THE scarcity of information concerning organization and work of the Russian Artillery during the recent War is to be regretted since much that occurred during this conflict must prove of high interest to all soldiers. The following attempt to reconstruct certain artillery aspects of that war out of scanty scraps of published information is offered for what it may be worth. For the previous two centuries the Artillery Service had been the pride of the Russian Army. Its complete failure in the war of 1914-17 …

IN the development of equipment the need for experimental testing and proving has long been realized by leading engineers. To support this contention one may quote the words of Frederick Henry Royce whose organization designed and produced the engines which powered the British fighting planes in the Battle of Britain. He wrote:— “Nothing is to proceed on the basis of theory or intuition alone, even one’s own sure judgment and vast fund of knowledge are no substitute for recorded results from the Test Bench …

ONE of Napoleon’s best known sayings is, “There are no poor regiments, there are only poor Colonels.” Now what is it that “good” Colonels do to produce their “good” regiments? Good Colonels insist that, in addition to having the necessary military knowledge, their men must be trained so that they can take in their stride such things as danger, hardship, and unforeseen eventualities. But to get his men up to this high state of morale a commander must produce a motive force to urge his men to give willingly …

This is No 6 in a series of articles on Military Geography carried forward from the Army Training Memorandum. Other articles in the series are—Sinkiang, ATM 50; Manchuria, ATM 51; Greece, ATM 52; Persia, ATM 53; Turkey, ATM 54. THE ex-Italian colonies are situated on the African sub-continent and consist of Libya, Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. Libya, which is divided into Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, is an area of 679,358 square miles centrally situated in North Africa on the Mediterranean Sea —flanked in …

Australia’s strategic environment is deteriorating. The scale, scope, concurrency and intensity of conceived future operational tasks will require some level of land force mobilisation. However, the allocation of resources to, across and between tasks will vary as the strategic context and direction changes. As recognised in the 2023 Defence Strategic Review   (DSR), this level of uncertainty combined with a reduction in strategic warning time [1] requires Defence to increase preparedness, thereby …

A 100-year-old bullet-riddled steel landing craft recovered from Gallipoli is one of the first items seen by visitors to the Australian War Memorial, furnishing silent testimony to the Australian Army’s lengthy amphibious tradition. This heritage includes several division- and corps-level amphibious and littoral operations across the South-West Pacific during the Second World War. However, despite some important capability acquisitions, the recent experience of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has led to …

Introduction The results of humanity’s addition of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere are now being felt. The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and other greenhouse gases has increased alarmingly since the Second World War, and as a consequence the earth is warming, and is doing so at an accelerating rate. Humanity’s modification of the atmosphere began in the 18 th century with the onset of industrialisation and the burning of fossil fuels. To date, international efforts …

The present expedition was formed in contemplation of a long term of service by land and sea alike, and was furnished with ships and soldiers so as to be ready for either as required. Thucydides, on the Sicilian expedition of 415 BCE [1] Introduction When the Allied forces landed on the island of Sicily in the early hours of 10 July 1943, it was the largest amphibious operation of the war to date. Operation Husky saw US, British and Canadian amphibious forces, preceded by airborne forces, land on the …

Tempo in Army’s Contribution to Australian Defence Strategy Introduction Over the last decade, time has become central to the concerns of the Western strategic community. Many policymakers worry that time is no longer on their side in the face of relative decline and the threat from powerful revisionist states. Others highlight the pace of technological and strategic change which, according to one former Chairman of the United States (US) Joint Chiefs of Staff, has ‘accelerated the speed of war, making …

Exploring the Value of Deployed Military Chaplains in Australia’s Region Introduction Following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on 15 August 2021, the Australian Government authorised a non-combatant evacuation operation to ensure Australians and other approved foreign nationals could safely leave Afghanistan. Between 18 and 26 August, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) flew 32 flights to and from Hamid Karzai International Airport, transporting a total of 4168 people. This included 2,984 Afghan visa …