In the Line of Fire

This is a collection of stories written by Ian Stuart on the basis of interviews with New Zealand soldiers, airmen or navy. Most are 2-5 pages long, and deal with a specific situation or action.

It is great to see these stories recorded to preserve history. Many are perhaps not the most glamorous war stories, but all are told with the modesty and lack of ego that New Zealander's come to expect from people who do extraordinary things in the field of war (although some stories occur in peace time, or during peace keeping).

These stories take place in a huge range of wars- WWI, WWII (including Operation Chastise (the Dam Busters) and the Battle of the River Plate), Bougainville (Papua New Guinea), the Korean War, the Vietnam War and peacekeeping in East Timor (Indonesia). Outside of the actions of war are stories about a crash during the relocation of an ex military plane, an accident on a navy ship during a Royal tour and a Kiwi who held a key to America's nuclear launch. There are also stories about soldiers in training situations and volunteers entering war zones

These stories take place in a huge range of locations from Kiribati to Uruguay, Europe to Turkey, Egypt to the USA and East Timor in Indonesia.

I appreciated this book more for its recording of these stories than being particularly drawn to these stories (although two or three were excellent).

3 stars