War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 By Ian, W. Toll WW Norton and Company, 2015. 688. Paperback ISBN: 9780393353204 Hardcover ISBN: 9780393080643 Reviewed by Sam Baumgarten The Conquering Tide is an outstanding book for those wishing to understand the American conduct of war in the Pacific. It examines the war in the Pacific islands from the aftermath of the Battle of Midway to the Battles of Saipan and Guam in mid-1944. This is the second part of a trilogy. The other two books cover firstly the war in …

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win. Sun Tzu Introduction The Australian Army has an extensive history of conducting train, advise and assist (TAA) missions. These missions represent a flexible, scalable and low-risk component of national strategy.  The Defence Strategic Update [i] (DSU) highlighted the requirement to shape, deter and respond to challenges within the Indo-Pacific region. In describing the shaping function, the DSU …

The Oboe landings – well planned, resourced and executed – were, and are, rightly considered the acme of amphibious operations. Dayton McCarthy Introduction to The Oboe Landings 1945 Australian Army History Unit, Campaign Series 32 “G’Day Sir, I’m looking for your support to attend a staff ride.” These were my hopeful words to my boss shortly after learning of an opportunity to travel to Borneo to study a series of 1945 amphibious operations. A staff ride wasn’t something I had previously heard of, and I …

Over the past decade, the Australian Army has established itself as the ‘preferred partner’ within the Indo-Pacific region. The Indo-Pacific region covers the area from India to Papua New Guinea, extending to North Korea in the North, our greatest footprint landing within the archipelagos of the Pacific Ocean north of Australia. The importance of maintaining or gaining the ‘preferred partner’ status with the countries in the region is highlighted by the meagre 800km stretch of ocean that separates the …

Introduction Since 2017, measles outbreaks have been surging around the globe, with many Indo-Pacific nations experiencing disease outbreaks due to low vaccination rates [i] . A targeted vaccination program provides opportunities for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to supplement its traditional train, advise and assist missions with a low-risk and cost-effective public health intervention while delivering a strategic deterrent effect within our region. Measles vaccinations provide a legitimate reason …

The Forging of a First World War By Elizabeth Greenhalgh Cambridge University Press, 2011. 550. Online ISBN: 9780511835254 Reviewed by BRIG Chris Roberts AM, CSC (Retd.) Within the English speaking world, many volumes have been written on Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, Commander in Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, with seven biographies devoted to him in the decade prior to the centenary of the Great War. One such volume attributes him as ‘The Architect of Victory.’  This is not surprising given …

In the public mind, there is an inherent connection between deterrence and lethality. In the Cold War, nuclear weapons were the foundation of how the great powers deterred. So too today, much of the deterrence debate has centred on long-range strike options. Yet firepower is not everything. In 1982, the British Government sent three of its nuclear submarines south to warn Argentina against threatening the Falkland Islands. Those submarines were far more capable than anything the Argentineans possessed, yet …

To read the commentary and reporting that was published when the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) was released, you would have to conclude that these are dark times for Army and that the need for land power is either diminished or no longer required. Such a perception, however, would be misplaced. The DSR makes it clear that Army must to be able to get out into our immediate region, that it must be able to project land power, and that it must be engaged with our neighbours. Importantly, the DSR emphasises …

In recent years, Australia’s security force assistance has primarily focused on states that are categorised as fragile or engaged in conflicts. However, expanding the policy toolkit of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to encompass developed and advanced states could present new opportunities for achieving national government objectives, as well as benefiting the ADF and the Australian Army. Several of Australia’s partner nations, such as the United Arab Emirates, fall under the category of developed and …

While Australian policy guidance has recently embraced deterrence as a strategic posture, there is limited guidance about the force structure and posture implications for Army. The Australian Army Research Centre's new Occasional Paper addresses this gap by developing three models to achieve strategic deterrence through the forward presence of land forces. … Forward Presence for …