Fighting the Enemy
Fighting the Enemy
CAD$42.95
Fighting The Enemy, first published in 2000, 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.
- Draws on primary source material
- Unique focus on relationships between enemies
- Written in a compelling and powerful style
Reviews & endorsements
"Johnston has made an important contribution to our understanding of the ways in which Australian soldiers perceived their different enemies in the Second World War." International History Review
"He offers the ideas and observations of ordinary soldiers on a matter commonly overlooked in war histories that focus on strategy or on the narrative of campaigns." Contemporary Pacific
Product details
September 2000Hardback
9780521782227
238 pages
229 × 152 × 17 mm
0.52kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Conventions and Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I. War in the Middle East:
- 1. The Italians
- 2. The Germans: the real enemy
- 3. The Germans: mutual respect
- 4. The Vichy French
- Part II. War In The Pacific:
- 5. The Japanese: most encountered, most hated
- 6. The Japanese: sources of hate
- 7. The Japanese: questions of quality
- 8. The Japanese: empathy, compassion and incomprehension
- Conclusion
- Appendix A. Fifth Columnists
- Appendix B. Orders of Battle of Australia's Enemies
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index.
