The Diggers of Kapyong

The Diggers of Kapyong PDF Author: Tom Gilling
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1761188658
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 362

Get Book Here

Book Description
The gripping account of Australia in the Korean War and how 3RAR battalion held back an entire Chinese army division to prevent Seoul being overrun. 'In the only war in which Australian soldiers ever faced off against the might of Mao, this is a revealing and spellbinding account of an extraordinary victory.' - Peter FitzSimons We charged and we began to get shot down . . . there were so many bullets coming that it was like walking, running into a very stiff breeze. Most of the section had been knocked out and I'm within ten foot of the Chinese trench when bang, something hit me. It just blew the legs out from underneath me. April 1951. After ten months of fighting, the Korean War hangs in the balance. A single Australian battalion, backed by Kiwi gunners and American tanks, is dug in on a hilltop overlooking the Kapyong Valley, north of Seoul. Together with a Canadian battalion on a nearby hill, they are all that stands between Mao's army and the South Korean capital. Since pouring across the North Korean border to support Kim Il Sung's communist fighters, the Chinese have launched offensive after offensive in an attempt to drive General MacArthur's UN forces off the peninsula. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides have been killed or have frozen to death in the cruel Korean winter. On the barren hills above the Kapyong Valley, the heavily outnumbered Diggers of 3RAR wait in darkness for a battle that could decide the war's outcome. Told through the eyes of the soldiers, The Diggers of Kapyong is the compelling account of the mateship, sacrifice and heroism that defined Australia's role in a bloody war whose bitter legacy still resonates today. 'Gilling puts things in Cold War historical perspective and, using the testimonies of soldiers looking back on those two days of intense, sometimes hand-to-hand fighting, creates a detailed and atmospheric picture of the day and nighttime battles, the mayhem and resistance against the odds.' - Sydney Morning Herald 'Once in a while an astonishing book comes along. This is one such book.' - Newcastle Herald 'Gives real insight into one of the major battles of the Korean War. The individual stories of the various soldiers are fascinating . . . a compelling overview of the battle and its implications.' - Canberra Daily

The Diggers of Kapyong

The Diggers of Kapyong PDF Author: Tom Gilling
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1761188658
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 362

Get Book Here

Book Description
The gripping account of Australia in the Korean War and how 3RAR battalion held back an entire Chinese army division to prevent Seoul being overrun. 'In the only war in which Australian soldiers ever faced off against the might of Mao, this is a revealing and spellbinding account of an extraordinary victory.' - Peter FitzSimons We charged and we began to get shot down . . . there were so many bullets coming that it was like walking, running into a very stiff breeze. Most of the section had been knocked out and I'm within ten foot of the Chinese trench when bang, something hit me. It just blew the legs out from underneath me. April 1951. After ten months of fighting, the Korean War hangs in the balance. A single Australian battalion, backed by Kiwi gunners and American tanks, is dug in on a hilltop overlooking the Kapyong Valley, north of Seoul. Together with a Canadian battalion on a nearby hill, they are all that stands between Mao's army and the South Korean capital. Since pouring across the North Korean border to support Kim Il Sung's communist fighters, the Chinese have launched offensive after offensive in an attempt to drive General MacArthur's UN forces off the peninsula. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides have been killed or have frozen to death in the cruel Korean winter. On the barren hills above the Kapyong Valley, the heavily outnumbered Diggers of 3RAR wait in darkness for a battle that could decide the war's outcome. Told through the eyes of the soldiers, The Diggers of Kapyong is the compelling account of the mateship, sacrifice and heroism that defined Australia's role in a bloody war whose bitter legacy still resonates today. 'Gilling puts things in Cold War historical perspective and, using the testimonies of soldiers looking back on those two days of intense, sometimes hand-to-hand fighting, creates a detailed and atmospheric picture of the day and nighttime battles, the mayhem and resistance against the odds.' - Sydney Morning Herald 'Once in a while an astonishing book comes along. This is one such book.' - Newcastle Herald 'Gives real insight into one of the major battles of the Korean War. The individual stories of the various soldiers are fascinating . . . a compelling overview of the battle and its implications.' - Canberra Daily

The Imjin and Kapyong Battles

The Imjin and Kapyong Battles PDF Author: S.P. MacKenzie
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253009162
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book Here

Book Description
An “excellent history” of a massive Communist offensive and the brigades that resisted it (H-War). The sacrifice of the British regiment known as the “Glorious Glosters” in defense of the Imjin River line and the hilltop fights of Australian and Canadian battalions in the Kapyong Valley have achieved great renown. Using official and unofficial source material ranging from personal interviews to war diaries, this in-depth study, the first of its kind, seeks to disentangle the mythology surrounding both battles and explain why events unfolded as they did. Based on thorough familiarity with all available sources, many not previously utilized, it sheds new light on fighting “the forgotten war.” “In Korea, on the night of 22nd April 1951, communist forces unleashed what remains, to this day, their greatest offensive since Zhukov’s storm on Berlin. In the desperate fighting that followed, the key flanks of free world forces were held by one British and one Commonwealth brigade. The former took on a Chinese army; the latter, a Chinese division. Six decades later, an American historian has dismantled the barriers between Australian, British, Canadian, and New Zealand accounts of those whirlwind days to compose the only comparative analysis of the tragedy on the Imjin and the stand at Kapyong.”—Andrew Salmon, author of Scorched Earth, Black Snow: Britain and Australia in the Korean War, 1950

The Battle of Kapyong

The Battle of Kapyong PDF Author: Bob Breen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 218

Get Book Here

Book Description
Reconstructs the first 24 hours of the Battle of Kapyong, detailing the actions of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) and those units and sub-units that supported the Battalion's defence of the routes down the Kapyong river valley.

The Korean War

The Korean War PDF Author: Cameron Forbes
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers Aus.
ISBN: 1742624146
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Korean War was a 20th Century conflict that has never ended. South Korea, a powerhouse economy and dynamic democracy sits uneasily alongside North Korea, the world's most secretive, belligerent, unpredictable and repressive totalitarian state. Today, tensions simmer and occasionally flare into outright violence on a peninsula dense with arms, munitions and nuclear warheads. Cameron Forbes, acclaimed author of Hellfire, tells the story of the war and Australia's involvement in it in a riveting narrative. From the letters and diaries of those diggers who fought across Korea's unforgiving hills and mountains to the grand strategies formulated in Washington, Moscow and Beijing, The Korean War reveals the conflict on all its levels - human, military and geopolitical. In the tradition of Les Carlyon's Gallipoli and The Great War and Paul Ham's Vietnam, Cameron Forbes has written a masterpiece that will serve as the definitive history of Australia and the Korean War. Winner of FAW National Literary Awards for Best Fiction 2010

Let the Bastards Come

Let the Bastards Come PDF Author: David W. Cameron
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1923144162
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 532

Get Book Here

Book Description
Anzac Day 2024 represents the 73rd anniversary of the critical battle of Kapyong (23 to 25 April 1951) This book for the first time tells the full story of the Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and American units involved. Fewer than 1,000 Australian and Canadian infantrymen, supported by New Zealand artillery and 15 American Sherman tanks fought off an entire Chinese Division of over 12,000 men and contributed significantly to defeating the great Chinese August offensive. The battle of Kapyong was fought during a heavy downpour in mountainous terrain, with Chinese units infiltrating the Australian lines which extended for seven kilometres. Given the small number of men involved and the long defensive line, several strong points were quickly established. The Australians almost alone, but with support from New Zealand gunners and some American tanks, for the first 24 hours held back the Chinese and were at times surrounded by large numbers of Chinese who launched ongoing human wave attacks against their isolated positions — but the line held with Australians leading bayonet counter charges against the Chinese. Within 24 hours, Canadian troops were committed to the battle and for 12 hours also faced significant attempts by the Chinese to surround their position – they too held their ground. The battle of Kapyong was truly a decisive battle of the Korean War, and for their heroic actions during the battle of Kapyong, the Australian and Canadian infantrymen and American tankers were awarded a rare US Presidential Unit citation.

In from the Cold

In from the Cold PDF Author: John Blaxland
Publisher: ANU Press
ISBN: 176046273X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Get Book Here

Book Description
Open hostilities in the Korean War ended on the 27th of July 1953. The armistice that was signed at that time remains the poignant symbol of an incomplete conclusion – of a war that retains a distinct possibility of resuming at short notice. So what did Australia contribute to the Korean War from June 1950 to July 1953? What were the Australians doing there? How significant was the contribution and what difference did it make? What has that meant for Australia since then, and what might that mean for Australia into the future? Australians served at sea, on land and in the air alongside their United Nations partners during the war. They fought with distinction, from bitterly cold mountain tops, to the frozen decks of aircraft carriers and in dogfights overhead. This book includes the perspectives of leading academics, practitioners and veterans contributing fresh ideas on the conduct and legacy of the Korean War. International perspectives from allies and adversaries provide contrasting counterpoints that help create a more nuanced understanding of Australia’s relatively small but nonetheless important contribution of forces in the Korean War. The book finishes with some reflections on implications that the Korean War still carries for Australia and the world to this day.

A Squaddy's Tale

A Squaddy's Tale PDF Author: John Hatchard
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1465396063
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 315

Get Book Here

Book Description
. . is the story of a young English lad, still in his teens who, between 1950 and 1952, underwent that rite of passage into adulthood called national service but with a difference. Half of it was spent with the Welch Regiment, part of the Commonwealth Division of the United Nations forces in Korea. Luckily, it was during the quieter middle phase of that war, the Forgotten War and the last to be fought from trenches. He experienced moments of unexpected pleasure, ennui, abject terror, boredom, utter weariness and despair, sadness, joy, laughter and profound revelation all of which are part of this tale. There is some blood and guts but, through great good fortune, none of his personal experiencing. This is a story of how it was for one reasonably well educated boy sent halfway across the world on His/Her Majesties business to an uncertain fate. He returned a man in one sense at least!

Melbourne Historical Journal

Melbourne Historical Journal PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 638

Get Book Here

Book Description


Captains of the Soul

Captains of the Soul PDF Author: Michael Gladwin
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1922132535
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Get Book Here

Book Description
Known affectionately as ‘Padres’, chaplains have been integral to the Australian Army for a century. From the legendary William ‘Fighting Mac’ McKenzie, whose friendships with diggers in the trenches of Gallipoli and France made him a national figure in 1918, to Harold Wardale-Greenwood, who died caring for the sick while a POW on the brutal Sandakan ‘death march’ in July 1945, this book assesses the contribution of Australian Army chaplains in conflicts and peacekeeping missions, in barracks and among service families. Drawing on a wealth of original archival material and little known published sources, Captains of the Soul represents the first comprehensive account of Australian Army chaplains. It surveys their changing role and experience from the Great War of 1914–18 to the recent conflict in Afghanistan; charts the evolution of the Royal Australian Army Chaplains’ Department across its first century; and addresses the significance of Army chaplaincy for Australia’s military, religious and cultural history. It is a story of personal conviction and selfless devotion.

Digger, the Legend of the Australian Soldier

Digger, the Legend of the Australian Soldier PDF Author: John Laffin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Get Book Here

Book Description