Page 52 - Australian Defence Magazine Nov 2018
P. 52

www.militarybooksaustralia.wordpress.com
COMPILED BY PETER MASTERS | BRISBANE
HELL AND HIGHWATER
CECIL HEALY, OLYMPIC CHAMPION WHOSE LIFE WAS CUT SHORT BY WAR By Rochelle Nicholls Published by Big Sky Publishing
RRP $34.99 in hardback ISBN 9781925675122
Cecil Healy is a name unknown to most Australians. Born in Sydney in 1881, he was introduced to swimming at school. He was soon breaking world records. Despite being world record holder for the 100 yards freestyle, lack of money prevented Healy from competing at the 1904 and
DUNERA LIVES
A VISUAL HISTORY
By Ken Inglis, Seumas Spark and Jay Winter with Carol Bunyan Published by Monash University Publishing RRP $39.95 in paperback ISBN 9781925495492
In July 1940, around 2,000 refugees, many of them German or Austrian Jews, were sent from Britain
to Australia on the HMT Dunera. The Dunera men were among those who had been detained in Britain following Churchill’s ‘collar the lot’ instruction to round
1908 Olympics. The 1912 Games in Stockholm finally gave him the opportunity
to display his talent but the competition unfolded in a way nobody could have anticipated. Beaten in the 100 metres by American Duke Kahanamoku, he extracted some sort of revenge when the Australians defeated the American team in the 4 x 200m relay final. But the story of Healy does not end there. He enlisted in the AIF in 1915, travelled to the Western Front in 1916. He was eventually promoted to second lieutenant and appointed a platoon commander in the 19th Battalion. However his story does not end well. On 29 August 1918, he led his platoon into battle at Sword Wood where he was cut
down attempting to capture a German machine gun post. This is the fascinating
but tragic tale of a lost sporting hero.
up all enemy aliens, a policy that he later regretted. The plans were to disperse these internees among Britain’s dominions. The story of the ‘Dunera boys’ - although the men were hardly boys - is an intrinsic part of the history
of Australia in WWII. The cruel treatment meted out
to them en route and the injustice these men suffered in internment camps at Hay, Tatura and Orange is well known. Less familiar is the tale of what happened to them afterwards. This book tells that story with the aid
of photographs, paintings, cartoons and ephemera.
The stories reveal tales of struggle and despair but also of lives well-lived as these men made their contribution to the post-war societies in which they finally settled. To me, this book was a real eye- opener. It is a timely reminder of what happens when xenophobia grips a nation.
ARNHEM:
THE BATTLE FOR
THE BRIDGES, 1944
By Antony Beevor Published by Viking/Penguin RRP $35.00 in paperback ISBN 9780241326763
This is a tale of ego and failure by the Allies and, in particular, British
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. After the successful Normandy landings, the German army was in full retreat. Montgomery and Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower had different ideas on how to proceed.
THE LOST BATTALIONS
By Tom Gilling
Published by Allen
and Unwin
RRP $32.99 in paperback ISBN 9781760632342
This book tells the story of two Australian battalions, the 2/3 Machine Gun and the 2/2 Pioneer who were diverted to Java in early 1942 on their way home from the Middle East. These men faced an impossible task - stopping the march of the Japanese forces across south-east Asia. Aided only by an inexperienced Dutch force and local Javanese natives
Against the advice of his own general George Patton, Eisenhower acceded to Montgomery’s plan to enter Germany via Holland by seizing the several bridges, and taking Berlin before Christmas 1944. Allied airborne troops were to be parachuted in to capture the bridges with armoured corps following for the push into Berlin.The plan was flawed and the Dutch commanders told them so. Because of shortening daylight hours, the airborne attack was spread over three days and the drop zones were some distance from the bridges. Additionally there was only one narrow road, dubbed ‘Hell’s Highway’, for the tanks to use. The Germans quickly organised attacks and blew up the key bridge crossings. Beevor expertly captures
the confusion and despair of the troops as the operation descended into chaos.
ill-equipped for modern warfare, the hopelessly outnumbered Australians fought courageously before being ordered to join the Dutch surrender. And so began more than three
years of hell as prisoners of war. Included among these prisoners was LTCOL ‘Weary’ Dunlop whose foresight in insisting on taking medical supplies with him to Java saved many Australian lives. The men of the 2/2 and 2/3 suffered dreadfully, forced to work on the infamous Burma railway before being shipped to Japan in 1944 to work in coal mines. Three hundred and seventy-two men from these two battalions died during captivity and many more suffered terribly after the war. The final word should go to ‘Weary’ Dunlop who said “... the lads from Java showed fortitude beyond anything I could have believed possible”.
52 | November 2018 | www.australiandefence.com.au
BOOKS OF INTEREST


































































































   50   51   52   53   54