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Desert Diggers

Desert Diggers

Writings from a War Zone 'Somewhere in the Middle East' 1940-1942

by David Mitchelhill-Green
Paperback
Publication Date: 06/03/2024

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Desert Diggers: Writings from a War Zone ‘Somewhere in the Middle East’ 1940-1942 draws upon hundreds of soldiers’ letters in a fresh and captivating narrative of the war in North Africa.

Desert Diggers follows the first men to volunteer after the outbreak of war in 1939, tracing their adventures in exotic ports before further training in Palestine. A hunger for action grew: ‘Most of the chaps are ... anxious to get into anything that looks like a fight’, one soldier wrote to his brother.

From Egypt, ‘the hottest and dustiest place on God's earth’ was the Diggers’ next destination and their ‘blooding’ in the battles for Bardia and Tobruk. After Rommel failed to storm Tobruk in April-May 1941, Nazi propaganda denigrated the garrison, ‘caught like rats in a trap’. Amid frequent bombing and shelling, Berlin’s scornful broadcasts were an unintended tonic. ‘Frequently we laughed and joked until the tears came into our eyes’, a Digger quipped.

From Tobruk, to the blunting of Rommel’s attacks at El Alamein, the price of victory was palpably high: ‘some of my best mates didn't come out of it’, lamented a lieutenant to his mother. Returning to Australia in 1943, some men maimed or traumatised, brought a further test for the Diggers ...

Told in the words of the men who served, Desert Diggers offers a new personal perspective on the Western Desert campaigns. With immediacy and raw emotion, these skilfully woven letters provide a remarkable and compelling account of the Australian experience of war.

ISBN:
9781923004849
9781923004849
Category:
History
Format:
Paperback
Publication Date:
06-03-2024
Language:
English
Publisher:
Big Sky Publishing Pty, Limited
Country of origin:
Australia
Pages:
448
Dimensions (mm):
230x153.01mm
David Mitchelhill-Green

Over the past thirty years David Mitchelhill-Green has travelled the globe in search of lost stories from the Second World War. His photographic investigations have featured in the magazine After the Battle and national newspapers.

David is the author of Rommel in North Africa; With Rommel in the Desert; Air WAR over North Africa; Fighting in the Ukraine and Tobruk 1942. Several years in Japan led to an interest in Japanese history and the co-authoring of Castles of the Samurai and Samurai Castles.

David lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his wife Jennifer and two children.

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