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To: H-WAR@H-NET.MSU.EDU Subject: RE: H-Net Book Review: The Anguish of Surrender: Japanese POWs of World War II ------------------ On Sun, 25 Feb 2007, Joseph Robert White wrote: ">Chapter 8, "Uprisings in the Stockades," analyzes the small number >of >Japanese POW revolts. The POWs were divided between Allied collaborators, >_Senjinkun_ hard-liners, and a passive majority. A few of the POWs turned >violent at the urging of hard-liners or when camp staff (sometimes >unwittingly) insulted them. Alongside the political factions were service >rivalries, in which physically exhausted IJA captives avoided confrontation >while better-conditioned IJN personnel sometimes started trouble. At Camp >Featherston, New Zealand, the admission of a warship's survivors >transformed >the camp's internal dynamic, initiating a revolt that produced forty-eight >POW deaths. During the conspiratorial discussions prior to the uprisings, >a >conflict emerged between the prisoners' _tatemae_ (what society expected >them to say) and _honne_ (personal feelings). The hard-liners sometimes >took over because the moderates, who wished to sit out captivity, paid lip >service to the _tatemae_ without voicing their misgivings. The moderates >suffered most in these revolts, while the instigators sometimes emerged >unscathed." I haven't yet seen this book, although it sounds very interesting. I am curious as to whether it mentions the uprising at Cowra in New South Wales on 5 August 1944? This was by far the largest such uprising: 1100 POW were involved, 378 escaped, 234 Japanese and 5 Australians were killed or mortally wounded in the course of the uprising A significant number of the POW deaths and two Australian deaths occurred when the escapees overran a Vickers MG position. Privates Benjamin Hardy and Ralph Jones of the 22nd Garrison Battalion were awarded posthumous George Cross in 1949 for manning the Vickers gun until overrun and then attempting to disable it. All of the 378 escapees were killed, committed suicide or recaptured. Despite the large numbers of Japanese POW at large in the surrounding countryside for several days, there were no attacks on Australian civilians. Other incidents (apart from that in Featherston NZ) seem to have been minor: Shortly before the Cowra uprising, a number of POWs were stabbed at Hay (also in NSW). There were a number of riots in various locations, including a notable one at Hay in June 1945, but I don't think any POW died in them. Regards Michael Mitchell _________________________________________________________________ Join the millions of Australians using Live Search. Try live.com.au http://ninemsn.com.au/share/redir/adTrack.asp?mode=click&clientID=740&referr al=million&URL=http://live.com.au ----- For subscription help, go to: http://www.h-net.org/lists/help/ To change your subscription settings, go to http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=h-war -----
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