Dr Albert Palazzo: Defenders of Australia: The History of the 3rd Division.

When I was given a copy of this book to review for Sabretache, I looked forward to a good read about a Division that had considerable influence on my own military training. From my enlistment in to the CMF in 1963, through to the command of a 3 Div unit allocated to 4 Brigade during 1988, 1989, and 1990, and as the Officer tasked with the production of the Division's Seventy Fifth Anniversary Dinner Pageant, an event that became the Disbandment Dinner pageant held at the Melbourne Town Hall on the 29 June 1991.

The coverage of the raising of the Division in 1916, and subsequent action in France during World War I is detailed and establishes that as General John Monash instructed the 3rd Division was to be different. The difference continued during the Militia years between the Wars and during the Division's deployment on Bougainville during World War Two.

The decline of the Citizen Soldier and CMF formations post 1948 through to the late 1960's is given considerable attention and the experiment with the pentropic formation is put forward as the beginning of the end for the Division. However I was disappointed that the coverage of the latter years of the Division's role in developing doctrine for Vital Asset Protection in Northern Australia is meagre compared to the coverage of the establishment of the Division in 1916 and the First and Second World War involvement. The 3rd Division did not wither away, and conducted formation exercises right up to its disbandment.

Disappointment due, no doubt, to my own participation in a number of first class Distant Trumpet Exercises for Formation and Unit Commanders, and organising the participation of unit members in the familiarisation Northern Explorer Exercises for Junior Leaders. Exercises that improved our knowledge of, and adaptability to conducting operations in the environment of Northern Australia. An environment that, until those exercises, was as foreign to us as it would be to any invader. Disappointment too, that the book gives no recognition of the work tamed out by the Staff of HQ 3 Div who planned, developed and conducted those exercises that provided a repository of knowledge and doctrine for the latter Army Presence in the North. Disappointment that 4 Brigade, based on Army Reserve Units in Victoria, is not mentioned either. The Division had 2 Brigades under command during its Vital Asset Protection role, not as the book implies only the South Australian/Tasmanian based 9 Brigade. There was also disappointment that the demise of the Division is explained in fiscal terms rather than a combination of political and fiscal.

The 1990 election saw the Hawke/Keating Government lose votes in Victoria and the exploration of the political decision to reallocate as much Commonwealth funding from that State, which was seen as a lost political cause to the Labor Party, to the marginal seats that helped keep the Labor Government in power, would have balanced the explanation for the Divisions disbandment.

Many outstanding Victorians commanded 3 Div during its 75 years on the Australian Army Order of Battle and although they are acknowledged by photograph at the rear of the book there is little link between the history of the Division and the way the Division was shaped by those who were given the responsibility of command and the maintenance of Monash's instruction that the 3rd Division would be different.

The real strength of this book however is the acknowledgment of the dedication that the Citizen Soldier has brought, and still brings, to his or her part time profession of arms, and the overall contribution made by those part-time Officers and Soldiers to the defence of Australia.