Taken By Force: Rape and American GIs in Europe during World War II   Written by: J Robert Lilly, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2007, ISBN: 9780230506473, 272 pp. Reviewed by: Narelle Biedermann Reading a book that discusses rape so confrontingly and transparently in any context makes for a challenging and often difficult read. Sociologist and academic J. Robert Lilly sets himself an extraordinary task to make this unpalatable and highly sensitive topic approachable, and surprisingly, manages to do this …

Prisoners of the Japanese - Literary Imagination and the Prisoner of War Experience   Written by: Roger Bourke, University of Queensland Publishing, Brisbane, 2006, ISBN: 9780702235641, 165 pp. Reviewed by: Captain Kate Tollenaar In Australian popular consciousness, the POW experience under the Japanese in the Second World War has always been significant, and importantly, this understanding has largely been gained from representation in narratives and film over the last sixty years. Roger Bourke’s …

General Ulysses S. Grant: The Soldier and the Man   Written by: Edward G Longacre, Da Capo Press, New York, 2007, ISBN: 9780306812699, 338 pp. Reviewed by: Joseph K Smith The United States is in the middle of a bloody Civil War that continues to polarise public opinion. Opposing camps have emerged which comprise those supporters of the conflict who do not want to ‘cut and run’ and those detractors who desire peace and a withdrawal from the conflict. The Administration is struggling to maintain public …

Rommel’s Desert Commanders—The Men Who Served the Desert Fox, North Africa, 1941-42   Written by: Samuel W Mitcham Jr., Praeger Security International, London, 2007, ISBN: 9780811735100, 214 pp. Reviewed by: Antony Trentini While many English-language military biographies are concerned with Allied leaders from the Second World War, there is a market for exploration of the lives of great commanders on the other side of the conflict. Samuel Mitcham Jr.’s book, while focused broadly on the immensely popular …

Letter to the Editor In his 2006 Australian War Memorial Oration, Dr. Stanley questions that there ever was a Battle for Australia. Instead, he attempts to decry the emergence of a concept that thousands have embraced but which few historians have endorsed. He believes it is an idea that has captured popular imagination but is too restricted in concept and generally ill-conceived. I do not agree. The commemoration of the Battle for Australia seeks to ensure that the knowledge and understanding of the …

Letter to the Editor I thoroughly enjoyed Dr Peter Stanley’s thought-provoking paper titled ‘What is the Battle for Australia?’ in the Winter 2007 edition of the Australian Army Journal and would like to make some personal observations. I agree with Stanley when he states that there was no battle for Australia in the literal meaning of the term. However, in 2007 we should also acknowledge that the ability to confidently make that statement comes with the benefit of hindsight, including some detailed …

Listed below is a selection from the review copies that have arrived at the Australian Army Journal . Reviews for many of these books can be found online in the relevant edition of the Australian Army Journal at: http://www.defence.gov.au/army/lwsc/Publications/journal/journal.htm Battle of Crete (Australian Army Campaign Series) , Albert Palazzo, Army History Unit, ISBN 9780980320411,178 pp. (Copies are available to serving Army personnel—please apply directly to the Army History Unit)   China’s Rise and …

Introduction In the counterinsurgency environment Australian forces are most likely to face, one of the most important contributions to an effective civil affairs program will be military civic action. Although, in its broadest sense, military civic action is a responsibility of every soldier, it is the specialist who will provide the greatest return from a short-term investment. Civic Action and the Engineers More than any other corps the engineers can provide the most effective assistance in the material …

Abstract This paper addresses the three themes of tactics, training and technology on the Western Front during 1917 from the perspective of the 1st Australian Division. The introduction of the Lewis gun led to a process of innovation at the tactical level, producing changes in both tactics and training. Such changes were indicative of widespread adaptations that were occurring throughout the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in 1917. Introduction From the time of Napoleon the ‘division’ became a standard …

Abstract This article explores the ways in which the Australian Army’s 1st Reconstruction Task Force, deployed to Afghanistan in August 2006, implemented complex adaptive systems theory to develop an adaptive approach to their role as part of counterinsurgency operations. For highly complex missions, it is not realistic to expect to “get it right” from the outset. The initial conditions are much less important than the ability to improve performance over time. 1 Contemporary counterinsurgency operations in …