Those Ragged Bloody Heroes: From the Kokoda Trail to Gona Beach 1942Allen & Unwin, 1.8.2005 - 420 sivua The definitive account of the Australians on the Kokoda Trail - a story told through the eyes of the Australians who fought there, many of whom have now passed away. The Kokoda Trail is part of Australian military folklore. During July to September 1942 the Japanese set about the capture of Port Moresby by an overland crossing of the Owen Stanley Range, and a landing in Milne Bay. To oppose a force of 10,000 crack Japanese troops on the Kokoda Trail, the Allies committed one under-trained and poorly-equipped unit - the 39th Battalion, later reinforced by Veterans of the 21st Brigade, 7th Division AIF. These were then men of Maroubra Force. The Australians put up a desperate fight. They withdrew village by village, forcing the Japanese to fight for every inch of ground. Finally at Ioribaiwa, the Japanese turned away, beaten and exhausted. The Australian soldiers' reward for their remarkable achievement was denigration by the High Command - General Blamey called them 'running rabbits'. Then in December 1942 when the fighting at the beachheads had produced little success, the former members of Maroubra Force captured Gona after heavy fighting - but at tragic cost. Those Ragged Bloody Heroes is the story of those battles told as never before, through the eyes of the Australian soldiers who fought there. It is a story that raises serious questions about the planning and command of the Kokoda and Gona campaigns. Those Ragged Bloody Heroes is a stirring history of triumph, tragedy and controversy set in the mud and steaming jungle of the Kokoda Trail and the fireswept beaches at Gona. |
Sisältö
The devils design | |
No doordie stunts | |
A desperate baptism | |
Full of fight but utterly weary | |
A question of momentum | |
this | |
The rabbit that runs | |
To the beachhead | |
Not to reason | |
Embarrassed to be alive | |
Silent | |
On our last bloody legs | |
Confident even cocksure | |
Unawed in the gates of death | |
Ruperts clinic | |
Afterword Neil McDonald | |
Notes | |
Bibliography | |
Muita painoksia - Näytä kaikki
Those Ragged Bloody Heroes: From the Kokoda Trail to Gona Beach 1942 Peter Brune Rajoitettu esikatselu - 2011 |
Those Ragged Bloody Heroes: From the Kokoda Trail to Gona Beach 1942 Peter Brune Rajoitettu esikatselu - 2005 |
Those Ragged Bloody Heroes: From the Kokoda Trail to Gona Beach 1942 Peter Brune Rajoitettu esikatselu - 1992 |
Yleiset termit ja lausekkeet
2/14th Battalion 21st Brigade 25th Brigade 39th Battalion 53rd Battalion 7th Division Abuari Alola ambush army arrived attack August Aust Australian battle beachhead Bisset Blamey Blamey’s bloody Born Brigade Hill Brigade’s Brigadier Potts Cameron Captain Bidstrup Captain Katekar casualties command Company Company’s Cooper Corporal crossing December defence Deniki Dougherty Dudley McCarthy east Eather Efogi enemy enemy’s Eora Creek fighting fire forward Gona grenades ground Guinea Force Horii interview Ioribaiwa Isurava Japanese Japs July jungle Koitaki Kokoda Trail Kumusi kunai Lieutenant LieutenantColonel MacArthur machinegun Major MajorGeneral March Maroubra Force Menari military militia mission morning mortar move Myola native Nauro night November officers Oivi ordered Owen Stanley Campaign Owen Stanley Range patrol platoon Port Moresby posts Potts’s Rabaul Ralph Honner reinforcement Ridge right flank Sanananda September Sergeant soldier SouthWest Pacific stretcher supply Symington Templeton track troops village withdrawal wounded yards