Australian War Classics: The Naked Island by Russell Braddon

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Foxing to foredges. Pages are sunned.

First published in 1951. Part of the series Australian War Classics presented by E E (Weary) Dunlop.

The innocence of the young Australian soldiers sent to Malaya during WWII to halt the territorial expansion of the Japanese was quickly shattered by defeat and surrender. Russell Braddon, who became a prisoner of war, graphically describes the ghastly suffering and wanton neglect of the Allied soldiers in some of the most infamous Japanese POW camps, from Pudu in Malaya to Changi in Singapore.

For over three years, he watched these men ravaged by disease, tortured and deprived of their most basic needs.

Braddon recounts his horrifying story with barely suppressed rage and enormous admiration for the prisoners' amazing ingenuity, spirit and determination, who created a semblance of order out of nightmarish chaos. His remarkable book makes grim but compelling reading. (back cover)