Novel Background

The Prussian general Karl Von Clausewitz famously described war “as the continuation of politics by other means”. But like many aphorisms it conceals just as much as it reveals. There is always some point in a dispute (often more than one) where diplomacy has failed, resulting in the subsequent conflict.  And so nations embark on an exercise which ends up being far more costly in human and material terms than the original disagreement.

Taking Von Clausewitz’s maxim further- what then of those who must fight such wars? As a child I was fascinated by the story of the 1914 Christmas truce between British and German soldiers. How was it that men who had been fighting each other for weeks could suddenly lay down their guns and become brothers in arms? One moment they were shooting at each other, the next moment they were playing football amidst the barbed wire and snow of No Man’s Land. It showed that humanity could triumph over inhumanity so long as there was the will to do so. What it also proved in my young mind was that conflict between nations is not inevitable and indeed is often wholly avoidable. Furthermore almost every war ends in a peace treaty, often signed by the very men who began the conflict.

I have always wondered how enemies would  react if the state of conflict was removed, just as it was on Christmas day in 1914?  It seems to me that man would make peace with his fellow man, if only to make life easier for himself. The Darwinian concept of self preservation being inherent in all species. But what if two enemies not only made peace with each other, but also became friends while their nations were still at war?

With that in mind I remembered my grandfather who fought the Japanese for three years in Burma. Not only was he decorated, more importantly he survived. He also brought back a samurai sword as part of the ‘spoils’ of war. He once told me how it had come into his possession.  He had killed the owner in an ambush on a Japanese column during the monsoon. There had been a heavy rainstorm and in the attack my grandfather had slipped on the road. Out of the bushes charged this soldier, his word raised, ready to cut his adversary in two. My grandfather just had time to reach for his revolver and shot the officer, who fell down dead at his feet. He took the sword, but later he often wondered about the man and his family. In other circumstances might they not have been friends?

This then was the genesis of Under The Sun. Two men, a RAF flight lieutenant and a Japanese officer decide to lay down their arms and become friends while their countries continue their own mortal combat.