Gona’s Gone! The Batle for the Beach-head 1942

This work suggests that, for Australia, the Pacific War was the beginning of a new interpretation of the Southeast Asian region and Australia’s position in it. The three battles fought during the seven-month period beginning July 1942 were the turning-point of the war against Japan on land in the Southwest Pacific. This book examines the capture of Gona, the first of the beach-head strongholds to fall. It concentrates on the involvement of the 21st Australian Infantry Brigade, 7th Division, AIF and its attached 39th militia battalion. The strategic problems and successes, both military and psychological, of this conflict are explored. pp. ix, 129 illusts #0320/0920