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 wellhidden 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.