Kristen’s Bibliography
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Book chapter: ‘“Strangers at home”: Stalag Luft III’s kriegies return', in Homecoming Veterans in Literature and Culture: Comparative and Interdisciplinary Perspectives (edited by Niels Boender) (forthcoming, Routledge, 2025)
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Kriegies: The Australian Airmen of Stalag Luft III, Ad Astra Press, 2023
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Book chapter: Alexander K, 2023, 'The Australian prisoner of war experience in Stalag Luft III, 1942–45', in Australian Perspectives on Global Air and Space Power, Routledge, 23 - 33, http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003230656-4
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Taking Flight: Lores Bonney's Extraordinary Flying Career, NLA Publishing, 2016
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Australia's Few and the Battle of Britain, NewSouth Books, 2014 (UK edition by Pen & Sword, 2015). NewSouth paperback reprint, November 2023.
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Australian Eagles, Barrallier Books, 2013
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Jack Davenport Beaufighter Leader, Allen & Unwin, 2009
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Clive Caldwell Air Ace, Allen & Unwin, 2006 (Japanese edition by Tsukomo, 2011)
*****
Awards
- Kriegies: The Australian Airmen of Stalag Luft III was awarded the Nonfiction (self-publishing category) in the ACT Literary Awards 2024 as well as the 2024 NSW Premier's History Awards, The Anzac Memorial Trustees Military History Prize.
- Dr Kristen Alexander was awarded a PhD by UNSW Canberra in 2020 for her thesis ‘Emotions of Captivity: Australian Airmen Prisoners of Stalag Luft III and their Families’. In March 2022, the Australian War Memorial awarded that thesis the 2021 Bryan Gandevia Prize for Australian military–medical history. https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/2021bryan-gandevia-prize
- Best presentation in War/Security/Defence: Session 2, HASS Postgraduate Symposium, UNSW Canberra, October 2018, ‘“Almost round the bloody bend”: Australian airmen and the psychological challenges of captivity’.
- Highly Commended, non-fiction category, 2017 ACT Writing and Publishing Awards: Taking Flight.
- Winner, non-fiction category, 2015 ACT Writing and Publishing Award: Australia’s Few and the Battle of Britain.
- RAAF Chief of Air Force's 2015 reading list: Australia's Few and the Battle of Britain.
- Highly Commended, non-fiction category, 2014 ACT Writing and Publishing Awards: Australian Eagles.
- RAAF Chief of Air Force's 2010 reading list: Jack Davenport Beaufighter Leader.
- Winner, Military Historical Society of Australia's 2013 Sabretache Writers Prize: ‘Miss Celia Macdonald of the Isles “who has been a particularly good friend”’.
- Winner, Military Historical Society of Australia’s 2012 Sabretache Writers Prize: ‘Australian Knights of the Air and their Little Touches of Chivalry’.
On-line
- November 2023 Thanksforyourservice- Podcast 68- The Kriegies- RAAF POW’s in WWII https://thanksforyourservice.podbean.com/e/thanksforyourservice-podcast-68-the-kriegies-raaf-pow-s-in-wwii/
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'Emotions of captivity: Australian airmen prisoners of Stalag Luft III and their families', Australian War Memorial History Webinar Series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnuKX4Oo28Y -
'Winning the 'battle of the wits' in the barbed-wire battleground: Australian airmen of Stalag Luft III' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI_76GjmrmM -
'He "assaulted me at the matrimonial home": Captivity Trauma and Domestic Abuse', UNSW Canberra Conflict and Society Seminar, 6 https://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/events/conflict-society-seminar-6
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'Kriegies – Australian Airmen of Stalag Luft III – Interview with Kristen Alexander', Australian Military Aviation History Association pod cast, https://raafdocumentary.com/kriegies-australian-airmen-of-stalag-luft-iii-interview-with-kristen-alexander/
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Lens of History Podcast, 23 August 2023: Kriegies: The Australian Airmen of Stalag Luft III https://thelensofhistory.substack.com/p/kriegies-the-australian-airmen-of?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web#details
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21 July 2023 Aviation Cultures Mark VII – Flying High: Aviation in Popular Culture conference: ‘I wanted wings.’ Donald Duck, Pilot Officer Prune, and a motorbike: the popular culture of Stalag Luft III. https://echo360.net.au/media/ee5291dc-9070-4974-9b2f-8a744d8d10da/public
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May 2022 Thanksforyourservice- Podcast 51 – Beyond the Great Escape – RAAF airmen of Stalag Luft III https://thanksforyourservice.podbean.com/e/thanksforyourservice-podcast-51-beyond-the-great-escape-raaf-airmen-of-stalag-luft-iii/
- 'Pride of the Squadron: the operational flying life & shocking death of Sqn Ldr Jimmy Catanach DFC RAAF', The Aviation Historian, 47, 2024
- 'Letters from a Luftwaffe Ace' [the life and death of German ace, Erbo von Kageneck], Iron Cross, Issue Nineteen, December 2023
- James Anthony (Jim) Rowland (1922–1999): Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2023 https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rowland-james-anthony-jim-33140
- Grant Moore Lindeman: Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2023 https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lindeman-grant-moore-32534
- 'Missing in Action: An ace fighter pilot vanished while defending Darwin against the town's 53rd Japanese air raid' [the story of Ray Thorold-Smith, 452 Squadron], Wartime, Issue 103, Winter 2023
- 'The "Kriegie" Personalkarte', Iron Cross, Issue Fifteen, December 2022
- '"Vilely Murdered": Five Australians were among the 50 killed in reprisals for the Great Escape from a Nazi prison camp', Wartime, Issue 100, Spring 2022
- Alexander K; Ariotti K, 'Mourning the Dead of the Great Escape: POWs, Grief, and the Memorial Vault of Stalag Luft III', Journal of War & Culture Studies, 2022
- 'The Legacy of Captivity', Wartime, Issue 95, Winter 2021
- Jack Napier Davenport: Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2021 https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/davenport-jack-napier-31292
- 'No Worthwhile job to do' (re the Morotai Mutiny), Wartime, Issue 91, Winter 2020
- Clive Robertson Caldwell: Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2018 http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/caldwell-clive-robertson-27649
- '"For you the war is (not) over": Active disruption in the barbed wire battleground', From Balloons to Drones website, 18 December 2017, https://balloonstodrones.com/2017/12/18/for-you-the-war-is-not-over-active-disruption-in-the-barbed-wire-battleground/
- 'Stalag Luft III: the last Christmas of the War, December 1944', Barbed Wire and Bamboo: Official Organ Ex-prisoners of War Association of Australia, Volume 69, No. 6, December 2017
- 'One of the Few' (John Crossman), Flightpath, Vol. 28, No. 3, February-April 2017 (with Andy Wright)
- 'Lores Bonney: A woman of achievement', Queensland History Journal, Col. 23, No. 4, February 2017
- 'The Forgotten Aviatrix', Australian Geographic, January-February 2017 (cowritten with Josephine Sargent). http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/history-culture/2017/03/lo...
- 'Lores Bonney: A Remarkable Woman', The National Library Magazine, March 2016
- 'Aviatrix Lores Bonney's Feminine Practicality', NLA Publishing Blog, posted 1 March 2016 http://publishing.nla.gov.au/pages/blog.do?newsId=226
- 'Bird Woman', edited extract from Taking Flight, Q Magazine, The Courier Mail (Brisbane) 27-28 February 2016'Fitting POWs into our skewed Anzac legend' (Review of Beyond Surrender), Honest History, 25 November 2015 http://honesthistory.net.au/wp/fitting-pows-into-our-skewed-anzac-legend-review-of-beyond-surrender/
- 'Death of an Aussie Ace' (re Pat Hughes), Britain at War, Issue 99, July 2015
- 'Death on an Autumn Evening: Pat Hughes, the Monaro's Battle of Britain Pilot', The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 September 2014 http://www.smh.com.au/national/death-on-an-autumn-evening-pat-hughes-the...
- 'One of Australia's Few. Des Sheen, Battle of Britain Spitfire Pilot', Flightpath, Volume 26, Number 1, August-October 2014
- '"Remember Me": Australians in the Great Escape', Sabretache, the Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia Vol LV, No.2 June 2014. An edited version of this article appeared in Spitfire News. Journal of the Spitfire Association, Issue Number 103, September 2015
- 'Australian Hurricane Pilots. First Blood in the Battle of Britain', Flightpath, Volume 25 Number 3, February-April 2014
- ‘Miss Celia Macdonald of the Isles "who has been a particularly good friend"’, Sabretache, the Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia Vol LIV, No.3 September 2013
- 'Jack Kennedy: The First Australian Fighter Pilot to Die in the Battle of Britain', Sabretache, the Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia Vol LIV, No.2 June 2013
- 'Battle of Britain Revealed. New Information on Australian Pilots', Britain at War, Issue 75, July 2013
- 'Pilot Officer John Crossman RAF', Chalfont St Giles Parish Magazine, June 2013
- ‘All he Wanted to do was Fly. John Dallas Crossman: Australian Battle of Britain Pilot. Part Two’, Wings, Official Publication of the RAAF Association, Vol. 65, No. 2, Winter 2013
- ‘Australian Knights of the Air and their Little Touches of Chivalry’, Sabretache, the Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. LIII, No. 4, December 2012 (Winner of the 2012 Sabretache Writers’ Prize)
- ‘Lest We Forget...John Crossman’, Ashdown Forest Living (UK), November 2012
- ‘All he Wanted to do was Fly. John Dallas Crossman: Australian Battle of Britain Pilot’, Wings, Official Publication of the RAAF Association, Vol. 64, No. 3, Spring 2012
- (with Mark Lax) ‘Air Commodore James Baird Coward AFC, RAF. One of the Few’, Wings, Official Publication of the RAAF Association, Vol. 64, No. 3, Spring 2012 (This has been included in the Obituaries Australia database http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/coward-james-15941)
- ‘German Dive Bombers—A moment in time and on the airwaves’, Spitfire News, Journal of the Spitfire Association, No. 97, September 2012
- ‘Remembering Flight Lieutenant Stuart Walch—An Australian in the Battle of Britain’, 1940. The Magazine of the Friends of the Few, No. 12, 2012
- ‘John Dallas Crossman’, Forest Row News (UK), Issue 78, February 2012
- ‘Remembering “the Few” in Australia. Our first Australian School Plaque—Stuart Crosby Walch’, Scramble. Official Newsletter of the Battle of Britain Historical Society, Issue No. 146, Autumn 2011
- ‘Kristen’s Letter from Australia’. Scramble. Official Newsletter of the Battle of Britain Historical Society, Issue No. 143, Winter 2010/11
- ‘70th Anniversary Battle of Britain Commemorative Ceremony’, Sabretache, the Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. LI, No. 4, December 2010
- ‘Australian Eagle: Flying Officer Richard Lindsay Glyde DFC. Pilot of the Battles of France and Britain. Part One’, Wings, Official Publication of the RAAF Association, Vol. 62, No. 3, Spring 2010
- ‘A British Engagement. Desmond Sheen’, Panorama—The Canberra Times, 21 August 2010
- ‘Flight Lieutenant John Connolly Kennedy. The First Australian Fighter Pilot to Die in the Battle of Britain’, Wings, Official Publication of the RAAF Association, Vol. 62, No. 2, Winter 2010
- ‘Clive Caldwell: Australia’s Highest Scoring Fighter Pilot of the Second World War’, Wings, Official Publication of the RAAF Association, Vol. 62, No. 2, Winter 2010
- ‘An Australian in the Battle of Britain. Flight Lieutenant Desmond Sheen DFC’, Wings, Official Publication of the RAAF Association, Vol. 62, No. 1, Autumn 2010
- ‘An Australian Hero: Wing Commander Jack Davenport AC DSO DFC* GM’, Wings, Official Publication of the RAAF Association, Vol. 61, No. 3, September 2009
- ‘The Day the Planes “All Fell Into the Sea”’, Sabretache, the Journal and Proceedings of The Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. XLVI, No. 1, March 2005
- ‘Cleaning the Augean Stables. The Morotai Mutiny’, Sabretache, the Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. XLV, No. 3, September 2004 (Reprinted in Aviation Heritage, the Journal of the Aviation Historical Society of Australia, Vol. 36, No. 4, December 2005)
- ‘Caldwell’, Spitfire News, Journal of the Spitfire Association, No. 80, April 2004
- ‘Don’t call me “Killer”: Clive Robertson Caldwell in the Western Desert May–December 1941’, Sabretache, the Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. XLIV, No. 1, March 2003 (Reprinted in Aviation Heritage, the Journal of the Aviation Historical Society of Australia, Vol. 35 No. 3. September 2004)
Conference/seminar papers
- ‘He “assaulted me at the matrimonial home”: captivity trauma and domestic abuse’, Conflict and Society talk, UNSW Canberra, 28 September 2021. https://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/events/conflict-society-seminar-6
- ‘Winning the “battle of the wits” in the barbed-wire battleground: Australian airmen of Stalag Luft III’, Friends of Air Force History and Heritage Network Seminar, 4 December 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI_76GjmrmM
- ‘“War wounds of the spirit”: guilt, grief, PTSD, and moral injury. Remembering and interpreting wartime experiences’, Heritage of the Air Conference, Australian National University, November 2019.
- ‘“My nervous condition has been getting increasingly worse”: Australian airmen and the psychological challenges of captivity’, Aviation Cultures Mk IV, University of Sydney, November 2018.
- ‘“Almost round the bloody bend”: Australian airmen and the psychological challenges of captivity’, HASS Postgraduate Symposium, UNSW Canberra, October 2018. (Awarded prize for best presentation in War/Security/Defence: Session 2.)
- ‘“Touched the face of God”: faith and airmen prisoners of war’, Australian Historical Association Scale of History Conference, Australian National University, July 2018.
- ‘Active disruption in a disruptive world: the “naughty boys” in the barbed wire battleground’, Sir James Rowland Air Power Seminar Series—Air Power in a Disruptive World, UNSW Canberra, May 2018.
- ‘“I miss you terribly darling”: the sexual and emotional challenges of captivity’, HASS War and Society Seminar, UNSW Canberra, May 2018.
- ‘“For you the war is (not) over”: airmen prisoners of war in the barbed wire battleground’, Don’t Drown Postgraduate Conference, UNSW Canberra, October 2017.
- ‘“For you the war is (not) over”: airmen prisoners of war in the barbed wire battleground’, Aviation Cultures Mk III, University of Sydney, April 2017.
- ‘“I go forth into battle, light of heart”: Bill Millington, Australian Battle of Britain Pilot’, Naval, Military and Air Force Club South Australia, 5 November 2015.
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Paul Goodwin with Gordon Goodwin, The Last Navigator. Honest History http://honesthistory.net.au/wp/alexander-kristen-defining-moments-in-the-skies-over-germany-and-beyond/
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Aaron Pegram, Surviving the Great War: Australian Prisoners of War on the Western Front, 1916–18. Honest History http://honesthistory.net.au/wp/alexander-kristen-they-also-served-australians-dealing-with-the-challenge-of-captivity-during-the-great-war/
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Peter Monteath, Escape Artist: The incredible Second World War of Johnny Peck. 'Altruism and mateship on the run: Johnny Peck’s war behind the lines', History Australia, published online 7 January 2018
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Clare Makepeace, Captives of War: British Prisoners of War in Europe in the Second World War, 20th Century British History https://academic.oup.com/tcbh/article-abstract/doi/10.1093/tcbh/hwx058/4608883
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Review article: Clare Makepeace, Captives of War: British Prisoners of War in Europe in the Second World War, Honest History website, 22 October 2017 http://honesthistory.net.au/wp/makepeace-clare-captives-of-war-british-prisoners-of-war-in-europe-in-the-second-world-war/
- Louise Williams, A True Story of the Great Escape, Aircrew Book Review website, 24 March 2016 Read review
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Louise Williams, A True Story of the Great Escape, Flightpath, Volume 27, Number 3, February 2016 Read review
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Joan Beaumont, Lachlan Grant and Aaron Pegram (editors), Beyond Surrender: Australian Prisoners of War in the Twentieth Century, Honest History, 25 November 2015 Read review
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Alex Kerr: Shot Down. A Secret Diary of One POW’s Long March to Freedom. Flightpath, Volume 27, Number 2, November 2015 - January 2016 Read review
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Alex Kerr: Shot Down. A Secret Diary of One POW’s Long March to Freedom Aircrew Book Review, 27 October 2015 Read review
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Peter Rees: Bearing Witness. The remarkable life of Charles Bean, Australia's greatest war correspondent. Australian Defence Force Journal, Issue 197, 2015, online edition Read review
- Michael Molkentin: The Centenary History of Australia and the Great War. Volume 1, Australia and the War in the Air, Australian Defence Force Journal, Issue 196, 2015, online edition read review
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Anthony Cooper : Kokoda Air Strikes. Allied air forces in New Guinea, 1942, Australian Defence Force Journal, Issue 195, 2014, online edition read review
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D R Dymock: Hustling Hinkler. The short tumultuous life of a trailblazing Australian aviator. Australian Defence Force Journal, Issue 192, 2013, online edition Read review
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Greg Gilbert: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea March 1943. Aircrew Book Review http://aircrewbookreview.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/the-battle-of-bismarck-sea-gregory-p.html August 2013 Read review
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Peter Rees: Lancaster Men. The Aussie Heroes of Bomber Command. Australian Defence Force Journal, Issue 191, 2013, online edition Read review
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Peter Rees: Lancaster Men. The Aussie Heroes of Bomber Command. Sabretache, the Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia Vol LIV, No.2 June 2013 Read review
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Andrew Tink: Air Disaster Canberra. The Plane Crash that Destroyed a Government. Sabretache, the Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia Vol LIV, No. 2, June 2013 Read review
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Andrew Tink: Air Disaster Canberra. The Plane Crash that Destroyed a Government. Australian Defence Forcer Journal, Issue 191, 2013, online edition Read review
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Adam Claasen: Dogfight. The Battle of Britain. Sabretache, the Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia Vol LIII, No. 4, December 2012 - Read review
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Leon Kane-Maguire: Lost Without Trace. Squadron Leader Wilbur Wackett, RAAF. A Story of Bravery & Tragedy in the Pacific War. Sabretache, the Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. LIII, No. 2, June 2012 (reprinted in AHSA Newsletter Vol. 28 No. 4, December 2012) - Read review
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Don Charlwood: Journeys into Night. http://aircrewbookreview.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/don-charlwood-rip_30.html, September 2012 - Read review
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Sir Richard Kingsland: Into the Midst of Things. The Autobiography of Sir Richard Kingsland. Sabretache, the Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. LIII, No. 1, March 2012, (see also http://aircrewbookreview.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/into-midst-of-things-si...) - Read review
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Peter Monteath: P.O.W. Australian Prisoners of War in Hitler’s Reich. Sabretache, the Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. LII, No. 4, December 2011 - Read review
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Don G. Davis: Watch on Wings. The Volunteer Air Observers Corps in Australia 1941−1945. Sabretache, the Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. LII, No. 3, September 2011
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Matthew Sweet: The West End Front. Sabretache, the Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia Vol. LII, No. 4, December 2011 (also published Allen & Unwin’s Military eNewsletter November–December 2011 (http://mailcast3.atwww.com/em/message/email/view.php?id=843736&u=18037) - Read review
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Michael Molkentin: Fire in the Sky. The Australian Flying Corps in the First World War. Sabretache, the Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. LI, No. 4, December 2010 (see also http://www.michaelmolkentin.com/reviews/ - Read review
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Michael McKernan: Gallipoli. A Short History. Sabretache, the Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. LI, No. 4, December 2010 - Read review
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Melanie Oppenheimer: Oceans of Love. Narrelle—An Australian Nurse in World War I. Sabretache, the Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. XLVII, No. 3, September 2006
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Juliet Wills, (with Marianne van Velsen Marianne): The Diamond Dakota Mystery. Sabretache, the Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. XLVII, No. 3, September 2006 - Read review
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Carolyn Newman (editor): Legacies of our Fathers. Sabretache, the Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. XLVII, No. 1, March 2006
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Peter Cochrane: Tobruk 1941. Sabretache, the Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. XLVI, No. 3, September 2005
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Neil McDonald: Chester Wilmot Reports. Broadcasts that shaped World War II. Sabretache, the Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. XLV, No. 4, December 2004
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Alex Kershaw: The Bedford Boys. One Small Town’s D-Day Sacrifice. Sabretache, the Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. XLIV, No. 4 December 2003
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Mike Hayes: Angry Skies. Recollections of Australian Combat Fliers. Sabretache, the Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. XLIV, No. 4 December 2003 - Read review
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(Department of Veterans’Affairs): Simply Hell Let Loose. Sabretache, the Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. XLIII, No. 4 December 2002
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Graeme Hosken: Digging for Diggers. A guide to researching an Australian soldier of the Great War 1914–1918. Sabretache, the Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. XLIII, No. 4 December 2002 - Read review