Allan a Murray

Cold War Observer Allan a Murray

This second book in the Series, based on Allan's diary, is a day-by-day summary of his experiences from both sides of the Iron Curtain whilst backpacking with a quixotic friend.

The Cold War was a reality of Allan's entire life to 1981. The situation that was set in Europe in the late 1940s and early 50s was still in play; Communist eastern Europe was divided from western Europe. Through both alliances and history, Australia was aligned with the nations of western Europe. In the early 1980s, Allan was working towards graduating as an Australian Army Officer into this reality. At the Royal Military College-Duntroon, he trained to fight an armour-heavy Soviet Union-style doctrinal enemy. The Soviet Union invasion and operations in Afghanistan in the early 1980s enlivened this eastern European focus. Appreciating the Cold War was the predominant geo-strategic influence of the time, Allan's aim prior to graduation was to observe Communism in general and the manifestations of the Cold War - NATO, the British Army of the Rhine, the Warsaw Pact, divided Germany, the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and Yugoslavia. He felt this would better prepare him to serve in the Australian Army of the Cold War.

In the bitterly cold European winter of 1981-82, he self-funded a backpacking trip to Europe; it is only when you walk the streets and smell the air that you really learn. The book is packed with insightful observations and anecdotes about Communism and the manifestations of the Cold War.

The Foreword for this book has been written by Stephen Martin, a close friend of Allan's from his days at Duntroon. Stephen graduated into the Australian Intelligence Corps and in his brief career worked extensively with the United States Army countering the Communists in the last stages of the Cold War.