To Salamaua ,  Written by: Phillip Bradley,  Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 2010,  ISBN 9780521763905, 390pp   Reviewed by: John Moremon, Centre for Defence and Security Studies, Massey University, NZ The late Cam Bennett, whose Rough Infantry is one of a few memoirs of the Salamaua campaign, commented that he ‘found it extremely hard to write about the war in New Guinea’. It was not just that the tropical, jungle-clad, mountainous island was so different from Libya, Greece and Syria. It was also …

    Written by: Peter Beale, Big Sky Publishing, Newport, 2011, ISBN 9781921941023, 320 pp,    Reviewed by: Colonel Jason Thomas, Australian Army A young United States Marine Corps lieutenant serving in Vietnam was sitting in a battalion harbour reading the Small Wars Manual , the bible of the Corps. The battalion commander walked by and noticing this, commented, ‘Shouldn’t you read about something you don’t know?’ Both these men, Al Gray and Charles Krulak would go on to be distinguished and innovative …

    Written by: Peter Willetts, Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon, 2011, ISBN 9780415381253, 224 pp,   Reviewed by: Sue Thompson, Asia-Pacific Civil Military Centre of Excellence Peter Willetts has written an informative textbook on the role non-governmental organisations (NGOs) play in the realm of global policy-making. He examines a variety of these organisations, their structures and activities and the history of their participation in the post-Second World War international system, claiming that they have …

    Written by: Alan H Smith,  Big Sky Publishing, Newport, 2011, 9780987057440, 448 pp,    Reviewed by: Major General Tim Ford (Retd) When launching the book Do Unto Others , Major General Paul Symon, Deputy Chief of Army and the senior Gunner serving in an Army appointment today, said that Alan Smith ‘not only discusses the history of Australian campaigns utilising the practice of counter battery fire—it also seeks to make the technical aspects of this complex science understandable’. Not an easy task, …

    Written by: Cameron Forbes, Pan Macmillan Australia, Sydney, 2011, ISBN 9781742610221, 544 pp,   Reviewed by: Allan R Millet, University of New Orleans, National World War II Museum Cameron Forbes’s The Korean War is an ‘in-between’ account of Australia’s experience in the Korean War. Holding the strategic-operational high ground, Robert O’Neill’s Australia in the Korean War, 1950–1953 in two volumes remains definitive and rivals General Sir Anthony Farrar-Hockley’s similar official history of British …

    Written bny: Toby Harnden, Pan Macmillan Australia, Sydney, 2011,  ISBN 9781849164214, 400 pp   Reviewed by: Brigadier Richard Iron, British Army This is a book to make the blood boil for any military professional. Toby Harnden has written a biography of a single battalion’s tour in Helmand and presents first hand evidence, more convincingly than any government spokesman, of the reality of what happens when a nation bites off more than it can chew. It is the story of good men doing their best in …

  Written by: John Connor, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, 2011,  ISBN 9781107009509, 248 pp,    Reviewed by: Michael Easson, PhD Candidate, UNSW@ADFA He finally got a real biography. His autobiography, Carpenter to Cabinet , was a tired, plodding yawn. Senator Sir George Foster Pearce (1870–1952) —carpenter, union leader, founder of the Labor Party in Western Australia, ‘Labor rat’ during the conscription split of 1917, conservative Minister and statesman, defence advocate, Minister and …

    Written by: Stephen J Lofgren (ed) US Army Center of Military History, Washington DC, 2011,  GPO S/N: 008029005450, 340pp   Review by: Colonel (Retd) Mike Lovell, AM, psc (US) All of us have certain events and recollections that are ingrained into our memories. We can replay them as if they happened just yesterday. Many are memories of globally significant events, some of which we observed in real-time while others were so profound that we can remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when …

  Written by: David Connery, David Cran and David Evered Big Sky Publishing, Newport, 2012, I SBN 9781921941771, 159pp, $19.99   Reviewed by: Lieutenant Colonel Chris Smith, Australian Army Conducting Counterinsurgency: Reconstruction Task Force 4 in Afghanistan is the second book in the Australian Military History Series. The Army History Unit sponsors the series, which is written for ‘members of the Australian Army with a focus on issues and deployments that the Australian Army has participated in’. The …

  Written by: Dennis J Blasko,  London and New, Routledge, 2012,  ISBN 9780415783224, 312pp,   Reviewed by: Dr Jingdong Yuan, Acting Director and Associate Professor, Centre for International Security Studies, University of Sydney Most recent studies of China’s military focus on the modernisation programs of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Navy, Air Force and the Secondary Artillery Corp. The Chinese Army Today , now in its second and updated edition, is perhaps the most comprehensive single-volume …