Defence Planning and Uncertainty: Preparing for the Next Asia–Pacific War   Written by: Stephan Frühling,  Routledge, 2014  ISBN 9780415605731, 240pp,   Reviewed by: Lori Lucietto As the Indo–Pacific region continues to grow, both economically and militarily, a growing number of countries in the region and beyond are facing challenges in their strategic planning. Stephan Frühling asks, ‘How can countries determine what kind of military force is needed if threats are uncertain and history is full of …

The French Army and the First World War   Written by: Elizabeth Greenhalgh Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2014,  ISBN: 978-1107605688469pp Reviewed by: Brigadier Chris Roberts (retd) In a conflict in which the French bore the greatest burden on the Western Front, the English-speaking historiography of the Great War includes few books that describe the French contribution. Naturally, Australia’s focus on that conflict is predominantly Anglo-centric with a consequent na-tionalistic flavouring of …

The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East   Written by: Eugene Rogan,  Basic Books, New York, 2015,  ISBN: 9780465023073, 485pp Reviewed by: Dr William Westerman With much of the attention of the First World War focused on the Western Front (both when it was being waged and ever since), it is a welcome change to explore a different theatre of that immense conflict. To the Entente powers, the war in the Middle East served simply to divert both their attention and, importantly, their …

To Kokoda   Written by: Nicholas Anderson Australian Army Campaigns Series 14 Big Sky Publishing, 2014,  ISBN: 9781922132963 186pp, 186pp, Reviewed by: Wing Commander Mark Smith The Kokoda campaign ranks second to the Gallipoli campaign in the national psyche and also probably in the number of Australian military history books devoted to a single campaign. With the approach of the 75th anniversary of the Kokoda campaign in 2017, there are likely to be more dissertations published and the myth versus …

Australia and the Vietnam War   Written by: Peter Edwards New South Publishing, 2014, 338pp, ISBN: 9781742241678 Reviewed by: Wing Commander Mark Smith The year 2015 saw a number of commemorations of significant military events culminating in the April commemoration of the centenary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli. The year 2015 was also the 200th anniversary of Wellington’s victory at the Battle of Waterloo. Lesser known, and largely overlooked by most Australians, were the 50th anniversaries of the …

Carry Me Home: The Life and Death of Private Jake Kovco   Written by: Dan Box, Allen & Unwin, 2008, 288 pp Reviewed by: Wing Commander Terence O’Connor I approached the review of this book with a deep sense of foreboding having read Geoffrey Robertson QC’s reference to ‘institutionalised dickheadery’ in the publicity release. I had expectations of yet another ‘public flogging’ of the integrity and competency of the ADF. Having regard to what occurred during and after the repatriation of Private Jake Kovco, …

The Battle for Wau: New Guinea’s Frontline 1942–43   Written by: Phillip Bradley, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 2008, 285 pp Reviewed by: John Moremon In any war, and within any nation remembering war, there will be some actions over-commemorated and others under-acknowledged. In the latter group rests the Battle for Wau, in the mountainous hinterland of south-eastern Papua–New Guinea. The guerrilla campaign in 1942 might have gone unnoticed by the public but for cameraman Damien Parer venturing …

The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan after the Taliban   Written by: Sarah Chayes, St Lucia, University of Queensland Press, 2006, 386 pp. Reviewed by: Lieutenant Commander Glenn Kerr The Australian Government has been committed to military involvement in Afghanistan since the aftermath of the al-Qaeda attacks on the continental United States on 11 September 2001. Despite our strong military presence, Afghanistan is a country largely unknown to most Australians, peopled by Mujahideen freedom …

To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne, 1918   Written by: Edward G Lengel, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2008, 512 pp. Reviewed by: Dr Douglas V Johnson II Ed Lengel has gathered together a large collection of first person accounts of this campaign and has woven them together with just enough context to produce a ‘nice’ piece of fabric. I say ‘nice’ because this fabric is basically gray in background, but splotched from top to bottom with battlefield detitrus, and the offal of human remains. If the intent …

Duty First: A History of the Royal Australian Regiment (2nd edition)   Wriitten by: David Horner and Jean Bou (eds.),  Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2008, 526 pp. Reviewed by: Karl James In the days following the end of the Second World War three new Australian infantry battalions were raised. The 65th Battalion opened its headquarters at Balikpapan, on Borneo’s east coast, in the Netherlands East Indies, on 11 October 1945. Two weeks later, on 26 October, the 66th Battalion was formed on Labuan in northern …