I am always interested in picking up books on obscure information that could easily be forgotten in time. when I saw this one on the Book Grocer it took only seconds to get out the plastic!

Sailors in Slouch Hats: From a Sea of Memories, edited by W. W. Rice, is one of those unit histories that sits somewhere between memoir, tribute, and record. It is not a grand official history and it does not pretend to be one. Its strength lies in the fact that it was recorded by the men of 42 Australian Landing Craft Company, Royal Australian Engineers, AIF, and that gives the book a directness often missing from more polished accounts of the Second World War.

The title is a good one. These men were soldiers, but much of their war was spent doing work that looked more naval than military. They operated landing craft, moved men and supplies, dealt with surf, tides, enemy fire, bad weather, confusion, mechanical failure, and the thousand small problems that come with amphibious operations. They were, in a very real sense, sailors in slouch hats. That awkward identity is part of what makes the book interesting. It reminds the reader that the Australian Army in the South West Pacific was not just infantry battalions, artillery batteries, and command headquarters. It also depended on small, practical, hard worked units that kept operations moving.

The book is especially valuable because it gives attention to a part of the war that is too easily passed over. Landing craft units were essential, but they rarely receive the attention given to the men who went ashore with rifles in their hands. Yet without these crews, many operations would have been impossible. The men of 42 Landing Craft Company had to put troops ashore, supply them, and in some cases get them out again under extremely dangerous conditions. Their work demanded courage, but also skill, patience, improvisation, and a willingness to keep going when plans broke down.

As a piece of history, the book is at its best when it allows the men to speak for themselves. The memories have the feel of recollection rather than formal reconstruction. That means they can sometimes be uneven, but that is also part of their value. There is humour, pride, sadness, understatement, and the familiar Australian habit of treating extraordinary danger as if it were merely another difficult job to be got through. The result is not always neat, but it feels human.

The strongest parts of the book are those that show the practical nature of the unit’s war. The reader gets a sense of men working with machinery, weather, water, mud, darkness, and uncertainty. This is not war as a clean movement of arrows across a map. It is war as hard labour, poor sleep, wet clothing, shouted orders, engines, loading, unloading, beaching, reversing, repairing, and trying again. That sort of detail is important because it brings the reader closer to the actual experience of service.

There are limitations. Readers looking for a broad operational study may want more context, clearer maps, and a firmer connection between the men’s memories and the wider campaign. Because the book is built around personal recollection, it does not always pause to explain the larger strategic situation. At times it assumes the reader already knows where the unit fits. For a specialist reader this is not a major problem, but for a general reader it may require some outside reading.

That said, it would be unfair to judge the book mainly by what it is not. Its purpose is not to replace official histories. Its purpose is to preserve memory. On that measure it succeeds. It records the service of men who might otherwise remain in the background of better known operations. It gives names, faces, stories, and incidents to a kind of work that is often reduced to a line in an order of battle.

For anyone interested in Australian military history, especially the South West Pacific, amphibious operations, Royal Australian Engineers, or small unit experience, Sailors in Slouch Hats is well worth reading. It is also useful for wargamers and military historians because it shows how operations depend on far more than combat units alone. Beaches, boats, supply, timing, weather, and evacuation matter. So do the men who make those things happen.

In the end, this is a modest but important book. It preserves the memory of ordinary Australians doing an extraordinary job under difficult and dangerous conditions. It is not always polished, but it is honest, affectionate, and valuable. Books like this matter because they keep small units from disappearing into the margins of history. The men of 42 Australian Landing Craft Company deserve that remembrance, and Sailors in Slouch Hats gives it to them.

One for the enthusiast because of its obscure topic, but if you are one you should definitely have in your collection.