BOOKSHELF – Vetaffairs December 2025

Anzac Guerrillas

Anzac Guerrillas book cover

By Edmund Goldrick

Anzac Guerrillas is an extraordinary story about a handful of Victorians who escaped from German prison trains just outside of Belgrade in 1941, after being captured in Greece. Assisted by the partisans, these Aussies were smuggled to a safehouse in German-occupied Serbia. Ross Sayers, a Castlemaine mineworker, witnessed the German Army lock the civilians of Kriva Reka into their local church before setting the building alight with dynamite. Half the village was killed instantly. The Australians just wanted to get home, but with no escape, they were forced to play very different roles. They learned Serbian and slowly became involved in the underground war.

  • Pages: 352
  • Cost: $26.25
  • To Buy: Amazon Australia

More Than Just Names

More Than Just Names book cover

By Gary Ewart

This book is a tribute to 172 men from the greater North Queensland region who left their homes and families to serve in distant lands and never returned. In Townsville, the cenotaph stands as a silent guardian of their legacy. Each name etched in stone is a reminder that history is also woven from the personal stories of young men with dreams and futures who answered the call of duty. This book tells the story of each of these sons, brothers, fathers, and friends who were once part of the community before joining the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and embarking for the battlefields of the First World War.

  • Pages: 516
  • Cost: $39.49 or $7.99 (Kindle)
  • To Buy: Amazon Australia

The Bravest Scout at Gallipoli

The Bravest Scout at Gallipoli book cover

By Ryan Butta

C.E.W Bean stated that ‘but for the fact that this brave scout was half Japanese, he would have been awarded the first Victoria Cross at Gallipoli’. As it was, Sgt Wykeham Henry (Harry) Freame was awarded the first Distinguished Conduct Medal. This book covers Harry's early fascinating life in the Mexican Army, his exploits at Gallipoli where he was wounded 18 times, his life as a spy on a mission to Japan, and his suspicious death. His son, young Harry, graduated from Duntroon having won the King’s Medal, and was also killed in mysterious circumstances during the Second World War.  

  • Pages: 288
  • Cost: $26.95 plus postage
  • To Buy: The NILE

Enemy –  A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

Enemy - A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War book cover

By Ruth Clare

As a child, Ruth Clare didn’t know her father was a Vietnam veteran. She didn’t know people went to war and came back changed. What she knew, was that no matter how hard she tried, she always seemed to set off her father’s anger. After becoming a parent herself, Ruth wanted to understand more about the generational impacts of war. Weaving her personal story with interviews with veterans and research into the nature and impact of military trauma, the author shines a much-needed light on the heartbreaking price children of veterans can pay when a parent returns home from war.

  • Pages: 354
  • Cost: $29.99
  • To Buy: Amazon Australia

The Family That Went to War

The Family That Went to War book cover

By Gordon Smith

In the small NSW town of Cootamundra, 6 young Australians, all from the same family, joined up to fight in the First World War. This saga follows their journeys through Gallipoli and the Western Front, and also covers time in Egypt, England and France away from the fighting. This is a story of a family and how it was affected by events on the other side of the world. It tells of the battles, the wounding and sickness endured by these young men, as well as the lighter moments.

  • Pages: 127
  • Cost: $14.84 (paperback), $4.95 (e-book)
  • To Buy: Amazon Australia

Kill the Major

Kill the Major book cover

By Paul Malone

This book tells the story of the most successful Australian, British and New Zealand special operation, behind Japanese lines, in Borneo in the Second World War. All 42 members of this operation – code-named Semut 1 – survived the war. But rather than revere their leader, British Major Tom Harrisson, many hated him and 3 of them aimed to kill him. In a matter of months, in 1945 the Allied “guerrillas” moved well beyond their initial intelligence gathering mission designed to support the major Australian landing on the West Coast of Borneo. They disrupted enemy supply lines and mounted many raids on Japanese-occupied towns and outposts.

Forgotten Heroes: The true story of Sarawak people who fought and died assisting Allied Forces in WWII

Forgotten Heroes: The true story of Sarawak people who fought and died assisting Allied Forces in WWII book cover

By Paul Malone

In Borneo in 1945, local tribal people fought and died alongside allied guerrillas, fighting behind Japanese lines in World War II. A sequel to Kill the Major, Forgotten Heroes is based on official UK records of the citations for The King’s Medal for Courage awarded to Borneo locals. This book recounts the courageous role played by Sarawak people who made the hazardous Semut special operation a huge success. The support native people gave the Allies in the Second World War is often overlooked in official war histories. 

HMAS Nepal: Fleet Destroyer

HMAS Nepal: Fleet Destroyer book cover

By Allan A Murray

This is the only complete published history of Australia's Second World War fleet destroyer, HMAS Nepal. The last of the N Sub-class destroyers commissioned into the RAN, she was initially famous for her role in the wartime classic movie, In Which We Serve. The infamous Arctic convoy PQ 17 introduced the ship to operations before she hunted U-boats, escorted convoys and provided naval gunfire support around Kenya, Madagascar, Burma and Java. The Nepal finished with the British Pacific Fleet in the 1945 Okinawa Campaign, by then respected as one of Australia’s more capable, trusted and best-led fleet destroyers.

  • Pages: 152
  • Cost: $14.25 (paperback), $4.25 (e-book)
  • To Buy:  Amazon Australia

Ghost Below: The Lost Submarine of Sydney Harbour

Ghost Below: The Lost Submarine of Sydney Harbour book cover

By Steven Carruthers

On the night of 31 May 1942, 3 Japanese midget submarines entered Sydney Harbour, sinking HMAS Kuttabul and killing 21 sailors. Two submarines were destroyed and recovered, but the third – M24 – escaped and vanished. For more than 60 years its fate was a mystery until a team of volunteer divers discovered the wreck off Sydney’s coast in 2006. Ghost Below reveals how wartime history, modern archaeology and diving skill combined to solve one of Australia’s last great wartime mysteries.

  • Pages: 366
  • Cost: $32.95
  • To Buy: Amazon (paperback edition)

Afghani

Afghani book cover

By Brendon Patrick

Journey through a century of strife in this gripping dual-timeline novel with George Sher Gul, a Muslim cameleer and Patterson, an Australia soldier. George is fleeing early 20th century Afghanistan, seeking hope in Australia's unforgiving outback. He navigates harsh landscapes and the prejudices of the White Australia policy, with his dream of belonging hanging by a thread. Patterson is in post-9/11 Afghanistan, questioning the war's true motives amidst corruption and personal demons. Their intertwined stories challenge our beliefs on war, peace, and humanity.

  • Pages: 434
  • Cost: $31.84
  • To Buy: Amazon Australia

A Soldier’s Tale

A Soldier’s Tale book cover

By Geoff Jones

Geoff Jones calls his memoir ‘a story of adventure and misadventure, of love of family and a life in the Australian Army’. It chronicles the life of a boy becoming a man in the extremes of the Vietnam War. At the age of 13, Geoff Jones ordered his father, a damaged veteran of the Second World War, out of the home after striking his mother. Within days of his 17th birthday, Geoff enlisted in the Australian Regular Army, from which he retired aged 60, training as a medical assistant and serving with 6 Battalion RAR in the Vietnam War.

Misadventures with Coco-Oscar: A Conscript’s Role in the Malayan Emergency

Misadventures with Coco-Oscar: A Conscript’s Role in the Malayan Emergency book cover

By R A (Bram) Bramley

This is the story of a National Serviceman’s experiences serving in a dysfunctional army unit in an undeclared, and now largely forgotten, war known as the ‘Malayan Emergency’. The His battalion mostly found itself in the wrong places at the wrong times to demonstrate any combat capability and he found himself having to account for a succession of cock-ups and cover-ups. During its brief period on active operations, the only casualties it suffered were self-inflicted and the pinnacle of the battalion’s achievements was winning the Far East Army Football Cup.

  • Pages: 340
  • Cost: $29.99
  • To Buy:  Amazon Australia

Federal Ascent

Federal Ascent book cover

By Jim Ayliffe

Meet Jordy Masters – former electrical tradesman, now Queensland’s most explosive political figure. With razor-sharp instincts and the shadowy counsel of his enigmatic advisor, Sonja Peterson, Jordy has torn up the rulebook, confronting social decay with bold, controversial reform. But state power is only the beginning. As pressure builds to take his movement national, the Centre Right Group urges Jordy into the lion’s den of Canberra. Ruthless rivals, internal betrayals and global pressure collide in a game where every decision reverberates far beyond Australia's borders. And for Jordy, the cost of leadership may be everything he’s built – and everyone he trusts.

Bettsy – The Boy Who Wanted to Fly!

Bettsy – The Boy Who Wanted to Fly! book cover

By Harley Stanton

Ronald William Betts was the first RAAF helicopter pilot to be killed in combat in South Vietnam, on 20 March 1971. He was the co-pilot of a Huey gunship which attempted to drop a resupply of smoke grenades to an Army platoon that was under heavy enemy fire and sustaining casualties. The helicopter was hit, Ron was wounded, and died a few hours later. Some of the most poignant record of his life comes in his own words, snippets of his letters sent from Vietnam. Bettsy includes many comments from family and friends, numerous photographs, is filled with humour and told with compassion.

Memoirs of a Test Pilot

Memoirs of a Test Pilot book cover

By Milton Cottee

This captivating autobiography chronicles the author’s extraordinary career, from flying P-51 Mustangs in the Korean War to testing all 3 V-bombers at Boscombe Down, UK, and serving as Chief Test Pilot at RAAF Laverton. As the final project manager for the F-111’s introduction into the RAAF, Milton Cottee’s skill and courage pushed aviation to new heights. Brought to life by veterans Richard (Dick) Wills and Owen Bartrop, this book is a tribute to Cottee’s legacy. All profits support the Air Force Association NSW Ad Astra Foundation for veterans and their families.

  • Cost: $35 including postage
  • To Buy: Contact Dick Wills at 2rcwills@gmail.com or on 0414 618 793

A Nice Day for Flying

img

By Garry J Gallagher

This book contains a unique blend of personal stories that reveal the real faces of those key figures involved in the lead-up to, and the actual moment, when a beautiful Darwin wet season morning was shattered by a rampant Japan in the Second World War. The author’s ability to review, discern, and construct personal histories from both sides of the conflict, make this an important historical memoir for Australian, American and Japanese readers alike.