AUSTRALIAN BESTSELLER
Tom Lewis
THE BOOKS
Fourteen books published so far - these shown in detail below are the ones still in print. I do get asked about the ones that are now out of print - there's a list of these at the end. I recommend AbeBooks.com for these. I wish I'd saved 20 copies of Darwin Sayonara from 25 years ago - now selling for three times the original price.
Lethality in Combat shatters preconceptions regarding the rules of engagement and the realities of combat. The truth of warfare is little understood by those who haven’t endured it. It’s romanticised and simplified in many fictional books and movies, and even sanitised in so-called “real” accounts.
Lethality in Combat lifts the veil on a secret world. It shows soldiers are often savage beyond the popular myth – they have to be to survive. It shows they often cannot take prisoners – when it's illogical and dangerous. It shows they target civilians – when it’s them or us.
"Lethality in Combat illustrates the truth of combat. As Lewis notes ‘The whole point of warfare is to be lethal, for only by being enthusiastic about their task can those placed in that actual moment of combat... survive.’"
Carrie
Carrier Attack
When the Pacific war began it was a case of “when not if” Darwin would be attacked. But nobody could have predicted the extraordinary scale and ferocity of the 19 February 1942 raid. A massive strike force, blooded at Pearl Harbor just weeks before, hit Darwin in the biggest Japanese air attack ever in the South Pacific.
Since then, generations of Australians have been drawn to the stories and folklore of the Darwin action. But facts have blurred and mythology has thrived.
What of the warning that never happened? What of the ghost ship actually sunk in the Atlantic a year earlier? Did a fighter pilot contrive a false combat record? Did the authorities cover up the raid? Why do Australians know so little about it? This is the book that tests these many Darwin myths and reveals new information: another ship sunk; the actual intent and nature of the attack; the precise extent of the Japanese losses.
The Darwin raid is usually portrayed as a wholesale disaster for the Allies, and a day full of military ineptitude. Carrier Attack shows the defenders were alert and fought with purpose. Arguably it the Japanese that wasted much of their attacking strength, and in this way twashe Darwin defenders avoided a much larger catastrophe.
Carrier Attack provides a timely and fresh analysis of the raid. Most importantly, it draws on specially translated Japanese sources.
New titles - The Empire Strikes South and Honour Denied -
Darwin's Submarine I-124
The first attacks on Australia by the Japanese were made by four submarines of the Sixth Submarine Squadron of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Together, these 80-man boats laid mines, and then waited in their killing zones for targets to torpedo.
On 20 January 1942, it all went horribly wrong. Sunk with all hands, the submarine I-124 remains outside Darwin today, testimony to bravery but also to folly.
Avonmore Books’ new edition of a 1990s work features new and improved graphics; a host of photographs, and the complete story of the submarine action, and events through the decades beyond – for the sunken vessel did not lie easy. Code seekers; treasure hunters; and potential salvors eventually led to the formation of the Historic Shipwrecks Act.
The Submarine Six
Naval conflicts take place far from our shores. Ships and men disappear, to leave only mystery in their wake. In the 1990s the Royal Australian Navy broke with tradition, and for the first time named six submarines after six naval heroes.
This book shows the true depths of their achievements. These were men whose warrior exploits stand alongside those of any from other nations. But they have been largely unrecognised.
Captain Hec Waller, for example, fought to the end in HMAS Perth, alongside fellow cruiser USS Houston. The Houston's Captain Rooks was deservedly awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour, America's highest honour. Captain Waller, by comparison, was given distinction, but not of the highest rank. Should he have been given the Victoria Cross?
Other heroes stand alongside him. Emile Dechaineux, hero of Dunkirk and the North Sea, battling it out against Japanese kamikaze attack. John Collins, taking HMAS Sydney to victory against Italian cruisers. Hal Farncomb - the first Australian to command an aircraft carrier, in action off the French coast. Teddy Sheean, tenacious gunner from Tasmania, fought to the end in HMAS Armidale. Robert Rankin commanded HMAS Yarra against fearful odds, dying in defence of his convoy, attacked by overwhelming Japanese forces.
Are they VC candidates? The Submarine Six brings forward six naval warriors to stand alongside any other military achiever.
Zero Hour in Broome
This groundbreaking work includes much original research of academic standard, while at the same time it will appeal to a wide audience and contains many colour illustrations.
For the first time, Zero Hour in Broome examines the actions of senior officials in connection to the second most deadly air attack on Australian soil. This occurred when Zero fighters destroyed 15 flying boats at Broome, some of them packed full of women and children evacuees from Java. Sadly, they made up most of the casualties. At the same time as this horror was unfolding, other flying boats were landing safely in Exmouth Gulf, many miles to the south.
So why were all of the flying boats not diverted there? This is just one of the many fascinating questions raised by this publication. The book also profiles the many different aircraft types used during the Broome operations. Other unique reference material includes a list of all of the Broome pearling luggers and their fates as a result of the “scorched earth” policy imposed by the Japanese threat.
A War at Home
A comprehensive but affordable guide to the first Japanese attacks on Darwin on 19th February 1942.
An essential reference work on this controversial subject that includes a full list of those who died as well as other detailed appendices. It also includes a fascinating information on what wartime sites are still accessible in and around the northern capital. The books also analyses some of the myths of the raids.
Originally published in 1999, until recently A War at Home has mainly been available only in Darwin itself. This first-class, yet inexpensive, reference book is now in its fifth edition.
By Derwent Divided
By Derwent Divided recounts the 1975 disaster when the freighter Lake Illawarra struck the Tasman Bridge. The personal tragedies of this accident are told, but less well known outside Tasmania is the paralysis that the loss of the bridge caused to the city of Hobart. Indeed, it would be almost three years before the bridge was once again operational.
With the city effectively cut in half, all kinds of maritime vessels were employed as ferries to shift thousands of workers to and from the CBD every day. These colourful ferries soon grew to a large fleet manned with by mariners with characters as big as the vessels themselves. Bob Clifford was one such character who successfully battled bureaucracy and then went on to found the internationally recognised INCAT aluminium catamaran business.
This book will appeal both to Tasmanians and lovers of maritime history.
Carrie
Out of Print
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Darwin Sayonara, Boolarong, 1991 - children's novel centred around the events of WWII in Darwin, Australia, 1942.
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Wrecks in Darwin Waters, Turton and Armstrong, 1991 - details the ship and aircraft wrecks, many from attacks in WWII and Cyclone Tracy in 1974, that may be found in waters near Darwin, Australia.
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Sensuikan I-124, Tall Stories, 1997 - dealing with the sinking of IJN submarine I-124 by HMAS Deloraine.
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Australian Naval Leaders. A study of nine naval officers of the Royal Australian Navy, with analysis of their careers and effectiveness. RAN College, 2006.
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10 Shipwrecks of the Northern Territory, (Co-author, Edited by Paul Clark). Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, 2008.
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Captain Hec Waller - a Memorial Book. (Co-author, Edited by John Waller). Drawquick Printing, 2008.