Cruel Conflict

At 0100 on 1 March 1942, after several heroic battles, the HMAS Perth sank off the coast of Java. Less than half of the ship's company survived. Perth lost 357 sailors and a further 320 became prisoners of war, 106 of whom were to later die in captivity. Only 214 men were repatriated to Australia at the end of the war. "Cruel Conflict" is the story of the men who served in HMAS Perth between 1939 and 1942. The courage and humour of those who were taken as prisoners of war, who endured the hardships of the camps and laboured on the Burma-Thailand railway is a story of triumph and tragedy.