 |
On Active Service: a range of books about the 3 Services in W W 2. A Digger History site. |
|
|
|
|
|
Soldiering On: The Australian Army at Home and Overseas. 1942 |
||
 |
Prepared by Some of the Boys. Published by Australian War Memorial Canberra ACT 1942 TO THE MEMORY OF FALLEN COMRADES |
Sub category Index
|
| Set up, printed and bound in Australia by Holstead Press Pty Limited 9-15 Nixon St Sydney 1942. Registered in Australia for transportation through the post as a book. | ||
|
EDITORIAL NOTE |
||
| WHEN in 1915 towards the end of the year's fighting the Australians and New Zealanders at Gallipoli prepared "The Anzac Book", they started a practice which was followed by the A.I.F. in the subsequent years of the First World War.
It was resumed by the Second A.I.F. with "Active Service" published at the end of 1941"Soldiering On" continues this practice and adds a further installment to the story of the Australian Army in the Second World War. As it goes to press the Australian forces are engaged in active operations in the Middle East and the South-west Pacific. The accounts of these operations are therefore of necessity told in somewhat general terms so that they may not disclose anything of value to the enemy. Accounts of some phases of recent campaigns have been omitted for that reason. All the stories and other items in "Soldiering On" have been contributed by members of the Australian Army. They have been prepared in the field in brief hours off duty, often by the flickering light of a hurricane lamp in a blacked-out camp and sometimes within hearing of the front-line guns. It is a virtue of the book that it has been prepared in the face of difficulties inseparable from war service. Not all contributions received could be used, but all will be preserved with the records of the Australian Army deposited in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
The contents deal nearly exclusively with 1942. If one or two items refer to 1941 we beg the reader's indulgence. Libya, Greece, Crete, Tobruk and Syria were vital
Experiences for the men who were there, and if they are still more vivid than some
events of this year, it is not a matter for wonder. |
||
|
To all who have collaborated with us in this service to the Australian Army we
tender our grateful thanks. Without their aid this book could not have been produced. The sister-Services-the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force are each preparing their own book. There are therefore few references to them herein. Those who are interested in Australia's part in the war at sea or i the air are referred to in H.M.A.S." and "These Eagles", which are being published as companions to this volume. THE EDITORS. |
 |
||||||
|
FOREWORD |
||||||
| "SOLDIERING ON" is more than an apt title for this record of the activities and experiences of the Australian Army. It is a slogan which contains the ingredients
of victory. The nation to a man must soldier on, whether it be at battle stations, in the
supply line, or in industry, until Victory is achieved. Since "Active Service", predecessor to "Soldiering On", was published a year ago, Australia's sphere of war has expanded and the Australian soldier has become familiar with new campaigning grounds. To Egypt, Palestine, Libya, Greece, Crete and Syria must now be added Ceylon, Malaya, Java, Timor, New Guinea and the Northern Territory of Australia. In "Soldiering On" his experiences on all these fronts are given, both on and off the job he has set himself to do. The publication of this volume provides the Australian Military Forces with an opportunity of expressing our admiration of the fine services of the armies of the United Nations with whom we are associated. We have in mind especially the forces of the United States, the Netherlands East Indies, China, the Motherland and other parts of the Empire, by whose side we have fought, on battlefields distant and near at home, in defence of our homelands and of Freedom. We welcome this opportunity of recording our appreciation of the work of our sister- Services -the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The story of their achievements since the war began will be told in separate volumes but we are glad to pay our tribute to the sterling worth of their efforts in our common cause. Our gratitude goes also to our people at home for their support and confidence. It is for them in particular that this book has been prepared-a great unfinished story of high adventure and of the vicissitudes of fortune which every soldier knows, and of the grand brotherhood-in-arms the memory of which, as the First A.I.F. learned, endures when the hardships and privations of war are forgotten.
|
|
END PAPERS |
|
 |
 |
|
End papers (front) |
|
 |
 |
|
End papers (rear) |
|
