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In 1941 and 1942 the Japanese rapidly conquered an empire in the Far East, capturing in the process a large number of Allied civilians, some in China and some in the Empires they overran. The fate of their military prisoners is now well known, but the equally poor treatment handed out to the civilian internees and their children is a less familiar topic.
Many books on this subject focus on a particular part of the Japanese Empire (with many published in Britain concentrating on British or Commonwealth prisoners in Burma, Malaya or Singapore). Felton has taken a different approach, and covers most of the Japanese Empire, from Singapore and the rest of mainland China, through Hong Kong, Malaya, Burma and Singapore and on into the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines. This provides a much broader context for the individual stories, and amongst other things makes it clear that the Dutch were treated in an even worse manner than British or American internees.
One of the most impressive features of this otherwise dark period is the amount of effort that the parents and other internees made to make sure that their children survived. In each camp the same story emerges - parents starving themselves to make sure their children had enough food, but at the same time showing much more determination to survive themselves than childless single internees.
Chapters
1 - School's Out
2 - Evacuation
3 - New Masters
4 - Internment
5 - City of Terror
6 - Hell's Waiting Room
7 - Hard Times
8 - Comfort Girls
9 - God Save the King
10 - The Final Stretch
11 - The Last Tenko
12 - The Lost Children
13 - Blood Link
Author: Mark Felton
Edition: Hardcover
Pages: 202
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
Year: 2011