BOOK REVIEW | Anzac Guerillas: A World War II Story of Resistance, Hope and Humanity in Occupied Europe

At first glance, this book has little to do with matters maritime, however, the first part provides a fascinating description of the chaos and disarray following Churchill’s misguided decision to use Australian and New Zealand troops to try to save Greece from the Axis forces during mid-1941.

While the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Navy are shown to have generally performed bravely and very well in both attack and defence and, especially, in evacuation, on the ground, things were not so well organised. Significant numbers of Australian troops wastefully became prisoners of war both on the Greek mainland and in Crete.

This is the story of a few of those troops who managed to escape from trains carrying them to four dismal years in POW camps in Germany. They escaped into what had recently become Yugoslavia and joined and fought successfully with Cetnik and Partisan guerrillas for the remainder of the war.

It is a little-known story but a very interesting one of POWs acting according to the “King’s Regulations” and escaping to fight another day.

Author: Edmund Goldrick

Available from Hachette Australia, Sydney, Australia

Web: www.hachette.com.au