Vietnam
The Australian War
-
- $14.99
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
For the first time this is the full story of Australia's involvement in our longest military campaign
'Surely God weeps,' an Australian soldier wrote in despair of the conflict in Vietnam. But no God intervened to shorten the years of carnage and devastation in this most controversial of wars. the ten-year struggle in the rice paddies and jungles of South Vietnam unleashed the most devastating firepower on the Vietnamese nation, visiting terrible harm on both civilians and soldiers.Yet the Australian experience was very different from that of the Americans. Guided by their commanders' knowledge of jungle combat, Australian troops operated with stealth, deception and restraint to pursue a 'better war'. In reconstructing for the first time the full history of our longest military campaign, Paul Ham draws on hundreds of accounts by soldiers, politicians, aid workers, entertainers and the Vietnamese people. From the commitment to engage, through the fight over conscription and the rise of the anti-war movement, to the tactics and horror of the battlefield, Ham exhumes the truth about this politicians' war - which sealed the fate of 50,000 Australian servicemen and women. More than 500 Australian soldiers were killed and thousands wounded. those who made it home returned to a hostile and ignorant country and a reception that scarred them forever. this is their story.
Customer Reviews
EXCELLENT*****
EXCELLENT READ, WELL WRITTEN GREAT INSIGHT. PROUD OF THE PEOPLE IN THE BOOK.
Vietnam Paul Ham
Well well well - I was not a draft dodger and my registration number was 13282789 issued Sydney 26/01/1972, I was not called up but must confess my feelings were very pro assisting these people. Oh my God, thank God I wasn't dragged into the political lies of Holt, Gordon, Fraser & the worst of them all being Whitlam & Cairns. The preceding members of "parliament, should hang their heads and hip pockets in shame for the atrocious lies that were fed to the Australian Public. Great Book Paul, & my many thanks to the veterans who represented us so valiantly and with pride in the ANZAC tradition and were grossly, grossly, mistreated upon their return to these shores of Australia. Shame Politicians, Shame Politicians!!!