The “Charge the Windmill” Principle

The “Charge the Windmill” Principle is Dorrigo Evans’s answer to situations in which he cannot see a solution: he acts by committing himself to a belief that may be illusory, because confidence in a fully grasped reality can be more damaging than uncertainty. The rule gives him a way to move forward amid danger and repeated loss, but its recurrence also exposes its limits: action can carry him through an ordeal without making him feel connected to what follows.

Origin and Meaning

Dorrigo explains the principle to Squizzy Taylor after Taylor asks how he thinks about a difficult choice. Dorrigo says that his only idea is to “advance forward and charge the windmill.” Taylor laughs, but Dorrigo means it. He describes life as something he makes up each day, and says that trusting his fancy seems to help it work. In his account, faith in illusions makes life possible, while believing in reality can undo a person. The principle is therefore not a claim that circumstances are secretly safe or that effort guarantees success; it is a chosen means of acting when certainty offers no protection.

The phrase joins motion to self-deception. Dorrigo does not wait until he feels sure he can succeed: he proceeds because stopping to demand assurance would leave him without a way to act. The windmill becomes an image for an obstacle approached through belief rather than proof, and the rule’s force lies in its practical use under pressure.

Use in the Camp

The principle takes on immediate urgency as Dorrigo prepares to operate in the camp’s makeshift theatre. Its equipment has been assembled from bamboo, tins, and salvaged materials. The water running through a bamboo pipe may be contaminated with cholera, and Dorrigo fears that every effort could worsen a situation already marked by death. As he prepares, he admits to himself that he is panicking. He steadies himself through the familiar sequence of washing: fingers, nails, wrists. He has no confidence in his own ability, but knows that others believe in him; he tries to hold himself together by believing in their belief.

Before the operation on Jack Rainbow, Dorrigo again says, “Charge the windmill.” The line turns a private maxim into an instruction at the threshold of action. Jimmy Bigelow and Wat Cooney are ready to hold Jack, while Squizzy Taylor raises a bent spoon in a mock salute. The phrase does not remove the uncertainty or make the work less precarious. It gives Dorrigo a way to begin despite that uncertainty.

Return and Limits

Seven years after his companions last saw him, Dorrigo repeats the rule as he approaches a crowd waiting for him in Sydney. He resolves to meet civilian life with charm and daring, expecting time to wash over old follies. “Forward, he whispered to himself, gathering his face into a smile that he understood was thought charming. Charge the windmill.” The familiar command carries from the camp into his return, linking survival under wartime conditions with the performance of a public identity.

Yet this return complicates the principle’s promise. The woman waiting for him is Ella, but Dorrigo cannot remember her name until after they have kissed. He feels outside the emotions her greeting is meant to convey, and the meeting leaves him disappointed. The maxim can make forward movement possible; it cannot ensure that the person moving forward will feel present to those waiting for him. Its recurrence thus marks both Dorrigo’s resilience and the distance that resilience does not overcome.