The Anguish of Surrender (eBook)

Japanese POWs of World War II

Ulrich A. Straus (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2011
272 Seiten
University of Washington Press (Verlag)
978-0-295-80255-8 (ISBN)

Infos

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 Harbors defenses. When his equipment malfunctioned, he couldnt 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.Japans 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 authors 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 Japans 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 Japans 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.

Autor

Ulrich “Rick” Straus lived a total of twenty-one years in Japan, first as a child between 1933 and 1940 in Tokyo, then as a U.S. Army language officer during the Occupation, when he participated in the trial of Japan’s major war criminals. He was Consul General on Okinawa from 1978 to 1982 and retired from the Foreign Service in 1987.

Inhalt

ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Prisoner Number One2. Japan's Policy on Prisoners of War3. Indoctrination into the Senjinkun4. Honorable Death or Shameful Life5. America's Secret Weapon: The Army and Navy Japanese Language Schools6. The Interrogations7. A Few Very Special POWs8. Uprisings in the Stockades9. Everyday Life in the Stockades10. Returning Home Alive11. Reflections on Japan's Wartime No-Surrender PolicyNotesBibliographyIndex

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 1.10.2011
• Reihe/Serie: Donald R. Ellegood International Publications
• Reihe/Serie: Donald R. Ellegood International Publications
• Reihe/Serie: Donald R. Ellegood International Publications
• Reihe/Serie: Donald R. Ellegood International Publications
• Verlagsort: Seattle
• Sprache: englisch
• Maße: 150 x 150 mm
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Freizeit / Hobby ► Sammeln / Sammlerkataloge
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► 1918 bis 1945
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
• ISBN-10: 0-295-80255-3 / 0295802553
• ISBN-13: 978-0-295-80255-8 / 9780295802558