Down the Buin Road
Sweat, mud, fatigue, stress, fear and constant patrolling in Bougainville, 1945.
Second World War 1939 - 1945
Dr Karl James
Dr Karl James is the Head of Military History at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
His research focuses on Australia’s experience during the Second World War. He is also interested in Australia’s commitment to the Afghanistan War. Karl is the author and editor of three books on Australia’s campaigns in the Pacific War and has contributed to many other publications and journals.
A regular contributor to the Memorial’s popular magazines Wartime and WM, he has also written for magazines such as Britain at War, History of War, and Portrait.
Karl has been curatorial lead for Memorial exhibitions including Rats of Tobruk (2011), From the Shadows: Australia’s Special Forces (2017–18), and Kandahar Workhorse: Chinooks 2006–2013, the latter now on display in Anzac Hall. Karl was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2024.
Main areas of interest and research:
- Second World War
- First World War
- Conflict in Afghanistan
Publication highlights
Books
(Editor), Kokoda: Beyond the Legend, Cambridge University Press, 2017
Double Diamonds: Australian Commandos in the Pacific War, 1941–45, NewSouth Publishing, 2016
The Hard Slog: Australians in the Bougainville Campaign, 1944–45, Cambridge University Press, 2012
Book chapters
“Special Operations: India, Burma, China and Malaya” in Andrew Kilsby and Daryl Moran (eds), In the Fight: Australians and the War in Burma, 1942–1945, Big Sky Publishing, 2024
“Australia and the Second World War” [with Lachlan Grant], in Paul R. Bartrop, (ed.), The Routledge History of the Second World War, Taylor and Francis, 2022
"Introduction”, in Karin Huckstepp and Joanna Taplin, Endurance: Stories of Australians in Wartime Captivity, Department of Veterans’ Affairs with the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 2021
“Rise and Fall: Lieutenant General Sir Sydney Rowell”, in Craig Stockings and John Connor (eds), The Shadow Men: The Forgotten Legacies that Shaped the Australian Army from the Veldt to Vietnam, NewSouth, 2017
“Kokoda: The Immortal Trail” in Karl James (ed.), Kokoda: Beyond the Legend, Cambridge University Press, 2017
“More than Mopping Up: Bougainville”, in Peter J. Dean (ed.), Australia 1944–45: Victory in the Pacific, Cambridge University Press, 2015
“'I hope you are not too ashamed of me': Prisoners in the Siege of Tobruk, 1941”, in Joan Beaumont, Lachlan Grant and Aaron Pegram (eds), Beyond Surrender: Australian Prisoners of War in the Twentieth Century, Melbourne University Press, 2015
“The Salamaua Magnet”, in Peter J. Dean (ed.), Australia 1943: The Liberation of New Guinea, Cambridge University Press, 2013
“On Australia’s Doorstep: Kokoda and Milne Bay”, in Peter J. Dean (ed.), Australia 1942: In the Shadow of War, Cambridge University Press, 2013
“The Unnecessary Waste: Australians in the Late Pacific Campaigns” in Craig Stockings (ed.), Anzacs Dirty Dozen: Twelve Myths of Australian Military History, NewSouth, 2012
Shooting Gallery: G for George over Germany
Letters from Adrian Marks, a crew member on a Lancaster bomber, tell of the raids over Germany.
Second World War 1939 - 1945
The Final Campaigns
Australian forces were more engaged in 1945 than in any other year of the Second World War.
Second World War 1939 - 1945