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 upon the budding rifleman. He brings out clearly the importance of apparently trifling points.
No more opportune book could have been published. Australia for the first time in its history has been bombed. Invasion looms on our northern frontier. The imperative need now is for rifles, more rifles, yet more rifles - and riflemen.