Don`t know how accurately his book has been quoted or even how accurate his research was.
I`ve never heard of any of this before today.
The Diggers are going ballistic.
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AUSTRALIAN soldiers refused orders to attack and were on the point of open mutiny in the final year of World War II, according to a new book by noted British journalist and historian Sir Max Hastings.
In Nemesis — The Battle for Japan 1944-45, Hastings writes that "the last year of the war proved the most inglorious of Australia's history as a fighting nation."
Hastings accused Australian soldiers of disobeying orders to attack, saying many soldiers were "embittered" and even on the edge of open mutiny.
He said regular volunteer troops felt bitter towards those who did not volunteer to serve and scorned conscript militia sent to New Guinea and Bougainville.
Hastings appears to think that not nearly enough Australians died fighting the Japanese and appears to belittle the 7384 Australians killed fighting in the Pacific War.
He points out that the number of Australian dead was fewer than the number of prisoners captured in Malaya and Singapore who died, and only slightly more than the number of US Marines killed on Iwo Jima.
"It seemed perverse that, having won so much honour far away in the Mediterranean, Australia's share of the Pacific War ended in rancour and anticlimax," he says.
Hastings says Australian troops resented being sidelined by the US commander Douglas MacArthur and being used only for irrelevant mopping up operations in the islands.
He argues that Australians saw the only reason for the invasion of Borneo in July 1945 was to keep them away from America's victory over Japan.
"Some 229 Australians died and 634 were wounded," Hastings writes. "It was impossible to believe anything worthwhile had been achieved and every man at Tarakan and Balikpapan knew it."
Reverend Roy Wotton, who buried 400 Australian troops during the Pacific War, upset at the claims.
"All those blokes died fighting the Japanese. How dare this Pom say they didn't fight," the 94-year-old said.
Joe Madeley, president of the Rats of Tobruk Association and who also fought in Borneo, was disgusted. "It is an insult to all the blokes who served in the Pacific," he said. "I lost good mates there."
RSL chief Bill Crews said Hastings' book was "offensive". "Veterans are maligned in this depiction of events in the Pacific," Mr Crews said.
"Australians did feel sidelined by the American command, but his claims about the fighting spirit and morale of the diggers is a sweeping assertion."
Australian War Memorial historian Dr Karl James said Hastings had overstated frustrations in the Australian army.
"There were some who were exhausted after years of fighting, but there was nothing like Hastings is suggesting," he said.
Sir Max Hastings could not be reached for comment.
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