P.O.W

When You Go Home
(311 pages) by Arthur Lane

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE MEN AND WOMEN WHO WERE KILLED DURING THE FIGHTING OR WHO SUBSEQUENTLY DIED AT THE HANDS OF THEIR MURDEROUS CAPTORS AFTER THE FALL OF SINGAPORE OR LATER AS PRISONERS OF WAR, SENT TO WORK AS LABORERS THROUGHOUT THE FAR EAST.

THE BOOK HAS BEEN PRODUCED NOT ONLY AS A MEMORIAL TO THOSE VERY BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN, BUT ALSO THAT THE FAMILIES OF THOSE INVOLVED IN THE CONFLICT MIGHT BE ABLE TO GLIMPSE SOME OF THE PLACES WHICH ARE JUST PLACE NAMES. THREE PAGODA PASS, HELL FIRE PASS, NIKI NIKI, CHUNGKAI, TO HANBAZAYAT AND OTHERS WHICH CONJURE UP IN THE MIND SOME FORM OF TROPICAL PARADISE, BUT WHICH IN FACT WERE STOPPING PLACES TO HELL.

THE BOOK CONTAINS A CONDENSED HISTORY OF THE FIGHTING DOWN MALAYA AND THE FALL OF SINGAPORE. THE RETURN JOURNEY TO THE FORMER BATTLE SITES AND PRISONER OF WAR CAMPS BUILT ALONGSIDE THE KWAI NOI. A COMPLETE ROLL OF HONOUR IN WHICH ALL WHO WERE KILLED IN ACTION OR WHO LATER DIED IN THE PRISONER OF WAR CAMPS, ARE LISTED INDIVIDUALLY UNDER THEIR RESPECTIVE REGIMENT, SQUADRON OR SHIP.

THERE ARE APPROXIMATELY TWO HUNDRED PHOTOGRAPHS, MANY OF WHICH WERE TAKEN WITH MUCH PATIENCE BY PHILIP CAWLEY . THE BOOK SIZE IS 210MM X 297MM CONTAINING THREE HUNDRED AND TWELVE PAGES IN HARD BACK WITH DUST JACKET.

PROFITS FROM THIS BOOK (WHICH MAY BE OBTAINED FROM ANY GOOD BOOKSHOP) ARE BEING DONATED TO NATIONAL EX SERVICES ASSOCIATION NEWS.

ISBN No 1-897666-00-4                                          £35.00 plus p/p

PLEASE NOTE THAT IN SOME VERSIONS OF THIS BOOK THERE IS A PRINTING MISTAKE ON THE FRONT INSIDE COVER WHICH READS

‘Site of massacre of Japanese troops by Australians, Feb 3/5th 1942, in excess of 1,300 killed’

THIS SHOULD READ

‘‘Site of massacre of Australian troops by Japanese, Feb 3/5th 1942, in excess of 1,300 killed’

BOOK REVIEWS                                                  P.O.W

The Behar Massacre
by David Sibley

                        (The execution of 69 survivors from the British Merchant Ship 'Behar')

The true story of the sinking of the M V Behar which was traveling unescorted between Freemantle in Australia and Colombo. I say true story because it gives the true names of various officers and passengers.
The Behar was carrying much needed merchandise to the UK, on board were the ships crew consisting sixty Lascans and eleven British officers plus passengers.
At 0950 hrs on the 9th March 1944 she was attacked by the Japanese heavy cruiser 'Tome' killing several of the Behar crew. The story tells of the incarceration of all the remaining British crew and passengers and the eventual beheading of more than 56 of the crew. also the bestial torture and treatment of those people who had been taken prisoner including the elderly men and women passengers.
This is a book which every lover of Japanese should be compelled to read. It is about basic Japanese culture at its barbaric worst. The most deplorable epilogue of all time was that no one was ever found guilty.

Price: £ 8.50   Published date: 30 Jun 97 217mm(h) x 147mm(w)  118pp
Military History, Autobiography ISBN No: 1897666136 

 BOOK REVIEWS                                                         P.O.W

Of Rice And Men.
by Jimmy Walker

(The philosophies of one man From 3rd September 1939to 3rd September 1994)

Jimmy walker was just one more of those unlucky individuals who were taken prisoner at the fall of Singapore. 'Handed over to theJaps' is the way he would have expressed it. The story tells not only his experiences, but is also full of his philosophy. written tongue in cheek, with a good serving of humour, he picks out many salient details to describe, not only the disgust of those men who had arrived in Singapore only to be instructed to keep on marching straight into the Japanese prisoner of war camp waiting for them, where each man gave his version of events. 'one paragraph for example was when the group Jimmy was with were holding an inquest on the fall of Singapore' :- A prominent figure stood up to declare that "communications on the island were chaotic", The truth as far as any of the other ranks could see it was, that no section of the British troops knew where any other section was, or why!. There was one occasion, not far from company HQ, when rifle shots were screaming in from all directions at once. Everyone was firing like mad. Suddenly an officer stood up and shouted "All British troops stop firing!" and there was a sudden and complete silence.
There are a number of good cartoons plus reminisces of the past as with others he returns to one of the places he most hated as a prisoner. This is just one mans view of the war from his angle, and must not be accepted as anywhere near the actual truth when he says that ninety nine per cent of British troops never saw a Jap until after the surrender. As I said earlier 'tongue in cheek with a little salt'
Arthur Lane  

ISBN 1897666-48-9        Price: £10.00 

 BOOK REVIEWS                                     P.O.W

Portraits from Prison Camp.
by The Revd F.H. Stallard.

A selection of drawings, with background and commentary where necessary rather than a history of captivity with illustrations.

As such the pictures are in the main body of the book, with the text at the beginning and end of the book, the text being numbered in paragraphs coinciding with the picture numbers.
The drawings give the reader a real feel of the hell these men endured, and is a tribute not only to those that died, but also equally with those that survived.

ISBN: 1 902383 00 1                                 Price: £7.50

Published by:
Paul Bush
Simmondley House
Glossop
SK13 - 6LS

 BOOK REVIEWS                                     P.O.W

Betrayal in High Places
by James MacKay

The book chronicles the authors experiences as a Far East POW, and draws on the testimony of the late Captain Godwin who was  a war crimes investigator in Tokyo after the war Godwin considered that the over-riding ethic in all matters pertaining to War Crimes was that truth and justice should prevail. But so incensed was he at the frequency of instructions-"Do not investigate" which emanated from the dai-ichi office of General Willoughby; (A former German national working under MacArthur) at the failure to investigate cases of Cannibalism, Germ Warfare Experimentation, Mass Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Army, and at the cosy liaison between Willoughby and Seizo Arisue  (The head of Japanese military intelligence) that he resigned his commission and returned to New Zealand.
Although bound to secrecy, he took with him sufficient classified documentation to indicate clearly that at some time in 1949/50 an instruction had been issued from Washington to halt all further Japanese War Crimes Investigations, and to release those being held under suspicion. It is the opinion of the author and of Godwin, that behind this decision lay the fear that such investigations would lead to the Imperial Palace ( This did occur just before colonel Wild, the British top investigator who was about to arrest the Emperor Hirohito, was killed in an alleged plane crash) The arrest of the Emperor would have led to the de-stabilizing of Japan at a time when consumed with an almost paranoiac fear of Communist Might in the Far east. Washington's primary aim was to establish a "Capitalist Ally" in the Far east. Macarthur and Keenan certainly succeeded in this aim. But say the joint authors of the book, it was at the expense of justice. All POWs feel betrayed and they quite rightly draw a comparison with the long term and vigorous pursuit of the perpetrators of the Holocaust.
In August last year, a group of Imperial Japanese Army Veterans publicly confessed to war time atrocities their stories were immediately hushed up by the American and Japanese Governments.

ISBN 1897666411
£10.00 - Soft cover ......... £14.00 - Hard cover

And can be obtained at any good bookshop

 BOOK REVIEWS                                     P.O.W

Unknown to the Emporer
by James Hill

Being captured by the Japanese during the Second World War was a harrowing and traumatic experience for those who survived - thousands died in POW camps from illness, starvation, and sheer brutality The author graphically details his experiences of four years in the hands of the Japanese, and clearly demonstrates his determination to survive. Many survived the ordeal, some to die later from their experiences. Others similar to the author, lived to tell the tale.

 ISBN 0952227003                              Price £14.95

 BOOK REVIEWS                                     P.O.W

UNSUNG HEROES

of the

ROYAL AIR FORCE

The FAR EAST PRISONERS of WAR
by Les and Pam Stubbs
Paperback, 282 pages with Maps

This publication provides a comprehensive record of the RAE men who were prisoners of war of the Japanese. A Roll gives the Full Name and Service Number of the 5102 RAF Far East Prisoners of War (FEPOWs) and also most of the men who served in Commonwealth Air Forces. The countries in which each was held is detailed.
More than a third of these Air Force personnel did not survive captivity and for these men the place and date of death is included and where buried - or, for those with no known grave, the Memorial Where Commemorated.

Most Air Force personnel were captured in Java, but they were captured widely throughout the Far East - about 100 in Burma, about 100 in Hong Kong,
about 100 in Thailand, Malaya and Singapore and about 300 in or around Sumatra.
A few were captured elsewhere - in the Indian Ocean, m Borneo, in the Philippines and even in the Bay of Biscay. During captivity Far East Prisoners of War were transported extensively throughout the vast Japanese Empire of the time. The reasons, the destinations (with maps) and the dates and numbers involved are detailed.

ORDER FORM
To: Les and Pam Stubbs,
143 New Road, Brornsgrove Worcs, B60 2LJ (Tel/Fax 01527 873452)
Please supply ... copy/copies of Unsung Heroes of the RAF - the FEPOWs at £15 per copy inclusive of
postage and packing.

 BOOK REVIEWS                                     P.O.W

The 'Rising Sun' on my back.
By E S (Art) Benford.

The author enlisted in the Royal Artillery as a boy soldier, who in August 1941 was posted to Singapore where his father was serving as a captain with the 5th Searchlight Royal Artillery. The story is most certainly a true one, which describes his experiences during the short war he saw, and later as a prisoner of war in Thailand. Although his father tried to assist him in many ways. it was Captain Benford who remained behind buried in Kanchanaburi military cemetery. Art was severely wounded during the war and was one of the survivors of the Japanese Hell ships. He died before his manuscript from which this book taken, was fully completed. The task of finishing the book was left to his wife and daughters. Although the price may seem excessive for such a small book. The story it contains is worth every penny. The following poem is printed on the back cover of the book, and gives some idea of the sheer feelings of despair felt by the writer when he arrived home.  

 ISBN 1897666-66-7                                         Price: £12.00  

 BOOK REVIEWS                                     P.O.W

Escape Impossible
by Stanley Saddington

The author, serving with the RAF in Singapore on the outbreak of war with Japan, was one of those who managed to leave Singapore aboard the MV TIEN KWANG just as the Japanese were nearing the city. His story gives an account of his experiences covering the two thousand and more miles and twenty five various prisoner of war camps through which he travelled. His journey took him from Singapore to Sumatra and then up to Burma. The book includes some amazing unpublished photographs taken with a camera which the author carried with him. Had the camera ever been discovered it would have cost him his life. (I can vouch for the authenticity of the photographs - Arthur Lane)

ISBN 1897666-91-8                          £12.00 soft cover 

 BOOK REVIEWS                                     P.O.W

THE YOUNG COLONIALS
 by Barbara Anslow

A novel of approximately 280,000 words, set in the far east (Mainly Hong Kong) between the years 1929 to 1945.
When in 1929 ten year old Pamela returns with her parents and older brother and sister to Hong Kong after nine months leave in England, she expected to resume her idyllic colonial lifestyle. But the Portuguese and Eurasian friends she meets at her piano lessons introduce disturbing elements , which result in her being sent to boarding school in England the following year.

She rediscovers the joys of old Hong Kong when she rejoins her family there in 1937, re meeting old friends and making new ones in the government offices where she is given work. Always in the background of this luxurious life there lurks the increasingly menacing militant attitude of Japan An incipient affair with Danny one of her Eurasian childhood friends is hurriedly quashed by her doting parents. Amidst other tentative affairs , the fear of Japan grows, especially after the outbreak of war in Europe. Pamela's parents retire to England and to her surprise and delight allow her to stay on in Hong Kong to continue her work in the Government offices. Soon afterwards a threat from Japan results in the sudden evacuation to Australia of British women and children. Pamela wishing to run her own life, defies her parents urgent cables to leave with the rest of the evacuees so has to face the Japanese attack on and final capture of Hong Kong in December 1941 with subsequent internment. Pamela's brother is sent to a military prison camp and from there to Japan. Several of Pamela's friends are with her in the prisoner of war camp, others are scattered all over the Far East; how these young colonials fare in their changed circumstances is the nub of this story.

 ISBN 1897666 11 X this book will be released in April 1997            Price £12.00 B5

 BOOK REVIEWS                                     P.O.W

BOOK REVIEWS                                     POW

A A BEAUTIFUL COFFEE TABLE STYLE BOOK CONTAINING THE OUTPOURING OF EXPRESSIONS OF THANKS IN RESPONSE TO ‘BEFORE YOU GO’ TO THE VETERANS WHO SAVED OUR WAY OF LIFE - NOW AVAILABLE FOR RESERVE ORDERING AND PURCHASE AND AS A WONDERFUL PERSONALISED GIFT OF THANKS TO VETERAN FAMILY MEMBERS AND FRIENDS.