Page 59 - Australian Defence Magazine July-August 2022

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BOOKS OF INTEREST 59
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HAVOC-06
A COMBAT CONTROLLER
ON OPERATIONS
By Troy Knight with Brooke Strahan Published by Big Sky Publishing RRP $32.99 in paperback
ISBN 9781922615657
Brooke Strahan, co-author, reveals in the very first pages that Troy Knight has not escaped the legacy of war trauma. No longer serving, he nevertheless ‘goes to war every day, battling the demons that try to break him...’. Havoc-06 is the story of this former Australian Combat Controller. It is also his
THE MALAYAN EMERGENCY
REVOLUTION AND COUNTERINSURGENCY AT THE END OF EMPIRE
By Karl Hack
Published by Cambridge University Press
RRP $ 50.95 in paperback
ISBN 9781139942515
The Malayan Emergency lasted from mid-June 1948 until 31
July 1960. At its peak in 1951-
2, 40,000 troops, over 70,000 police and more than 250,000 Home Guards confronted 7,000- 8,000 armed insurgents, led by the Malayan Communist Party
call sign. As a RAAF Airfield Defence Guard, Troy had not found the military adventure he sought; combat operations. His thirst for overseas deployment saw him privately contract his services internationally, but when he got whiff that the Australian Defence Force was raising a new defence capability, he wanted to be part of it. The new Defence capability, termed the ‘Special Tactics Project’, would see Troy undertake the gruelling Commando Selection course. The physical demands of the training leave some men with broken bodies and ruined careers. Troy, however, was
one of Australia’s first Combat Controllers attached to the Australian Army 2nd Commando Regiment. Havoc-06 is the untold story of the Australian Combat Controller, but it is also Troy’s personal story and one that will resonate with those who have served in recent conflicts.
(MCP). There are disturbing parallels with later conflicts. The claim that the killing of 24 Chinese villagers by Scots Guards at Batang Kali in December 1948 had been murder was met with counterclaims that patrols were unable to differentiate villagers from insurgents. This book is highly detailed, with the aim of bringing our understanding of the conflict up to date by interweaving government and insurgent accounts. Hack ponders the question of how the insurgency and counterinsurgency shaped decolonisation, which was happening rapidly throughout Asia. From an Australian perspective, there is, however, little mention of Australia’s support for the British which began in 1950 under the Menzies Government. Eventually, Malaya negotiated independence from its colonial master in 1957 and eventually defeated the communists, later forming the country we know today as Malaysia.
AUSTRALIA’S GREAT DEPRESSION
HOW A NATION SHATTERED BY THE GREAT WAR SURVIVED THE WORST ECONOMIC CRISIS IT HAS EVER FACED
By Joan Beaumont
Published by Allen & Unwin
RRP $49.99 in hardcover
ISBN 9781760293987
Pre-eminent historian Joan Beaumont has turned her attention to this important subject following her critically-acclaimed account of Australia’s experience of World War I, ‘Broken Nation’. She begins this book as the Great War ends, covering a
SPIES AND SPARROWS
ASIO AND THE COLD WAR By Phillip Deery
Published by
Melbourne University Press RRP $34.99 in paperback ISBN 9780522878301
Phillip Deery is an historian of the Cold War with a special interest in the impact of communism, anti-communism and espionage on the politics and culture of Australia. In this book, he describes the ‘sparrows’ of the title as
‘an indispensable means of acquiring information about
period of 18 years to the brink of World War II. The first challenge of the period was repatriating
the survivors of the Australian forces sent overseas. These men, while desperate for work, were often damaged, both physically and psychologically, leading to drunk and disorderly conduct that extended to civil unrest. There is, according to Beaumont, no single cause of the Great Depression but there was certainly contemporary disagreement about how to
deal with it. Over a third of the workforce was unemployed in 1932, making Australia one of
the hardest hit countries in the world. Governments resorted to austerity and deflation. Violent protests followed with paramilitary movements threatening the political order. Fortunately, Australia’s democratic institutions survived the ordeal. Australia’s people,
too, survived. Beaumont has received universal acclaim for this important study of a critical but often forgotten inter-war period.
communists and left-wing organisations and activists’. Sparrows, directed by the newly-established ASIO,
went undercover in suspect organisations. Their activities were shrouded in secrecy, their anonymity protected, except for several cases that Deery writes about. One fascinating story is that of housewife Anne Neill. She infiltrated the Communist Party of Australia, Adelaide branch, as an unpaid typist. In later life, having exposed herself as working for the security agencies, she drifted further and further to the right on the political spectrum. Hers and other hidden histories reveal the personal damage inflicted by ASIO on both lawful protesters and, in some cases, its own agents. Deery shines a powerful new light on the history of
ASIO and raises important and enduring questions about the nature and impact of a state’s surveillance of its citizens.