Written as a challenge to Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating's view of Australian military history - one which denigrated the sacrifices made by thousands of British servicemen. The book begins by reviewing the origins of Australia's armed forces, and explains why it was possible for the Japanese to attack Darwin and Broome with impunity. The incidents in Broome and Darwin in 1942 are the first two parts of a trilogy which culminates with an attempted breakout from a prisoner of war camp in Cowra, New South Wales, in 1944. The three events close with the death of over 200 Japanese servicemen by suicide or machine-gun fire.