The story of the bombing of Darwin and the Japanese midget sub attack on Sydney Harbour in one volume from the bestselling author of An Awkward Truth and A Very Rude Awakening.'Grose's compassionate, honest and vivid account deserves to be widely read.' Sun Herald on An Awkward Truth'About as good as any yarn can get . . . a great retelling of a great story.' Sydney Morning Herald on A Very Rude Awakening

The compelling and very human story of the first foreign assault on Australian soil since settlement - the attack on Darwin by the Japanese in February, 1942. Darwin was a battle Australia would rather forget. Yet the Japanese attack on 19 February 1942 was the first wartime assault on Australian soil. The Japanese struck with the same carrier-borne force that devastated Pearl Harbor only ten weeks earlier. There was a difference. More bombs fell on Darwin, more civilians were killed, and ...

Nobody asked questions, nobody demanded money. Villagers lied, covered up, procrastinated and concealed, but most importantly they welcomed.This is the story of an isolated community in the upper reaches of the Loire Valley that conspired to save the lives of 3500 Jews under the noses of the Germans and the soldiers of Vichy France. It is the story of a pacifist Protestant pastor who broke laws and defied orders to protect the lives of total strangers. It is the story of an eighteen-year-o...

In May of 1942, the war seemed very far away to most Sydneysiders - until the night the three Japanese midget submarines crept into the harbour and caused an unforgettable night of mayhem, high farce, chaos and courage. A ground-breaking new look at one of the most extraordinary stories of Australia at war.On the night of 31 May 1942, Sydney was doing what it does best: partying. The theatres, restaurants, dance halls, illegal gambling dens, clubs and brothels offe...

The extraordinary story of a headmaster turned cryptographer, and our top-secret war with the Kaiser's Reich.On 11 August 1914, just days after war had been declared, Australian Captain J.T. Richardson boarded a German merchant vessel fleeing Melbourne's Port Phillip and audaciously seized a top-secret naval codebook. The fledgling Australian Navy had an opportunity to immediately change the course of the war. But what exactly had they found? Enter the Australian c...

'thoroughly researched and compelling . . . a chilling account' - The Sun HeraldAn eye-opening account of Australian combat history, untold . . . until now.In 1969 a ragtag unit of 39 men were thrown together at Nui Dat, Vietnam. It was so slapdash a group it didn't even have an officer or sergeant in charge. A rugged ex-Royal Marine stepped forward to take the lead. Jim Riddle was only an acting corporal but he knew enough of war ...

The true story of the US Army legend who organized "Blackburn's Headhunters" against Japan in WWII and went on to initiate Special Forces operations in Vietnam.The fires on Bataan burned on the evening of April 9, 1942—illuminating the white flags of surrender against the dark sky. Outnumbered and outgunned, remnants of the American-Philippine army surrendered to the forces of the Rising Sun. Yet US Army Captain Donald D. Blackburn refused to lay down his arms. With...

A history of World War I—told through the letters exchanged by ordinary soldiers and their families.Letters from the Trenches reveals how people really thought and felt during the Great War, and covers all social classes and groups from officers to conscripts to women at home to conscientious objectors. Voices within the book include Sgt. John Adams, 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers, who wrote in May 1917: "For the day we get our letter from home is a red letter ...

February 1942. The Japanese invasion of Timor has begun and attempts to evacuate a group of 29 Australian airmen, charged with keeping an airfield operational until the last moment, are thwarted.Under the leadership of Bryan Rofe, a 24-year-old meteorological officer, the airmen make for remote jungle along the northwest coast. All attempts to rescue the group fail. Malaria-ravaged and starving, these men are taken to the limits of their endurance for 58 days. When a 300-strong Japa...

More than 10,000 Australians served with Bomber Command, a highly trained band of elite flyers who undertook some of the most dangerous operations of World War II. They flew raid after raid over France and Germany knowing that the odds were against them. Stretched to breaking point, nearly 3500 died in the air. Their bravery in extreme circumstances has barely been recognised.Peter Rees traces the extraordinary achievements of these young aviators. He tells their hair-raising stori...

The French painter Jean Hélion’s unique and deeply moving account of his experiences in Nazi prisoner-of-war camps prefigures the even darker stories that would emerge from the concentration camps. This serious adventure tale begins with Hélion’s infantry platoon fleeing from the German army and warplanes as they advanced through France in the early days of the war. The soldiers chant as they march and run, “They shall not have me!” but are quickly captured and sent to hard labor.Wr...

A true and touching human tale of survival and achievement.When John Stoessinger was ten years old, Adolf Hitler annexed his homeland of Austria, ripping the boy from his home and his friends in Vienna. His grandparents encouraged his mother and stepfather to take young John somewhere safe. You must have a future,” his grandfather told him before he and his parents boarded the train and waved goodbye.As they trekked across the country, from Vienna to Pragu...