1918 was a year of triumph for the Australian Corps in France yet today this is seldom recognised by most Australians. Our perceptions have been clouded by legends, built up over the past century, that have trivialised their achievement. Here an ex-soldier, Pat Beale DSO MC, uses his military background to help re-discover why and how the Corps was so successful and also the reasons their triumph has been ignored. This concise and knowledgeable account will not sit comfortably with everyone. As the author admits, he slaps a number of 'sacred cows' on the rump and challenges some deeply held perceptions, but he hopes it will encourage a better understanding of the great victory of those men and how they achieved it.
Pat Beale served as an officer in the Regular Army for thirty years during which he saw active service in the later days of the Malayan Emergency; the Confrontation in Borneo, where he was awarded the Military Cross; and then in Vietnam, where, as a member of the Australian Army Training Team, he was attached to the US Special Force. There he commanded a battalion of hills' tribesmen which he led in the intense ten-day battle of Dak Seang, for which he was awarded a Distinguished Service Order for gallantry and a US Silver Star while his battalion received the prestigious US Valourous Unit Citation.
Title: Legends of War: The AIF in France 1918
Author: Beale, Pat
ISBN: 9781925984637
Binding:
Publisher: Australian Scholarly Publishing
Publication Date: 2020-08-31
Number of Pages: 176
Weight: 0.5051 kg