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Title: Horror in the East: Japan and the Atrocities of World War II by Laurence Rees, Akira Iriye ISBN: 0-306-81178-2 Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: 03 September, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Japanese terrorism in World War II.
Comment: Rees explains the deviant behavior that arose in Japan after the first wars of the 20th Century (Russo-Japanese War, WWI). In those conflicts, Japan immitated the Western Allies in their treatment of captured territories and POWs. With the rise of nationalism in Japan, Japanese were taught to believe they were the favored race and others in Asia (Chinese) were just so many beasts. With the war is China, Japanese soldiers took Chinese for bayonet practice. Japanese doctors practiced difficult operations on Chinese who then died after their operations. Women served as brothel material. Rees lists examples of all these deadly proceedings.
There are no surprises in Rees book. He talks about the fire bombings of Japanese cities, rapes performed on Okinawain women and the shooting of Japanese POWs by the Americans. The fire bombings and use of the atomic weapons on Japanese cities is all true. I am also sure some surrendering Japanese POWs were killed as well as rape. I doubt if this was widespread. I guess Rees is trying to equate that all war has certain evil in it, but it takes away from his expose of the criminal behavior of the Japanese military. This hurt the book.
This is a short book of worthy material for the historian. Be prepared to read some pretty disgusting material on cannibalism.
His attacks on the Americans detracted from the book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Horrifying account of what man is capable of
Comment: HORROR IN THE EAST is the book tie-in to a BBC TV documentary of the same name detailing war atrocities committed in the Sino-Japanese War of the 1930ies and the Pacific war in WW2.
Since I watched the documentary, I was eager to read the book as well, and I found it very informative and compelling despite being rather brief (160 pages).
REESE examines the rise of the Japanese empire and war crimes conducted by the Imperial Army. Clearly it is not recommended for the squeamish. Japanese veterans of war remember how they used captured Chinese civilians for bayonet practice, raped and forced Asian women into prostitution ("comfort women"), conducted surgical operations on healthy Chinese (intended as training for inexperienced military medical staff) or even resorted to cannibalism during the hellish campaign for New Guinea. Other chapters revolve around war crimes committed during the battle of Hongkong on Christmas 1941 or the treatment of Allied prisoners of war. The story of the POW camp at Sandakan in Borneo is depicted in great detail. Sandakan was the most horrifying example of mistreatment of Allied POWs during the entire war in the Pacific. Out of the 2500 British and Australian prisoners of war only six (who managed to escape) survived, while the rest perished of malnutrition, mistreatment, on exhaustive marches through the jungles or murder at the hands of their guards.
The infamous rape of Nanking and the terrible biological warfare experiments conducted by unit 731 in Manchuria are covered as well.
Author REESE interviewed dozens of perpetrators and victims and undoubtedly these recollections are very moving and the heart of the book. He manages to show us the mentality of the war criminals and while never attempting to excuse their actions the author tries to find convincing answers to the questions why this could happen. The responsibility of emperor HIROHITO is also adressd.
HORROR IN THE EAST is surprisingly unbiased, provides a balanced view and is never anti-Japanese like many books of its kind. While the focus is on Japanese atrocities the author does not shy away from in-depth detailing of US war crimes like the fire-bombing of Japanese cities. Little is known in the West about the tremendous destruction and horrifying loss of life brought upon Tokyo during the fire-bombing on 9th March 1945, which claimed more victims than the infamous atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Former US Marine Corps servicemen claim that they never took Japanese prisoners and recall appalling acts of barbarism like mutilating enemy corpses.
Personally I found the examination of the kamikaze phenomenon, while unquestionably hugely interesting, a little off-topic. But this is only a very minor complaint.
The book also includes several pages of interesting black-and-white photographs.
Very recommended reading for anyone interesting in the Second World War.
Rating: 5
Summary: Very informative & easy to read
Comment: I bought this book thinking it would be similar to the horrific 'The Rape of Nanking'(i.e. all of the book would focus on the atrocities committed in China). Indeed, the first three chapters(I.The China Solution II.Dealing with the West III.Prisoners of the Japanese) do focus on the mindset of Imperial Japanese soldiers and is very interesting and appalling. [Japanese] soldiers were inculcated in a dogma of brutality. In basic training and out in the field, soldiers slapped and beat each other viciously as a way to train and harden the troops. If they were this brutal to each other, it is easy to imagine how they were able to view and treat the Chinese as 'sub-human'.
But it is in the final two chapters(IV.Lurching Towards Defeat V.Endgame) that I learned much of profound interest. Even as the war turned against the Japanese, the Imperial military leaders of the Army and Navy could not even imagine defeat. Japan had never before in their history suffered a loss on the battlefield. As the Allies continually achieved victory at sea and on the islands, the Japanese high command kept fantasizing for 'one big victory' that would sap the fighting will of the Allies and instead opt for peace negotiations. Wrong.
Because of the numerous dark stains committed by the Japanese military(Nanking, Pearl Harbor, barbaric treatment of Allied POWs, 'Banzai!' death charges instead of surrender, kamikazes) and the alieness of Japanese culture(American Marines were incredulous the Japanese worshipped Emperor Hirohito as a living god)these facts formed into a intense hatred of the Japanese by their American adversaries. The Americans would settle for nothing less than the unconditional surrender of Japan - the exact opposite of opting for peace negotiations as the Japanese sorely miscalculated.
Something else I learned was of the fire-bombings of Japanese cities, including Tokyo, just 5 months prior to the dropping of the atomic bombs. I was only aware of the Doolittle Raid. But after securing Iwo Jima, American B-29 bombers used it as a base to launch devastating conventional bomb attacks. The biggest fire storm in history swept through Tokyo and killed 100,000 people.
Another event that I was not aware of (and helped precipitate the surrender of the Japanese where as even the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima did not) was 48 hours after Hiroshima, Stalin declared war on Japan and the Red Army quickly moved to engage the Imperial Army in Manchuria. When President Truman received no word from the Japanese after Hiroshima, a day later another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Unconditional surrender was now the only choice Japan had. (America did concede that Emperor Hirohito would remain in power, but only to make transition to a democratic state easier).
In summary, This book informs on many levels. It describes how the Japanese military worked and how such horrors and atrocities were made possible and basically encouraged. And even more interesting, it explained how the Japanese could make such foolish predictions and assumed outcomes as they thought they could take on the might of the United States.
And best of all, this book reads quickly, informatively, and entertaining(if graphic war can be called entertaining) - a veritable 1-2-3 knockout punch in the murky hit-n'-miss world of military history books.
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Title: The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang, William C. Kirby ISBN: 0140277447 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: November, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Unit 731 Testimony by Hal Gold ISBN: 4900737399 Publisher: Charles E Tuttle Co Pub. Date: March, 1996 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes in World War II (Transitions--Asia and Asian America) by Yuki Tanaka, Toshiyuki Tanaka, Yukiko Tanaka ISBN: 0813327180 Publisher: Westview Press Pub. Date: January, 1998 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Judgment at Tokyo: The Japanese War Crimes Trials by Timothy P. Maga, Tim Maga ISBN: 0813121779 Publisher: University Press of Kentucky Pub. Date: February, 2001 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism (Twentieth Century Japan: The Emergence of a World Power, 8) by Louise Young ISBN: 0520219341 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: November, 1999 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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