Written by: Amanda Laugesen Ashgate, Farnham (United Kingdom), 2012, 310 pp, ISBN 9781409427322   Reviewed by: Dr Craig Wilcox, freelance historian, Sydney ‘I’ve been reading a little, the first book for many, many months, and I cannot settle to it,’ admitted Eric Evans of the Australian Imperial Force’s 13th Battalion in 1917. He confessed the reason to his diary: ‘my mind has been persistently on the topic of women, women, women’. What exactly was Evans trying to read when finding himself so sorely …

  Written by: Graham Wilson Big Sky Publishing, 2012, 448 pp, ISBN 9781921941566     Reviewed by: Justin Kelly, Department of Defence In Bully Beef and Balderdash Graham Wilson sets out to debunk some myths surrounding the First AIF—an objective that is comprehensively achieved. The myths that Wilson addresses are varied and range from those—like the one in which the diggers were born bushmen and natural soldiers—reflective of an emerging Australian nationalism, to the more mundane examination of the …

Abstract Field training time in the Australian Army is a precious commodity. It is also unlikely to increase in the near future. Fighting echelon units must examine ways of improving their training yield if they are to improve their combat effectiveness. This paper examines three ways that fighting echelon units can improve their training yield. First, by using regimental training to turn their junior leaders into better collective trainers. Second, by using early evaluation of whole-task training to …

Paratus Papers started in 1997, an initiative of the Commanding Officer of the 1st Armoured Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel (now Major General) Craig Orme. The Regiment has a long and proud history of excellence in officer training, and Paratus Papers sought to build on this tradition. Named after the unit’s motto, the Latin term for ‘prepared’, the Papers aim to inspire officers to ‘think up-front’, that is, ensure that the intellectual preparation for innovation and adaptation is done so that officers are …

Abstract This article examines the history of the formation of the Australian 1st Armoured Division for use in both the Middle East and the defence of the Australian mainland during the Second World War, from the intellectual and policy developments leading to approval by the War Cabinet to the equipment, manning and training issues experienced in trying to raise a formation in a short period. It also addresses the purpose of the formation given the circumstance of the time, and the creation and …

Abstract Between its inception in 1901 and the beginning of the First World War in 1914, the Australian Army (or the Commonwealth Military Forces as they were then known) underwent two periods of extensive reform aimed at creating a modern effective force out of what had been inherited from the colonial governments. In both instances the reforms were ambitious and bold, but they were also severely troubled by the limitations imposed by government, insufficient resources and a fundamental problem of …

Listed below is a select group of books recently or soon to be published that either contribute to the discussions initiated in the articles in the Australian Army Journal  or on subjects that may be of interest in the near future. Some of these books may be reviewed in forthcoming editions of the Journal. Danny Neave, ed., Soldiers’ Tales #2 , Big Sky Publishing, Newport, 2012, 177 pp, ISBN 9781921941795, AU$19.99. As the title of the book suggests this is a collection of personal accounts told by …

WO1 WALLY THOMPSON, OAM (1932–2012) Wallace Talbot Claxton Thompson was born in Sydney on 9 November 1932, to Albert and Alice Thompson. In 1950, aged 17, he was conscripted under the National Service Scheme into the Citizen Military Forces after having completed his schooling at Ashfield Technical School. In 1954 he relinquished the rank of Sergeant and enlisted in the Australian Regular Army where he was posted to the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (RAR), serving with the battalion on …

Eitan Shamir, Transforming Command: The Pursuit of Mission Command in the U.S., British, and Israeli Armies ,  Stanford University Press, Stanford, 2011, 288 pp, ISBN 9780804772037, RRP US$24.95. Colonel Wesley L Fox, USMC (Ret), Six Essential Elements of Leadership: Marine Corps Wisdom from a Medal of Honor Recipient  (Leatherneck Original), Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 2011, 192 pp, ISBN 9781612510248, RRP US$24.95. Reviewed by: Brigadier Chris Field, Department of Defence At initial consideration, …

Abstract In a little known episode of history, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) seized Christmas Island unopposed on 31 March 1942. Pre-landing air and naval bombardments led the tiny garrison to surrender, but also damaged key facilities, frustrating Japanese efforts to quickly remove the valuable phosphate ore. When Japanese engineers determined the island was not suitable for the construction of an airfield, the occupying force was left solely reliant upon sea lanes of communication, vulnerable to …