Angus Konstam’s Borneo 1945, published in 2024 is a strong addition to the long running Osprey Publishing Campaign series and one of the better concise overviews currently available on the 1945 Borneo operations. Covering Operation Oboe and the final Australian led amphibious campaigns of the Second World War, the book succeeds in presenting a broad operational narrative within the tight ninety six page constraints imposed by the series format.

Konstam handles the strategic context particularly well. Rather than presenting Borneo merely as a late war “mopping up” operation, he places the campaign within the wider political and strategic tensions of the South West Pacific theatre. The Australian desire to undertake an independent major operation, rather than remain subordinate within the Philippines campaign, is woven effectively into the narrative and helps explain why the campaign mattered politically even as Japan’s overall defeat had become inevitable. One of the book’s greatest strengths is its treatment of amphibious warfare.

The planning and execution of the Tarakan, Labuan, Brunei, Sarawak, and Balikpapan landings are explained clearly and supported by excellent maps and diagrams. Osprey’s Campaign series often depends heavily on visual presentation and this volume uses that format well. The maps are particularly valuable because the Borneo campaign involved multiple dispersed operations across difficult terrain that can easily become confusing in text alone. For Australian readers and historians, the coverage of Australian forces is naturally one of the major attractions.

The operations of the 7th and 9th Divisions receive solid treatment, as do the supporting naval and air components. Konstam also includes discussion of Allied special forces and guerrilla activity, which helps avoid reducing the campaign solely to a sequence of amphibious assaults. The greatest limitation of the book is analytical depth. This is ultimately a concise campaign study rather than a full scholarly monograph. Readers looking for sustained discussion of the ongoing historiographical debate surrounding the strategic necessity of Operation Oboe may find the treatment somewhat compressed. The long standing controversy over whether these operations represented strategically unnecessary late war offensives is acknowledged, but cannot be explored in great detail within the available space.

At times the narrative also moves very quickly through tactical actions. Some engagements receive only brief coverage before the book shifts to the next landing or operational phase. This is an unavoidable consequence of trying to cover such a geographically broad campaign in a short format, but readers already familiar with Australian operations in New Guinea or the Pacific may occasionally want more detailed treatment of brigade and battalion level actions.

Visually, however, the book is excellent. The combination of campaign maps, colour artwork, wartime photography, and operational diagrams makes it particularly useful for wargamers, military history enthusiasts, and anyone seeking a clear introductory understanding of the campaign. The terrain of Borneo, with its swamps, jungle, oil facilities, river systems, and coastal landing areas, is conveyed effectively throughout.

For wargamers in particular, the book offers considerable value. The campaign naturally lends itself to scenario generation:

• amphibious assaults
• urban fighting around oil facilities
• jungle patrol operations
• river crossings
• guerrilla warfare
• multinational operations involving Australian, Dutch, British, American, and Japanese forces

The dispersed nature of the operations also suits platoon and company level gaming very well.

Overall, Borneo 1945 suffers from the rest of Osprey’s Campaign series in that they try to cover everything but not much in depth. They are, however, a good overview which is what was intended. For readers interested in Australian amphibious operations, late war Pacific campaigns, or scenario inspiration for tabletop gaming, it is highly recommended.

Steer clear if you are after a detailed campaign history but if you want a good overview of campaign Oboe then well worth the money. The rating below is for its intended Camapign overview.