journey - one that ultimately reveals a remarkable cover-up at the highest military and political echelons. Long Tan is also Harry's life story and portrays his many personal battles, from failed marriages to commando-style killing; from a horrific parachute accident through to his modern-day struggles with bureaucracy for recognition for his soldiers. Harry's battles are tempered by his love of sailing, where he has at last found some peace. Long Tan portrays the wrenching, visceral experience of a man who has fought lifelong battles, in a story that he is only now able to tell. Harry can still hear the gunfire and smell the blood spilt at Long Tan. For him, the fight continues. Collapse summary

vietnam conflict - australian involvement, vietnam war 1961-1975 – battles – long tan

Ill, maps, p.209.

non-fiction

Lavishly illustrated account of the gulf war in 1991.

gulf war 1991, gulf war 1991 - photographic essay