From Publishers Weekly
Very few memoirs of Japanese soldiers who fought in WWII have come to light, so the Japanese combatant of that era has become something of a mythic figure, viewed chiefly through the recollections of former enemies. This volume, originally published in the U.K., offers a rare series of first-person accounts from at least one group of men who served with the Imperial Japanese Army. Filled with pathos and humanity, these 62 tales reveal what life was like for ordinary Japanese soldiers on the bloody Burma front. Here we find a Japanese soldier stunned at being denied an expected discharge on December 8, 1941. He soon learns the reason his commanders need him to remain in uniform, and then has trouble convincing others in his unit that Japan has in fact declared war on the United States. Elsewhere, a frightened nurse hiding in the jungle is surrounded by "horrible worms." Rather than be captured by the enemy, the nurse tries to strangle herself with her belt. (She is captured and survives to tell her harrowing tale.) Japanese soldier Manabu Wada gives a cigarette to a British prisoner who is assigned to a bridge construction crew. While the British prisoner is smoking Wada's cigarette, he begins to criticize the Japanese for inefficient use of prisoner labor. The two men argue, but he and the British prisoner end their heated conversation with a handshake. "Because he spoke with such confidence of the virtues of his mother country," Wada writes, "I bore him respect and at the same time had an affection for him." Wada then repeats a Japanese proverb: "Yesterday's enemy is tomorrow's friend." All told, this is a West-friendly collection from long-silent voices. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
British and Indian forces had the grim job of opposing the Japanese Army as it overran the western half of the Siamese peninsula, then called Burma. When lines of supply were cut by the Allies, the Japanese were gradually pushed south and, starving and out of ammunition, died by the tens of thousands. This book consists of recollections by Japanese survivors of this terrible campaign, who describe instances of poignant sacrifice, heroism, and occasional compassion shown toward the enemy by both sides. Keep in mind that this was compiled for a British audience by what is called the Burma Campaign Fellowship Group, which has the laudable aim of promoting friendship between former combatants on both sides; after over a half-century, the tentative nature of this effort is still evident between the lines in the editors' choices. This volume is nonetheless full of imagery and information on the Burma Theater and is recommended, especially for the military historian. Mel D. Lane, Sacramento, CA Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
Over 305,000 Japanese soldiers fought in Burma between 1942 and 1945; 180,000 of them died. This book, uniquely, tells how the common soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army lived, fought and died in that terrible conflict. Here are straightforward accounts, sometimes moving, often shocking, of what it was like to fight a war in a strange country, far from home, short of food and weapons, confused, facing death from disease and starvation as well as enemy action. Sixty-two ‘tales’, translated from the Japanese, trace the Burma campaign in chronological sequence and together offer a new perspective on a terrible war. Japanese soldiers, navy men, fighter pilots, and others were from a different culture, but they were not the devils of popular legend. Just like their enemies, they were scared young men, fighting to the death a war they didn’t understand

FROM THE PUBLISHER

From war diaries and memoirs come first-person accounts of how the common soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army fared during the Second World War. The focus is on the Burma front, where nearly 200,000 of the 300,000 Japanese troops met their deaths. Their stories tell how they started out eager to conquer a faraway land, and how they came to feel isolated and virtually forgotten, with the constant battering by Allied air superiority and submarine attack. 5 X 7 3/4. 27 b/w illus.

SYNOPSIS

" . . . consists of recollections by Japanese survivors of this terrible campaign, who describe instances of poignant sacrifice, heroism, and occasional compassion

shown toward the enemy on both sides. . . . full of imagery and information on the Burma Theater and is recommended, especially for the military historian."—Library Journal.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly