THE 2/5th
BATTALION'S PART IN AUSTRALIAN MILITARY HISTORY
Author:
Syd TrigellisSmith.
The history of the 2/5th
Infantry Battalion, "All the King's Enemies", was
reprinted in late 1994 by order of Major General Frank
Hickling, the General Officer Commanding the
Australian Army's Training Command. The following
letter by General Hickling, which appeared on the inside
front cover of the reprint, points to why the Battalion
is so important in Australian military history.
"This
book has been reprinted by Headquarters Training Command
of the Australian Army. The headquarters recently
published other works of Australian military history
but this is the first occasion it has reprinted an
existing work and a unit history. I wish to explain the
reasons for doing so.
The books and films of Australian military history
produced by Headquarters Training Command reinforce our
current Army doctrine or illustrate the well-founded
principles of war. Our efforts to date have focused
primarily on individual battles, although a campaign
history is currently being prepared. '"All the King's
Enemies" was recommended for reprinting as it was an
excellent account of a battalion at war which contained
many relevant lessons for junior officers,
non-commissioned officers and private soldiers. The book
was also an important piece of Australia's military
history in that the 2/5th Battalion was one of only two
battalions to fight all of Australia's enemies in the
Second World War; Italians, Germans, Vichy French and
the Japanese. Despite this "All the King's Enemies" was
extremely difficult to obtain and our Defence Libraries
held only one copy of the book placed on a special
reserve.
For these reasons we decided to reprint the record of
service of the "Fighting Fifth". I regard it a
significant contribution to Australia's military
history and as an appropriate way for my command to help
commemorate the 50th year since the end of the
Second World War.
F.J. Hickling
Major General Sydney NSW
1 November 1994."
"All the King's Enemies" was first published in 1988 and
as lan Clarke has recently put it, the 1994 reprint was
a feather in the cap for the author, the late Syd
TrigellisSmith.
Also of note is that the book has again recently been
reprinted and is available through several internet
based book sellers. The fact of three editions of "All
the King's Enemies" is also a feather in the cap for all
soldiers who served in the 2/5th Infantry Battalion.
Courtesy of 2/5th Assoc Newsletter
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