Book contents
- Strategy and Command
- Other titles in the Australian Army History Series
- Acknowledgement of Country
- Strategy and Command
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures, maps and tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The influence of the Boer War on Australia’s First World War commanders
- Chapter 2 Preparing for war, 1901–14
- Chapter 3 The AIF’s commanders
- Chapter 4 Strategic planning between the wars
- Chapter 5 Identifying the threat from Japan in 1941
- Chapter 6 A pivotal year in Australian history: 1942
- Chapter 7 Australia and coalition warfare in the Second World War
- Chapter 8 Deciding Australia’s war strategy in 1943
- Chapter 9 Advancing national interests
- Chapter 10 Higher command in the Korean War
- Chapter 11 Higher direction of the army in the Vietnam War
- Chapter 12 The Gulf War, 1991
- Chapter 13 Deploying and sustaining INTERFET in East Timor in 1999
- Chapter 14 Developing a command structure for joint operations
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 9 - Advancing national interests
Australia’s war strategy, 1944–45
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 October 2021
- Strategy and Command
- Other titles in the Australian Army History Series
- Acknowledgement of Country
- Strategy and Command
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures, maps and tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The influence of the Boer War on Australia’s First World War commanders
- Chapter 2 Preparing for war, 1901–14
- Chapter 3 The AIF’s commanders
- Chapter 4 Strategic planning between the wars
- Chapter 5 Identifying the threat from Japan in 1941
- Chapter 6 A pivotal year in Australian history: 1942
- Chapter 7 Australia and coalition warfare in the Second World War
- Chapter 8 Deciding Australia’s war strategy in 1943
- Chapter 9 Advancing national interests
- Chapter 10 Higher command in the Korean War
- Chapter 11 Higher direction of the army in the Vietnam War
- Chapter 12 The Gulf War, 1991
- Chapter 13 Deploying and sustaining INTERFET in East Timor in 1999
- Chapter 14 Developing a command structure for joint operations
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Australia’s war effort during the last two years of the Second World War has been the subject of considerable criticism, much of it ill-informed. Some historians have claimed that the operations in Bougainville and New Guinea were part of an ‘unnecessary war’. The British historian Sir Max Hastings went further when he claimed that ‘as the war advanced, grateful as were the Allies for Australia’s huge contribution towards feeding their soldiers, there was sourness about the limited contribution by this country of seven million people’. According to Hastings, the Australians were ‘bludgers’, claiming, for example, that the government cut the army’s size by 22 per cent because of the ‘unpopularity of military service’.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Strategy and CommandIssues in Australia's Twentieth-century Wars, pp. 161 - 177Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021