Download or read book Australian Battalion Commanders in the Second World War written by Garth Pratten and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-04-27 with total page 723 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Australian Battalion Commanders in the Second World War, Garth Pratten explores, for the first time, the background, role and conduct of the commanding officers of Australian infantry battalions in World War II. Despite their vital role as the lynchpins of the battlefield, uniting the senior officers with the soldiers who fought, the battalion commanders have previously received scant attention in contemporary military history. This book redresses the balance, providing a gripping, meticulously researched and insightful account that charts the development of Australia's infantry commanding officers from part-time, ill-prepared, amateurs to seasoned veterans who, although still not professional soldiers, deserved the title of professional men of war. Drawing on extensive and original archival material, Pratten recreates battle scenes and brings to light many diverse personalities. It is a story of men confronting the timeless challenges of military leadership – mastering their own fear and discomfort - in order to motivate and inspire their troops to endure the maelstrom of war.
Download or read book Australian Battalion Commanders in the Second World War written by Senior Lecturer in War Studies Garth Pratten and published by . This book was released on 2014-05-14 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the background, role and conduct of the commanding officers of Australian infantry battalions in World War II.
Download or read book The Old Man written by Garth Pratten and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examining the background, training and conduct of Australian Second World War battalion commanders, this thesis rejects the notion of a single Australian command style. Rather, it shows command practice was a product of the interaction between terrain, tactics, technology and training, and that increasing professionalisation was central to battlefield success.
Download or read book Kokoda Commander written by Stuart Braga and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2004 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Kokoda Commander is the story of a remarkable man. Arthur 'Tubby' Allen commanded 1,000 men in battle at the age of 23 in the First World War. A generation later, he took the first Australian troops to the Second World War, and with them won two great battles in Libya in January 1941. In the next six months, he led his troops in battle against three different enemies in three different continents: Africa, Europe, and Asia. In New Guinea in October 1942, he led the successful fightback along the Kokoda Trail that led to the defeat of the Japanese." "Major-General Allen became a legendary figure to thousands of Australian troops. However, by the end of 1942, despite his victories, his army career was virtually over. Within another two years, he was out of the army." "Based on extensive research, and written in an engaging style, this book tells how an able leader was pushed aside and his good name systematically destroyed by jealous rivals."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Download or read book Soldiers and Gentlemen written by William Westerman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-14 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Soldiers and Gentlemen, Westerman explores the stories of the vitally important, yet often forgotten, Australian commanding officers.
Download or read book The Commanders written by D. M. Horner and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1984, this book tells the story of sixteen of Australia’s most eminent military men, as they performed under the stress of strategy-making and in the heat of battle. In scrutinising critical periods in the careers of such men as Brudenell White, Chauvel, Monash, Gordon Bennett, Blamey and Scherger, it addresses a number of fascinating questions: Is there an Australian style of command? How well have Australian officers been prepared for high command? How have Australian commanders handled the problems of coalition way or co-operation with allies? How have political direction, organisational structures and entrenched defence policy affected the performance of commanders in the field? Each re-evaluation compares performance with reputation. Some of the figures examined are familiar (What was the real basis of Monash’s reputation as a commander? Was Blamey worthy of the field-marshal’s baton?); some are given an appraisal long denied them. This roll-call of some of Australia’s greatest warriors presents a fascinating picture of the realities of war at the top. Each of the sixteen lives examined presents a revealing account of the conditions under which crucial military decisions are made and carried out – on the battlefield, at headquarters, in victory and defeat. The Commanders will appeal not only to students of military affairs but to everyone interested in Australian history and biography.
Download or read book Anzacs in the Middle East written by Mark Johnston and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides an exploration of the experiences of soldiers who fought in the Middle East during World War II.
Download or read book We Were There written by John Barrett and published by Penguin Group. This book was released on 1988 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aborigines and army service - Australian women's Army - Burma-Thailand railway - Prisoners of war (POW's).
Download or read book An Australian Band of Brothers written by Mark Johnston and published by NewSouth. This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This riveting book follows a small group of Australian front-line soldiers from their enlistment in the dark days of 1940 to the end of World War II. No ordinary soldiers, they were members of Don Company of the Second 43rd Battalion, part of the famous 9th Australian Division, which sustained more casualties and won more medals than any other Australian division. Inspired by American historian Stephen Ambrose's landmark book, Band of Brothers, about the US Army's Easy Company of the 506th Regiment, Mark Johnston, one of our best military historians, here gives an Australian company the same treatment. His book is a unique and powerful account of the everyday experiences of a small unit of Australian soldiers on the front line.
Download or read book Blamey written by David Horner and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 1998-10-01 with total page 601 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Blamey: The Commander-in-Chief is a new biography of Sir Thomas Blamey, the only Australian soldier to reach the rank of Field Marshal. Blamey was Australia's greatest and most important soldier, and a major figure in Australian history, despite his not being Australia's most accomplished battlefield commander, or a great innovator or reformer. He was not loved, admired or even respected by many of the soldiers he commanded and the politicians he worked for. In the First World War Blamey was chief of staff to Sir John Monash. But his fame is due to his military achievements in the Second World War. He was Australia's top soldier for almost all of the war, commanding the Australian Imperial Force in the Middle East, and all of the Australian Army after Japan entered the war. He served Prime Ministers Robert Menzies and John Curtin, was a senior subordinate to the British Field Marshals Wavell, Wilson and Auchinleck in the Middle East, and worked directly under General Douglas MacArthur in the Southwest Pacific Area. Blamey was a controversial figure. This study, based on extensive research, and drawing on the author's deep understanding of the Army and the Second World War, goes beyond the controversies to examine Blamey's achievements as a commander, policy-maker and administrator. It does not overlook Blamey's weaknesses, mistakes and human foibles, but seeks to balance these against an assessment of his performance when Australia faced its biggest challenge.
Download or read book Militia Battalion at War written by Russell L. Mathews and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Fighting the Enemy written by Mark Johnston and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2000-04-16 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fighting The Enemy, first published in 2000, is about men with the job of killing each other. Based on the wartime writings of hundreds of Australian front-line soldiers during World War II, this powerful and resonant book contains many moving descriptions of high emotion and drama. Soldiers' interactions with their enemies are central to war and their attitudes to their adversaries are crucial to the way wars are fought. Yet few books look in detail at how enemies interpret each other. This book is an unprecedented and thorough examination of the way Australian combat soldiers interacted with troops from the four powers engaged in World War II: Germany, Italy, Vichy France and Japan. Each opponent has themes peculiar to it: the Italians were much ridiculed; the Germans were the most respected of enemies; the Vichy French were regarded with ambivalence; while the Japanese were the subject of much hostility, intensified by the real threat of occupation.
Download or read book The Second Twenty fourth Australian Infantry Battalion of the 9th Australian Division written by 2/24th i.e. Second Twenty-fourth Australian Infantry Battalion Association and published by [Brisbane] Jacaranda Press [1963]. This book was released on 1963 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Fallen Sentinel written by Peter Beale and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-09-01 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Against the backdrop of the sweeping conquest of Western Europe by Hitler's mighty Panzer Divisions in WWII, Australia produced 66 cruiser tanks - the Sentinel tank - but none ever took the field of battle. The story of Australian tanks in WWII portrays governments under pressure and bureaucratic bungles that saw opportunities lost and precious resources squandered when the nation was under greatest threat. This careful dissection of government process in the crucible of war is a rare gem in an age when most wartime histories focus on the front-line soldier.
Download or read book Beyond Adversity written by William Park and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-07-15 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In November 1941, about 100 university students began their short-term compulsory military training with the 15th Infantry Battalion. Most were aged 19-22, had daytime jobs and were evening or external students from the arts, commerce and law faculties. They were ambitious, hard-working young men anxious to make their way in the world. Their compulsory military training was due to end on 4 February 1942 and the students would then be released to return to their jobs and continue their part-time studies. The outbreak of the Pacific War on 7 December changed everything. In April 1942, the 15th Battalion was given 24 hours' notice to move from Caloundra to Townsville. In January 1943 the Battalion went to New Guinea to take part in the Salamaua and Lae campaigns and did not return to Brisbane until July 1944. In November it was sent to fight in Bougainville. The Battalion finally returned home in January 1946 and most returned to resume their studies and jobs within the community. This book tells the story of those Queensland University students of `U' Company, 15th Battalion during its brief existence. It covers their wartime service in all its tragedy and triumph and how they resumed their lives, studies and careers once the war was over. Most regard themselves as being very fortunate - to have survived the war, to have learned to cope with adversity, to have learned the importance of getting on with life in spite of insurmountable obstacles and in having been able to make the most of opportunities that arose. They have been fortunate to find a life beyond adversity.
Download or read book The Australian Army in World War II written by Mark Johnston and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-08-20 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book recounts the organization and deployment of one of the most important fighting armies of World War II. Australian divisions made a large and distinctive contribution to victory both in the deserts of the Middle East and the jungles of the South-West Pacific,earning for the second time a unique reputation for aggressiveness, endurance and independence of spirit. The text is illustrated with original wartime photos from all fronts; and with full colour plates showing a wide range of uniforms and gear, together with the complex and colourful Australian system of unit insignia.
Download or read book The Australian Army in World War II written by Mark Johnston and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-08-20 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book recounts the organization and deployment of one of the most important fighting armies of World War II. Australian divisions made a large and distinctive contribution to victory both in the deserts of the Middle East and the jungles of the South-West Pacific,earning for the second time a unique reputation for aggressiveness, endurance and independence of spirit. The text is illustrated with original wartime photos from all fronts; and with full colour plates showing a wide range of uniforms and gear, together with the complex and colourful Australian system of unit insignia.
