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

Mark Johnston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 25, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0521782228 | ISBN-13: 978-0521782227 | Edition: 1

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. 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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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

Book Description

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. 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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (September 25, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521782228
• ISBN-13: 978-0521782227
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,558,869 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stereotypes, myths and reality ..., April 29, 2009

By 

S. White (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fighting the Enemy: Australian Soldiers and their Adversaries in World War II (Hardcover)

Fighting the Enemy is a vitally important addition to any historical survey of WW2 in that it focuses specifically on the Australian fighting man and his foe. This superb volume draws in detail from personal accounts of Italian, German, Vichy France and Japanese soldiers, as well as the Australians themselves. The central theme examines the perceptions and attitudes of the Australian soldier by his enemies and likewise those of the Australian soldier towards them.

These accounts are based on the writings of hundreds of Australian front line troops during WWII from North Africa, Middle East, Mediterranean and Pacific theaters. In each chapter we get a break down of the interactions between Axis and Allied Australian forces in battle, often seen through the eyes of POW's from both sides of the conflict.

We find out why the Australians considered the Italian soldier almost ridiculous and why the Italian soldiers were said to be terrified by the reputation of the Aussies. We gain insight into the perceptions of German commanders towards the Australian forces - Rommel himself believed the Australians were the Elite forces of the British Commonwealth and among the Germans the Australian Soldier was greatly feared and respected. What unfolds between the Afrika Korps and the Aussies is a tacit mutual respect and esprit de corps rarely found anywhere else during WW2.

In one passage we hear ...

"An Australian in another battalion reported that a German prisoner he met in 1942 claimed that the Australians had gone home, but that the English troops continued to `dress up as Australians to frighten us'

In another ...

"Early in the siege, the German Commander, Rommel, described Australians as `fighting magnificently' and showing `remarkable tenacity'.

Throughout the book we are treated to moments of great humour and levity between the various forces in spite of the terrible actions they were involved in. Truces between the Germans and Australians to collect the dead and wounded are examined and discussed and quickly forgotten when punctuated with resumed shelling.

While I have featured the Western Desert conflict in this review the section on the Pacific conflict with the Japanese is no less riveting and in some ways far more serious in nature. Australia was now defending it's own nation in the same way Britain was defending itself. One Australian account tells of a soldier who felt respectful ambivalence towards the German soldiers he faced in North Africa, Crete and Greece, but when it came to the Japanese it was outright hatred - knowing he now fought off an invasion.. He comments, "Now I know how the British feel about the Germans".

The writing of Mark Johnston is both powerful in its execution and yet completely accessible for any reader. There is no lack of documentation punctuated by excellent black and white plates and yet the writing never bogs down into dry historical data. I found myself almost through the half the book in one sitting and could hardly put it down.

This is a rare and important work of WW2 history and something that should be on the shelves of all those with a serious interest in understanding the Australian contribution in this war.