Author: John Frederick MoyesPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
The story of the Australian destroyer flotilla in the Mediterranean, 1939-1941.
The Scrap Iron Flotilla
Author: Mike CarltonPublisher: Random House Australia
ISBN: 1761042017
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 450
Book Description
When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, the British asked Australia for help. With some misgivings, the Australian government sent five destroyers to beef up the British Royal Navy in the Mediterranean. HMAS Vendetta, Vampire, Voyager, Stuart and Waterhen were old ships, small with worn-out engines. Their crews used to joke they were held together by string and chewing gum; when the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels heard of them, he sneered that they were a load of scrap iron. Yet by the middle of 1940, these destroyers were valiantly escorting troop and supply convoys, successfully hunting for submarines and indefatigably bombarding enemy coasts. Sometimes the weather could be their worst enemy - from filthy sandstorms blowing off Africa to icy gales from Europe that whipped up mountainous seas and froze the guns. Conditions on board were terrible - no showers or proper washing facilities; cramped and stinking sleeping quarters; unpleasant meals of spam and tinned sausages, often served cold in a howling squall. And always the bombing, the bombing. And the fear of submarines. When Nazi Germany invaded Greece, the Allied armies - including Australian Divisions - reeled in retreat. The Australian ships were among those who had to rescue thousands of soldiers. Then came the Siege of Tobruk - Australian troops holding out in that small Libyan port city. The Australian destroyers ran 'the Tobruk Ferry' - bringing supplies of food, medicine and ammunition into the shattered port by night, and taking off wounded soldiers. But the four destroyers now left were struggling, suffering from constant engine breakdowns, with crews beleaguered by two years of bombings, wild seas and the endless fear of being sunk. In late 1941 the ships were finally sent home, staggering back to Australia, proudly calling themselves the Scrap Iron Flotilla in defiance of the Goebbels' sneer. That flotilla is now an immortal part of Australian naval legend, and this is its story.
Author: Andrew RoseVery Special Ships
Author: Arthur C NicholsonPublisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1591147271
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 217
Book Description
Very Special Ships is the first full-length book about the Abdiel-class fast minelayers, which were considered the fastest and most versatile to serve in the Royal Navy during World War II. This book spans the scope of the class from alpha to zulu as they operated in many roles, most famously as blockade runners to Malta, transporting items as diverse as ammunition, condensed milk, gold, and VIPs. To provide a complete picture of this important class of ships, Very Special Ships examines the origin and history of the minelayers, describes the design and construction of each ship in the class, details the operational history of the ships during World War II, and concludes with the post-war careers of the surviving ships.
Cruiser
Author: Mike CarltonPublisher: Random House Australia
ISBN: 1864711337
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 722
Book Description
Of all the Australians who fought in the Second World War, none saw more action nor endured so much of its hardship and horror as the crew of the cruiser HMAS Perth. Most were young--many were still teenagers--from cities and towns, villages and farms across the nation. In three tumultuous years they did battle with the forces of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, the Vichy French, and, finally, the Imperial Japanese Navy. They were nearly lost in a hurricane in the Atlantic. In the Mediterranean in 1941 they were bombed by the Luftwaffe and the Italian Air Force for months on end until, ultimately, during the disastrous evacuation of the Australian army from Crete, their ship took a direct hit and thirteen men were killed. After the fall of Singapore in 1942, HMAS Perth was hurled into the forlorn campaign to stem the Japanese advance towards Australia. Off the coast of Java in March that year she met an overwhelming enemy naval force. Firing until her ammunition literally ran out, she was sunk with the loss of 353 of her crew, including her much-loved captain and the Royal Australian Navy's finest fighting sailor, 'Hardover' Hec Waller. Another 328 men were taken into Japanese captivity, most to become slave labourers in the infinite hell of the Burma-Thai railway. Many died there, victims of unspeakable atrocity. Only 218 men, less than a third of her crew, survived to return home at war's end. Cruiser, by journalist and broadcaster Mike Carlton, is their story. And the story of those who loved them and waited for them.
Boulogne
Author: Jon CookseyPublisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1783379286
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 424
Book Description
The story of the World War II battle for the French port which ended in a desperate evacuation—from the author of Calais: A Fight to the Finish. As German armored columns moved to seal off French ports from retreating British troops in 1940, Winston Churchill had few reserves he could commit. In an attempt to delay the Germans at Boulogne, Churchill sent in two battalions of the Irish Guards and Welsh Guards in a hastily-organized amphibious landing. In Battleground Europe style, eyewitness accounts and original photographs provide previously unknown details. A guide is also provided to the monuments, battle sites and accommodations in this historic city as they are today.
V & W Destroyers
Author: John HenshawPublisher: Seaforth Publishing
ISBN: 1526774836
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 449
Book Description
“A very interesting book tracing the development and service of . . . one of the iconic destroyers of the Second World War.” —Australian Naval Institute In this book John Henshaw takes the reader through all the developmental stages of the V & W Class with a detailed history of the step-by-step lessons that were learned, not all of which were fortuitous. In one package the Royal Navy finally acquired a hull that possessed not just good sea-keeping capability but one that was able to carry heavier armament without any adverse effects. Range and speed were commensurate with their size while the superfiring guns, fore and aft, could be deployed in all weathers for a four-gun broadside. The V & W design set the trend for all destroyer design for the next two decades and, indeed, the basic layout of destroyers stayed the same long beyond that. The formula of a raised foredeck and superfiring guns fore and aft continued in the Royal Navy until the Battle Class of 1944 and in the United States Navy until the Fletcher Class of 1943. That the V & Ws served on through World War II in various forms is a testament to the soundness of the basic concept, their adaptability and strength. The V stood for Venerable, because they certainly proved that, and W for Watershed, because they were truly a turning point in destroyer design. This book, which will appeal both to naval historians and modelmakers, brings together under one cover a narrative that is comprehensive in its scope, well researched and elegantly supported with detailed line drawings and selected photographs for the period 1890–1945.
Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 19
Author: Melanie NolanPublisher: ANU Press
ISBN: 1760464139
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 970
Book Description
Volume 19 of the Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB) contains concise biographies of individuals who died between 1991 and 1995. The first of two volumes for the 1990s, it presents a colourful montage of late twentieth-century Australian life, containing the biographies of significant and representative Australians. The volume is still in the shadow of World War II with servicemen and women who enlisted young appearing, but these influences are dimming and there are now increasing numbers of non-white, non-male, non-privileged and non-straight subjects. The 680 individuals recorded in volume 19 of the ADB include Wiradjuri midwife and Ngunnawal Elder Violet Bulger; Aboriginal rights activist, poet, playwright and artist Kevin Gilbert; and Torres Strait Islander community leader and land rights campaigner Eddie Mabo. HIV/AIDS child activists Tony Lovegrove and Eve Van Grafhorst have entries, as does conductor Stuart Challender, ‘the first Australian celebrity to go public’ about his HIV/AIDS condition in 1991. The arts are, as always, well-represented, including writers Frank Hardy, Mary Durack and Nene Gare, actors Frank Thring and Leonard Teale and arts patron Ian Potter. We are beginning to see the effects of the steep rise in postwar immigration flow through to the ADB. Artist Joseph Stanislaw Ostoja-Kotkowski was born in Poland. Pilar Moreno de Otaegui, co-founded the Spanish Club of Sydney. Chinese restaurateur and community leader Ming Poon (Dick) Low migrated to Victoria in 1953. Often we have a dearth of information about the domestic lives of our subjects; politician Olive Zakharov, however, bravely disclosed at the Victorian launch of the federal government’s campaign to Stop Violence Against Women in 1993 that she was a survivor of domestic violence in her second marriage. Take a dip into the many fascinating lives of the Australian Dictionary of Biography.
Our War
Author: Christopher SomervillePublisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 1474617751
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
Never heard before real stories of soldiers who fought in WW2 'Extraordinary ...If they had not made our war their war also, victory might not have come in 1945' DAILY TELEGRAPH In this powerful and moving narrative, Christopher Somerville skilfully links personal testimonies to present an epic which embraces comedy and tragedy, pride and degradation, close comradeship and stark racial prejudice, devotion to the benign Mother Country and a burning desire to see the back of her. Many of the veterans had never previously talked of their experiences, even to close loved ones. They cover such topics as attitudes to Britain before and after the war, why Commonwealth citizens offered to fight, and how some volunteers were inspired by their wartime service while others were thoroughly disillusioned. The result is a rare and faithful memoir to the five million Commonwealth citizens who fought for the Allies and the 170,000 who died or went missing.
Author: Earl Thomas Allnutt Brassey