Cruel Conflict  
The Triumph and Tragedy of HMAS Perth  

by Kathryn Spurling 
published by New Holland Publishers (Australia) 
RRP $26.95 (336pp; 240mm x 165mm)

 Published in paperback in October this year, Cruel Conflict is the story of the HMAS Perth during World War II. The author, Kathryn Spurling, is as blue-blooded as it comes in Navy circles, having served in the Australian Navy herself. Dr Spurling has taught at the Australian Defence Force Academy and has dedicated her book to her husband, Cdr Nigel Spurling (dec.), formerly of HMAS Perth II. 
  The book traces the service of Perth during her time up to her destruction in the Battle of Sunda Strait in 1942, following her commissioning in 1939. Her end was catastrophic, with only about half the crew surviving to be captured and sent to POW camps. The author then follows the fate of the surviving crew through their ordeals until war’s end and their return to Australia in 1945. 
  Kathryn Spurling’s research into the history of Perth and the fate of her crew allows a very personal account of the three years of her service to develop. It seems that each member of the crew has a place in the narrative. 
  Anecdotes were collected from crew who returned and survived into their eighties as well as much from families and friends of those who were not so lucky.  
  Perth had a very successful introduction to warfare, triumphant in her participation in the Mediterranean Battle of Matapan. Her crew dubbed her the “lucky” ship, following that part of the conflict. Malta Harbour, under attack from German bombers, brought out the best in the ship and crew. 
  Kathryn Spurling’s understanding of the effects of wartime on personalities and families is revealed as she follows various crew back into Australia following the Med campaign. Clearly war had wrought great changes on the men as they tried to warm to their family life, even if only for the short time until their next departure. 
  Obviously, Perth’s luck runs out when she enters Sunda Strait in the company of USS Houston. Vastly outnumbered and outgunned, both ships were to perish. The author gives members of the crew their story of the battle, whether survivor or victim. Graphic word pictures are drawn describing the final moments. 
  Those rescued may have felt their luck had changed, but in the hands of infamous captors, it was clearly going to be for the worse. Groups of survivors were sent to work on the Burma- Thailand Railway, again with catastrophic results. And when the line was completed, survivors were chosen for work in Japan. 
  En route, one of the Japanese vessels transporting a number of the crew was torpedoed by an American submarine, killing more of the hapless Perth crew. A few were rescued and loaded onto ships bound for Sydney and home. Others were recaptured, sometimes after floating for days on makeshift rafts, and sent on to Japan. 
  ‘Friendly fire’ accounted for more men when, towards war’s end Allies bombed key industrial sites in Japan where POWs numbered part of the labour force. 
  In a way that pays homage to what seems to be every one of the 681 crew members, Kathryn Spurling accounts for their demise or their survival and the ultimate return of 214 survivors to Australia. 
  It is a mammoth work, which fulfils the author’s wish to preserve the memory of ship and crew alike. Her own connections are palpable and add an emotional quality to her writing. In an era when stress and depression were little understood, it is a wonder that any crewmembers of HMAS Perth lived to tell their stories or were willing to share those stories so we might learn.