At the outset I need to be up front and declare that I do know Greg Blake, in the eighties quite well, recently only vicariously through joint colleagues at the Defence Force Academy, and not personally. Greg and I used to wargame together at Mike Keogh’s hobby shop in High Street Northcote. It was a dark and dirty place but we enjoyed our games despite this. It was only livened up when Mike defended his shop!

“Gregory Blake was born in Melbourne in 1955. Since a very early age, he has had a keen interest in military history and has written numerous articles on the subject, for publications in Australian, the UK and the US. Greg is a secondary school teacher and tutor at the Australian Defence Force Academy. Greg served with the Australian Army Reserve during the 1970s and 1980s. He is an accomplished artist and in addition to illustrations in this book, has contributed his talents to magazines and instructional texts both in Australia and overseas.” From the Publisher.

The Australian Independent Companies and the Commandos into which they evolved were unique sub-units of the Australian Army during the Second World War. The very concept of such units was a radical one for the deeply conservative Australian Army and came about because of the personal intervention from the Chief of the General Staff, who alone advocated their establishment. The Independent Companies were unlike any other unit in the Australian Army.

They were raised to fight in an autonomous, unconventional manner and while supporting them, were independent of higher formations. During 1942 and 1943 the Independent Companies conducted a multitude of tasks that tested their attributes and skills to the full, be it trekking across and surveying virgin tropical wilderness, long range patrols, raiding and harassing, stalking the enemy and amazingly skilled stealthy close range reconnaissance. As the war progressed, the Army, which had never approved of allowing too much independence to its sub-units, reassessed its requirement for such troops and in a sweeping change transformed the Independent Companies into Commando Squadrons.

These were to be much more tightly controlled than the Independent Companies had been, essentially designed to operate as light infantry rather than a radically unconventional model. Throughout 1944 and 1945 Australian Commandos participated in every campaign fought by the Australian Army. The Second World War Australian Commando experience was very much one of an army unready for the challenge that was initially imposed on it, but an Army that rose to the trial and eventually, despite missteps, ultimately successful mastered the manner in which it chose to employ its commandos.

Showing their Khaki Berets

For those interested in the Australian army it is a must have, however its 300+ pages of very fine print and highly scholarly work make it difficult to read. I have tried to read it several times and each time have put it down as a “later” read.

As reference material it is a superb piece of scholarly work, well researched, footnoted with sources clearly identified. I will use it as that and not try to read it again.

I have given it two ratings because of this:

Readability from Cover to Cover

★★★

Reference source

★★★★★

Despite this it still is an excellent buy and one that should be on your shelf if you are interested in the Australian Independent Companies/Commandos.