Mark Johnston

Fighting the Enemy

Australian Soldiers and Their Adversaries in World War II

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

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.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Cambridge University Press
• Seitenzahl: 238
• Erscheinungstermin: 8. Mai 2012
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 235mm x 157mm x 19mm
• Gewicht: 545g
• ISBN-13: 9780521782227
• ISBN-10: 0521782228
• Artikelnr.: 21978268

Inhaltsangabe

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.