(Published by Oxford University Press)
Reviewer: Peter Pierce

The title is ponderous and promises a familiar indictment of the stupidity of military leadership redeemed by the heroics of ordinary soldiers.

In fact, General John Coates' masterly study of the campaign of the Australian 9th Division against the Japanese in New Guinea in 1943-44 is more subtle and complex.

General Douglas MacArthur does not fare well. Coates regards his early peremptory orders as "both ill-informed and maladroit".

But Australian soldiers - from Herring, Moorshead and Wootten at the top to men such as "Diver" Derrick, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery in the assault on Sattelberg - enjoy his judicious praise.

And there is another side to the combat. One of the most impressive aspects of the book is its account of Japanese strategies and commanders, and the operational difficulties under which the enemy fought.

Coates traces the fighting history of the 9th Division from North Africa, where it conducted the "offensive defence" of Tobruk and distinguished itself at El Alamein, to its transfer into the radically different jungle terrain of New Guinea.

Bravery Above Blunder moves with assurance from matters of grand, Pacific-wide strategy to close-range, terrifying individual contact in battle.

Coates writes evocatively of the land on which men fought, of their heroics and of the bungles from which they had to extricate themselves. Among the latter, the botched amphibious landings at Scarlet Beach, near Finschafen, are unpleasantly reminiscent of Gallipoli.

The maps that intersperse Coates' narrative are lucid and illuminating.

As it recovers an almost forgotten but impressive passage of arms, for all Australians, Bravery Above Blunder is destined to become an exemplary text for the next generation of our officer cadets.