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The Proud 6th: An illustrated history of the 6th Australian Division, 1939-45   Written by: Mark Johnston,  Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, 2008,  ISBN: 9780521514118, 269pp. Reviewed by: Phil Bradley There is a wonderful tradition in Australia to write battalion histories and, as a result, very few divisional or brigade level histories have been written. This can make it very difficult to follow the history of Australian divisions in the two World Wars, particularly in the Second World War, …

Killing Civilians: Method, Madness and Morality in War   Written by: Hugo Slim,  Columbia University Press, New York, 2008,  ISBN: 9780199326549, 319pp.   Reviewed by: Dr Narelle Biedermann Hugo Slim is a writer and scholar with a significant background in humanitarian operations. He could have easily chosen to take a preaching, moralistic stance in putting this book together. Instead, Killing Civilians  is a remarkable piece of literature that approaches a unique, yet vitally important element of warfare …

The Good Soldiers   Written by: David Finkel,  Scribe Publications, Melbourne, 2009, ISBN: 9780374165734, 287pp. Reviewed by: Major Andrew Shum David Finkel’s The Good Soldiers  is raw, confronting and more than a timely reminder of the lessons learnt, hardships faced and indelible physical and emotional scars that are left on those engaged in close counterinsurgency fighting in the modern era. As the current focus of the Coalition and its political masters remains firmly entrenched in the ongoing …

The Human Face of War   Written by: Jim Storr,  Continuum International Publishing, London, 2009, ISBN: 9781441187505, 256pp.   Reviewed by: Justin Kelly Many readers will be aware of Jim Storr through his contributions to various British journals over the last twenty years. A retired Infantry officer, he is a forensic thinker with a strong empiricist bent—one who works from the observed facts towards a theory rather than the other way round. In the latter stages of his military career he was deeply …

Light Horse: A History of Australia’s Mounted Arm   Written by: Jean Bou,  Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 2009, ISBN: 9780521197083, 360pp. Reviewed by: John Donovan Jean Bou has written a useful institutional history, which focuses on the roles, development and eventual decline of the Australian mounted arm from colonial times until the last horsed regiment was disbanded. Descriptions of battles are used to illustrate points in the discussion, not as the principal focus of the narrative. Dr Bou …

Captain Bullen’s War: The Vietnam War Diary of Captain John Bullen    Written by: Paul Ham (ed),  Harper Collins, Pymble, 2009. ISBN: 9780732288433, 474pp. Reviewed by: Bob Hall Captain John Bullen was posted to Vietnam as the OC of the 1st Topographical Survey Troop, part of the 1st Australian Task Force at Nui Dat. To brief his successor on developments, and to inform his family of his activities there, he kept a diary. The diaries were edited by Paul Ham into a lively account of Bullen’s Vietnam tour. …

The Strategy of Terrorism – How it Works and Why it Fails   Written by: Peter R Neumann and Michael LR Smith,  Routledge, London, 2008, ISBN: 9780415545266, 140pp. Reviewed by: Major Jason Harley This book is a valuable contribution to military studies. Terrorism is a most misunderstood term in both society and academia, and for military practitioners equally so. While the book explores the strategic aspects of terrorism in first principles, it is written in a simple clear manner. It unearths a number of …

‘Sorry, lads, but the order is to go’ – The August Offensive, Gallipoli: 1915   Written by: David W Cameron,  UNSW Press, Sydney, 2009, ISBN: 9781742230771, 370pp. Reviewed by: Rhys Crawley After the months of stalemate that followed the failed Gallipoli landings, the Allied high command began to look for new options. They decided to mount a breakout manoeuvre from the Anzac sector to seize the northern heights and eventually cross the peninsula. At the same time there was a new landing at Suvla Bay which …

Malaya   Written by: Brian Farrell and Garth Pratten,  Army History Unit, Canberra, 2009. ISBN: 9781921941689, 254pp   Reviewed by: Mark Johnston The Second AIF was a magnificent force, but it was on the receiving end of several heavy defeats. Inevitably, these defeats raise some questions about its performance. One of these controversial campaigns, Malaya, is the subject of the latest instalment of the ‘Australian Army Campaigns Series’. Brian Farrell and Garth Pratten have written a penetrating and …

Managing Civil-Military Cooperation   Written by: Sebastiaan J H Rietjens and Myriame T I B Bollen (eds),  Ashgate Publishing Limited, Surrey, 2008, ISBN: 9781315593470, 280pp   Reviewed: by Major Richard Peace Civil-military cooperation is now a feature of nearly all Australian current operational deployments. While seen by some as a black art, this book attempts to dispel some of the misconceptions that arise on what is civil- military cooperation. This book is a collection of essays based on the Dutch …