Fighting the Enemy: Australian Soldiers and their Adversaries in World War II

by Mark Johnston

• ISBN13: 9780521119955
• ISBN10: 0521119952
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-09-24
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Fighting the Enemy is about men with the job of killing each other. Based on the wartime writings of hundreds of Australian front-line soldiers during World War II, this powerful and resonant book contains many moving descriptions of high emotion and drama. Soldiers' interactions with their enemies are central to war, and their attitudes to their adversaries are crucial to the way wars are fought. Yet few books look in detail at how enemies interpret each other. This book is an unprecedented and thorough examination of the way Australian combat soldiers interacted with troops from the four powers engaged in World War II: Germany, Italy, Vichy France and Japan. Each opponent has themes peculiar to it: the Italians were much ridiculed; the Germans were the most respected of enemies; the Vichy French were regarded with ambivalence; while the Japanese were the subject of much hostility, intensified by the real threat of occupation.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Conventions and Abbreviations

Introduction

War in the Middle East:

The Italians

The Germans: the real enemy

The Germans: mutual respect

The Vichy French

War In The Pacific:

The Japanese: most encountered, most hated

The Japanese: sources of hate

The Japanese: questions of quality

The Japanese: empathy, compassion and incomprehension

Conclusion

Fifth Columnists

Orders of Battle of Australia's Enemies

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.