The Cowra Breakout

The compelling untold story of the only World War II battle

fought on Australian soil.

 

Mat McLachlan

Sydney, NSW: Hachette, 2022

Paperback   320pp   RRP$32.99

 

Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, January 2023

 

Let’s start with the title. There are 89 books in our collection with ‘untold’ as part of their title. And there’s even more with ‘unknown’. A book title is sometimes chosen by a publisher to enhance sales. I think both terms are greatly overused.

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There have been several books on the Cowra escape. McLachlan, once a battlefield guide, later a battlefield guide writer and television presenter, has now debuted as a military historian, already promoted to its leading rank. He acknowledges the ‘definitive account(s)’ of the late Harry Gordon (stretching ‘untold’ somewhat). 

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The book does include some new material. Some of it derives from the Gordon papers in the National Library. A great deal is derived from an unpublished manuscript by Masuru Moriki. Because the book has footnotes collected as ‘references’ and lacks a bibliography, the provenance of this document remains a mystery. If McLachlan is to retain his leading historian rank this sort of omission needs to be redressed.

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Nevertheless, this is an easily readable if somewhat racy book. Since the other books on the topic are out-of-print, this book is welcome.

 

 

The RUSI – Vic Library thanks the publisher for making this work available for review.