Australian Heroes of World War II

Remarkable stories of battlefield courage

Mark Johnston

• Publisher: NewSouth
• Year: 2025
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781761179303
• Subtopic: Military Biographies
• Index: History

When Australians defended against Rommel' s tanks at Tobruk and Alamein, tackled paratroopers landing among them on Crete, attacked French Foreign Legionnaires in Syrian forts, held off Japanese tanks in Malaya, fought hand-to-hand on the Kokoda Track, and took on well-hidden and tenacious Japanese soldiers in countless grim jungle locations, brave individuals risked everything to bring victory. Australian soldiers performed acts of remarkable bravery in the roles of stretcher-bearers and snipers, in victories and defeats, and in desert and jungle. Men like the truck driver who took on 22 Japanese fighters with his fists and Owen gun and won. Such astonishing deeds were often rewarded with medals, but many brave deeds went unrecognised, and whether acknowledged or not, the heroes often paid a heavy price for their courageous acts, in the form of physical injury, psychological trauma or death. In Australian Heroes of World War II, leading Australian military historian Mark Johnston shines a new light on the the courage of individual soldiers across every battle in which Australians fought in World War II.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of maps
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Baptism at Bardia
• Chapter 2 The advance to Benghazi
• Chapter 3 Tobruk: Holding the thin Red Line (April–May 1941)
• Chapter 4 Mission impossible: The campaign in Greece
• Chapter 5 Island of doomed heroes: Crete
• Chapter 6 Tobruk: Besieging the besiegers (May–October 1941)
• Interlude 1 The Language of Heroism
• Chapter 7 The unsung heroes of the Syrian campaign
• Chapter 8 The Japanese onslaught: Malaya and Singapore
• Chapter 9 Doomed battalions: New Britain, Ambon, Timor and Java
• Chapter 10 Return to the desert: Egypt
• Interlude 2 The Warriors’ Weapons
• Chapter 11 Kokoda: The first clashes (July–August 1942)
• Chapter 12 Milne Bay: Breaking the Japanese spell
• Chapter 13 Kokoda: Fighting retreat, fighting return (August–November 1942)
• Chapter 14 El Alamein: The decisive battle (October–November 1942)
• Chapter 15 The Beachhead Battles: Gona, Buna and Sanananda
• Interlude 3 The ‘Typical’ Hero
• Chapter 16 Wau–Salamaua: Heroism in the hills
• Chapter 17 By air, sea and land: Lae and the Huon Peninsula
• Chapter 18 To Sattelberg and Shaggy Ridge
• Chapter 19 Bougainville: Through mud and blood to victory
• Interlude 4 Heroic Rescuers
• Chapter 20 New Guinea: From Aitape to Wewak
• Chapter 21 New Britain: The few imprison the many
• Chapter 22 Borneo I: Tarakan and North Borneo
• Chapter 23 Borneo II: Balikpapan
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgements
• Bibliography
• Notes
• Index