Page 58 - Australian Defence Magazine February 2022

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BOOKS OF INTEREST
FEBRUARY 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
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TUNNEL 29
THE TRUE STORY OF AN EXTRAORDINARY ESCAPE BENEATH THE BERLIN WALL
By Helena Merriman
Published by Hodder & Stoughton/ Dist. by Hachette
RRP $34.99 in paperback
ISBN 9781529333961
This is the story of events
of sixty plus years ago that Joachim Rudolph, a man now in his eighties, recounted to author Helena Merriman in surprisingly meticulous detail. It’s a story of how he escaped from East Berlin, trapped as
THE BATTLE FOR
SHAGGY RIDGE
THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF THE AUSTRALIAN CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE JAPANESE IN NEW GUINEA’S FINISTERRE MOUNTAINS IN 1943-44
By Phillip Bradley
Published by Allen & Unwin
RRP $32.99 in paperback
ISBN 9781760878672
Phillip Bradley (On Shaggy Ridge, 2007) returns to the mountains of New Guinea and Australia’s campaign against the Japanese in WWII with his latest book in which he tells
other East Germans were,
by the cunning overnight plan of Walter Ulbricht to close
the border between East and West Berlin in August 1961.
He describes the depressing bleakness of life for East Berliners as families were forced to surrender all contact with their loved ones in West Berlin. Just a matter of months after the border closed, Joachim, together with his good friend Manfred, escaped to the west. Joachim then decided to risk his freedom to help others escape the brutal regime, via a tunnel. A total
of 29 people were helped to freedom in the west through his efforts and those of his friends. The NBC film that followed the successful escape brought the desperate plight of the divided city to the world’s attention. A compelling insight into German history.
the story of the extraordinary struggle for the control of
the Ramu Valley. From the killing ground of Kaiapit to the treacherous heights of the Finisterre Range, for
four months in 1943-44 the Australian army fought to
drive the Japanese from their mountain strongholds. The most formidable position was the fortress-like Shaggy Ridge, its steep sides rising sharply to a knife-edge crest. One Australian soldier described the last final push to the top
of the ridge thus: ‘You haven’t seen a Jap yet, and you haven’t fired a shot. There is only the momentary expectation of another grenade or another burst stitching you into oblivion.’ What is remarkable
is how completely Bradley manages to reconstruct the detail of the day-to-day fighting. It was an extraordinary struggle that eventually led to the defeat of the Japanese.
THE EMPEROR’S GRACE
UNTOLD STORIES OF THE AUSTRALIANS ENSLAVED IN JAPAN DURING WORLD WAR II
By Mark Baker
Published by Monash University Publishing
RRP $34.95 in paperback
ISBN 9781922464033
Of the 22,000 Australian military personnel captured
by the Japanese during World War II, more than a third
would die from malnutrition, disease and violent abuse. The horrors of the Thai–Burma Railway and Sandakan are
AUSTRALIA’S FIRST CAMPAIGN
THE CAPTURE OF GERMAN NEW GUINEA, 1914
No. 29 in the Australian Army Campaign Series
By Robert Stevenson
Published by Big Sky Publishing RRP $19.99 in paperback
ISBN 9781922387721
This book begins with a history lesson to establish the context
of German colonial interests in the Pacific. As German interests grew, so did their naval presence, leading to the establishment of the powerful East Asiatic Squadron
well documented. Less well known is the fate of the 3,800 Australians sent to work as slave labourers in the factories and mines of mainland Japan. With access to extensive material left by former POW, the late Doug Lush, and the diaries of others who survived such as Ken Trumble, author Mark Baker has written an honest account of the hardship the men endured and of the mateship that helped them survive, all set against the backdrop of the unspeakable brutality of their Japanese captors. As Baker writes,
the experience of war would remain a powerful undercurrent throughout their lives. Doug Lush’s POW experience was ever present throughout his long life - he died at age 97
in 2015 – and left him forever asking the unanswerable question: ‘How could they [the Japanese military] have done what they did?’
by 1914 at Qingdao. This gave Germany the ability to wage war on Britain’s maritime commerce in the region, their plans aided
by their network of wireless stations across the Pacific. As Britain declared war on Germany, Australia and New Zealand were called upon to seize German wireless stations in the Pacific
to protect British interests. The Australian campaign to seize German New Guinea in 1914 is most certainly one of the forgotten episodes of the First World War. Preceding the Gallipoli landings
by seven months, this successful amphibious operation was the very first of its kind undertaken by the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. The campaign was also everything the Gallipoli campaign was not: the New Guinea operations were planned and successfully executed by Australian officers. A well-researched and thorough account. ■