Description
Fascinating and revelatory, how World War II transformed the Australian Army into one of the best, if not the best, jungle fighting groups in the world How did the Australian Army transform itself from a military force totally unprepared for conflict of any kind in 1939 into a professional, experienced, and highly skilled jungle warfare force by 1945? Jungle Warriors explores how the 2nd AIF evolved from fighting European and desert wars, in open country and often with large numbers of troops, to master the very close warfare of jungle combat. It investigates the extraordinary array of changes to weapons, equipment, tactics, and training. It also reveals the painful lessons learned and the inadequate planning that resulted in the unnecessary deaths of so many Australian men. Following the story from the training camps in Australia on to the battlefields of North Africa and the Mediterranean to Milne Bay, Kokoda, and final victory in Borneo, Bougainville, and New Guinea, this is a comprehensive and coherent interrogation of Australia's jungle warfare experience. It also makes significant contribution to World War II military history.
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Jungle Warriors examines the extraordinary transformation that the Australian Army underwent over the course of the Second World War. During this period the Australian Army transformed itself from a military force totally unprepared for conflict of any kind in 1939, into one of the most professional, experienced and highly skilled jungle warfare forces in the world by 1945. Beginning in the interwar years, when the Australian Army was rundown, ill-equipped and dispirited, this book traces the sweeping changes that occurred throughout the course of the war... This book follows the story from Puckapunyal and Ingleburn to Tobruk and Greece, back to Queensland and on to Milne Bay, Kokoda, the Beachheads and final victory in Borneo, Bougainville and New Guinea. The scale of the transition and level of accomplishment by the men of the 2nd AIF will be clear by the end. Instead of a series of disjointed 'snapshots' of Australia's war in the Pacific, a coherent and comprehensive narrative will follow the men of the 2nd AIF from the outbreak of the war in 1939 to the end of hostilities in 1945. How these men became exceptional jungle warriors will be fully explained and fully understood as never before.
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