Idriess was a trooper with the Light Horse at Gallipoli, all the way to Beersheba, and his diary was published as The Desert Column. Drawing on his military experience, this is one of six manuals written for soldiers and civilians in 1942, when invasion by the Japanese seemed imminent. Written in his characteristic, colloquial, man-to-man style, Mr Idriess here reveals the secrets of the dead shot. What to do and what not to do are impressed...