Those Ragged Bloody Heroes: From the Kokoda Trail to Gona Beach 1942

Literature & Fiction

Brune, Peter

Genre Fiction

ReadHowYouWant

The story of the five battles that changed Australia forever, this compelling narrative incorporates hundreds of interviews with the soldiers who fought at Kokoda, Milne Bay, Gona, Buna, and Sanananda in 1942 and 1943. Revealed are the very real and engaging experiences of Generals MacArthur and Blamey and other senior Australian commanders who sacrificed many of their senior field officers as scapegoats to protect their own positions, assisted in the making of false legends, and lied about the outcome of the men who fought the battles.

A Bastard of a Place: The Australians in Papua

History

Australia & Oceania

Allen& Unwin

The definitive story of the Australian campaign in Southeast Asia during World War II from a leading military writer Impressive, compelling, and rich in human spirit,this is a scrupulously researched and groundbreaking account of one of the most traumatic calamities in Australian history—the Malayan Campaign, the fall of Singapore, and the subsequent horrors of the Thai-Burma Railway. Unpicking the myths and legends of the war, Peter Brune goes to the heart of the Australian experience. He describes the shambolic planning by the British in Singapore and the failures and incompetence of some of the Australian command. He debunks the claims about Australian deserters in Singapore, and we learn of the black market in Changi and the beatings, torture, and murder on the Thai-Burma Railway. Here too are stories of the war's many heroes and villains: of officers who looked after their men and optimized their chances of survival, and others who looked after themselves at their men's expense; the heroes of battle who became ineffectual and lost in the camps and on the Railway; and the least liked and least respected battlefield officers who came to be great leaders. And then there are countless acts of kindness and decency performed by one POW for another in the most cruel of circumstances.

Descent into Hell: The Fall of Singapore - Pudu and Changi - the Thai-Burma Railway

Bringing one of Australia's most gripping war campaigns to life, this photography collection highlights the work of two great World War II photographers and presents an historical analysis of each shot, the photographers' reactions to their subjects, and look at the very nature of the fighting in what was one of the Australian army's greatest tests.

200 Shots: Damien Parer and George Silk with the Australians at War in New Guinea

Arts & Photography

McDonald, Neil

Photography & Video

Chester Wilmot (1911–1954) was a renowned Australian war correspondent, broadcaster, journalist and writer. Covering the first triumphant North African battles of Bardia, Tobruk and Derna, the heartbreaking disaster of the Greek Campaign, the epic struggle along the famed Kokoda Track, the momentous amphibious invasion at Normandy and the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany, his voice stood above all others during BBC and ABC broadcasts throughout WWII. Following the war he continued reporting and broadcasting, and published The Struggle for Europe, his classic account of the Normandy invasion and its aftermath. He was tragically killed in the crash of the BOAC Comet over Greece in 1954, returning from Australia where he had been covering the Royal Tour. Valiant for Truth charts Wilmot’s exceptional life as he reported key events of the twentieth century. It contains the most complete account to date of the command crisis in New Guinea in 1942 and his extraordinary feud with Australian Commander-in-Chief General Sir Thomas Blamey.

Valiant for Truth: The Life of Chester Wilmot, War Correspondent

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

NewSouth

Military

Allen & Unwin Australia Pty. Ltd.

The definitive account of the Australians on the Kokoda Trail - a story told through the eyes of the Australians who fought there, many of whom have now passed away.

Gona's Gone Hc

The spell broken: Exploding the myth of Japanese invincibility

The spell broken: Exploding the myth of Japanese invincibility

Engineering & Transportation

Engineering

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Books by Brune, Peter