Bardia: Myth, reality and the heirs of ANZAC   Written by: Craig Stockings, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2009, ISBN: 1921410256, 496 Pages.   Abstract On 3 January 1941, Australian soldiers led an assault against the Italian colonial fortress town of Bardia. Two days later, after fifty-five hours of heavy fighting, the position fell to the Australians in a resounding victory. At a cost of 130 killed and 326 wounded, the Australians captured around 40,000 Italian prisoners and large quantities of arms and equipment. …

Calling Out the Troops: The Australian military and civil unrest: the legal and constitutional issues   Written by: Michael Head,  Federation Press, Sydney, 2009, ISBN: 9781862877092, 254pp     Abstract This review essay examines the arguments of a new book on the use of the ADF to deal with civil unrest within Australia. Several arguments are set out which point to a growing capacity and inclination on the part of governments to use the ADF for such purposes. Various factors that constrain such use are …

POWs of World War II in the Pacific     Written by: Gavan Daws, Scribe, Melbourne, 2008. ISBN: 978086519782, 462pp   Reviewed by: John McCarthy This book was first published in the United States to highly favourable reviews in 1994. Ten years later it was published in Australia. In 2008 it was reprinted. The New York Times Book Review considered it ‘may be the rawest, harshest book about the war’. The international edition of The Japan Times Weekly found it ‘sears the reader’s memory with unforgettable …

  Abstract Is Australia prepared to support the possibility of a negotiated solution to the current Afghan situation? A negotiated solution must be from a position of strength, and not as a last resort or from a position of fear. With the Soviet–Afghan war as a backdrop, the insurgencies in Oman and Aden provide the basis for debate on the merits of negotiation as a means to resolve insurgencies. Many of the Afghan population support dialogue with the Taliban. This underscores President Karzais desire to …

Abstract As the Australian Defence Force (ADF) embarks on an ambitious re-equipment program involving the procurement of multi-billion dollar platforms, enhancement of the logistics required to support this technology will also require careful consideration. Autonomic Logistics is a system that offers the ADF the opportunity to link the current Military Integrated Logistics Information System (MILIS) to real-time platform information through the employment of the Sense and Respond Logistics system. This is …

Abstract In 2002, John Nagl wrote an influential book titled Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife  that analysed counterinsurgency attempts in the Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War. With this book in mind, this article examines some of the counterinsurgency actions taken by US General David Petraeus during his tenure in Iraq in 2007 and 2008. It provides a comparison of the elements that Nagl details as necessary for an organisation to learn or adapt to new and challenging environments. Introduction Most …

Abstract It is recognised that the application of simulation is a key enabler in enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency in the conduct of training, and supports the adaptation required to maximise performance on operations. The development of the mission specific training program has witnessed the use of live, virtual/hybrid and constructive simulations within a single training activity. The aim of this article is to define the mission specific training concept and discuss its evolution and …

Abstract Although fraught with difficulty, predictions of the exercise of power, and therefore the basis of the nature and conduct of warfare in the twenty-first century, can be found in two general schools of thought: those who believe that there has been, in the wake of the end of the Cold War, a discontinuity and accompanying paradigm shift in the conduct of international relations; and those who believe claims of such a shift are overstated, and that a realist approach will remain the dominant paradigm …

Australia’s Involvement in Chemical Warfare 1914-1945   Written by: Geoff Plunkett,  Australian Military History Publications, Canberra, 2007, ISBN: 9781876439880, 734pp. Reviewed by: John Donovan Somewhere in these 734 pages there is an interesting book (about 300 pages long) struggling to be found. Unfortunately, it is so buried by repetition and lack of focus that only the most determined are likely to plough their way through to the end. The principal cause of the lack of focus seems to be that the …

Abstract Many who have studied the issue agree that warfare is becoming more and more complex. Yet, while the complexity of war is certainly increasing, our perception of the problem is also coloured by our increasing consciousness of war’s complexity. Coping with this situation has proven difficult, as the long—and still-continuing—learning process witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrates. The Australian Army has risen to this challenge with the release of Adaptive Campaigning and the launch of the …