Page 60 - Australian Defence Mag March 2020

60 BOOKS OF INTEREST
MARCH 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
COMPILED BY PETER MASTERS | BRISBANE
WWW.MILITARYBOOKSAUSTRALIA.WORDPRESS.COM
THE LOST BOYS:
THE UNTOLD STORIES OF THE UNDER-AGE SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR
By Paul Byrnes
Published by Affirm Press RRP $45.00 in hardcover ISBN 9781925870503
Paul Byrnes first became interested in the fate of the thousands of boys across Australia and NZ who lied about their age, forged a
OPERATION SWALLOW
By Mark Felton Published by Icon;
Dist. by Allen & Unwin RRP $29.99 in paperback ISBN 9781785785993
Mark Felton is the author
of numerous military history books. With this latest book he has turned his sights on recounting the true story
of how a small group of American soldiers, inspired
parent’s signature and left
to fight on the other side
of the world when he was researching another project on the Western Front in 2017. He discovered the Australian War Memorial’s Roll of Honour of 170 under-age soldiers from WWI. It’s hard to imagine now the eagerness of many young boys to enlist and the indifference from military authorities to the under age boys they knew were in the ranks. It was
only later that public opinion turned against them as casualties began to mount. Byrnes has undertaken no small task in researching and writing this book and relating the stories of some of the doomed boys who never got the chance to grow old. It’s a deeply moving and poignant reminder of the sacrifice
of war and especially the sacrifice of youth.
by a charismatic but reluctant leader named Hans Kasten (an American born of
German parents), worked
to save hundreds of fellow servicemen from a Nazi plan to turn American Jewish prisoners of war into concentration camp slaves. This story begins in
the snowy forests of the Ardennes during Christmas 1944 and ends at the charnel house of Buchenwald concentration camp in spring 1945. It is a harrowing tale of brutality that ended, finally, with liberation by American forces. Hans Kasten was to pay a terrible price for defying his German captors. The beatings and ill-treatment led to lifelong health problems. What is remarkable too is that it is a story of American POWs that has been barely told, a largely unknown chapter in
US military history.
SURVIVING THE GREAT WAR
AUSTRALIAN PRISONERS OF WAR ON THE WESTERN FRONT 1916–18 By Aaron Pegram
Published by
Cambridge University Press RRP $59.95 in hardcover ISBN 9781108486194
In this latest book in the Army History Series, we go back
a hundred years to the story of around 3,800 men of the
AN INTERESTING POINT
A HISTORY OF MILITARY AVIATION AT POINT COOK (2ND ED)
By Steve Campbell-Wright Published by Big Sky Publishing RRP $29.99 in hard cover
ISBN: 9781922265722
Point Cook in Victoria was the location for a number of the country’s aviation ‘firsts’. By early 1914, Australia had taken the first steps towards forming
AIF who were taken prisoner by German forces on the Western Front. Captivity is a story at odds with the popular perception of the Anzac legend and the triumphant national memory that has evolved over the years. This book offers readers the first detailed analysis of this little- known story of Australians
in captivity in WWI. No two POW camps were the same. Much depended on the
attitude of the commandant
as regards the treatment the men received. And we see too the development of the role of the Red Cross in supporting POWs. There is a list included of Australians who died in German captivity, or as a direct result of it. Survivors did not always fare well. For many the trauma of their physical and mental sufferings was too great a burden in civilian life.
its own flying corps. It was
public unrest at the expense
of flying training that pushed back hangar construction at Point Cook until the advent of war and an ambitious plan to establish a flight of the Australian Flying Corps. Throughout this book there are fascinating photographs from Point Cook’s early days and the early days of aviation. After the Great War, Point Cook was to become the centre of Australian military aviation. Its role was also vital
for the emerging civil aviation industry. Fast forward to the 1990s and the bitter fight to save the base from closure. In fact, only recently has the name RAAF Base Point Cook been restored. And, finally, the promised redevelopment is under way
with the tender, late last year, for the construction work, no doubt bringing forth a collective sigh
of relief from those who fought against its closure. ■