The ridge and the river

I was reading an interview with Estelle, the wife of the outstanding Australian travel writer Peter Pinney. Pinney had also written an excellent fictional trilogy that was based on his time fighting the Japanese in New Guinea and Bougainville in the 2nd World War. Estelle mentioned in the interview, linked below, that Pinney liked Tom Hungerford's book The Ridge and the River that was published in 1952. This was published many years prior to Pinney's trilogy. I was fortunate to have a copy so thought it an opportune time to read Hungerfords novel with Pinney's writings fresh in my mind.

https://www.readersvoice.com/interviews/2004/04/estelle-pinney-talks-about-her-novels-and-peter-pinney-page-2/

The interview states that Pinney and Hungerford had fought alongside each other. It shows via the very similar portrayals of the characters in both of their writings.

Hungerford's writing is also as raw as Pinney's in its presentation of the soldier's characteristics and their attitudes to both officers and those of other races; the inherent language of racism is very notable and plays a large part in the narrative. The notable difference between the writers is that Pinney wrote in the first person where as Hungerford is a third person narrative, hence his use of racial terminology in the general prose I found rather confronting at times.

The story itself is of a new green officer having to make amends to his new battle hardened troops who have little respect for him after a very poor start to his career. He leads them on patrol and a contact is made with the Japanese enemy and there are casualties. The account is then heavily based on what happens after, with the interaction between each of the characters being prominent.
On what I have read of Pinney and what he wrote about his experiences, this book seems to also be based on the similar circumstances of the author. The writing leaves little to the imagination in terms of the attitudes of the foot soldiers towards their fellow man and the events they confront. It is at times an extremely powerful portrait of the average soldier.

The Ridge and the River won the 1952 Australian Literature Society Gold Medal, but I do wonder if it would even get nominated nowadays. The racist terminology used in the narration, not just the everyday speaking of the soldiers, I would have thought could not be acceptable to the judging panel, let alone get a publishing house to even accept the manuscript without some severe changes. Does that make it a poor book? In my opinion no as it is a very important and significant piece of Australian literature.

Recommended to those that have an interest in Australian WW2 literature.