Max Hastings: Australian war veterans demand apology
Australian war veterans demanded an apology from the historian Sir Max Hastings yesterday after claiming that his new book portrays their fellow soldiers as too cowardly to fight the Japanese towards the end of the Second World War.
Sir Max's account of the latter stages of the war in Nemesis: The Battle for Japan 1944-45 was labelled "offensive" by veterans in the wake of Australia's stand against Japan after the fall of Singapore and heroic attempts to stop the Japanese advance in Papua New Guinea.
The book, which is based on first-hand accounts from Allied airmen, sailors and soldiers, as well as drawing on official state material, suggests that by 1945 morale was so poor among Australian conscripts that they were dangerously close to open mutiny.
"The last year of the war proved the most inglorious of Australia's history as a fighting nation," writes Sir Max.
The author, one of Britain's most distinguished war historians and a former editor of The Daily Telegraph, suggests that towards the end of the campaign many Australian troops felt sidelined by General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Pacific, and resented doing what they felt were irrelevant mopping-up operations....
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
Sir Max's account of the latter stages of the war in Nemesis: The Battle for Japan 1944-45 was labelled "offensive" by veterans in the wake of Australia's stand against Japan after the fall of Singapore and heroic attempts to stop the Japanese advance in Papua New Guinea.
The book, which is based on first-hand accounts from Allied airmen, sailors and soldiers, as well as drawing on official state material, suggests that by 1945 morale was so poor among Australian conscripts that they were dangerously close to open mutiny.
"The last year of the war proved the most inglorious of Australia's history as a fighting nation," writes Sir Max.
The author, one of Britain's most distinguished war historians and a former editor of The Daily Telegraph, suggests that towards the end of the campaign many Australian troops felt sidelined by General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Pacific, and resented doing what they felt were irrelevant mopping-up operations....