Tells the story of how the Australian 18th brigade inflicted the first defeat on land of the Japanese army in World War 2.

In August 1942 the Japanese staged a landing at Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea against an Australian Infantry Force of militia and AIF troops – the prize was the primitive airfield and the eventual capture of Port Moresby. A confused and desperate battle took place against a background of Japanese naval operations by night and Australian fighter support by day – this battle led to Japan’s first defeat on land during World War Two.

Then in November 1942, after their defeats on the Kokoda Trail and at Milne Bay, the Japanese occupied the northern beachhead strongholds of Gona-Sanananda-Buna. After repeated American failure at Buna the 18th Brigade’s Milne Bay veterans were called in. Despite some of the fiercest and most costly fighting of the Pacific War, the 18th Brigade captured Buna and Sanananda during December 1942 and January 1943.

‘The Spell Broken’ is a stirring history of the Milne Bay and Buna-Sanananda battles told through the records of those campaigns and balanced against the recollections of their survivors.

‘A well-researched account of the battles that seized the initiative from the Japanese. The analysis is sound but its strength is its vivid description of the fighting from the soldiers’ perspective.’ Dr David Horner, Senior Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University

‘This book is a factual account of the battles at Milne Bay and Buna-Sanananda about which very little has been written. The 18th Brigade infantry did a great job protecting tank crews who had to abandon their destroyed tanks under fire.’
Cec Ganderton, tank driver, 2/6th Armoured Regiment.

pp. xiv, 304 illusts #0820 (Gift tag and inscription on prelim.)