Description

Title: Of Storms and Rainbows: The Story of the Men of the 2/12th Battalion – Volume 1 and Volume 2

Author: Graeme-Evans, A.L.

Condition: Very Good (Volume I), Very Good (Volume II) – Previous owners name on the title page.

Edition: 1st Edition

Publication Date: 1989 (Vol I published 1989 & Vol II published 1991)

ISBN: 0646039814 (Volumes I & II)

Cover: Hard Cover with Dust Jacket : Volume 1 – 258 pages, Volume 2 – 473 pages

Comments: The comprehensive and well written history of the 2/12th Battalion during World War Two.

Volume 1 of the 2/12th Battalion AIF covers the period October 1939 – March 1942.  The history of the 2/12th Battalion of the 2nd AIF is the story of one of the AIF’s unusual battalions.  At the time it was raised in 1939, its members came from Tasmania and from North Queensland, usually held to be Townsville and further north.  Perhaps at first sight an unlikely combination drawn from the cane cutters, timbermen ad stockmen, orchardists and fishermen from the south, with both groups containing their share of teachers, public servants and commercial employees.  The fact is that after components combined for the first time at Rutherford near Maitland in NSW, the two groups got along extremely well, and an intensive training period at Ingleburn in NSW prior to embarkation consolidated the unit.  This volume contains many events through the eyes of young soldiers who took part.  Their recollections give a graphic character to the history, which is not always apparent in accounts based more formally on War diaries, official reports and summaries by senior officers. 

Volume 2 continues the story of the 2/12th Battalion AIF from the period March 1942 – January 1946 as it returns from the Middle East on the outbreak of the Pacific War until final victory.  The hitherto invincible Japanese were now at our doorstep and the Battle for Australia had begun.  Over three years of bitter costly fighting lay ahead, in conditions vastly different from those the AIF had experienced in the Middle East.  The two volumes are not just a military history, they record the story of several thousand young Australians, who lived and fought and so many of whom died with the 2/12th during those dangerous years.  The following battle honours appear on the 2/12th colours Defence of Tobruk, The Salient 1941, Milne Bay, Goodenough Island, Borneo, Buna-Gona, Shaggy Ridge, Balikpapan, Finisterres and Sananansa – Cape Killerton. 

Includes Nominal Roll