Description
Title: Do Unto Others – Counter Bombardment in Australia’s Military Campaigns
Author: Smith, Alan H
Condition: Mint
Edition: 1st Edition
Publication Date: 2011
ISBN: 9780987057440
Cover: Hard Cover with Dust Jacket – 406 pages
Comments: Napoleon’s famous dictum, ‘You make war with artillery’ is a truism confirmed by history since gunpowder was invented.
Since 1899, the significant role Australian gunners have played in supporting the Australian Military Forces’ campaigns has been well-documented. They have gallantly and whole-heartedly supported Australian, British, New Zealand and Indian armies in both World Wars, the Korean and Borneo Confrontation Wars and most recently the Vietnam War.
Most Australian military historical accounts focus on the support role gunners played to cavalry and infantry rather than counter bombardment activities, where they used artillery fire to locate and destroy and/or neutralise enemy artillery and mortars. Do Unto Others is a comprehensive history of the use of counter bombardment from the inception of this technique in the First World War, through to the Vietnam campaign.
The ‘art of counter bombardment’ originated during the First World War, when an Australian scientist, William Bragg, a lieutenant in the Royal Horse Artillery, along with Australian physicists and enthusiasts, developed a method of locating nemy guns using the physics of sound, called ‘sound ranging’, and meteorology. From this time the Australian Military Forces in their campaigns have been major beneficiaries of counter bombardment, which became increasingly more sophisticated with the advent of radar location during World War 2 and the last big artillery war of the 20th century in Korea.
Counter bombardment reached new heights with the Vietnam War, the first time the Australian Army deployed its own locating battery to a war zone, allowing gunners to achieve outstanding results and an enviable reputation for locating skills. Vietnam culminated in a triumph for the ‘scientific method’ across many disciplines and the efforts of the many dedicated gunners involved in counter bombardment over the 58 year period since introduction of this technique.
Do Unto Others is a comprehensive account of the history of counter bombardment, including the development of Australian techniques, equipment and procedures through the campaigns up until Vietnam, with references to the techniques and actions of the British and American artillery included where appropriate to place the Australian experience in perspective. It is also the story of the brave men behind the artillery and their outstanding efforts and results across these varied campaigns.
