{"title":"Jimmy Thomson","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"tunnel-rats-book-jimmy-thomson-9781742374895","title":"Tunnel Rats","description":"'All I could do was prod the earth with my bayonet and shine the light to see if I could find anything. It doesn't matter how small the tunnel is you never know what's around the bend ...You don't know if it's abandoned, you don't know if it's booby trapped and you don't know why the tunnel is there in the first place.' They were young, they were Australian, they were Army engineers and they were the first allied soldiers to risk their lives in the darkness of the Vietcong tunnels of South Vietnam. Staring death squarely in the face every day, not only did they follow their enemy down into these unknown underground labyrinths, but matched the Vietcong's jungle warfare skills and defused thousands of their clever booby traps. Off duty, it was a different story. The bad boys of 3 Field Troop were a boozing, brawling, bonking bunch of larrikins, who cut a swathe through the bars and brothels of Saigon, fought American Military Police to a standstill, built a secret casino and booby-trapped their own HQ to teach their officers a lesson. Thrilling, inspiring and action packed, this is the true story of the unsung heroes of Australia's war in Vietnam. Living up to their motto of 'We Make and We Break', they created the legend of the Tunnel Rats.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49529353011473,"sku":"GOR009219094","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50527479595281,"sku":"GOR013986340","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1742374891.jpg?v=1751153620"},{"product_id":"koala-bounces-back-book-jimmy-thomson-9781742750071","title":"The Koala Bounces Back","description":"\u003cb\u003eKarri the bouncing koala finally has a peaceful home and many friends in the bush--until a group of terrifying felines arrives and threatens to ruin all the fun\u003c\/b\u003e At long last, Karri finally feels at home among his friends in the bush--that is, until a gang of fearsome cats shows up and begins to scare everyone in sight. What can Karri do? The cats don't want to stop chasing the bush creatures, and they don't want to leave, either. After all, they need somewhere to live too. The cats strike a deal with Karri. They'll play a game for it, and whoever wins gets to stay. It's a risky move--where will Karri and his friends go if they lose?","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49631811928337,"sku":"GOR005796908","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1742750079.jpg?v=1751090315"},{"product_id":"tunnel-rats-book-jimmy-thomson-9781743317358","title":"Tunnel Rats","description":"'All I could do was prod the earth with my bayonet and shine the light to see if I could find anything. It doesn't matter how small the tunnel is you never know what's around the bend ... You don't know if it's abandoned, you don't know if it's booby trapped and you don't know why the tunnel is there in the first place.'    They were young, they were Army engineers and they were the first allied soldiers to risk their lives in the darkness of the Vietcong tunnels of South Vietnam. Staring death squarely in the face every day, not only did they follow their enemy down into these unknown underground labyrinths, they also matched the Vietcong's jungle warfare skills and defused thousands of their clever booby traps.    Off duty, it was a different story. The bad boys of  3 Field Troop were a boozing, brawling, bonking bunch of larrikins, who cut a swathe through the bars and brothels of Saigon, fought American Military Police to a standstill, built a secret casino and booby-trapped their own HQ to teach their officers a lesson.    Thrilling, inspiring and action packed, this is the true story of the unsung heroes of Australia's war in Vietnam. Living up to their motto of 'We Make and We Break', they created the legend of the Tunnel Rats.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49633327055121,"sku":"GOR009679698","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50105914851601,"sku":"CIN1743317352A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51327439634705,"sku":"CIN1743317352G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53016429232401,"sku":"GOR007536353","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53124989419793,"sku":"GOR007275669","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1743317352.jpg?v=1758966508"},{"product_id":"koala-who-bounced-book-jimmy-thomson-9780091828974","title":"The Koala Who Bounced","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50278168985873,"sku":"GOR003018723","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53064343388433,"sku":"GOR003870379","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/B003DI777U.jpg?v=1751069953"},{"product_id":"tunnel-rats-vs-the-taliban-book-jimmy-thomson-9781760113544","title":"Tunnel Rats vs the Taliban","description":"The year 2015 is the 50th anniversary of the original Australian Tunnel Rats arrival in Vietnam, one year after Australian troops were withdrawn from active duty in Afghanistan. Although on the face of it these two conflicts, separated by half a century, could scarcely be more different, for Sappers - army engineers - it has been very familiar territory. For a start, as in Vietnam, Sappers in Afghanistan have suffered a proportionately greater death toll than any other Army unit, with 20 per cent of the fatalities coming from engineer ranks. And, just as Australian troops as a whole in Vietnam suffered greatly from recycled landmines and other booby traps, in Afghanistan, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) accounted for almost one third of all deaths.    Dig a little deeper and the connections are stronger. The soldiering methods pioneered in Vietnam, such as using small teams of engineers attached to infantry patrols, are used to great effect in Afghanistan. And, yes, the Taliban have tunnels and caves too, just as the Viet Cong did, and the same skills are required to investigate and neutralise them. Tunnel Rats vs the Taliban employs the personal recollections of serving and recently returned Sappers to show how, in this most modern of wars, the skills acquired and developed in Vietnam have stood Australian troops in good stead. Using extensive and detailed interviews with a number of Sappers who served there, we follow the progress of the engineers, from why they became Sappers in the first place to how it felt pulling out for the last time.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50682978009361,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50682978304273,"sku":"GOR008722797","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1760113549.jpg?v=1751247908"},{"product_id":"sappers-war-book-jimmy-thomson-9781743319628","title":"A Sappers' War","description":"They were frequently not just on the front line, but right at the sharp end of the action. They were the legendary sappers, the army engineers, who were literally everywhere in the fighting against the Vietcong.  This special breed of soldier lived hard and played hard. They were there at the beginning of the war. They were also among the last to leave. And on the way, they fought alongside their mates in infantry and tanks and bore the brunt of the Vietcong's revenge.  To the rest of the world, Vietnam was a conflict of ideologies. On the ground it was a battle of wits and the sappers were at the forefront. This is their story.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51782952321297,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51782952386833,"sku":"GOR011282563","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781743319628.jpg?v=1758966562"},{"product_id":"koala-who-bounced-book-jimmy-thomson-9781742752242","title":"The Koala Who Bounced","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52518655885585,"sku":"GOR004973094","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781742752242.jpg?v=1760533485"},{"product_id":"tunnel-rats-vs-the-taliban-book-jimmy-thomson-9781760294168","title":"Tunnel Rats vs the Taliban","description":"They were young, they were tough and they were everywhere. They were both the backyard builders and the frontline troops in Australia's war against the Taliban.This is the powerful story of the sappers, the Army engineers in Afghanistan whose raw courage and skills were inspired by the original Australian Tunnel Rats of the war in Vietnam. These Tunnel Rats of Afghanistan have rooted out the enemy from deep inside their caves and mountain hideouts, have defused thousands of improvised explosive devices (the booby traps and landmines of this most recent of wars), built bridges and schools to win a war of hearts and minds, and fought side by side with special forces commandos and SAS troops. They, too, lost a disproportionate number of their comrades and many returned home with the devastating baggage of war, post-traumatic stress disorder.Inspiring and action packed, this is the story of a special breed of soldier operating in a modern war against an enemy with medieval morals ...and bombs triggered by mobile phones. It is a story that connects the unsung heroes of Vietnam with the modern heroes of Afghanistan.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53547770347793,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53547770609937,"sku":"GOR014957481","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781760294168.jpg?v=1778596159"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-jimmy-thomson.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}