Description
Title: Against the Sun – The AIF in Malaya 1941-42
Author: Uhr, Janet
Condition: Very Good
Edition: 1st Edition
Publication Date: 1998
ISBN: 186448540
Cover: Soft Cover without Dust Jacket – 252 pages
Comments: The detailed account of the Malayan campaign of 1942.
When Imperial Japan unleashed the Pacific War in December 1941, Australian forces went into action, as part of a larger British Empire force, to defend Malaya and Singapore. Australia’s principal contribution to defending Malaya and Singapore was the 8th Division.
Originally raised for service in the Mediterranean, the division was committed piecemeal to Malaya and its performance was bedevilled by poor command decisions in the face of an enemy better prepared on all counts for the campaign at hand. The 8th Division, however, also reflected some strengths of the AIF at large: stubbornness in positional defence, effective and flexible small unit tactics and leadership, and skill and determination in close quarter combat. Singapore was lost more in spite than because of Australian efforts, but its loss underlined Australia’s strategic dependence on ‘great and powerful friends’ during the Second World War.
