Max Hastings: Aussie Diggers 'refused to attack' Japanese, he claims
A prominent English historian claims Australian troops were on the brink of mutiny in the final year of World War II and disobeyed orders to attack the Japanese, according to reports today.
The claims, reportedly made by Sir Max Hastings in his Nemesis - The Battle for Japan 1944-45, have sparked an angry response from veterans.
Today's The Age quotes Hastings as writing that the "the last year of the war proved the most inglorious of Australia's history as a fighting nation."
He says Australian regular troops were bitter about Australians who did not volunteer for service and resented being used for mopping up operations by US Pacific commander General Douglas MacArthur.
Rats of Tobruk Association president Joe Madeley has reacted angrily to the claims.
"It is an insult to all the blokes who served in the Pacific," he told The Age. "I lost good mates there."
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The claims, reportedly made by Sir Max Hastings in his Nemesis - The Battle for Japan 1944-45, have sparked an angry response from veterans.
Today's The Age quotes Hastings as writing that the "the last year of the war proved the most inglorious of Australia's history as a fighting nation."
He says Australian regular troops were bitter about Australians who did not volunteer for service and resented being used for mopping up operations by US Pacific commander General Douglas MacArthur.
Rats of Tobruk Association president Joe Madeley has reacted angrily to the claims.
"It is an insult to all the blokes who served in the Pacific," he told The Age. "I lost good mates there."