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'Their officers called them a stinking, lazy, drunken rabble and their friends said they took the colonel prisoner, burnt down their officers' mess and drove off the military police with heavy rifle-fire. This is the unforgettable story of the gallant men of the A.I.F.: the fearless and fatalistic Diggers of the Western Desert.
'Twenty thousand men were on their way to the deserts of Egypt and Libya: some had joined up for adventure, some were on the run from the police, for others, the army meant three meals a day and a bed to sleep in. From an induction camp in Australia to the siege of Tobruk, the savage intensity of Second X Battalion's experiences is not for the faint hearted. How soon will death silence so many of these brave voices and how many will ring out beyond the brutality of the battlefield?'
Source: Publisher's blurb (Head of Zeus ed.)
Notes
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Epigraph: 'What do they know of the world? Does living mean / Quite simply, Mother, to die very young? / Good for this, good for that. My good friends I am leaving - / Twenty years old - good for the armed services.'
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Author's note explains the characterisation.
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Epigraph 2: In 1951 edition, the following also appears: 'In the pictures in the Versailles Gallery it's all generals, flags and clouds. But in reality it's mud and lice' ('The Fall of Paris' by Ilya Ehrenburg).
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The Muller edition was selected by the Daily Graphic as its book of the month for October, 1952.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also sound recording.
Works about this Work
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"We Were the Rats" and "The Twenty Thousand Thieves" : Fictionalizing an Episode of Australian History
1998
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Commonwealth , Spring vol. 20 no. 2 1998; (p. 87-99) -
War Literature 1890-1980
1988
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , vol. 13 no. 4 1988; (p. 337-352) -
The Usable Past : Australian War Fiction of the 1950s
1985
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 12 no. 2 1985; (p. 234-247) -
The Getting of Manhood
1979
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Popular Culture 1979; (p. 121-144) -
The Veterans
1955
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland , Spring no. 5 1955; (p. 30-31)
— Review of The Veterans 1954 single work novel ; The Twenty Thousand Thieves 1951 single work novel
-
The Veterans
1955
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland , Spring no. 5 1955; (p. 30-31)
— Review of The Veterans 1954 single work novel ; The Twenty Thousand Thieves 1951 single work novel -
[Review] The Twenty Thousand Thieves
1951
single work
review
— Appears in: Meanjin , Spring vol. 10 no. 3 1951; (p. 300-301)
— Review of The Twenty Thousand Thieves 1951 single work novel -
Comparing the Critics
1951
single work
review
— Appears in: The Austrovert , no. 5 1951; (p. 7)
— Review of The Twenty Thousand Thieves 1951 single work novel -
The Ninth Get Their Novel
1951
single work
review
— Appears in: The Austrovert , no. 4 1951; (p. 6)
— Review of The Twenty Thousand Thieves 1951 single work novel -
Propaganda Novel
1951
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 17 October vol. 72 no. 3740 1951; (p. 2,35)
— Review of The Twenty Thousand Thieves 1951 single work novel -
The Getting of Manhood
1979
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Popular Culture 1979; (p. 121-144) -
War Literature 1890-1980
1988
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , vol. 13 no. 4 1988; (p. 337-352) -
The Usable Past : Australian War Fiction of the 1950s
1985
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 12 no. 2 1985; (p. 234-247) -
"We Were the Rats" and "The Twenty Thousand Thieves" : Fictionalizing an Episode of Australian History
1998
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Commonwealth , Spring vol. 20 no. 2 1998; (p. 87-99)
