Book Review - Mud & Dust – Australian Army Vehicles and Artillery in Vietnam

Mud & Dust – Australian Army Vehicles and Artillery in Vietnam

Written by: Michael K Cecil, 

New Holland Publishers, 2009,

ISBN 9781741107678, 272pp

Reviewed by: Ian Kuring, Australian Army

Mud & Dust by Michael Cecil is the third book of a series sponsored by the Australian War Memorial. It is a well researched, interesting and easy to read reference book covering the armoured fighting vehicles, artillery, logistic vehicles and engineer equipment used by the Australian Defence Force in Vietnam. Also covered are the ships used to transport troops, vehicles and equipment between Australia and South Vietnam.

As well as technical descriptions, information is provided concerning the operational and/or logistic roles and tasks carried out by the vehicles, artillery, equipment and ships. Even Vietnam veterans who served with, on and alongside these vehicles, items of equipment and ships are likely to be surprised by some of the information provided concerning maintenance and repair issues as well as modifications carried out to meet operational requirements. Some brief personal essays provided by a small number of Vietnam veterans are included to provide insights into what it was like to operate and/or maintain specific vehicle and equipment types.

The book is lavishly illustrated with over 400 images in both colour and black and white, most of which come from the photographic collection of the Australian War Memorial. There are some great photographs and I am sure many of them will bring back memories for Vietnam veterans as well as provide inspiration for military model builders.

The author of this book is Michael Cecil, a man who has had an almost life-long interest in researching and writing about Australian military technology. He is currently a staff member at the Australian War Memorial. His meticulous research and eye for technical detail is revealed in the text and the picture captions for this book.

I was surprised that the author had not included lists identifying each of the Centurion Tanks and M113 family of armoured fighting vehicles that served with the Australian Army in Vietnam by their Army Registration Number. Information about the fate of each of these vehicles would be interesting, especially as some have survived as historic display objects, and in the case of the M113 family of vehicles many are still in service with the Army. Another surprising omission is information and photographs related to the specific examples of the vehicles, artillery and equipment from the Vietnam War held in the Australian War Memorial’s collection. From the obvious research carried out by the author and the information he was provided it would appear that this would not have been an impossible task, and their inclusion should be a consideration for any future edition of the book.

I recommend Mud & Dust to all readers and researchers with an interest in the military technology used by Australians in Vietnam.