The Buna Shots

Christmas Day, 1942: Kiwi combat photographer George Silk snaps a blinded Digger being helped along a track near Buna in New Guinea by a Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel - creating the war's most iconic Australian image. Days later, American LIFE magazine photographer George Strock snaps three dead Americans on Buna Beach. In 2014, Time magazine would describe his shot as 'the photograph that won the war'. This extraordinary book explains why.

When the Australian Government banned Silk's shot, Strock smuggled it to LIFE in New York, who published it. Silk was fired and accused of treason. Best friend and fellow snapper Damien Parer resigned in protest. Strock had to go all the way to US President Franklin D Roosevelt to get his own dramatic shot published, and change history.

A gripping story of two arresting photographs, two courageous photographers, and the quest for truth in war, by internationally renowned, multi-award-winning Australian author Stephen Dando-Collins.