Mark Johnston

This riveting book follows a small group of Australian front-line soldiers from their enlistment in the dark days of 1940 to the end of World War II. No ordinary soldiers, they were members of Don Company of the Second 43rd Battalion, part of the famous 9th Australian Division, which—during campaigns in Tobruk, El Alamein, New Guinea, and Borneo—sustained more casualties...

'Haven't lost the sand, dust, flies or fleas yet, but have had them for so long now they seem part of us' — 12 August 1941, Tobruk. When Tom 'Diver' Derrick enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force on 5 July 1940, he was a 26-year-old labourer with no great prospects. By the end of 1944, he was a national...

In Whispering Death, Mark Johnston, one of Australia's leading experts on World War II, explains vividly how more than 130,000 Australian airmen fought Japan from the Pacific War's first hours in 1941 to its last in 1945. They clashed over a vast area, from India to Noumea, Bass Strait to the Philippines. Merely flying over that region's boundless oceans and...

Leading military historian Mark Johnston tells stories of the courage of individual soldiers across every battle in which Australians fought in World War II. When Australians defended against Rommel's tanks at Tobruk and Alamein, tackled paratroopers landing among them on Crete, attacked French Foreign Legionnaires in Syrian forts, held off Japanese tanks in Malaya, fought hand-to-hand on the Kokoda Track,...

El Alamein, 1942 explores one of the Second World War’s most pivotal battles, focusing on the crucial role of the 9th Australian Division. This book examines how and why Australian forces played a defining role in the victory, prompting Field Marshal Montgomery to declare that success would have been impossible without their contribution. Structured around the three key phases of...

This book recounts the organisation and deployment of one of the most important fighting armies of World War II. Australian divisions made a large and distinctive contribution to victory both in the deserts of the Middle East and the jungles of the South-West Pacific, earning for the second time a unique reputation for aggressiveness, endurance, and independence of spirit. The...

A comprehensive illustrated history of the Australian 9th Division during WWII.