Rounds Complete Artillery Forward (3 results)

Hard Cover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. First Edition. 198 pages. Ex-Library. (only one small stamp on inside page). Book and Jacket appear to have hardly been read and are both in Fine condition throughout.

*Sales/posting to the USA suspended*. Hard cover dust wrapper, v/198pp, b&w photos. Light wear to edges of dw/boards; a near fine copy. In 1966, Steve Gower, a young gunner captain in the 101st Field Battery, was sent to Vietnam. He served in the dangerous role of forward observer with the 5th and 6th battalions of the Royal Australian Regiment. The definition of his role stated simply that he was to provide 'timely, accurate and effective fire support', his task to guide the guns of the Australian artillery, sited many kilometres away, in providing deadly firepower to support the soldiers who battled both the jungle and its shadowy inhabitants. Gower learnt quickly that the definition omitted to mention the terror and nerve-jangling tension of jungle warfare he experienced as a forward observer. He describes living the life of an infantry soldier, tramping the ground and joining his infantry mates in a variety of operations including search and destroy, cordon and search, heliborne and road-protection operations and company patrols from forward operating bases. He describes the inevitable boredom and monotony of the routine, contrasting this with the heightened senses of the men as they prepared to move forward with the 'safety catch off', the nervous anticipation of what might lie ahead, the exhilaration and, above all, the camaraderie. A frank and compelling tribute to men who served just as nobly as their AIF predecessors.…

1st edition dust jacket As New octavo 198pp., b/w plates, maps, index, By the end of 1971, the hastily raised, poorly trained, and woefully led Cambodian army had suffered a string of defeats and heavy casualties inflicted by NVA and Viet Cong units. With many of its best infantry battalions and much of its armour, transport and equipment destroyed, only three of its 15 brigade groups were militarily effective. A small group of Australians, which never numbered more than 30 officers, warrant officers and non-commissioned officers of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam, helped train 27 light infantry battalions of the Cambodian army in South Vietnam during 1972.…