ANZACS AT WAR

by John Laffin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 28, 1965

Anzac was a term coined during WWI for a member of the combined Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The Anzacs have reaped almost as much admiration and glory this century as the U. S. Marines. They fight with death-defying bitterness and deviltry that comes from having tamed their savage lands with their own hands; their spirit does not come from Australia's convict heritage, as Laffin makes clear. The battles in this book stretch from the Boer War to Cassino. They are battles in which Anzacs make up the major part of the British or Allied forces engaged. Most have some elementary shape or objective (a ridge, a peninsula, a trail) which acts as a visual aid for the reader trying to comprehend each battle's outline. But these primary shapes soon smudge under a barrage of troop movements and commanders' names, until what emerges is usually just the vicarious thrill of attack and the appended casualty figures. No reader will kid himself that he retains the landscape of the defeat at Callipoli or the capture of Mont St. Quentin...An extra chapter relates the Anzacs' greatest naval performances. The residual image of these accounts is of a soldier of terrific pride and wiry fearlessness.

Pub Date: Sept. 28, 1965

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Abelard-Schuman

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1965

Categories: NONFICTION