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Booksforever Newsletter - June 20th

Booksforever Newsletter

All books listed in this Newsletter, can be found at the Booksforever website.

Always feel free to contact us anytime 7 days a week, if you have any questions.

Our online business is viewable 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. For this reason, we do not stop Friday afternoon, and open again Monday morning to answer your questions. We are here 7 days, and will continue to answer any questions all week round. If you do send an email that is not answered within at most 1 day, we did not get it! please re-send.

Since last Newsletter, a substantial quantity of books has been added to the website. All the new categories discussed in that Newsletter are now growing in selection, and will continue to do so. It has been very good to see people are interested in Military History, not necessarily related to Australia, and are expanding their Military libraries in this area.

New Category

- Cavalry : for all books on Cavalry, regardless of War, Country or Period. Like the other recently added categories, it will slowly grow in stock from now on.

Battlefield Guides

Battlefield Guides are an important reference for anyone wishing to visit Battlefields around the world. They offer a good review of the areas discussed, and help to ensure your visit to specific battlefields do not miss any important landmarks, or historical locations. If you are planning a trip involving a battleground tour, please contact us and we will try and find a Battlefield guide book to suit, if the area you plan to visit is not covered by one of the titles listed on site.

Some popular areas covered are :

-   Major & Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide to the Somme, Gallipoli, Ypres and Passchendaele, Battle Map of the Ypres Salient, Battlefield Guide (The Western Front - North) & (Western Front - South), Operation Market Garden, Normandy Landings.

For those after a Battlefield guide on Gallipoli, specifically on battles Australia was involved in, a great little book recommended is called:

-        Exploring Gallipoli - (An Australian Army Battlefield Guide. This book (a CD is also included), is intended to provide both practical touring information for the independent traveller to Gallipoli, and a guide to the amazing First World War Anzac Battlefields).

Two new arrivals available late week. (can be pre-ordered, and will be sent on arrival)

- Crumps & Camouflets

Australian Tunnelling Companies on the Western Front.

These men were engaged in a desperate duel with their German opponents to destroy their opposing front lines by blowing mines, carefully placed in dark, treacherous tunnels under no mans land. At the same time, the tunnellers worked to defend their own front lines from the German miners, intent on the same deadly task. It was a war within a war in its most literal sense. The secret war culminated in the simultaneous blowing of nineteen huge mines, with a combined payload of almost 450,000 tonnes of high explosives, beneath the Messines Ridge. (Over 4,500 Australians served on the Western Front in three Australian tunnelling companies and their unique support unit, the Alphabet Company. Around 330 men did not return.)

- Beyond Adversity

(Of special interest to those after QLD Histories, including us here at Booksforever, located in Caloundra - Qld)

This book tells the story of those Queensland University students of U Company, 15th Battalion during its brief existence. In April 1942, the 15th Battalion was given 24 hours notice to move from Caloundra to Townsville. In January 1943 the Battalion went to New Guinea to take part in the Salamaua and Lae campaigns and did not return to Brisbane until July 1944. In November it was sent to fight in Bougainville. The Battalion finally returned home in January 1946.

A small selection of some New &/or Second hand books re-stocked or arriving soon for consideration:

- Anzacs in Arkangel (The Untold story of Australia and the Invasion of Russia 1918-1919)
- Proud Sixth (An Illustrated History of the 6th Australian Division 1939-1946)
- Ridge and the River (A taught account of jungle Warfare. This is a NOVEL, but based on the authors experiences in World War 2. T.A. Hungerford was in the 2/8th Australian Commando Squadron)
- Eggs A Cook - 44th Battalion AIF (This book has recently been reprinted in Australia, a high quality publication, in hardcover) Until now, apart from the original, only softcover copies have been available from an overseas supplier, so it is now great to offer a high quality copy published here in Australia)
- My Side of the Kwai (Reminiscences of an Australian Prisoner of War of the Japanese. Less Atkinson was taken as a POW when Singapore fell. He was sent to work on the Burma Railway)
- Betsy's Story (Recollections of a Civilian Prisoner of War in Sumatra from 1942-1945)
- Let Enemies Beware (2/15th Battalion 1940-1945) by Ron Austin.
- Crossed Boomerangs (A History of all the 31 Battalions. This book records the history of a Battalion, and the Men who served in it - sons of North Queensland)
- Nippon Very Sorry, Many Men Must Die (This book covers the mistreatment of the Australian Prisoners of War by the Japanese, World War 2. It is a text of the Submission to the United Nations Commission of Human Rights. (ECOSOC Resolution 1503). This was on behalf of the Australian X-POWs)
- Sailor & Commando (A Royal Australian Special Service Beach Commando 1942-46, Sailor and Commando is a story of extraordinary training and active service. It includes a nominal roll of personnel)
- We will also be stocking titles by Neville Browning, World War 1 Unit Histories:

Westralian Cavalry (44th Battalion AIF)
The Blue and White Diamond (28th Battalion AIF)
Leane's Battalion (48th Battalion AIF)
The 52nd Battalion AIF

Recommended Reading

- Silent Men (The story of the Australian 2/14th Battalion in World War Two)

Peter Dornan tells of the incredible heroism of Bruce Kingsbury, Alan Avery, Harry Saunders, Teddy Bear, the Professor and others who make up the
eleven-man section that became one of the most decorated in British and Australian military history. This is their story, and the story of the
Australian 2/14th Battalion in World War II, told through the eyes of Stan Bisset, international rugby player. These men fought a bitter and costly war against the Vichy French in Syria and were recalled to defend Australia against the Japanese in Papua New Guinea. At Isurava on the Kokoda Track they were part of the Australian force that held up the all-conquering Japanese in some of the most critical and vicious battles of the war.

- Paths of Ash (The extraordinary story of an Australian Prisoner of War)

A story of two brothers, caught up in the fall of Singapore. Both became POWs, sent to Changi, and worked on the Burma Railway. Later sent to Japan to work in the Coal Mines, at a location where they were able to see the Mushroom cloud from the Atomic bomb dropped at Nagasaki.

- Keep the Men Alive (Australian POW doctors in Japanese captivity)

During World War II, 22000 Australian military personnel became prisoners of war under the Japanese military. Over three and a half years, 8000 died in captivity, in desperate conditions of forced labour, disease and starvation. Many of those who returned home after the war attributed their survival to the 106 Australian medical officers imprisoned alongside them. These doctors varied in age, background and experience, buy they were united in their unfailing dedication to keeping as many of the men alive as possible.

- Platoon Commanders Notebook

In early April 1915, while the troopship Derfflinger rode at anchor in Mudros Harbour - waiting to leave for Gallipoli - Lieutenant Bob Cowey, commander of 9 Platoon, C Company, 3 Battalion, ordered his clerk, Corporal Frank Barlow, to record the details of the 55 men in the platoon. Early in WW1 it was not compulsory to maintain a platoon commander's notebook but lessons were learned the hard way and the platoon commanders knew that they had to keep some sort of record of the men under their command.

Corporal Barlow was extremely thorough in recording the details of the men of 9 platoon even down to their rifle numbers, while other platoon notebooks often recorded just a list of regimental numbers and names and the sections to which the men belonged. Barlow recorded everything, including the fate of the men, until he was evacuated wounded. The names of the first two lots of reinforcements to the platoon on Gallipoli are also recorded, bringing the total to 66 men. The poigancy of the entries in the original notebook motivated the author to research what became of these men. The result is the story of Lieutenant Bob Cowey and the original 66 men of 9 Platoon, C Company, 3 Battalion.

'Wish Lists'

We have been finding the 'Wish List' option on the website a great addition. You will need to register to use this option, but once you register, you will not need to do so again. This will also speed up online purchases, as all your details are there ready for you each sign in/and or checkout.

Any Customer using the Wish List option, who adds a book that is out of stock, will be notified via email when that specific book is restocked. So if you do see a book title marked out stock, that is of interest to you, please add it to your wish list. If you are in a rush to get a copy, it is easier to just email us direct, for a quicker re-stocking of that title.

Postage

Due to the next increase in postage prices we are told are coming in late June, we are no longer able to offer a flat $7.90 Australia wide postage fee. We kept this rate up for as long as possible, but were just losing too much each transaction to cover the difference.

Unfortunately postage costs are out of our hands. I am sure those who buy online, fully understand that postage is just part of the process. Not to mention the packing and handling to process each order. We still offer a flat postage rate for any order over 500grams, so you can still order as many books as you want in the one order, for that flat rate.

Military Books Wanted

With a growing Customer base and growing "wants list", quality Military Books are always wanted. Let us know if you have any Military Books for sale. Our Customer want list is full of requests for certain 'Australian Unit Histories' at present. So if you have any of these specific titles for sale, contact us. Thank you to those who do/have contacted us. It is surprising how many of these old histories are lying around in bookshelves and garages, waiting to be discovered again!

Booksforever

20 Jun 2010

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