9 Bean, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, pp. 514–515.
10 J. Keegan, The Face of Battle, Jonathan Cape, London, 1976, pp. 48–49, 51.
11 Bean, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, p. 772.
12 Bean, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, p. 772, n. 115.
13 W.D. Joynt, Breaking the Road for the Rest, Hyland House, Melbourne, 1979, p. 129.
14 Keegan, The Face of Battle, p. 51.
15 Bean, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, vol. 3, p. 772, n. 115.
16 International Law Concerning the Conduct of Hostilities: Collection of Hague Conventions and Some Other Treaties, International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva, 1989, pp. 24–25.
17 R.S. Corfield, Don’t Forget Me, Cobber: The Battle of Fromelles 19/20 July 1916: An Enquiry, Corfield and Company, Rosanna (Vic.), 2000, p. 455. Relevant portions of the manual are reproduced on pp. 453–63.
18 Corfield, Don’t Forget Me, Cobber, p. 455.
19 J. Bourke, An Intimate History of Killing: Face-to-Face Killing in Twentieth Century Warfare, Granta Books, London, 1999, p. 177.
20 For example, the circular ‘Prisoners of War’, Xth Corps No. I.G. 33/36, dated 20 March 1915, Australian War Memorial (AWM) Series 27, Item 424/5.
21 Circular, ‘The Soldiers’ Don’ts of International Law’, AWM 27, 424/7.
22 E. Gorman, With the Twenty-Second: A History of the 22nd Battalion, AIF, H.H. Champion, Australasian Authors’ Agency, Melbourne, 1919, pp. 9–10.
23 Letter (unsigned), AWM 27, 424/12.
24 Letter (unsigned) to Australian administrative HQ, London, AWM 27, 424/12.
25 R. McMullin, Pompey Elliott, Scribe, Melbourne, 2002, p. 647.
26 Gellibrand to Bean, (undated), AWM 3DRL 6673, 419/8/1.
27 Bean to Gellibrand, 18 March 1918, AWM 3DRL 6673, 419/8/1.
28 Diary of Private T.J. Cleary, 24/1/18, cited in B. Gammage, The Broken Years: Australian Soldiers in the Great War, Penguin, Melbourne, 1975, p. 258–59.
29 See for example incidents cited by repatriated Australian POWs: statements by Private K.S. Ross, 28 February 1919, AWM 30, B.5.44; Private A.D. Stone, 23 January 1919, AWM 30, B.16.11; Corporal A. McKee, 17 December 1918, AWM 30, B.14.5.
30 Bean, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, vol. 3, pp. 248–49, and n. 10.
31 E. Wren, Randwick to Hargicourt: History of the 3rd Battalion, Ronald G. McDonald, Sydney, 1935, pp. 196–97.
32 Wren, Randwick to Hargicourt, p. 199.
33 Diary of Sergeant A.E. Matthews, 3rd Battalion, AWM 2DRL 219, p. 7.
34 Wren, Randwick to Hargicourt, p. 200.
35 J. Dower, War without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War, Faber & Faber, London, 1986, p. 71.
36 P. Ham, Kokoda, HarperCollins, Sydney, 2010, p. 564
37 Dower, War without Mercy, pp. 70–71. I have heard of similar incidents related by Vietnam veterans of Viet Cong being thrown from helicopters all off the record and, as such, inadmissible as evidence..
38 Ham, Kokoda, p. 529
39 S.E. Benson, The Story of the 42nd Australian Infantry Battalion, Dymocks, Sydney, 1952, p. 160.
40 Benson, The Story of the 42nd Australian Infantry Battalion, p. 160.
41 Benson, The Story of the 42nd Australian Infantry Battalion, p. 96.
42 See discussion in M. Johnston, Fighting the Enemy: Australian Soldiers and their Adversaries in World War II, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 2000, pp. 9–57.
43 M. Barter, Far above Battle:The Experience and Memory of Australian Soldiers in War 1939–1945, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1994, pp. 68–69.
44 Johnston, Fighting the Enemy, p. 40.
45 Johnston, Fighting the Enemy, p. 39
46 F.M. Cutlack, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918: The Australian Flying Corps, vol. 8, University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia, 1984 [1923], pp. 159, 161; see also H.S. Gullett, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918: Sinai & Palestine, vol. 7, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1939, p. 710.
47 Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps, pp. 159 & 161.
48 D. Gillison, Australia in the War of 1939–1945: Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942, Australian War Memorial, 1962, pp. 694–95.
49 ‘Bismarck convoy smashed!’, AWM (film archive), FO1442.
50 R. Trembath, A Different Sort of War: Australians in Korea 1950–1953, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2005, p. 134.
51 Trembath, A Different Sort of War, p. 129
52 P. Ham, Vietnam: The Australian War: The Illustrated Edition, HarperCollins, Sydney, 2010, p. 564.
53 M. Caulfield, The Vietnam Years: From the Jungle to the Australian Suburbs, Hachette Australia, Sydney, 2007, pp. 203–204.
54 Caulfield, The Vietnam Years, p. 204
55 T. Burstall, The Soldiers’ Story: The Battle of Xa Long Tan, Vietnam, 18 August 1966, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 1990, p. 134.
56 Cited in B. Buick & G. McKay, All Guts and No Glory, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2000, p. 217.
57 Buick, All Guts and No Glory, p. 217.
58 Caulfield, The Vietnam Years, p. 205.
7 The unnecessary waste: Australians in the late Pacific campaigns
Karl James
1 Broadcast by the Prime Minister (Mr. Curtin), 26 January 1943, Australian War Memorial (AWM), 3DRL 6643, 2/11 (3 of 3).
2 Commonwealth of Australia Parliamentary Debates, Senate, vol. 181, pp. 129–30.
3 Maj. Gen. H.H. Hammer, hand-written notes on Bougainville, AWM 93, 50/2/23/440, p. 5.
4 S.E. Benson, The Story of the 42 Aust Inf Bn, 42nd Australian Infantry Battalion Association, Sydney, 1952, pp. 157–58.
5 P. Charlton, The Unnecessary War: Island Campaigns of the South-West Pacific 1944–1945, Macmillan, Melbourne, 1983; M. Hastings, Nemesis: The Battle for Japan 1944–1945, HarperPress, London, 2007, pp. 363–72.
6 C. Lloyd & R. Hall (eds), Backroom Briefings: John Curtin’s War, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 1997, p. 69.
7 D. Day, John Curtin: A Life, HarperCollins, Sydney, 2000, p. 463.
8 See P. Edwards, ‘Curtin, MacArthur and the “surrender of sovereignty”: A historiographical assessment’, Australian Journal Of International Affairs, 55(2), 1 July, 2001, pp. 175–86.
9 Extract in War Cabinet Agendum, 12 January 1944, AWM 3DRL 6643, 2/17.
10 Australian Military Forces policy directive, Summer 1943–1944, 23 December 1943, AWM 3DRL 6643, 2/17.
11 D. Horner, High Command: Australia and Allied Strategy 1939–1945, George Allen & Unwin/Australian War Memorial, Sydney and Canberra, 1982, p. 302.
12 Sydney Morning Herald, 6 March 1945.
13 D. Horner, ‘Strategic policy making 1943–1945’, in M. McKernan & M. Brown (eds), Australia Two Centuries of War and Peace, Allen & Unwin/ Australian War Memorial, Sydney and Canberra, 1988, p. 279.
14 D. Horner, Inside the War Cabinet: Directing Australia’s War Effort 1939–1945, Allen & Unwin/Australian Archives, Sydney, 1996, p. 160.
15 Meeting of Prime Ministers, London, May 1944, review by the Right Honourable John Curtin, AWM 3DRL 6643, 2/11 (3 of 3), p. 2.
16 For more information see P. Hasluck, The Government and the People 1942–1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1970, pp. 550–65.
17 Blamey to Lt Gen. Sir Leslie Morshead, 3 March 1944, AWM 3DRL 2632, 2/15.
18 Memorandum, MacArthur to Blamey, 12 July 1944, AWM 3DRL 6643, 2/23.
19 Japanese strength in these locations was actually far greater, with between 35 000 and 40 000 in New Guinea and about the same on Bougainville making a total of nearly 70 000 Japanese army and navy personnel plus another 20 000 civilian workers in total in these locations. There were another 12 000 Japanese on nearby New Ireland. However, these figures did not emerge until after the war: see G. Long, The Final Campaigns, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1963, pp. 22�
��23.
20 Long, Final Campaigns, p. 23.
21 Horner, High Command, p. 338.
22 J. Hetherington, Blamey, Controversial Soldier: A Biography of Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey, GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, ED, Australian War Memorial/ Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1973, p. 357.
23 The war establishment of an infantry division for jungle warfare was 13 118 men; the standard infantry division’s establishment was around 17 000: Basic staff table of a jungle division, 21 November 1943, AWM 54, 905/25/57.
24 Lt Gen. Vernon Sturdee to Blamey, 31 October 1944, AWM 3DRL 6643, 2/35, (2 of 3).
25 Blamey to Sturdee, 7 November 1944, AWM 3DRL 6643, 2/35, (2 of 3).
26 Lt Colin Salmon, Australians at War film archive, 0388,
27 See diary entries for September and October 1944 in Berryman’s diary, AWM PR 84/370, 4.
28 Long, Final Campaigns, p. 28.
29 Berryman’s diary, 7 October 1944, AWM PR 84/370, 4.
30 Berryman to Blamey, 11 January 1945 (BDO/44A), AWM PR 84/370, 12b.
31 Berryman’s diary, 4 and 11 February 1945, AWM PR 84/370, 5.
32 Berryman to Shedden, 5 April 1945, AWM PR 84/370, 12b.
33 Horner, High Command, p 387.
34 Sydney Morning Herald, 28 December 1944.
35 Canberra Times, 10 January 1945.
36 Long, Final Campaigns, p. 38.
37 Blamey to Berryman, 17 February 1945, AWM 3DRL 6643, 2/49.
38 Blamey to Curtin, 13 February 1945 and Curtin to MacArthur, 15 February 1945, AWM 3DRL 6643, 2/17.
39 H. Gillan (ed.), We had some Bother: Tales from the Infantry, Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1985, pp. 116–117.
40 S. Trigellis-Smith, The Purple Devils: A History of the 2/6 Australian Commando Squadron formerly the 2/6 Australian Independent Company 1942–1946, 2/6 Australian Commando Squadron Association, Melbourne, 1992, p. 221.
41 MacArthur to Curtin, 5 March 1945, AWM 3DRL 6643, 2/17.
42 P.J. Dean, The Architect of Victory: The Military Career of Lieutenant-General Sir Frank Horton Berryman, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 2011, p. 289.
43 Horner, High Command, pp. 387–88.
44 Dean, The Architect of Victory, pp. 289–90.
45 Berryman to Blamey, Signal B226, AWM PR 84/370, 14.
46 Berryman’s diary, 13 March 1945, AWM PR 84/370, 5.
47 Curtin to MacArthur, 27 February 1945, AWM 3DRL 6643, 2/17.
48 Parliamentary Debates, Senate, vol. 181, p. 128.
49 Curtin to Blamey, 17 April 1945, AWM 3DRL 6643, 2/17.
50 ‘Notes by Lt-Gen Sir Stanley Savige on Vol. VII, Chapt. 8, The floods and the cease fire’, AWM 3DRL 2529, 128, p. 3.
51 Parliamentary Debates, Representatives, vol. 181, pp. 1028–30. See also Reports on matters other than equipment by the Acting Minister for the Army (Senator the Hon. J.M. Fraser) on his visit to the operational areas: War Cabinet Agendum No. 190/1945, National Archives of Australia, A5954/69, 275/3. Fraser produced a second report, ‘Further Observations of Acting Minister for the Army on Operations in New Guinea, New Britain, and the Solomon Islands’, that was particularly critical of the 6th Division’s campaign in New Guinea and Blamey’s negative reputation within the AMF, but this report was not tabled in Parliament: Further Observations of Acting Minister for the Army on Operations in New Guinea, New Britain, and the Solomon Island, AWM 3DRL 6643, 2/22.
52 G. Serle, ‘Curtin, John (1885–1945)’, in John Ritchie (ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 13, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1993, p. 557.
53 Chifley to Blamey, 7 May 1945, AWM 3DRL 6643, 2/17.
54 ‘Appreciation on Operations of the AMF in New Guinea, New Britain and the Solomon Islands, 18 May 1945’, AWM 3DRL 6643, 2/17
55 MacArthur to Chifley, 20 May 1945, AWM 3DRL 6643, 2/17.
56 D. Horner, Blamey, the Commander-in-Chief, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1998, p. 535.
57 Blamey did not receive the letter approving his policy until 14 August: Long, Final Campaigns, p. 69.
58 Blamey to Acting Minister for the Army, 16 May 1945, AWM 3DRL 6643, 2/17; Horner, Inside the War Cabinet, p. 187; Horner, High Command, p. 405.
59 Horner, High Command, p. 396.
60 Shedden to Fraser and Blamey, 20 May 1945, Message 1238, AWM 3DRL 6643, 2/17.
61 Horner, High Command, p. 406.
62 Interview with Capt. Tom Kimber, 2/27th Battalion, AWM S00921.
8 Lost at sea: Missing out on Australia’s naval history
Alastair Cooper
1 The exception is the legal case against Holocaust-denier David Irving. The subject is so fundamental to humanity, particularly North American and European public understanding of history, and the circumstances so compelling, that the dissection of Irving’s historical work was and remains a subject of broad contemporary interest, and a cautionary tale for all historians about the absolute need to strive for objectivity and faithfulness to sources.
2 P. Macksey, The War for America 1775–1783, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1964, pp. xiii–xvi.
3 J. Grey, A Military History of Australia, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 1999, p. 115.
4 Grey, A Military History of Australia, p. 115; D. Stevens (ed.), The Royal Australian Navy, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, 2001, n.1, p. 318.
5 Grey, A Military History of Australia, p. 149.
6 Oral History interview of Commodore A.N. Dollard, Commanding Officer of HMAS Murchison, Korea 1951–1952, interviewed by Lieutenant Commander T. Hughes, Australian War Memorial, item S02803.
7 The good accounts of these actions do indeed take this approach: eg. T. Frame’s accounts of the loss of Sydney and Voyager both deal with the operation of the whole ship’s organisation.
8 These numbers were obtained from online catalogue searches in January 2011, using the search terms indicated, of the National Archives of Australia, the Australian War Memorial, and wikipedia.org.
9 One way many of the difficulties of naval history could be remedied is through the use of computer simulations and the combination of current and historical visual footage. Having acknowledged the potential, the limitations of the format mean this attempt will be via the written word.
10 This account of HMAS Murchison’s operations is based on the following sources: R. O’Neill, Australia in the Korean War, vol. 2, Combat Operations, AGPS, Canberra, 1985, pp. 450–59; W.O.C. Roberts, ‘Gun battle on the Han’, Naval Historical Review, 1(2), September 1976; V. Fazio, River Class Frigates of the Royal Australian Navy: A Story of Ships Built in Australia, Slipway Publications, Sydney, 2003; and HMAS Murchison, Reports of Proceeding, AWM series 228, item 1, AWM 228, 2 and AWM 228, 3.
11 Roberts, ‘Gun battle on the Han’.
12 P. Kennedy, ‘Winning war from the middle’, Journal of Military History, 74(1), January 2010, p. 50.
13 S.G. Joyce, interviewed by T. Hughes, Australian War Memorial, Oral History Recording, item S02795.
14 Interview of Commodore Dollard.
15 Interview of S.G Joyce.
9 ‘Landmark’ battles and the myths of Vietnam
Bob Hall and Andrew Ross
1 The term ‘Viet Cong’ was commonly used to describe those enemy forces recruited and trained in the Republic of Vietnam (the South). The People’s Army were those recruited and trained in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (the North) and infiltrated into the South usually down the Ho Chi Minh trail. This latter force was also commonly known as the North Vietnamese Army (or NVA). By mid-1968, many Viet Cong units were increasingly reinforced with People’s Army soldiers, so the distinction between the two forces became progressively moot.
2 For example, the two volumes of the official history published to date both devote lengthy chapters to ‘landmark’ battles: see Ian McNeill, To Long Tan: The Australian Army and the Vietnam War 1950–1966, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1993;
and Ian McNeill and Ashley Ekins, One the Offensive: The Australian Army in the Vietnam War 1967–1968, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2003.
3 Craig Stockings (ed.), Zombie Myths of Australian Military History: The 10 Myths That Will Not Die, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2010, p. 195.
4 McNeill, To Long Tan, pp. 305–75.
5 AWM 98, item 115, HQ AFV – Intelligence Phuoc Tuy – Ralliers and agents. Interrogation report, 25 August 1969, Subject: Executive Officer, 274 Regiment. This file cites a typical example of the detailed planning that went into VC/PAVN operations. In this case, 274 Regiment received orders to attack the US base at Long Binh in December 1968 and executed its orders on 21 February 1969 after nearly two months of planning, preparations and rehearsals.
6 This and other statistical data in this chapter is drawn from the ‘1ATF Contact Database 1966–1971’, created by Dr Andrew Ross. The database holds information on approximately 4500 combat incidents of 1ATF in Vietnam between 1966 and withdrawal of the force in 1971. The data is drawn primarily from 1ATF ‘Combat After Action Reports’ held in AWM series 103, HQ 1ATF (Nui Dat) records, and AWM series 95, Australian Army Commanders’ diaries, and other series. We estimate that the database contains over 95% of 1ATF recorded contacts. Of the 4500 combat incidents recorded, 3909 are contacts or other battles, about 250 are mine incidents, 200 are friendly fire incidents and the remainder miscellaneous. The term ‘casualties’ includes both killed and wounded.
7 S. Karnow, Vietnam: A History, 2nd edn, Pimlico, London, 1994, p. 548. Giap was speaking about the Tet Offensive of 1968, but the point also applies to other PAVN offensives and major battles.
8 The Division in Battle, Pamphlet no. 11, Counter Revolutionary Warfare, Military Board, Army Headquarters, Canberra, 1966, p. 25.
9 McNeill, To Long Tan, pp. 366–67.
10 McNeill, To Long Tan, pp. 356–57.
11 Counter Revolutionary Warfare, p. 58. The doctrine stated prophetically that ‘in this battle for the allegiance of the people the results of well directed propaganda, publicity and psychological operations (psyops) may sometimes outweigh the results achieved by successful military operations’.
12 Some debate still surrounds the enemy’s military objectives. Some see the battle as an attempted annihilation ambush, while others see it as an encounter between D Company 6RAR and the enemy force as it prepared for an assault against the Nui Dat base. This debate is briefly discussed in McNeill, To Long Tan, but it is also addressed in B. Buick (with G. McKay), All Guts and No Glory: The story of a Long Tan Warrior, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2000; and B. Grandin, The Battle of Long Tan as Told by the Commanders to Bob Grandin, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2004. For an imagined account of the battle from the enemy perspective see Dave Sabben, Through Enemy Eyes, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2005.
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