Titles to Note
Kidnap in Crete
Rick Stroud, Bloomsbury, 2014
ISBN 9781408851753, 288pp, $32.99
In 1941 the German army invaded the strategically important Mediterranean island with the largest airborne force in history. The years of Nazi occupation that followed saw mass executions, widespread starvation and the brutal destruction of homes – but amid the horror, the Cretan resistance, the Andartes, with the support of a handful of British SOE agents, fought on heroically.
This is the story of the abduction of General Kreipe by Leigh Fermor, his second- in-command William Stanley Moss and their tight-knit group of partisans; of the midnight ambush of the general’s car and the perilous drive through the garrison town of Heraklion and twenty-two heavily guarded roadblocks; of their epic, dangerous journey on foot and mule across rocky peaks, hiding from their German pursuers in mountain caves and ditches, towards the coast where a Royal Navy launch was waiting to spirit the general to Egypt. But success came at a price for the islanders left behind: German reprisals were swift, unsparing and devastating.
With unprecedented access to first-hand accounts of the Cretan guerrilla fighters themselves, as well as SOE files, Leigh Fermor’s own account and other private papers and diaries, this astonishing true story of daring in the battle against Hitler is told in full for the first time.
Australian Soldiers in the Asia-Pacific in World War II
Lachlan Grant, New South, 2014
ISBN 9781742231419, 276pp, $39.99
Half a million Australians encountered a new world when they entered Asia and the Pacific during World War II: different peoples, cultures, languages and religions chafing under the grip of colonial rule. Moving beyond the battlefield, this book tells the story of how mid-century experiences of troops in Asia-Pacific shaped how we feel about our nation’s place in the region and the world. Spanning the vast region from New Guinea to Southeast Asia and India, Lachlan Grant uncovers affecting tales of friendship, grief, spiritual awakening, rebellion, incarceration, sex and souvenir hunting. Focusing on the day-to-day interactions between soldiers on the ground and the people and cultures they encountered, this book paints a picture not only of individual lives transformed, but of dramatically shifting national perceptions, as the gaze of Australia turned from Britain to Asia.
Fallujah Redux: The Anbar Awakening and the Struggle with Al-Qaeda
Daniel R. Green and William F. Mullen III, Naval Institute Press, 2014 ISBN 9781612511429, 192pp, US$37.95
Fallujah Redux is the first book about the Fallujah Awakening written by Operation Iraqi Freedom military veterans who served there, providing a comprehensive account of the turning of Fallujah away from the al-Qaeda insurgency in 2007. The city of Fallujah will long be associated with some of the worst violence and brutality of the Iraq War. Initially occupied by U.S. forces in 2003, it eventually served as the headquarters for numerous insurgent groups operating west of Baghdad, including al-Qaeda in Iraq and its leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, until forcibly retaken at
the end of 2004. This book describes the campaign that turned Fallujah from a perennial insurgent hotspot to an example of what can be achieved by the right combination of leadership and perseverance. Many books have told of the major battles in Fallujah—this book tells the rest of the story that never made the news.
Zero Night
Mark Felton, Allen and Unwin, 2014 ISBN 9781848317925, 320pp, $27.99
Warburg, Germany: On the night of 30 August 1942 – ‘Zero Night’ – 40 officers from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa staged the most audacious mass escape of the Second World War. It was the first ‘Great Escape’ – but instead of tunnelling, the escapers boldly went over the huge perimeter fences using wooden scaling contraptions. This was the notorious ‘Warburg Wire Job’, described by fellow prisoner and fighter ace Douglas Bader as ‘the most brilliant escape conception of this war’. Months of meticulous planning and secret training hung in the balance during three minutes of mayhem as prisoners charged the camp’s double perimeter fences. Telling this remarkable story in full for the first time, historian Mark Felton brilliantly evokes the suspense of the escape itself and the adventures of those who eluded the Germans, as well as the courage of the civilians who risked their lives to help them in enemy territory.
ANZAC: The Unauthorised Biography
Carolyn Holbrook, New South, 2014 ISBN 9781742234076, 266pp, $34.99
Raise a glass for an Anzac. Run for an Anzac. Camp under the stars for an Anzac. Is there anything Australians won’t do to keep the Anzac legend at the centre of our national story? But standing firm on the other side of the Anzac enthusiasts is a chorus of critics claiming that the appetite for Anzac is militarising our history and indoctrinating our children. So how are we to make sense of this struggle over how we remember the Great War?
Anzac, the Unauthorised Biography cuts through the clamour to provide a much- needed historical perspective on the battle over Anzac. It traces how, since 1915, Australia’s memory of the Great War has declined and surged, reflecting the varied and complex history of the Australian nation itself. Most importantly, it asks why so many Australians persist with the fiction that the nation was born on 25 April 1915.
Ambon
Roger Maynard, Hachette, 2014
ISBN 9780733630484, 334pp, $35.00
In February 1942 the Indonesian island of Ambon fell to the might of the advancing Japanese war machine. Among the captured Allied forces was a unit of 1150 Australian soldiers known as Gull Force, who had been sent to defend the island – a strategy doomed from the very beginning. Several hundred Australians were massacred in cold blood soon after the Japanese invasion. But that was only the start of a catalogue of horrors for the men who survived: incarcerated, beaten and often tortured by their captors, the brutality they endured lasted for the next three and a half years. And in this hellhole of despair and evil, officers and men turned against each other as discipline and morale broke down. Yet the epic struggle also produced heroic acts of kindness and bravery. Just over 300 of these gallant men lived to tell of those grim days behind the barbed wire. In Ambon, survivors speak of not just the horrors, but of the courage, endurance and mateship that helped them survive. The story of Ambon is one of depravity and of memories long buried – but also the triumph of the human spirit. It has not been widely told – until now.
Flight Command
John Oddie, Allen and Unwin, 2014 ISBN 9781743319819, 316pp, $32.99
John’s appointment as deputy commander of Aussie forces in the Middle East capped a remarkable career of service to Australia. Sadly, this honour also involved the heartbreaking duty of informing families of the deaths of their husbands and sons in Afghanistan and overseeing departure ceremonies for the fallen soldiers.
As well as covering the war in Afghanistan, Flight Command provides an insider’s account of being a combat pilot in the first Gulf War, a commander supporting peace in Bougainville and security in Cambodia and the often harrowing experience of being a first-response commander dealing with the aftermath of the Boxing Day tsunami in Indonesia.
The Lost Legions of Fromelles
Peter Barton, Allen and Unwin, 2014 ISBN 9781742377117, 425pp, $32.99
The action at Fromelles in July 1916 is Australia’s most catastrophic military failure. The story has always appeared simple, but in truth history did not unfold in the way we have for so long been led to believe. Peter Barton has written an authoritative and revelatory book on Fromelles. He describes its long and surprising genesis, and offers an unexpected account of the fighting; he investigates the interrogation of Anglo-Australian prisoners, and the results of shrewd German propaganda techniques; and he explores the circumstances surrounding the ‘missing’ Pheasant Wood graves. He also brings a new perspective to the writings of Charles Bean.
