The Anguish of Surrender

The Anguish of Surrender PDF Author: Ulrich A. Straus
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 9780295802558
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
On December 6, 1941, Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki was one of a handful of men selected to skipper midget subs on a suicide mission to breach Pearl Harbor’s defenses. When his equipment malfunctioned, he couldn’t find the entrance to the harbor. He hit several reefs, eventually splitting the sub, and swam to shore some miles from Pearl Harbor. In the early dawn of December 8, he was picked up on the beach by two Japanese American MPs on patrol. Sakamaki became Prisoner No. 1 of the Pacific War. Japan’s no-surrender policy did not permit becoming a POW. Sakamaki and his fellow soldiers and sailors had been indoctrinated to choose between victory and a heroic death. While his comrades had perished, he had survived. By becoming a prisoner of war, Sakamaki believed he had brought shame and dishonor on himself, his family, his community, and his nation, in effect relinquishing his citizenship. Sakamaki fell into despair and, like so many Japanese POWs, begged his captors to kill him. Based on the author’s interviews with dozens of former Japanese POWs along with memoirs only recently coming to light, The Anguish of Surrender tells one of the great unknown stories of World War II. Beginning with an examination of Japan’s prewar ultranationalist climate and the harsh code that precluded the possibility of capture, the author investigates the circumstances of surrender and capture of men like Sakamaki and their experiences in POW camps. Many POWs, ill and starving after days wandering in the jungles or hiding out in caves, were astonished at the superior quality of food and medical treatment they received. Contrary to expectations, most Japanese POWs, psychologically unprepared to deal with interrogations, provided information to their captors. Trained Allied linguists, especially Japanese Americans, learned how to extract intelligence by treating the POWs humanely. Allied intelligence personnel took advantage of lax Japanese security precautions to gain extensive information from captured documents. A few POWs, recognizing Japan’s certain defeat, even assisted the Allied war effort to shorten the war. Far larger numbers staged uprisings in an effort to commit suicide. Most sought to survive, suffered mental anguish, and feared what awaited them in their homeland. These deeply human stories follow Japanese prisoners through their camp experiences to their return to their welcoming families and reintegration into postwar society. These stories are told here for the first time in English.

The Anguish of Surrender

The Anguish of Surrender PDF Author: Ulrich A. Straus
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 9780295802558
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 332

Get Book Here

Book Description
On December 6, 1941, Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki was one of a handful of men selected to skipper midget subs on a suicide mission to breach Pearl Harbor’s defenses. When his equipment malfunctioned, he couldn’t find the entrance to the harbor. He hit several reefs, eventually splitting the sub, and swam to shore some miles from Pearl Harbor. In the early dawn of December 8, he was picked up on the beach by two Japanese American MPs on patrol. Sakamaki became Prisoner No. 1 of the Pacific War. Japan’s no-surrender policy did not permit becoming a POW. Sakamaki and his fellow soldiers and sailors had been indoctrinated to choose between victory and a heroic death. While his comrades had perished, he had survived. By becoming a prisoner of war, Sakamaki believed he had brought shame and dishonor on himself, his family, his community, and his nation, in effect relinquishing his citizenship. Sakamaki fell into despair and, like so many Japanese POWs, begged his captors to kill him. Based on the author’s interviews with dozens of former Japanese POWs along with memoirs only recently coming to light, The Anguish of Surrender tells one of the great unknown stories of World War II. Beginning with an examination of Japan’s prewar ultranationalist climate and the harsh code that precluded the possibility of capture, the author investigates the circumstances of surrender and capture of men like Sakamaki and their experiences in POW camps. Many POWs, ill and starving after days wandering in the jungles or hiding out in caves, were astonished at the superior quality of food and medical treatment they received. Contrary to expectations, most Japanese POWs, psychologically unprepared to deal with interrogations, provided information to their captors. Trained Allied linguists, especially Japanese Americans, learned how to extract intelligence by treating the POWs humanely. Allied intelligence personnel took advantage of lax Japanese security precautions to gain extensive information from captured documents. A few POWs, recognizing Japan’s certain defeat, even assisted the Allied war effort to shorten the war. Far larger numbers staged uprisings in an effort to commit suicide. Most sought to survive, suffered mental anguish, and feared what awaited them in their homeland. These deeply human stories follow Japanese prisoners through their camp experiences to their return to their welcoming families and reintegration into postwar society. These stories are told here for the first time in English.

Stolen Years

Stolen Years PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781877007156
Category : Prisoners of war
Languages : en
Pages : 157

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Book Description


Australian War Diaries of a Japanese P. O. W.

Australian War Diaries of a Japanese P. O. W. PDF Author: Fred Laslett
Publisher: Brolga Pub.
ISBN: 9781922036551
Category : Prisoners of war
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Australian War Diaries of a Japanese P.O.W. is a remarkable story of survival and the endurance of Australian spirit in the face of adversity. Fred Lasslett went down with the HMAS Perth off Indonesia, and was captured by the Japanese. He spent the remainder of the war in POW camps in Indonesia and Japan, but through it all maintained a diary in the form of letters home to his "elusive girl", written on cigarette paper and preserved to this day. Fred's diaries include amazing stories of escape and recapture, with the author ultimately facing a Japanese firing squad and telling how he survived. These letters reveal a spirit unshaken in the face of long imprisonment, failed escape attempts and dreary conditions in the Japanese work camp. Grim, unquenchable, uplifting; Australian War Diaries of a Japanese P.O.W. is sure to inspire.

Prisoners of the Japanese

Prisoners of the Japanese PDF Author: Gavan Daws
Publisher: Pocket Books
ISBN: 9781416511533
Category : Prisoners of war
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A devastating portrait of the suffering of Japanese-held POWs in the Second World War.

The War Diaries of Weary Dunlop

The War Diaries of Weary Dunlop PDF Author: Edward E Dunlop
Publisher: Penguin Group Australia
ISBN: 1742286984
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 508

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Book Description
This extraordinary first-hand account of Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop's experiences as senior medical officer in the infamous prisoner-of-war camps in Java and on the Burma-Thailand Railway, is not only an account of great historical significance but also a testament to the ability of the human spirit to overcome the most unbearably cruel conditions. 'I have the testimony of hundreds of Australians who had served with me and who accompanied Weary to Burma and Siam that he was both their inspiration and the main instrument of their physical and spiritual survival.' Laurens Van Der Post 'His experiences – and the manner in which he handled them – are what have made Weary Dunlop one of our most loved and most respected countrymen.' Herald Sun 'Sir Edward's care and concern for his men and his unbreakable spirit made him a living legend.' Sunday Times

Mates in Hell

Mates in Hell PDF Author: Don McLaren
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781876070717
Category : Prisoners of war
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description


Foo, a Japanese-American Prisoner of the Rising Sun

Foo, a Japanese-American Prisoner of the Rising Sun PDF Author: Frank Fujita
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
ISBN: 9781574411317
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
During his time as a POW, Frank "Foo" Fujita kept a diary of daily happenings, embellished with drawings of life in the camp. He secreted the diary in the walls of his barracks, as the practice was forbidden. That diary forms the basis of these memoirs. Fujita's memoirs are also unique in that he was one of the fewer than nine hundred Americans taken prisoner on the island of Java. The bulk of American POWs in Japanese hands surrendered in the Philippines, and most of the published POW memoirs reflect their experience. Fujita's account of the defense of Java and of the fate of the "Lost Battalion" of Texas artillerymen serves to distinguish this memoir from others. At one point while a POW in Japan, Fujita was forced to be part of the Japanese radio group broadcasting propaganda. After the war, he testified at some of the war crime trials in San Francisco, and the diary on which this book is based was used as evidence in those trials.

Lost Childhood

Lost Childhood PDF Author: Annelex Hofstra Layson
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 9781426303210
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Book Description
The author recounts her childhood experiences as a Japanese prisoner during World War II.

It Won't Be Long Now

It Won't Be Long Now PDF Author: Graham Heywood
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789881376510
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Japan marched into Hong Kong on December 8, 1941. On the same day, Graham Heywood was captured near the border while carrying out duties for the Royal Observatory. He was transported to a military Prisoner-of-War camp in Kowloon. Heywood's illustrated diary records his three-and-a-half years of internment, telling a story of hardship but also of hope. As he awaits liberation, his reflections upon freedom and imprisonment bring realisations about life and how to live it.

Reassessing the Japanese Prisoner of War Experience

Reassessing the Japanese Prisoner of War Experience PDF Author: R P W Havers
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135788782
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
This book explores the history of the Changi Prisoner of War camp at Singapore between the surrender in 1942 and the eventual liberation by British forces in September 1945. It discusses the forms of POW resistance to the Japanese.