Australian Brass
The Career of Lieutenant General Sir Horace Robertson

Australian Brass charts the life of Sir Horace Robertson, one of Australia's most colourful and controversial generals.

Jeffrey Grey (Author)

9780521401579, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 June 1992

272 pages
24.5 x 18 x 1.8 cm, 0.65 kg

Sir Horace Robertson was one of Australia's most colourful and controversial generals. His career spanned forty years and two world wars, as well as a lengthy period in Japan and Korea between 1946 and 1951. Australian Brass not only charts the life of 'Red Robbie', it uses his career as a vehicle to trace the development of the Australian regular army and professional officer corps. It is also the first account of the occupation of Japan from a senior officer's perspective, as Robertson was Commander-in-Chief of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force after the Second World War. This episode is set in the context of the changing relationship between Britain and the Pacific dominions. The Australian regular army was not a principal source of military advice to the country's leaders. Government moved from a reliance on amateur citizen forces to a conscious policy to develop a force of modern military professionals.

Acknowledgements
Illustrations and maps
Abbreviations
Author's note
Introduction
Part I: 1. Foundations: 1894–1915
2. A good war: 1916–1919
3. Between wars: 1919–1940
4. 'His crowded hour': 1940–1941
5. 'A turbulent subordinate': 1942–1946
Part II: 6. The occupation of Japan: 1945–1946
7. The occupation of Japan: 1946–1947
8. The occupation of Japan: 1948–1950
9. Robertson, BCOF and the Korean War: 1950–1951
Part III: 10. The final years: 1952–1960
11. 'Red Robbie': a summation
Bibliographic essay
Notes
Index.

Subject Areas: Biography: historical, political & military [BGH]