220 A4 PAGES
220 A4 PAGES
WELL ILLUSTRATED INCLUDING 100 PHOTOGRAPHS
AUSTRALIAN REGIONAL & NATIONAL MILITARY HISTORY, SEVEN CHAPTERS COVERING LOCAL MILITARY HISTORY AND PARTICIPATION IN THE SUDAN, SOUTH AFRICAN, WORLD WARS I & II, KOREA & VIETNAM WARS.
EXCERPTS FROM DIARIES AND REMINISCENCES FROM EX-SERVICEMEN INCLUDED.
SAMPLE FROM PAGE 111
THE SIGN OF THE CROSS IN PEACE AND OF WAR
Since the time of Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, the Cross has been the symbol of Christianity. The cross has taken on various forms. The cross of the Church of Rome varies slightly from that of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the latter having two horizontal bars. The cross symbolising the religious faith of the people as seen in the present flag of Greece has four equal sides. The Maltese Cross, the symbol of the St John's Ambulance Brigade, goes back to the Crusades to the Knights Hospitaliers of St John who protected pilgrims to the Holy Land and who later ruled Malta for centuries. The Christian Cross is also incorporated in the flag of Switzerland. As early as 1339 Swiss troops, influenced by the earlier crusaders, carried red shields with the sign of the white cross on them, the red coming from the blood banner of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1859 humanitarian, Henri Dunant, established the symbol of the Red Cross on a white background which is actually the reversal of the Swiss flag with its white cross against red. Decorations for valour, such as the British Victoria Cross, the French War Cross (Croix de Guerre) and the German Iron Cross, are all based upon the Christian Cross. The German medal is modelled on the emblem of Frederick the Great of the House of Hohenzollern who was Holy Roman Emperor and who, during the Sixth Crusade (1228-29), crowned himself King of Jerusalem. During World War I this same cross with its arms narrowing towards the centre was first used as insignia on German aircraft., but from 1915 it was changed to the Greek Cross (what the Germans call the Balkankreuz), equal sides in black with white surrounds for easier recognition. The same symbol, along with the Nazi Swastika (Hakenkreuz or crooked cross which is non-Christian in origin), was also used during World War II on planes, ships, tanks and other vehicles. It can be seen that European nations even at war believed that God was on their side, each one praying for victory, thus giving God a difficult task. In passing, it is interesting to note that, while the Germans displayed the cross on their flying machines in World War I, the British at first bore no distinguishing insignia. Their planes were consequently in danger of being shot at by their own side. The Union Jack (incidentally, a combination of three crosses, of saints St George, St Andrew and St Patrick) was then painted on the aircraft, but this being too difficult and perhaps not so easily recognisable, a new symbol was found in the red white and blue roundel copied in reverse from the blue, white and red target already employed by the French Air Force since 1912.
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