Books Reviewed

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 293, 2 March 1928, Page 14

Books Reviewed

Operations at Rabaul fJ?HE capture of German New Guinea by the Australians in September, 1914, and the taking of Samoa by the New Zealanders, were more than separate attacks on Isolated enemy possessions. Together, they destroyed Germany’s plans for extensive colonies in the Pacific and removed for all time the menace of the powerful squadron of German cruisers based at Rabaul. The story of the combined attack on Rabaul by the Australian troops and warships is told in Volume X. of the "Official History of Australia in the War,” which has just been issued. The author, Lieut.-Colonel S. 3. Mackenzie, writes from a first-hand knowledge of his subject gained during five years as legal adviser to the military administration in New Guinea, chief judicial officer of the colony, and two terms as acting-Administrator. Entertainingly written, the volume traces Germany’s activities and aims in ths Pacific before the war; the landing and subsequent operations at Rabaul, the destruction of the chain of wireless stations (which linked Samoa with Tsingtao and enabled the German

Pacific Squadron to be controlled direct from Berlin) and the administrative difficulties encountered. The book is well illustrated, the story is well told, and, in view of the important relation between the New Guinea operations and those of our own troops nearer home, this section of the official history makes interesting reading. “Official History of Australia,” Volume X. Our copy from the publishers, Angus and Robertson, Ltd., Sydney.