Fear Drive My Feet

by Peter Ryan

"Australia's finest war memoir."—Peter Pierce At age eighteen, Peter Ryan was an intelligence operative, patrolling isolated regions of New Guinea during World War II. Isolated, with Japanese forces closing in, he endured the hardships of the jungle without adequate supplies, a radio, or even a proper map. His very survival depended on forging relationships with the local tribes, and every choice could lead to catastrophe. For his work, Ryan was awarded the Military Medal and mentioned in dispatches. Ryan's gripping account has become a classic memoir of the war in the Pacific, rarely out of print in forty years.

Genres: War, Military Fiction, Australia, Memoir, World War II

Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

Reviews

[zed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Peter Ryan wrote this memoir not long after his time in New Guinea as an intelligence operative behind enemy lines in 42/43. It was finally published in 1959 to much acclaim. Why? As easy to read as the memoir is it is astonishingly repetitive to the point of being tedious. At 300 pages long it could have been cut by some judicial editing to half the size and been a far better book for that.

The first half is basically time spent by the author alone in the New Guinea jungle with the natives and explaining how they lived and how he learnt the local pidgin dialect.

The second half of the book is much the same except he has a fellow Australian for company and along with some faithful natives go tramping across the Jungles and Mountains in pursuit of intelligence on Japanese movements. Yes some of the locals made life difficult by being uncooperative and even working with the enemy but this is written about in such a nonchalant way that it seemed to hardly be a problem.

In the entire book Peter Ryan was shot at twice by the enemy. Once in rather strange circumstances when the Japanese took pot shots from too far away and near the end of the book in what were no doubt very sad and difficult circumstances where he showed amazing endurance.

Throughout the book I had no idea as to times and dates. Most of the time I had no idea as to what intelligence was gathered. Many claim who have read this that he showed courage in isolation and fatigue. Well yes to a degree but the author gave the impression that he enjoyed every minute of the country side and in fact relished his isolation from other whites and had nothing but praise for the local New Guineans to the point that he made many visits after the war.

As a lad in the 1970’s I worked with an old PNG veteran who told me that his entire war was 99% boredom and 1% absolute fear. That summed this very pedestrian book up.

[M. D. Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Ryan was an 18-year-old kid the Australian military sent into the Papua New Guinea jungle with little more than a compass and a pistol in order to link up with a rag-tag band of Coast Watchers, loyal PNG natives, and stray Aussie soldiers in order to keep track of the Imperial Japanese Army. That Ryan survived is one of the great stories of human endurance, courage, and resourcefulness. That his mission was successful but entirely ignored by he Allied military (which allowed the escape of many Japanese during the evacuation of PNG) is one of military history’s great heartbreakers.

One of the most compelling aspects of Ryan’s adventures comes from his encounters with the natives (I hope “native” isn’t an offensive term; the great number of tribes, languages, cultures, and physical environments make the PNG indigenous population very confusing to a Yank like me. So for economy’s sake I’m going to use “native” here). By World War II PNG had been an Australian colony of sorts for only about 20 years, the Aussies having inherited the island from the Germans as a spoil of war at the end of World War I. It seems that the Australian colonial administration was fairly lenient (or merely under-funded during the troubled ‘20s and ‘30s). Although Ryan was certainly a loyal, patriotic Aussie, I did not get that patronizing, condescending “white man’s burden” feeling from reading him. Everyone he met, whether fellow-Aussie or native he assessed as a human being. Although there are a few moments where his prose fails a strict political correctness test, he is never racist. Some of his accounts are touching without being condescending; at one point he accidentally barges into a tent full of his carriers and native soldiers. They were in the process of getting ready to sleep and had taken off what little clothes they wore during the day. Despite being mostly naked all the time anyway, they were deeply embarrassed to be seen by their commanding officer naked. It was a very human moment. The book is full of these.

Although it might seem a minor point, Ryan does an excellent job detailing the minutiae of his life in the bush without growing tedious. For instance, the trade goods used to gain native trust and cooperation are described in detail. These details are fascinating. For instance, although the use of salt as a trade item is not particularly surprising, I was interested to see that used newspapers were a viable trade good because the natives used them to roll cigarettes. Papua New Guinea silver shillings (minted in Australia) were also used, although the economy was mostly barter (numismatic geek note: New Guinea shillings were minted with holes in the middle, as this made them easier to put on a string, since loin cloths and penis gourds do not have pockets).

The ending of the book is abrupt and surprisingly negative (spoiler alert, kind of). There is a brief moment of combat with the Japanese – the only one in the entire book – an ambush, actually. A page or two later he mentions that virtually all of the intelligence he and his men had gathered was ignored, allowing the Japanese a few months later to make a clean, mini-Dunkirk evacuation. And that’s that; he does not (as the Stephen Ambrose/Steven Spielberg school of Greatest Generation rhetoric would) gas on about sacrifice and the hallowed dead, etc. It was, like so much else in wartime, a tragic, horrific waste of time, resources, and human lives. Although he notes that the experience made him into a man, he is makes no effort to imply that what he did any good at all. Which makes this perhaps the saddest World War II memoir I’ve ever read. My only complaint about it was the cheesy title, which sounds like something an agent or editor foisted on it.

Really, somebody ought to make a movie out of this one.

[Caleb Hammonds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fear Drive My Feet is a great book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Peter Ryan’s story about his experiences in World War II in Papua New Guinea. Ryan does a very good job of describing his experiences in the country, and all the different locations he visited. The story itself is fascinating. He was only eighteen years old when he arrived in Papua New Guinea, and yet he did things that are hard to imagine any man doing. He walked over very impressive distances, at times without even a map to guide him. There are a few segments, particularly around the beginning, where the action is a bit slow, but given the overall quality of the rest of the book, that is a minor complaint. I would recommend this book to anyone, particularly those who enjoy war novels. I would especially recommend this to anyone who has either lived in or at least visited Papua New Guinea, because those people would probably better understand the cultural references.

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books for colourful description that I have ever read and to my disgrace I knew the author and didn't know he had even written a book and it was the only one he every wrote. Peter Ryan was the Public Relations Manager of ICIANZ in the 50s/60s when I was the PR Consultant working for their Films and Plastics Divisions. We knew each other to nod a friendly greeting as he laboured hard on their inhouse newspaper, ICI Circle. He wrote 'Fear Drive My Feet' as a 19 year old PNG Patrol Officer in the dark days of 1942 as the Japanese invasion force was sweeping all before. He descriptions of the rivers, jungle and native villages is what really captured me as he really brings the subject alive and makes you feel that you are there beside him. Although this is his only book, he did later branch into publishing and was the General Manager of Melbourne University Press for many years. If you like adventure and great descriptive writing this is the book for you.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Kokoda Trail is hard enough but it does not compare with the country that Ryan traversed. Also a reminder of the unflinching support provided by the locals. Anyone with an interest in the part New Guinea played in the Second WW will enjoy this fascinating memoir.

[Ross Fothergill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had heard about the WWII era New Guides coast watchers years ago and had wanted to read something about their experiences for some time. This book fills that void rather nicely. It’s the personal account of one Australian intelligence operator who gathered intel on the Japanese invaders directly from the field in the areas around the Wain country near the Markham River in Northern New Guinea, 1942-43.

Peter Ryan was only eighteen when inserted into the jungles of New Guinea and spent much of his time living in the field - and off the land - mostly bartering with the natives for fresh food in return for supplies of salt and even old newspapers which the natives used not to read but to roll cigarettes with. The Australian government didn’t equip these few men very well at all and I have to say honestly that annoyed me: to say they were lightly armed and ill-supplied would be an understatement. And, as Ryan states in his book, the powers in the “head shed” didn’t make the best use of the intel that was gathered by these field operatives and, in particular, makes the point in regard to the escape routes the Japanese had planned from Lae. This failure to act in this field intel allowed hundreds of Japanese to escape north after the allied assault on Lae.

While obviously interesting for WWII history buffs - especially those keen in the New Guinea campaign - Fear Drive My Feet has lessons for modern day military personnel too. The gathering of field intelligence in difficult terrain and most especially the perils involved in working with native personnel and civilians in third country areas of operation is explored and arguably is still relevant today. The question of “are they with us or against us” is raised throughout the book. And in that the very human instinct of survival on the part natives to side with the power that they deem will prevail.

[Mike Taverner · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a well-written story of endurance - and written by such a young man. Another inspirational experience from the PNG in WW11

[Capsguy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantastic read if you are interested in off-trail trekking and seeing how the indigenous population of PNG dealt with the chaos that was WWII in the pacific.

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely excellent. Every teenager should read this to get some understanding of what war is really like. My father read this and said "I thought I had it bad". It actually helped him come to terms with his war.

[Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A phenomenal first-person account of coastwatching in WWII.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intense & readable memoir of WW II in the Pacific. Ryan's account of his wartime service in PNG is fascinating.

[Barby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the author writes masterfully about his remarkable adventures in Papua New Guinea whilst collecting intelligence on Japanese troop movements during WW2.