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  • On Shaggy Ridge: The Australian Seventh Division in the Ramu Valley. From Kaiapit to the Finisterres
  • Allan Converse
On Shaggy Ridge: The Australian Seventh Division in the Ramu Valley. From Kaiapit to the Finisterres. By Phillip Bradley. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-19551-100-1. Maps. Photographs. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. x, 284. $45.00.

For many years, the 1943–44 campaign in New Guinea received less scholarly attention than the desperate struggle in Papua during 1942–43. The Australian Army History Series has gone some way to fill this gap, first with John Coates's account of the 9th Australian Division on the Huon [End Page 871] Peninsula, Bravery Above Blunder. Phillip Bradley's new book can be seen as a companion piece. Shaggy Ridge was the main obstacle to the 7th Australian Division's advance over the Finisterre Mountains, and the struggle for it has long been a legend in the Australian Army. Now the full story is available in a single volume, and it is a fascinating story indeed.

Bradley has analyzed every infantry action in minute detail. His accounts of these combats are dramatic, well-written, and full of tactical interest. The geographical conditions on the razorbacks of the Finisterres were little short of impossible, and an Australian reader will surely be reminded of Sari Bair, the Nek, and Quinn's Post on Gallipoli. Bradley pays due tribute to the courage and aggressiveness of the Australian troops, but the 7th Division did not rely on guts alone. The tactical lessons are plain. In the Finisterres, only a few support weapons could be deployed at a time—a troop of 25-pounders, a mortar section, a single Vickers gun—but they were often critical to the Australian infantry's success. Airpower, and especially air supply, was vital. The Finisterre campaign saw the first really large-scale use of air transport and supply in the Pacific war, and this innovation gave the Australians a great advantage over the starving Japanese who opposed them. The Japanese were stubborn in defense and their positions were well-concealed, but every other tactical and logistic edge lay with the Australians.

Bradley's research is formidable. Besides the usual documentary sources, he has interviewed or corresponded with over 150 veterans of the fighting. Bradley's respect for these veterans is palpable, but his sense of indebtedness leads him into a small fault. The reader is inundated with scores of names, so many that bewilderment sets in at times. There are other minor weaknesses. The maps do not always indicate every feature referred to in the text, and in one case I was obliged to flip back and forth between two plans in order to follow an action. One might wish for more from the high command side; George Vasey, the 7th Division's fine commander, sometimes seems like a voice from the wings rather than a leading actor. These problems, however, do not detract from the overall value of this book. On Shaggy Ridge conveys both the human drama and the military significance of the struggle in the Finisterres, and one cannot ask for much more. The editors of this series have once again chosen a promising new author, and Mr. Bradley has justified their confidence. This book is strongly recommended to those interested in the Pacific war, and to students of infantry tactics as well.

Allan Converse
Boston, Massachusetts
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