A study of Australian military police relating their history from the Provost Marshal in the NSW colony to the formation of the Anzac Provost Corps in 1916 and to the end of WW2.

   It covers the sometimes violent enmity between the provosts and WW1 Anzacs when the police were called ‘The Other Enemy’. One veteran said, “There is no way that you can convince me that those bastards ever came anywhere near the front …no-hopers and complete waste of rations”.

    Wahlert details the relations between military police and soldiers, particularly on the sensitive issue of indiscipline among the First AIF – they had to deal with more than 26,000 Australian soldiers in England for either absence or desertion during 1917-1918. Some had been absent for so long that they had married, fathered children, and gained acceptance in the local community.

      During WW2 the MP role was primarily a combat-support role that involved hazardous front-line service. Nevertheless clashes between soldiers and provosts still occurred, including the infamous 1942 Battle of Brisbane, when 1,000 soldiers clashed with American MPs and a man was shot dead.