The Bookshelf 1) Australian Military Equipment Profiles Australian Military Equipment Profiles are as the title suggests, books which cover equipment which has been used only by the Australian military forces. Their style is similar to the old-style Profiles which were published in Britain during the 1960's-early 1980's. The first three volumes which have been published are: 1) Field Artillery 1939-1945 2) Local Pattern Carriers 1939-45 3) Australian Scout and Armoured Cars 1933 to 1945 Whilst all three cover vehicles and equipment which have been barely mentioned in other publications (usually as a passing aside or a footnote), they do so in considerably more depth than anything which has been published in either the UK or the US (to my knowledge). Dedicated as they are, to covering only one particular nationality they can then describe in more depth the development, procurement and in some cases the decisions behind the cancellations of certain wartime projects which I suspect will be quite new to most Gauntlet readers. The first, Field Artillery 1939-1945, covers the ubiquitous 25 Pdr. However, for the first time, it also covers in depth the development and the employment of the 25 Pdr Short Gun (or "Baby 25 Pdr" as its sometimes called) as well the various local pattern Artillery Tractors which Australia developed during the war to suit its needs. The second, Local Pattern Carriers 1939-1945, deals with the various versions of the Infantry Carrier (or "Bren Carrier" as it was sometimes popularly called) which were produced and developed in Australia during the war. In addition, in considerable detail, there are covered the two major locally designed and developed variants of the carrier: the 3-inch mortar carrier and the 2-Pdr Anti-tank carrier. The third, and the one which I think will be of the most interest to most wargamers and modellers is entitled, Australian Scout and Armoured Cars 1933 to 1945. It covers not the various overseas developed vehicles which the Australian Army used but rather the numerous local pattern vehicles which were developed during the panic period just after the beginning of the war in the Pacific. Covered are the LP (Local Pattern) 1 through 4 series of Armoured Cars, the Dingo (and no, its not the Daimler light scout car to which its referring to either) Scout Car, the Rover light armoured car, the Rhino heavy armoured car and finally the Scout Car S1 (American). In each volume the same method is essentially followed with first a short introduction describing the reasons why the vehicle or weapon was developed, then a physical description, historical notes and finally technical data. In addition there is also a major section dealing with units that used the equipment, painting and camouflage which was employed on the vehicles/guns and finally vehicle markings such as formation signs and registration plate numbers. All in all, all three volumes are well put together, well researched and in a format whereby the reader can become well aquainted with the material with which they are being presented. There are a generous number of photographs and drawings in each volume as well. Where they do fall down though, is in the lack of provision of any scale drawings. However, that is only a minor problem. Each volume costs RRP $16.95 and is well worth the value. They are available from most good model/book shops or direct from the publisher. BOOK DETAILS Michael Cecil, Australian Military Equipment Profiles, Volume 1, Field Artillery 1939-1945, Australian Military Equipment Profiles,1992, ISSN 1038-1740 Australian Military Equipment Profiles, Volume 2,Local Pattern Carriers 1939-45, Australian Military Equipment Profiles, 1992, ISBN 0-646-12600-8 Australian Military Equipment Profiles, Volume 3,Australian Scout and Armoured Cars 1933 to 1945, Australian Military Equipment Profiles, 1993, ISBN 0-646-14611-4 2) The Last Call of the Bugle: The Long Road to Kapyong Written by Jack Galloway, The Last Call of the Bugle (LCOTB) traces the involvement of 3 Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment during basically the first year of its involvement in the Korean War. While, as Galloway points out, much of what he writes about has already been covered in other works, such as the Official History by R.J. O'Neil and David Horner's Duty first : the Royal Australian Regiment in war and peace, where LCOTB differs is that it includes several new interesting facts not previously mentioned, and it is also in a much more lively and readable form than the other books such as the Official History ever could be. Where else could you find out that during the rapid advance into North Korea the Battalion had to survive on local forage, mainly apples, which caused, in the words of one old digger interviewed by Galloway a, "touch of the old tom tits, " which, "kept us goin... It was a bit of a bastard, especially when it came to dropping the tweeds in the middle of the night with the wind whistling around your acre." It was so bad, according the Galloway, that the Battalion was forced, upon reaching its position near the town of Sinanju, to hastily dig latrines of "considerable proportions" in order to cope with the problem. Indeed the book abounds with small insights into the characters of the men in 3 Battalion. It also contrasts strongly the performance of the Australian troops with that of the American and Republic of Korea (ROK) troops which fought alongside them. It is obvious that the Australians were very much in control of the situation, whereas the American and ROK troops were only too willing to "Bug Out" if they felt they were about to be outflanked. Galloway is also scathing in his assessment of MacArthur's handling of the war. Like many of the newer Australian military historians (e.g. McAuley), Galloway is quite willing and able to see the flaws in MacArthur's personality, which seems to have been ignored by too many of both their predecessors and overseas (particularly American) historians. Galloway also has the advantage that he was a member of 3 Battalion during this period and served as its Signals Platoon Sergeant during the battle of Kapyong. This meant that he was in a position to see and understand far more about the events in which the Battalion found itself when facing a Chinese Division during the days 23-25 April 1951. Through his many contacts with his fellow diggers he has managed to assemble an impressive record of the battle and the events which led up to it. While only a short book at some 287 pages, it includes a considerable amount of detail, some of which has not been published before. If you are looking for a quick, enjoyable read about the first year of 3 Battalion's deployment to Korea you should purchase this book. BOOK DETAILS Galloway, J., The Last Call of the Bugle: The Long Road to Kapyong, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 1994. ISBN 0-7022-2545-2. RRP: $18.95 3) Red Thunder, Tropic Lightning - The World of a Combat Division in Vietnam A funny thing happened to me, just after finishing this book. I got on the train to work and a middle-aged gentleman sat down opposite me. In the lapel of his jacket there was not the usual RSL badge but rather a large enamelled badge of the US Army's 25th Infantry Division. I asked him if this was what it was and we got to chatting about the book and his experiences in Vietnam. What he said confirms a lot of what is in this book. Written by Eric Bergerud this is a most unusual book. It doesn't attempt to give the normal, simple narration of the involvement of its subject, the US Army's 25th Infantry Division in the Vietnam war. Instead it sets out to analyse and explain what serving as part of the 25th was really like in Vietnam. As a consequence it consists of a series of "snap shots" from interviews conducted by the author with veterans of the 25th. It attempts to present a far more life like and real portrayal of Vietnam than one gets from the popular media or offical histories. With sections devoted to the land, climate, the "tools of the trade" (weapons used by the 25th), the nature of the way the US Army waged war in Vietnam and so on, it explains in great detail the physical and mental environment that the US soldiers found themselves in. However, it attempts, through interviews with a sample of 25th Veterans to disprove several "facts" regarding popular portrayal of the war in the American media and this is perhaps its major failing. Bergerud attempts to prove that the portrayal of the US soldier as being a drug crazed, murdering rapist is far from the truth. However his sample, which is only some 40 individuals out of an admitted 100,000+ of the total who served in the 25th during its entire committment to the war is, in my opinion, rather too small to come to a definite sort of conclusion on that matter. He also disputes that there was any failure of morale in the 25th during the later period of its committment (1969- 72). If so then it must have been the only unit in Vietnam not to have experienced it because even the official US Army history of the period, recounts in some detail the factors which caused an almost complete demoralisation of the troops in the country: drugs, disobedience, mutinies, officercide (commonly called "fragging"), racial tensions (between blacks and whites) and the anti-war movement at home, in the US. While the popular portrayal is all too often exaggerated, it does have a grain of truth in it. There is no doubt that the US Army's morale did virtually collapse towards the end of the war. There was My Lai. There was the drug problem (some 75% of all US troops in Vietnam in 1970 admitted to having tried Marijuana and some 25% Heroin) and there were the pressures of the anti-war and civil rights movements. Bergerud himself hints at these effects, as do his contributors in their statements but all attempt to play down their effects as much as possible. In fact its surprising how ready they are to accept much of the disobedient, mutinious and drug taking behavior as the norm, rather than an execption. Which in itself points to problems which Bergerud ignores or downplays. What I did find interesting was the contrast between the US Army's methods and those which I experienced in my own military service in the Australian Army. Bergerud's contributors all complained of not knowing what their units were doing from day to day, what their objectives were in any given operation and an almost complete lack of interaction between the soldiers and anything higher than their Company commanders (if even that high). In contrast, in the Australian Army (which when I served had just pulled itself together after its own painful experience of Vietnam), the soldiers are kept aware of not only what their own units are doing but what other units are as well. This is done as much as possible, through regular `O-Groups' (Orders-Groups) before and during operations. While the Battalion commander is a well known personality within the Battalion and actually lives and commands from the field. I suspect that the reason why the US Soldiers were kept so much in the dark with regards to their operations was because they have no tradition of being informed. To the US Army, soldiers are simply cannon fodder, and this was no more evident than in Vietnam where they were used for "bait" to lure the NLF/NVA forces into the open where "superior firepower" would hopefully have then decimated them. While the remoteness of their Company and higher commanders was not helped by the policy of "ticket-punching", where the officers served only six months in the field before being rotated to a staff position, with the result that there was a high and rapid change over of officers. This, plus the US officer's habit of remaining aloof and remote, and commanding from mobile, airborne helicopter mounted command posts rather than being on the ground with their soldiers in the field, could not help but alienate the common soldier. All in all though, this is, in my opinion, despite its faults, a very useful contribution to the literature of the subject of the Vietnam War. It provides much detail which historian and wargamer alike will find useful because of the wealth of background material it provides. BOOK DETAILS Bergerud, E.M., Red Thunder, Tropic Lightning - The World of a Combat Division in Vietnam, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1993. ISBN: 1-86373-487-2.