Acknowledgments

Though my name appears under the title, this book is not just my own effort. True, it represents some years of all the patience I could muster, hundreds of hours of research and some hundreds of letters written. It represents great help from many people. A lot of them will recognise words drawn from their diaries and letters. I cannot name them all here, but rather do I hope that they will read my thanks in the fact that I have quoted them verbatim. Those whom I cannot thank in this way are Mrs A. E. Woodhouse of Blue Cliffs, who gave me the initial confidence to write anything; my father, Mr R. J. Loughnan, whose criticism at times was as sharp as only a father's can be and which never once failed to improve what I had written; the late Major-General Sir Howard Kippenberger, whose succinct notes of encouragement I now treasure greatly because they so often allayed my frustrations and despairs; the staff of the War History Branch who kept me to the point, who prepared the appendices, biographies and index and arranged the illustrations; the Cartographic Branch of the Lands and Survey Department who prepared the maps. And finally I must thank my wife and family who, for the sake of this book, have accepted so long and patiently, domestic chaos.