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The Australian Soldier. Brown, Le Moal. The Australian Army: A Brief History . The Anzacs. Adam-Smith.
The Anzacs. Adam-Smith.
Our Price: $25.00
Almost a century has passed since the signing of the armistice on 11 November 1918. Of all the soldiers who went through that hell on earth, photographs, letters, stories and old uniforms kept in attics are all that is left. Thanks to a collection of more than ten thousand documents, the author allows us to follow these young men with previously unseen photographs. All these faces, sometimes smiling, sometimes serious, have a story to tell. Many collectors have also allowed us access to their most precious objects, the fruit of their relentless research that helps save these objects that went through four terrible years of oblivion and destruction. Finally, being in the era of Internet, many links allow you to retrace the history of your ancestors and their regiments. Following their baptism of fire at Gallipoli in 1915, the Australians arrived on the Western Front in spring 1916. A few months later came the Somme with 24,000 casualties and the tragic events of Fromelles. Then, these tough men, who had travelled so far, continued fighting in France in 1917 and 1918. Since then, the bond of friendship between France and Australia is still going strong. The Australian Army: A Brief History by The Australian Army
The Changi Brownlow is the moving and powerful story of Peter Chitty – a farm hand with unfathomable physical and mental fortitude from Snowy River country – who was one of seven in his family who volunteered to serve in World War II.
Set in the worst conditions imaginable – inside the infamous Changi prison in Singapore and on the Thai-Burma Railway – this is a story of courage and the invincibility of the human spirit. Chitty and a group of Aussie POWs created their own AFL competition in the prison, complete with a Brownlow Medal at the end of the season.
General Peter Cosgrove. Cosgrove. The Battle of Long Tan. The Company Commanders Story. Smith. My Vietnam War. Scarred Forever. Morgan.
If fame is thrust upon you, Peter Cosgrove writes, you either run from it or embrace it. "I am guilty of embracing it," he confesses in the prologue to his autobiography.
It's an admission that won't surprise anyone who closely followed his career after he was elevated from relative obscurity to head the East Timor intervention force in 1999. And he is candid enough to acknowledge the extraordinary role that luck played in his career. Until Timor came along, he was not even among those tipped to lead the army, let alone the entire defence force.
However he played the hand that fate dealt him superbly. He became, perhaps, the nation's first modern celebrity soldier, certainly its best known since World War II. No previous holder of the office of Chief of the Australian Defence Force cultivated a media profile quite the way he did and none is likely to any time soon.
It was a style that attracted its fair share of criticism, but for the Howard Government the popularity of the nation's top soldier was no small asset at a time of heightened military activity both in the region and further afield. It's clear from these pages that he and John Howard held a deep mutual regard.
Cosgrove explains that his step into the limelight came about partly through circumstance - the need to manage carefully the public face of the risky East Timor campaign.
On the afternoon of 18 August 1966, just five kilometres from the main Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat, a group of Viet Cong soldiers walked into the right flank of Delta Company, 6 RAR. Under a blanket of mist and heavy monsoon rain, amid the mud and shattered rubber trees, a dispersed Company of 108 men held its ground with courage and grim determination against a three-sided attack from a force of 2,500 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army troops. When the battle subsided, 18 Australian soldiers lay dead and 24 had been wounded.
Battlefield clearance revealed 245 enemy bodies with captured documents later confirming the count at over 500 enemy killed and 800 wounded. These men were led by a gruff and gusty perfectionist, Major Harry Smith. Now, some 53 years after the battle, Harry tells his story. The Battle of Long Tan is more than just an account of a historic battle. Harry Smith takes his readers on an extraordinary journey one that ultimately reveals a remarkable cover-up at the highest military and political echelons.
The Battle of Long Tan is also Harry’s life story and portrays his many personal battles, from failed marriages to commando-style killing; from a horrific parachute accident through to his modern-day struggles with bureaucracy for recognition for his soldiers. Harry’s battles are tempered by his love of sailing, where he has at last found some peace. The Battle of Long Tan portrays the wrenching, visceral experience of a man who has fought lifelong battles, in a story that he is only now able to tell. Harry can still hear the gunfire and smell the blood spilt at Long Tan. For him, the fight continues.
My Vietnam is Dave Morgans story. A typical 20 year old, he was forced into extraordinary circumstances in Vietnam. Far from his carefree youth, the Vietnam War would expose Dave to an atmosphere of ever-present danger and sheer terror that would impact him forever. His return to a divided Australia would isolate him further. During his service Dave wrote home to his mother from Vietnam tracking the days and the events.
In 1992, after his mother passed away, he found all of his letters with his own recollections and diary entries, and the short stories of seven other veterans, to capture the unbelievable danger and horror that these young men experienced in Vietnam. He also describes how Vietnam established life-long feelings of intense loyalty, trust and mateship between the men that served there. Daves story focuses on his time as a soldier and his return psychologically exhausted to a divided nation.
Australians on the Somme 1916: Pozieres. Keech The Man Inside. Apthorpe. The Music Maker. One POW Provided Hope For Thousands. Byrne.
The Man Inside. Apthorpe.
Our Price: $35.00
The village sits on top of the ridge that bears its name, a ridge that was an objective on the 1st July 1916. As it was, the whole position was not finally cleared until early September 1916 as German, Australian and British troops fought tenaciously over it.
This edition of Pozieres joins over 140 published titles in the acclaimed Battleground series. These well written and highly illustrated guide books not only bring the battlefields alive for visitors but inform and entertain readers at home.
 		The story of the COWRA Breakout.
Graham Apthorpe's account of the Cowra outbreak is superb. Narrated in a fresh way, in elegant and original prose, and with a wonderful gift for taking the unexpected angle, it does great service to this astonishing Australian-Japanese event, and will have a honoured place in the canon of fascinating works on the incident. Thomas Keneally

The War in the Pacific has turned; thousands of the previously invincible Japanese soldiers are now being captured in New Guinea and interned at the Cowra Prisoner of War Camp. Unlike other POWs, the traditional Japanese Bushido Code and their fanaticism leaves them ill-equipped for surrender and imprisonment. Ashamed, subdued and sullen, one man, Second Lieutenant Maseo Naka is an exception. Obstructing the Australian authorities at every turn, he was the first Japanese soldier to escape from Cowra. This action becomes the precursor for the more than 1000 Japanese prisoners who escape in the bloodiest Breakout of World War II that ultimately saw 234 Japanese and four Australian guards killed. His escape and the defiance, guilt, and shame that motivated it, led to his court-martial.
Naka nevertheless stands-out as very human, another tragic victim of the global inferno that was World War II. Adhering to the Samurai Code of Bushido, he doggedly undertakes actions that he views as necessary for the maintenance of his "honour". Through the insights of those around Naka, together with new research including the personal accounts of Australian interrogators, the author shows how this handsome loner provided the impetus for the dramatic events in the early hours of August 5, 1944 where hundreds of Japanese soldiers stormed the Camp defences for honour, or death!
On May 8 1945, forty-six-year-old Drum Major Jackson staggered towards his American liberators. Emaciated, dressed in rags, his decayed boots held together with string, he'd been force-marched for twenty days over the Austrian Alps after five heinous years as a POW in Nazi labour camps. He collapsed into his liberators' arms, clinging to his only meaningful possession-his war diary.
Having already experienced the horrific nature of battle in the First World War, Jackson had now survived another War-unlike hundreds of his mates, who'd succumbed to disease, insanity, or had been killed in action. Men far younger than he.
But he could never have imagined what awaited him on the home front.
A captivating testament to human endurance, Jackson's diary and photos, one of the last such memoirs to be published, is the inspiration for The Music Maker. An unforgettable and gripping true story about the life and times
Pure Massacre. Aussie Soldiers Reflect on the Rwandan Genocide. O'Halloran. Fatal Mission. Life and Death of Oscar Furniss and the Crew of the Naughty Nan. Elliott. Sword and Baton Vol 1: Federation - 1939 Senior Australian Army Officers from Federation to 2001. Chadwick
Rwanda is no stranger to violence. In 1994, an orgy of killing swept across the tiny land-locked nation and genocide, the size and magnitude unseen since the Hitler horrors of WWII, erupted. Around one million men, women and children were mercilessly shot, hacked to death or burnt alive.
To alleviate the suffering and restore order to shattered lives, a group of Australian UN peacekeepers, made up of soldiers and army medical personnel, was sent to Rwanda under a United Nations mandate. These Australians would be exposed to a lack of humanity they were not prepared for and found hard to fathom.
On 22nd April 1995, the daily horror and tragedy they had witnessed escalated out of control. At a displaced persons’ camp in Kibeho, in full view of the Australian soldiers, over 4,000 unarmed men, women and children died in a hail of bullets, grenades and machete blades at the hands of the Rwandan Patriotic Army. Constrained by the UN peacekeeping Rules of Engagement, these Australians could only watch helplessly and try to assist the wounded under the gaze of the trigger-happy killers.
Pure Massacre is a record of what happened during this peacekeeping mission. Kevin “Irish” O’Halloran, a Platoon Sergeant at the time, stresses the weaknesses of the UN charter and what happens when “good men do nothing”. He pulls together the perspectives of those Australian soldiers who served in Rwanda at this time. Pure Massacre gives a new and personal voice to the Kibeho Massacre.
Fatal Mission is the story of Australian navigator Oscar Furniss, just one of 55,000 young men who perished while flying for Bomber Command during World War II. Lovingly crafted by his nephew, Mal Elliott, this book brings to life a young man whose name was never spoken by his family and who was a stranger to his modern-day descendants.
Elliott follows Oscar from his carefree childhood in the Blue Mountains through his training over the vast emptiness of Canada to the mist-shrouded patchwork landscapes of Britain and on to the hostile skies of occupied France. He uses the accounts of the two surviving aircrew to piece together the events of the fateful night that saw most of the crew of Lancaster JA901, affectionally know as Naughty Nan, perish as pilot Colin Dickson heroically manoeuvred his burning aircraft away from the towns and villages that dotted the landscape.
This has been a difficult book for Elliott to write as it contains a harrowing description of his uncle's last moments. The terrible impact of the deaths of the aircrew are vividly described alongside the miraculous tales of the two survivors. But for the family of Oscar Furniss there would be no miracle, just the lingering weight of deep and lasting grief.
This is a story that moves beyond the technical descriptions of bombing missions to describe the human toll of conflict. It underlines the crucial importance of commemoration, of refusing to allow those who perished in war to be forgotten. Theirs was a sacrifice that we who live in freedom should never forget.
Sword and Baton is a collection of 86 biographies representing every Australian Army officer to reach the rank of major general from Federation to the outbreak of World War II.
This is the first of two volumes, and its scope is broad, including chaplains-general, surgeons-general and British Army officers who served with the AIF or the permanent forces.Author Justin Chadwick portrayal of these officers careers provides a lens through which he examines trends such as the development of military skills which ensured that, by the commencement of hostilities in 1914, Australia boasted a pool of well-trained, albeit inexperienced officers.
The effects of command under pressure of war and the enormous physical impact of combat are likewise portrayed in these comprehensive biographies. By the end of hostilities Australian officers had garnered immense experience and were among the best in the Allied forces. Ironically, this hard-won skill base was to be all but lost in the interwar period. Sword and Baton offers its readers more than a series of biographies. Rather, it describes a crucial period in Australian military history through the lives of the extraordinary men at its head.
AUSTRALIANS AT WAR. Barnaby Goshawk Squadron. Robinson The Changi Brownlow. Perry.
AUSTRALIANS AT WAR. Hearts Full of Courage. Frank Davison.
For Valour, James Preston. Sir John Monash. Mavis Thorpe Clark.
Stuart's Finest hour John Moyes. Killer Caldwell. James Preston.
Yarra in Battle. K. A. Preston The Hero of Milne Bay. Stanley Brogden
Operation Sea Rescue. & Battle Over Biscay. Ivan Southall.
Raiders in the Night. Ronald Mckie.
A collection of stories of both WW1 & WW2
Second hand good condition, a few grubby pages.
World War One pilots were the knights of the sky, and the press and public idolised them as gallant young heroes.
At just twenty-three, Major Stanley Woolley is the old man and commanding officer of Goshawk Squadron. He abhors any notion of chivalry in the clouds and is determined to obliterate the decent, gentlemanly outlook of his young, public school-educated pilots - for their own good.
But as the war goes on he is forced to throw greener and greener pilots into the meat grinder. Goshawk Squadron finds its gallows humour and black camaraderie no defence against a Spandau bullet to the back of the head.
The Changi Brownlow is the moving and powerful story of Peter Chitty – a farm hand with unfathomable physical and mental fortitude from Snowy River country – who was one of seven in his family who volunteered to serve in World War II.
Set in the worst conditions imaginable – inside the infamous Changi prison in Singapore and on the Thai-Burma Railway – this is a story of courage and the invincibility of the human spirit. Chitty and a group of Aussie POWs created their own AFL competition in the prison, complete with a Brownlow Medal at the end of the season.
The Empire has an Answer. Brady. Lessons Learned. The Australian Military and Tropical Medicine. Quail Pioneers of Australian Armour In the Great War. Finlayson, Cecil,
‘IF WE DO NOT WIN THE BATTLE OF TRAINING, WE SHALL WIN NO OTHER BATTLE IN THE AIR.’
The Empire Air Training Scheme was said to be ‘the successful accomplishment of a spacious task, imaginatively conceived and most faithfully carried out’, and yet, the significant achievements and success of the Empire Air Training Scheme has for the most part been overlooked in Australian history: until now!
Historically, prolonged campaigns have been frequently lost or won because of the greater fitness of one of the combatant armies. In the twentieth century, infection was still a major problem, leading to withdrawal from Gallipoli, and the near defeat of the Allies due to malaria early in the Second World War’s Pacific campaign. Malaria emerged again as a major problem in the Vietnam War.
The Australian Army Medical Corps, founded in 1901, learned from past medical experience. However, errors leading to significant morbidity did occur mainly in relation to malaria. These errors included lack of instruction of doctors sent to New Guinea with the Australian Force in the Great War, inadequate prophylactic measures against malaria in New Guinea early in World War Two, failure to perceive the threat of emerging resistant strains of malaria in the 1960s, and military commanders not fully implementing the recommendations of their medical advisers.
Many Australian campaigns have taken place in tropical locations; a substantial amount of scientific work to prevent and manage tropical diseases has therefore been conducted by the Army Medical Corps’ medical researchers—particularly in the Land Headquarters Medical Research Unit and the Army Malaria Institute. Their work extends well beyond the military, greatly improving health outcomes throughout the world. This book recognises the efforts of both individuals and the Army’s Tropical Disease Research units since Federation in helping the Army succeed in battle.
Pioneers of Australian Armour tells the story of the only Australian mechanised units of the Great War. The 1st Australian Armoured Car Section, later the 1st Australian Light Car Patrol, and the Special Tank Section were among the trailblazers of mechanisation and represented the cutting edge of technology on the Great War battlefield.
The 1st Armoured Car Section was raised in Melbourne in 1916, the brainchild of a group of enthusiasts who financed, designed and then built two armoured cars. Having persuaded the Australian Army of the vehicles’ utility in the desert campaign, the Armoured Car Section, later re-equipped with Model T Fords and retitled the 1st Australian Light Car Patrol, provided valuable service until well after the Armistice.
The First World War also saw the emergence of the tank which, despite unpromising beginnings, was to realise its potential in the crucial 1918 battles of Hamel and Amiens. A British Mark IV tank which toured Australia in 1918 demonstrated the power of this new weapon to an awestruck Australian public.
Much of the story of the armoured cars is told in the voices of the original members of the section and in newspaper articles of the time which highlight the novelty of these vehicles. Painstaking research has produced a remarkable collection of images to accompany the narrative, many never previously published. Biographies of the members of these extraordinary units are also a feature of this book, their stories told from the cradle to the grave. Appendixes provide a wealth of supporting biographical and technical information that enriches the text and adds factual detail.
Fallen Sentinel. Australian Tanks in World War II. Beale Catalogue of Collection of Firearms of the Museum of Applied Scienceof Victoria. Penrose One Shot Kills. History of Australian Sniping. Wahlert, Linwood.
Fallen Sentinel tells the story of Australian tanks in World War II, a dismal tale for both tankman and taxpayer. Against the backdrop of the sweeping conquest of Western Europe by Hitler's Panzers, the Australian Government, cash-strapped and resource poor, attempted to field its own tank force to do battle with the Axis forces. Three armoured divisions were created — and all three disbanded before they had seen action. In what became a prodigious waste of time, material, and human endeavour, sixty-six Australian cruiser tanks were produced — the Sentinel tank —none of which would ever take the field of battle. This is a book that portrays governments under pressure and the bureaucratic bungles that saw opportunities lost and precious resources squandered. Fallen Sentinel presents a careful dissection of government process in the crucible of war, a rare gem in an age when most wartime histories focus on the front-line soldier. Peter Beale presents a damning indictment of the frailty of government under pressure, a bureaucracy in crisis and the extraordinary failure of government process at the highest level. Modern-day governments would do well to heed the lessons of this book. First Edn 1949.
Cloth covered but very faded.
Water stain to front fly and following page.
Bumped on corners else Good Condition.
Mylar covered.

William Cole started acquiring antique firearms in the early 20th century. Cole made his earliest donations to the Museum in 1918 and donated the bulk of his collection to the Museum in September 1943. There are over 250 objects in the collection, which has a particular focus on English, Scottish and Irish gunmakers from the late 18th and 19th centuries.
A sniper is not just a good shot. While marksmanship is crucial, it is not this alone that defines the sniper. Snipers must also be superb bushmen, possess limitless patience, iron discipline, rat cunning, extraordinary stamina and attract more than their share of luck. The well-trained sniper will stalk his enemy or lie in wait for his target to appear. He will eliminate his target with just one shot and escape to repeat his mission time and again. The history of the Australian Army is replete with untold tales of brave men who built reputations as daring and skilful snipers. From the training grounds of the Boer War and First World War, Australian snipers honed their deadly skills and earned a fearsome reputation. In the Second World War they duelled with their German counterparts in the Western Desert and the hardy Japanese snipers of the Pacific War. The valuable lessons of two major wars had to be relearned for the Korean War where ‘naïve young men who knew nothing of combat sniping’ learned quickly or didn’t survive.
The snipers of today’s Australian Army have learned the lessons of history and are held in the same high regard by friend and foe as their Gallipoli forebears. Snipers have become an essential force multiplier and have deployed on every operation since Somalia. One Shot Kills is the story of the sniper’s journey from the South African veldt to the recent battlegrounds of Iraq and Afghanistan. It is also the story of the development of the modern sniper’s combat weapon system in which technology has been harnessed to produce extraordinary results on the battlefield. Australian Army snipers are justifiably regarded as among the best in the world.
A Life for Every Sleeper. A pictorial record of the Burma-Thailand Railway. Clarke. Phantom, Hornet and Skyhawk in Australian Service. Wilson. Aussie Muscle Car Legends.
V G Cond
This account of the construction of the Burma-Thailand (Siam) railway makes use of documents, first-hand reports and photographs, many of then never before published. 		Recounting the exploits and achievements of three of Australia's most important fighter/attack aircraft of the postwar era. The Phantom is an extraordinary aircraft which was developed for the US Navy as a shipboard fighter but was so good it was also purchased by the US Air Force in very large numbers. Vietnam was the Phantom's war, its versatility coming to the fore and its success complete. The Hornet was subsequently turned into a naval fighter with McDonnell Douglas taking over prime responsibility for the program. In the book, the background to the Hornet is examined, as is its evaluation and selection by the RAAF, the all important local industry involvement in the manufacturing program and of course its service. The simple, small and light Skyhawk enjoyed a production life of a quarter of a century and is still in front line service with several nations around the world. Aussie Muscle Car Legends celebrates the most iconic cars ever designed, built and sold in this country. Covering Ford, Holden and Chrysler, it showcases some of the most important cars ever made in Australia, through the eyes of UNIQUE CARS magazine.
Vietnam: Conflict and Controversy. Elliott. Vietnam: The Australian War. Ham The Significance of Ribbon Colours on Medals Worn Since 1815 by Australians. Grebert.
Secondhand G Cond,, Notes written in pencil on fly.
An account of the mistakes and misjudgements committed by the White House, the Pentagon and the field commanders during the Vietnam War. The conflict which scarred the US nation created enough controversy to keep military analysts occupied for years. This book examines the salutary lessons learned during the war, and questions whether they have been truly learned or even admitted. The author discusses the problems which beset American involvement in the war - Agent Orange, the M16 rifle, short-term tours of duty, morality disputes and low morale. The book shows all aspects of the war operations, dealing with hardware, strategy, logistics, morale, mobility and feedback, and revealing hitherto unpublished errors. This reasoned, uncomplicated study aims to enable students to grapple with the controversies of this dreadful war. 		Seen as the last 'hot' frontline of the Cold War, the ten-year struggle in the rice paddies and jungles of South Vietnam unleashed the most devastating firepower on the Vietnamese nation and visited terrible harm on civilians and soldiers. Yet the Australian forces applied tactics that were very different from those of the Americans. Guided by their commanders' experience of jungle combat, Australian troops operated with stealth, deception and restraint in pursuing a 'better war'. Drawing on hundreds of accounts by soldiers, politicians, aid workers, entertainers and the Vietnamese people, Paul Ham reconstructs for the first time the full history of our longest military campaign. From the commitment to engage, through the fight over conscription and the rise of the anti-war movement, to the tactics and horror of the battlefield, Ham exhumes the truth about this politicians' war - which sealed the fate of 50,000 Australian servicemen and women. More than 500 soldiers were killed and thousands wounded. Those who made it home returned to a hostile and ignorant country and a reception that scarred them forever. This is their story.
Many books have been written describing the various orders, decorations and medals worn by Australians.
However, this is the first publication which documents the significance of the colours chosen in the design of the ribbon supporting the medal. Originally the 'Naval Riband of England', a white ribbon with navy blue edges or the 'Military Riband of England', a crimson ribbon with dark blue edgeswas used on all campaign medals.
With the introduction of ribbon bars, multi coloured ribbons were introduced to differentiate one medal from another. With the assistance of this book, the reader will not only be able to identify medals worn by Australians, they will also develop a greater understanding of the significance of the colours of the supporting ribbons.
This book covers British Orders, Decorations and Medals awarded to Australians, the Australian Honours system, United Nations and NATO Medals awarded to Australians, Foreign Orders, Decorations and Medals awarded to Australians, Association and other Unofficial Medals worn by Australians, and the Order of Wearing Australian Honours and Awards.
A highly desirable reference book.
Raaf Black Cats. Cleworth, Linton. Australian Army - 1st Brigade. Arthur Wirraway, Boomerang and CA-15 in Australian Service. Wilson
Raaf Black Cats :
The Secret History of the Covert Catalina Mine-Laying Operations to Cripple Japan's War Machine 		The Australian 1st Division has three brigades, with the 1st Brigade acting as the army's major mechanised formation equipped with M113s, ASLAVs and the new M1A1 AIM Abrams main battle tanks. This publication grants an inside on the unusual motor pool of this unit and its regiments in hitherto unpublished photographs. Secondhand VG Cond
Includes unique tables that document each aircraft individually, its A serial registration, applicable serial number, version and batch number, date of delivery and eventual fate.