Description
Title: Cruel Conflict -The Triumph and Tragedy of HMAS Perth
Author: Spurling, Kathryn
Condition: Very Good
Edition: 1st Edition
Publication Date: 2008
ISBN: 9781741107388
Cover: Soft Cover without Dust Jacket – 336 pages
Comments: The history of the HMAS Perth during World War 2.
A 0100 on 1 March 1942, after several heroic battles, the HMAS ‘Perth’ sank off the coast of Java. Less than half of the ship’s company survived. ‘Perth’ lost 357 sailors and a further 320 became prisoners of war, 106 of whom were to later die in captivity. Only 214 men were repatriated to Australian at the end of the war.
‘Cruel Conflict’ is the story of the men who served in HMAS ‘Perth’ between 1939 and 1942. The courage and humour of those who were taken as prisoners of war, who endured the hardships of the camps and laboured on the Burma-Thailand railway is a story of triumph and tragedy.
Kathryn Spurling has interviewed the survivors and their families as well as mining thousands of documents to weave together a moving table. It is ultimately a story of chance, endurance and the power of the human spirit.
