Australian War Classics: We Were the Rats by Lawson Glassop

Book Description

Secondhand. Fair condition. Top right front cover corner has been removed, otherwise minor wear to book corners and edges. Pages are sunned. Foxing to foredges, preliminary and end pages. Binding is still very good. Still a readable copy.

First published in 1944. Part of the series Australian War Classics presented by E E (Weary) Dunlop.

The so-called "Rats of Tobruk", the Allied forces besieged by Germans on the North African coast for almost nine months during WWII, endured the most wretched and squalid conditions and a nagging sense of futility as their comrades were slaughtered, month after month, before their eyes.

In this novel Lawson Glassop, himself a survivor of Tobruk, reveals the personal anguish, the fear and the bravery - the humaneness - of the Australian soldiers who took part in the siege as they strove to maintain dignity amid chaos. Above all, he captures their spirit of grim determination as they fought against great odds and in bloody battles.

With astonishing clarity, Glassop has created a timeless portrait of the Aussie Digger: his speech's cadence, defiant attitudes, and essential larrikinism. (back cover)