Join author Edmund Goldrick and Bendigo identity Jonathan Ridnell at Bendigo Trades Hall, where they will be discussing Edmund's new book, ANZAC Guerrillas, which has a local connection to Bendigo and Castlemaine.

ANZAC Guerrillas is the incredible true story of how a handful of escaped Australian soldiers became resistance fighters, double agents and spies in Yugoslavia during World War II. Four of the soldiers Edmund writes about were local Victorians: Percy Evans and Sidney Price who were labourers in Bendigo, and Ross Sayers and Will Robins who were from Castlemaine. Edmund follows their journey and it is nothing short of extraordinary. When the Germans took thousands of Allied prisoners during the catastrophic Greek campaign of 1941, a handful of Australian soldiers escaped from prison trains in occupied Yugoslavia. What awaited them was not passage home, but a brutal underground war where the fate of a Nation was at stake.

Told through the eyes of two of the Australian escapees – Castlemaine mineworker Ross Sayers and Richmond storeman Ronald Jones – Anzac Guerrillas is the incredible true story of how these men escaped German captivity, only to become embroiled in a civil war in Yugoslavia (royalist Četniks versus communist Partisans). The escaped Anzacs faced grave threats from all sides, and even as they came face-to-face with two of World War II's most divisive figures – Josip Broz Tito and Draza Mihailović – their sense of what was right never wavered.

2025 marks 80 years since the end of WWII. The many accounts of Yugoslavia in WWII make much of the British and American intelligence officers who served there. Anzac Guerrillas remembers the Australians who, until now, have never had their stories told.

Tickets via link $5.00

This event is proudly presented by Bookish, Bendigo's local independent bookshop. Books will be available for sale and signing at this event.