BY WAY OF WARNING.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20272, 14 August 1937, Page 20 (Supplement)

BY WAY OF WARNING.

“ The Awakening.” INVASION 0? AUSTRALIA. .. Captain O. i> Mitchell, M.C., D.C.M., stirred readers with his war book, “Backs to the Wall,” and he has now written another, to which the Right Hon. W. M. Hughes has provided a foreword. The author has set out to describe what would happen if the Commonwealth were invaded by a large and fully-equipped force, and shows the terrible price that would have to be paid for unpreparedness. It Is most realistlo writing. During the night the hero of the story had waited, listening-in. And then came the news: “2FC, Sydney. The time is 2.41 a.m. A shot-riddled ’plane has Just returned to Masoot. The pilot reports a great gathering of warships and merchant vessels 200 miles northeast of Sydney." And from then onwards the action is swift, and the tension great. The book does not make things come out all right In the end. The writer of the diary dies with the commando he has Joined in Queensland, but only after an eplo flght. “The Awakening” will probably prove as marked a success as “Backs to the Wall," and that was both great and greatly deserved. Captain Mitchell can write only a story that grips, Perhaps the only critics will be returned -soldiers, because they know that, fighting in defence of his own country, the Aussie would bo the fiercest human being that ever took up arms; but the point to remember is that the author wanted to show how, without due preparation for defence, even tho finest fighting qualities would not ensure victory. Altogether a splendid story. “The Awakening.” By Captain G. 1). Mitchell. (Angus and Robertson, Sydney.)