Tiger Tears

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Armstrong, Ron

Fantasy

Echo Books

Red Zone Baghdad is an honest and personal account of Marcus Fielding's experiences as an embedded operations action officer in the senior coalition headquarters in Baghdad in 2008 and 2009 - a period of significant transition in Iraq.An experienced Australian Army officer, Marcus paints a vivid picture of the conditions for troops and provides fascinating insights into the complexity of rebuilding a nation against a backdrop of sectarian violence. Red Zone Baghdad provides a rare glimpse into the Iraq war - one of the most controversial conflicts of our time.

Red Zone Baghdad: My War in Iraq

Biographies & Memoirs

Marcus Fielding

Historical

212 Soldiers for the Queen: Fijians in the British Army 1961-1997

Tough, David

History

Ready to Strike: The Spitfires and Australians of 453 (RAAF) Squadron over Normandy

Ready to Strike is the story of the only Royal Australian Air Force squadron to operate from airfields built immediately behind the front lines of the Normandy battlefield after the landings in France of June 1944.453 (RAAF) Squadron was a 'for war only' formation. Ready to Strike covers the period from the Squadron's formation in May 1941 to the end of the Normandy campaign in August 1944.This group of men were bonded by war and their love of flying. There are moments of excitement, pain, suffering, fear, boredom and laughter.The experiences and operations of the squadron are presented in detail, using many quotes from the pilots and data from their logbooks. The book is fully referenced with chapter end notes and a bibliography.The Australians were in Normandy too - this is their story.

Lunney, Adam

Leaders & Notable People

In early 1919 the call went out across the 160,000 strong Australian Imperial Force (AIF) based in Europe - 'the war is over and it's time to get back into rugby'. The word went down the chain of command of five battle hardened divisions - 'We need your best. There's a different kind of battle to be fought before we go home.' Across France, Belgium and the United Kingdom rugby teams played for the honour to represent their units, then their brigades, then their divisions and finally to represent the AIF.This is the story of how the 1919 AIF Rugby Union Squad was formed, and how and where they played in France, the United Kingdom and in Australia. The teams were the first truly representative teams from across the Australian Army of the day.The 1919 AIF Rugby Union Squad played twenty-eight matches across the United Kingdom before returning to Australia and playing an additional eight matches. Across these games the squad members established a reputation for hard but disciplined rugby. They played not only for their country but for the many mates they had lost during the war. Any sense of survivor's guilt was expressed in playing rugby as hard and fast as you possibly could.The Australian Army Rugby Union (AARU) traces its origins to the 1919 AIF Rugby Union Squad. The AARU not only embodies the spirit of the 1919 AIF Teams, it continues to build on their tradition of wartime resilience, tenacity and team work.

Comrades in Arms and Rugby: The remarkable achievements of the 1919 Australian Imperial Force Rugby Union Squad

Fielding, Marcus

Military

In 1961 the British army struggled with volunteer recruitment after the abolition of National Service. Recruiting teams were sent to three remaining colonies and found an excellent source of volunteers in Fiji. Two hundred men and twelve women from across Fiji’s racial divide enlisted and subsequently served with distinction throughout 'the fringes of empire', bolstering NATO, in Northern Ireland and the Falklands conflict.About a third of the men served for 22 years or more, marrying British and other nationals and many chose not to return to Fiji. Some of those who returned played significant roles in the 1987 election with a few supporting subsequent military interventions. The author interviewed the surviving ‘212’ wherever they settled. Brigadier Ian Thorpe, the last New Zealander to command the Royal Fiji Military Forces, first served with Fijians in the Malayan Emergency and later established an officer training school for the RFMF, provided the foreword.

Safety Patrol (Childhood Champions)

Children's Books

Green, George

Literature & Fiction

In early September 1943, Italy capitulated to the Allies. Australian prisoners of war, POWs, seized this watershed moment and snatched supplies before walking out of Italy’s rice farms scattered on the Piedmont plain west of Milan. 
Escapes were mostly easy but freedom was vexed. The ultimate challenge for escaped POWs was to navigate and to outlive the volatile context of post-armistice Italy beyond their prison camps. Wearing uniforms or a motley clash of civilian cast-off clothing, escapers had a price on their heads as they headed north towards alpine passes and neutral Swiss territory, or as they wandered in search of advancing Allied Lines in south Italy. During their treks through mountains, valleys and ‘freedom trails’, Australians teamed up with New Zealand, British and South African POWs to dodge German and fascist militia and to take up arms with fledgling Resistance brigades. Not all escaped POWs survived. 
At its heart, Shooting Through highlights a unique shared history between Australian escapers and the Italians who risked severe retributions to host and guide the POWs. 
Drawing extensively on first-hand accounts sourced from Australian and British archives, as well as memoirs and oral accounts by ex-POWs and Italian witnesses, Katrina Kittel weaves the stories of thirty escaper groups through time and theme to reveal key evasion routes and the various outcomes that befell escaped POWs in Italy. The veterans’ accounts burst with humour and compassion as they offer their insights into Italy’s war. From her perspective as a graduate historian and as a daughter to a former POW, Katrina Kittel has uncovered a richer story behind the few enigmatic details that her father, Colin Booth, and many of his fellow POWs chose to share with their families. 
Shooting Through includes a nominal roll of Australian POWs interned at the Campo 106 rice farms. 
Shooting Through includes a foreword by Professor Peter Monteath.

Shooting Through: Campo 106 escaped POWs after the Italian Armistice

Kittel, Katrina

After the success of Jeff Hatwell's previous military history book, No Ordinary Determination, he has completed another carefully-researched title, written in his characteristic clear and readable style.\nBrave Days: The Fourth Australian Division in the Great War is the first full history of the Fourth Division. The book presents a detailed narrative telling the Division's story from its formation after Gallipoli right through to a period rarely covered in Australian military history - the final weeks of the 1914-18 war and the first weeks of peace.\nThe book ties together the history of not only the Division's infantry, but also of the artillerymen, machine gunners, engineers, medical personnel and headquarters staff, showing how the various elements worked together through adversity to achieve the triumphs of 1918. Brave Days is both an essential reference and a compelling story of heroism and tragedy on the Western Front.

Brave Days: The Fourth Australian Division in the Great War

Hatwell, Jeff

Australia & Oceania

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