The Black Soil Plains and Beyond: Recollections of the 1st Australian Armoured Division.

Gunnedah, NSW: Write Right Media, 2013. Hardback small folio, no jacket, very good condition, pictorial cover, maps, endpaper photos, black & white sketches & text-photos, part front cover & small strip near spine lightly faded, minor edgewear, autograph (author's written dedication title page). Heavy (1.6 Kg), and extra postage may be requested to destinations outside Australia. 366 pp. This is the story of, from their own voices as recorded by Cate Clark, the men of one of the most highly regarded and trained Australian formations of World War 2. The cartoons, poems, drawings, photos and intimate recollections of veterans and the communities that they visited are a valuable part of Australian history. This book traces the 1st Australian Armoured Division from its inception in 1941, through manoeuvres in northwest New South Wales and subsequent reorganisation, to its occupancy of the midwest of Western Australia, concluding with its disbandment, in September 1943. The book then follows the stories of some of the men and units of the Division until the end of the war. From Western Australia to Queensland, New Guinea, Bougainville and Borneo, the members of the ex-1 AAD showed the skill, spirit and determination of a formation that never had the opportunity to fight as a collective force and never had their story told.