Prisoners of war Books

Book SynopsisU.S. Marine George Burlage was part of the largest surrender in American history at Bataan and Corregidor in the spring of 1942, where the Japanese captured more than 85,000 troops. More than forty per cent would not survive World War II. His prisoner-of-war ordeal began at Cabanatuan near Manila, where the death rate in the early months of World War II was fifty men a day. Sensing that Cabanatuan was a death trap, he managed to get transferred to the isolated island of Palawan to help build an airfield for his captors.Malaria and other tropical diseases caused him to be sent to Manila for treatment in 1943 (a year later, 139 of his fellow POWs were massacred on Palawan). After another year of building airfields, Burlage survived a 38-day voyage in the hull of a Japanese hell ship and ended the war as a miner for Mitsubishi in northern Japan. By sheer luck, strength, and a bit of sabotage, he survived and was freed in September 1945 after the Japanese surrendered. He had endured starvation and torture and lost half of his prewar weight, but no one had killed him.After the war Burlage became a journalist and wrote about his POW experiences. His daughter Georgianne discovered his writings after George passed away in 2008, and edited them with additional historical material to provide context for his World War II experiences in the Pacific.

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Book SynopsisAfter the U.S. Supreme Court held that U.S. courts have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2241 to hear legal challenges on behalf of persons detained at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in connection with the war against terrorism (Rasul v. Bush), the Pentagon established administrative hearings, called "Combatant Status Review Tribunals" (CSRTs), to allow the detainees to contest their status as enemy combatants, and informed them of their right to pursue relief in federal court by seeking a writ of habeas corpus. Lawyers subsequently filed dozens of petitions on behalf of the detainees in the District Court for the District of Columbia, where district court judges reached inconsistent conclusions as to whether the detainees have any enforceable rights to challenge their treatment and detention. In December 2005, Congress passed the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (DTA) to divest the courts of jurisdiction to hear some detainees'' challenges by eliminating the federal courts'' statutory jurisdiction over habeas claims by aliens detained at Guantanamo Bay (as well as other causes of action based on their treatment or living conditions). The DTA provides instead for limited appeals of CSRT determinations or final decisions of military commissions. After the Supreme Court rejected the view that the DTA left it without jurisdiction to review a habeas challenge to the validity of military commissions in the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the 109th Congress enacted the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) (P.L. 109-366) to authorize the President to convene military commissions and to amend the DTA to further reduce access to federal courts by "alien enemy combatants," wherever held, by eliminating pending and future causes of action other than the limited review of military proceedings permitted under the DTA. In June 2008, the Supreme Court held in the case of Boumediene v. Bush that aliens designated as enemy combatants and detained at Guantanamo Bay have the constitutional privilege of habeas corpus. The Court also found that MCA 7, which limited judicial review of executive determinations of the petitioners'' enemy combatant status, did not provide an adequate habeas substitute and therefore acted as an unconstitutional suspension of the writ of habeas. The immediate impact of the Boumediene decision is that detainees at Guantanamo may petition a federal district court for habeas review of the legality and possibly the circumstances of their detention, perhaps including challenges to the jurisdiction of military commissions.

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Book SynopsisThis book provides an overview of major legal issues likely to arise as a result of executive and legislative action to close the Guantanamo detention facility. It discusses legal issues related to the transfer or release of Guantanamo detainees (either to a foreign country or into the U.S.), the continued detention of such persons in the U.S., and the possible removal of persons brought to the U.S. This book also discusses selected constitutional issues that may arise in the criminal prosecution of detainees, emphasising the procedural and substantive protections that are utilised in different adjudicatory forums. Other issues discussed include detainees'' right to a speedy trial, the prohibition against prosecution under ex post facto laws, and limitations upon the admissibility of hearsay and secret evidence in criminal cases. This book consists of public domain documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.

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Book SynopsisThe Johnson-Gilmor Raid represents one of three attempts to free prisoners of war during the American Civil War. Like the other two, it was destined to fail for a variety of reasons, mostly because the timetable for the operation was a schedule impossible to meet. The mounted raid was a fascinating act of increasing desperation by the Confederate high command in the summer of 1864, and award-winning cavalry historian Eric J. Wittenberg presents the gripping story in detail for the first time in Destined to Fail: The Johnson-Gilmor Cavalry Raid around Baltimore, July 10-13, 1864.The thundering high-stakes operation was intended to ease the suffering of 15,000 Confederate prisoners held at Point Lookout, Maryland, a peninsula at the confluence of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay. The story includes a motley cast of characters on both sides and fast-paced drama in a deeply researched study that draws upon published and unpublished primary sources, including contemporary newspapers.Part of Wittenberg’s cogent analysis compares and contrasts this raid to a pair of other unsuccessful attempts to free Union prisoners of war – the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid of February-March 1864, and the Stoneman Raid on Macon, Georgia of July 1864 – as well as Gen. George S. Patton’s attempt to free his son-in-law and other American prisoners in March of 1945. This book will be welcomed by anyone with an interest in the Civil War, high-stakes cavalry operations, or the politics of Civil War high command.

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Book SynopsisLeft for Dead at Nijmegen recalls the larger-than-life experiences of an American paratrooper, Gene Metcalfe, who served in the 82nd Airborne during WWII. From his recruitment into the military at Camp Grant to his training with the 501st Paratroop Infantry Regiment at Camp Toccoa, it wasn't until D-Day itself that he first arrived in England to join the 508th PIR. Nannini records Gene's memories of being dropped during Operation Market Garden in Nijmegen, Holland. Gene was listed as KIA and left for dead by his patrol, who presumed the worst when they saw his injuries from a shell explosion.In the climax of the story, Gene is captured by German SS soldiers and, with absolutely no protection, found himself standing before a senior officer, whom Gene recognized as Heinrich Himmler himself, behind enemy lines in a 16th century castle. Gene's subsequent interrogation is fully recounted, from the questioning of his mission to the bizarre appearance of sausages, mustard, marmalade and bread for his "dinner." This would be his last proper meal for eight months.The rest of his story is equally gripping, as he became a POW held outside Munich, being moved between various camps ridden with disease and a severely undernourished population. Eventually, after making an escape attempt and being captured within sight of the snow-capped Swiss mountains, his camp was liberated by American troops in April 1945.Gene's story is both remarkable for his highly unusual encounter, and his subsequent experiences.Trade ReviewThis is an important biography worthy of inclusion in World War II themed collections. The book portrays military sacrifices and the reality of the struggle of POW as reported by a survivor. * authorsreading.com 03/05/2019 *The author has researched and studied this subject in great depth, his knowledge and ability to engage and keep the interest of the reader is accomplished and proficient. * Army Rumour Service 20/06/2019 *Left for Dead at Nijmegen: The True Story of an American Paratrooper is an important work, one that exemplifies the sacrifices made by our military and reveals the reality of the POWs’ struggle to survive under the harshest of situations. It’s most highly recommended. * Readers Favorite Book Reviews 22/01/2019 *… an extraordinary and simply riveting memoir. * Midwest Book Review 12/06/2019 *

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Britain at War Book of the Month Award for May 2019.Churchill's Abandoned Prisoners tells the previously suppressed story of fifteen British prisoners captured during the Russian civil war. The Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 seriously compromised the Allied war effort. That threat rather than an ideological wish to defeat the Bolsheviks was the driving force behind the formation of an Allied force including British, American, French, Czech, Italian, Greek and Japanese troops, who were stationed to locations across Russia to suppor t the anti-Bolsheviks (the ‘White Russians’). But war-weariness and equivocation about getting involved in the Civil War led the Allied powers to dispatch a sufficient number of troops to maintain a show of interest in Russia's fate, but not enough to give the 'Whites' a real chance of victory.Caught up in these events is Emmerson MacMillan, an American engineer who through loyalty to his Scottish roots joins the British army in 1918. Emmerson travels to England, where he trains with the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps and volunteers for service in the Far East.The book explains how the bitter fighting ebbed and flowed along the Trans-Siberian Railway for eighteen months, until Trotsky’s Red Army prevailed. It includes the exploits of the only two British battalions to serve in the East, the “Diehards” and “Tigers”. An important chapter describes the fractious relationships between the Allies, together with the unenviable dilemmas faced by the commander of the American Expeditionary Force and the humanitarian work of the Red Cross.The focus turns to the deeds of Emmerson and the other soldiers in the select British group, who are ordered to “remain to the last” and organise the evacuation of refugees from Omsk in November 1919. After saving thousands of lives, they leave on the last train out of the city before it is seized by the Bolsheviks. Their mad dash for freedom in temperatures below forty degrees centigrade ends abruptly, when they are captured in Krasnoyarsk.Abandoned without communications or mail, they endure a fearful detention with two of them succumbing to typhus. The deserted group become an embarrassment to the Prime Minister, David Lloyd George and the War Secretary, Winston Churchill after a secret agreement fails to secure the release of the British prisoners. Deceived in Irkutsk, they are sent 3,500 miles to Moscow and imprisoned in notorious jails. After a traumatic incarceration, they are eventually released, having survived against all the odds.The spectre of armed conflict between Russia and the West has dramatically increased with points of tension stretching from the Arctic to Aleppo, while cyber warfare and election interference further increase pressure. As a new Cold War hots up it is ever-more important to understand the origins of the modern relationship between Russia and the West. The events described in this book are not only a stirring tale of courage and adventure but also only lift the lid on an episode that did much to sow distrust and precipitate events in World War Two and today.Trade Review...a rousing account of resilience and courage [...] this book also provides detailed informance about the experience of British prisoners of war during the Russian Civil War, making it an invaluable source for... anyone researching events of the Russian Civil War. * University of Middle East Technical University, founder and editor of IJORS 30/07/2019 *This is a fascinating account of a relatively unknown conflict which has drifted out of public consciousness following the overwhelming tragedy of WW1. * Army Rumour Service 26/02/2019 *Rupert Wieloch has written a genuinely interesting history that provides a useful entry point into the confusion of the Russian Civil War. * War History Online 28/02/2019 *Based on an impressive array of published and unpublished sources, this is a gripping account of the adventures and misadventures in Siberia in 1919 of a group of British and American servicemen who were involved in the disorderly Allied intervention in the chaos of Russia's post-revolutionary civil wars and who were captured by the Reds. * Queen Mary University of London, author of The `Russian' Civil Wars, 1916--1926: Ten Years that Shook the World 11/12/2018 *It is a very informative account of a lesser-known conflict. * Soldier Magazine 07/03/2019 *

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Book SynopsisAmerican Prisoner of War Camps in Northern California describes the impact of the large number of prisoners of war on the population of Northern California, as well as the impact of the people of Northern California on those imprisoned there. Providing detail on the care and employment of prisoners of war according to the Geneva Convention of 1929, the lives of POWs in this region is illustrated, along with the details of camp locations in Northern California and the deaths and burials that occurred among them. Some prisoner names are included, as well as references to source materials at various repositories. Historical photographs serve to provide depth to the story.

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Book SynopsisThe inside story of Israel’s secret negotiations to bring home their soldiers taken hostage by terrorist groups.Suppose one day, your son or husband, while serving in the military or working as a journalist, is taken hostage by a terrorist group—and you have no idea whether your loved one is dead or alive or how to even make contact with the insurgents holding him. It’s a nightmare scenario that has sadly taken place dozens of times in the past twenty years in the Middle East. Here in the U.S., the government does not always get involved. Instead, it will engage the services of a neutral country to negotiate with the terrorists. Unfortunately, many times the terrorists insist on never-ending demands in order to torment the family of the hostage. Unlike Israel, we’ve never had a central address for these types of scenarios. But maybe after reading this book, it’s an idea we could, and should, consider. Ory Slonim, the international “door knocker” was an invention of necessity by the Israeli government. There were many good and brave human beings involved in this matter. Here for the first time is the story of the one man in Israel who, for more than two decades, was known as the “door knocker.” He had been a private Israeli lawyer when he was asked to undertake, on behalf of the Israeli government, secret negotiations to find out the whereabouts of Israeli soldiers who were taken hostage by terrorist groups. His ultimate mission was to bring them home, dead or alive. In his capacity as negotiator, his story will take into you into the worlds of the furtive Mossad, the twisted minds of terrorists, the forever traumatized lives of the parents whose children never came home from battle, and into Ory’s own resilient, compassionate, and amazingly resolute negotiations when ordinary people would have easily broken down.Trade Review“Ory Slonim’s four decades of volunteering to save Israeli POWs and MIAs, bringing an end to their captivities—or their families' uncertainties—is one of the toughest roles in Israeli life. An amazing story that illustrates the ancient Jewish saying, ‘Whoever saves one life, saves the entire world.’” -- Ehud Barak, former Israeli PM and Defence Minister, and former IDF Chief of Staff“Ory Slonim’s gripping autobiography is a stunning blend of national and personal history. Throughout our decades-long acquaintance, I have witnessed Ory’s metamorphosis between the private, public, and third sectors—each of which he mastered—and his abilities as a successful high profile criminal attorney led to the introduction to my late father, the sixth President of the State of Israel Chaim Herzog, who mobilized him to the task of redeeming our Missing in Action. He then became the Special Advisor to the Minister of Defense, and an expert in negotiations regarding POWs and MIAs. In his work, Ory presents his life story—a moving statement by a man who intuited the import of authentic interpersonal connection, the power of eye contact, the significance of viewing every individual as an equal. It is also proof of the Ory rule: Don’t complain, don’t explain, let your actionsdo the talking. This is a fascinating piece which I wholeheartedly recommend and endorse in no uncertain terms.” -- Isaac Herzog, President of the State of Israel“Ory Slonim’s life story truly deserves to be told all over the world. You have dedicated your mind to the law, your heart to children (Variety International) with special needs, and your soul to Israel’s security and the fate of its missing soldiers. And you have devoted your soul and incredible sensitivity with your unique negotiating skills to securing the release of Israel’s missing and captured soldiers. Truly the face of all that is good and beautiful about Israel, portraying its compassion, morality, and humanity. Your life story is an incredible tapestry of excellence, values, spirit, compassion, and leadership." -- Ambassador Dan Gillerman“‘In Jewish lore,’ the Israeli attorney Ory Slonim observes, ‘captivity is regarded as the worst fate of all.’ In his new memoir, A Knock at the Door: The Story of My Secret Work with Israeli MIAs and POWs, readers come to understand why and what it means for a society to be guided by this worldview. Slonim worked tirelessly for more than three decades to secure the release of those Israelis, living and dead, who had been taken hostage by Israel’s enemies. No other nation in modern history has been so consistently targeted for annihilation. Few other countries have been so consistently subjected to tragedy. In Israel, the late Irish diplomat Conor Cruise O’Brien once observed that ‘there is always the shadow of a new Holocaust.’” -- Sean Durns, The Washington Examiner“Slonim details his efforts in a memoir—A Knock at the Door: The Story of My Secret Work With Israeli MIAs and POWs—that was originally published in 2019 in Hebrew. Slonim wants American readers to understand the challenges Israel faces that are different from most other countries, and why it is willing to pay such a disproportionate price in releasing convicted terrorists to bring peace of mind to the families of the missing. Regardless of the humanitarian aspect and the pleading of the compassionate Jewish heart, we have an obligation to free those who were sent to battle on our behalf and in the name of the law. If it were up to these young people, they may well have preferred to go to university or lie on the beach in Thailand instead of serving in the army. But they were sent to war, and they should go with the knowledge that we will do everything it takes to bring them back home.” -- Steven Emerson, The Algemeiner“Slonim details his efforts in a memoir—A Knock at the Door: The Story of My Secret Work With Israeli MIAs and POWs—that was originally published in 2019 in Hebrew. Slonim wants American readers to understand the challenges Israel faces that are different from most other countries, and why it is willing to pay such a disproportionate price in releasing convicted terrorists to bring peace of mind to the families of the missing. Regardless of the humanitarian aspect and the pleading of the compassionate Jewish heart, we have an obligation to free those who were sent to battle on our behalf and in the name of the law. If it were up to these young people, they may well have preferred to go to university or lie on the beach in Thailand instead of serving in the army. But they were sent to war, and they should go with the knowledge that we will do everything it takes to bring them back home.” -- Steven Emerson, The Algemeiner

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Book SynopsisCamp Huntsville was one of the first and largest POW camps constructed in America during World War II. Located roughly eight miles east of Huntsville, Texas, in Walker County, the camp was built in 1942 and opened for prisoners the following year. The camp served as a model site for POW installations across the country and set a high standard for the treatment of prisoners.Between 1943 and 1945, the camp housed roughly 4,700 German POWs and experienced tense relations between incarcerated Nazi and anti-Nazi factions. Then, during the last months of the war, the American military selected Camp Huntsville as the home of its top-secret re-education program for Japanese POWs.The irony of teaching Japanese prisoners about democracy and voting rights was not lost on African Americans in East Texas who faced disenfranchisement and racial segregation. Nevertheless, the camp did inspire some Japanese prisoners to support democratization of their home country when they returned to Japan after the war. Meanwhile, in this country, the US government sold Camp Huntsville to Sam Houston State Teachers College in 1946, and the site served as the school's Country Campus through the mid-1950s.Trade Review“This long-overdue project is one I started working on decades ago but didn't finish. It is gratifying to see the book come to fruition through the efforts of these two history professors. And what a job they've done!” - Paul Ruffin, Director, TRP

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Book SynopsisIn the bleak and bitter cold of a copper mine in northern Japan, U.S. Marine Sergeant Major Charles Jackson was allowed to send a postcard his wife. He was allowed ten words—he used three: "I AM ALIVE!" This message, classic in its poignancy of suffering and despair captures only too well what it meant to be a Japanese prisoner-of-war in World War II.In this riveting book, acclaimed military historian Major Bruce H. Norton USMC (ret.) brings to life a long-forgotten memoir by a Marine captured at Corregidor in May 1942 and held in Japanese captivity for three devastating years. In unflinching prose, Sergeant Major Jackson described the fierce yet impossible battle for Corregidor, the surrender of thousands of his comrades, the long forced marches to prison camps, and the lethal reality of captivity. One of the most important eyewitness accounts of World War II, this book is a testament to the men who sacrificed for their country. Jackson's unvarnished account of what his fellow soldiers endured in the face of enemy inhumanity pays tribute to the men who served America during the war—and why it ultimately prevailed.

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Book Synopsis“Enjoy your homes. Enjoy your food. There is nothing that can take their place.” Half a world away from her home in Manitoulin Island, Ethel Mulvany is starving in Singapore’s infamous Changi Prison, along with hundreds of other women jailed there as POWs during the Second World War. They beat back pangs of hunger by playing decadent games of make-believe and writing down recipes filled with cream, raisins, chocolate, butter, cinnamon, ripe fruit—the unattainable ingredients of peacetime, of home, of memory. In this novelistic, immersive biography, Suzanne Evans presents a truly individual account of WWII through the eyes of Ethel—mercurial, enterprising, combative, stubborn, and wholly herself. The Taste of Longing follows Ethel through the fall of Singapore in 1942, the years of her internment, and beyond. As a prisoner, she devours dog biscuits and book spines, befriends spiders and smugglers, and endures torture and solitary confinement. As a free woman back in Canada, she fights to build a life for herself in the midst of trauma and burgeoning mental illness. Woven with vintage recipes and transcribed tape recordings, the story of Ethel and her fantastical POW Cookbook is a testament to the often-overlooked strength of women in wartime. It’s a story of the unbreakable power of imagination, generosity, and pure heart.Table of ContentsTable of Contents Prologue: Setting the Table I. Meeting the Emperor 1. What’s a Manitoulin Girl Doing in Singapore? 2. The Tiger Woman 3. Bon Voyage Photos 4. Stepping Out in Singapore 5. Guns, Bicycles and Spies 6. Loaded to the Hilt on Benzedrine 7. Silence of the Guns II. Getting to Hunger 8. The Road to Jail 9. On the Inside 10. Shopping for Food and Answers 11. Shop for Some Pumpkins in Stall 38 12. The Logic of a Dream 13. Recipes of Longing III. Dreaming it Up 14. Stitching Stories 15. The Red Cross Silence Hut 16. The Games People Play 17. Double Tenth 18. Descending Mania 19. Solitary Confinement IV. Breaking Out 20. Shameful Hunger 21. First Feasts 22. The Horrors of Health Care 23. Is this Home? 24. Never Enough 25. The Gift of Food V. Putting it all Together 26. Not Fit Company for Herself 27. Treasure Van 28. What’s in the Bottom Drawer? 29. A Forgiving Spirit Draws Two Worlds Together Notes Index

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Book SynopsisLittle has been written about the Acadians who served in Canada's armed forces during the Second World War. In fact, the prevailing notion suggested that Acadians refused to support the war effort. Bombs and Barbed Wire provides an alternative point of view, revealing the commitment and bravery displayed by the approximately 24,000 Acadians who voluntarily joined the war effort. Battling both language barriers and a culture of exclusion, they overcame frustrations and prejudice to fight for the freedom of the country they loved. Based on extensive, in-depth interviews Cormier conducted in 1990 with eleven surviving Acadian veterans, Bombs & Barbed Wire brings to life the experience of Acadian soldiers for English-language readers for the first time. Bombs and Barbed Wire is volume 29 of the New Brunswick Military Heritage Series.

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Book SynopsisMuch of what has been written about the treatment of prisoners of war held by the British suggest that they have often been treated in a more caring and compassionate way than the prisoners of other countries. During the First World War, Germans held in Britain were treated leniently while there were claims of British prisoners being mistreated in Germany. Was the British sense of fair play present in the prison camps and did this sense of respect include the press and public who often called for harsher treatment of Germans in captivity? Were those seen as enemy aliens living in Britain given similar fair treatment? Were they sent to internment camps because they were a threat to the country or for their own protection to save them from the British public intent on inflicting violence on them? Prisoners of the British: Internees and Prisoners of War during the First World War examines the truth of these views while also looking at the number of camps set up in the country and the public and press perception of the men held here.

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Book Synopsis"It took me three minutes to get through the tunnel. Above ground I crawled along holding the rope for several feet: it was tied to a tree. Sergeant Bergsland joined me; we arranged our clothes and walked to the Sagan railway station. 'Bergsland was wearing a civilian suit he had made for himself from a Royal Marine uniform, with an RAF overcoat slightly altered with brown leather sewn over the buttons. A black RAF tie, no hat. He carried a small suitcase which had been sent from Norway. In it were Norwegian toothpaste and soap, sandwiches, and 163 Reichsmarks given to him by the Escape Committee. We caught the 2:04 train to Frankfurt an der Oder. Our papers stated we were Norwegian electricians from the Labour camp in Frankfurt working in the vicinity of Sagan.' Jens Muller was one of only three men who successfully escaped from Stalag Luft III in March 1944 - the break that later became the basis for the famous film the "Great Escape". Muller was no. 43 of the 76 prisoners of war who managed to escape from the camp (now in ?aga? Poland). Together with Per Bergsland he stowed away on a ship to Gothenburg. The escapees sought out the British consulate and were flown from Stockholm and were flown to Scotland. From there they were sent by train to London and shortly afterwards to 'Little Norway' in Canada. Muller's book about his wartime experiences was first published in Norwegian in 1946, titled, 'Tre kom tilbake' (Three Came Back). This is the first translation into English and will correct the impression - set by the film and Charles Bronson - that the men who escaped successfully were American and Australian. In a vivid, informative memoir he details what life in the camp was like, how the escapes were planned and executed and tells the story of his personal breakout and success reaching RAF Leuchars base in Scotland.Trade Review"It's fantastic that Jens Muller's memoir is finally in English. A first-hand account by one of the very few successful Great Escapers makes this not only historically important, but also a thrilling read." Guy Walters, author of The Real Great Escape

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Book SynopsisIt shows the variety and depth of the men sent into harms way during World War II, something emphasised by the population of Stalag Luft III. Most of the Allied POWs were flyers, with all the technical, tactical and planning skills that profession requires. Such men are independent thinkers, craving open air and wide-open spaces, which meant than an obsession with escape was almost inevitable'- John D Gresham Between dusk and dawn on the night of March 24th-25th 1944, a small army of Allied soldiers crawled through tunnels in Germany in a covert operation the likes of which the Third Reich had never seen before. The prison break from Stalag Luft III in eastern Germany was the largest of its kind in World War II. Seventy nine Allied soldiers and airmen made it outside the wire - but only three made it outside Nazi Germany. Fifty were executed by the Gestapo. Jonathan Vance tells the incredible story that was made famous by the 1963 film, The Great Escape. The escape is a classic tale of prisoner and their wardens in a battle of wits and wills.The brilliantly conceived escape plan is overshadowed only by the colourful, daring (and sometimes very funny) crew who executed it - literally under the noses of German guards. From their first days in Stalag Luft III and the forming of bonds key to such exploits, to the tunnel building, amazing escape and eventual capture, Vance's history is a vivid, compelling look at one of the greatest 'exfiltration' missions of all time.

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Book SynopsisIn early 1942 the Third Reich opened a maximum security Prisoner Of War camp in Lower Silesia for captured Allied airmen. Called Stalag Luft III, the camp soon came to contain some of the most inventive escapers ever known. The escapers were led by Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, code-named 'Big X'. In March 1944, Bushell masterminded an attempt to smuggle hundreds of POWs down a tunnel build right under the notes of their guards. In fact, only 79 Allied airmen clambered into the tunnel and only three made successful escapes. This remarkable escape would be immortalised in the famous Hollywood film THE GREAT ESCAPE, in which the bravery of the men was rightly celebrated. Behind the scenes photographs from the film are included in this definitive pictorial work on the most famous POW camp of World War II.

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Book Synopsis‘Beguiling.’ The Times ‘Compelling.’ Wall Street Journal ‘A vivid portrait.’ Daily Mail Buried in the history of our most famous jail, a unique story of captivity, violence and race. It's 1812 – Britain and America are at war. British redcoats torch the White House and six thousand American sailors languish in the world’s largest prisoner-of-war camp, Dartmoor. A myriad of races and backgrounds, some are as young as thirteen. Known as the ‘hated cage’, Dartmoor was designed to break its inmates, body and spirit. Yet, somehow, life continued to flourish behind its tall granite walls. Prisoners taught each other foreign languages and science, put on plays and staged boxing matches. In daring efforts to escape they lived every prison-break cliché – how to hide the tunnel entrances, what to do with the earth, which disguises might pass… Drawing on meticulous research, The Hated Cage documents the extraordinary communities these men built within the prison – and the terrible massacre that destroyed these worlds. ‘This is history as it ought to be – gripping, dynamic, vividly written.’ Marcus RedikerTrade Review‘Beguiling.’ -- The Times‘Meticulously researched… a vivid portrait.’ -- Daily Mail‘Easily the most comprehensive study to date (and probably for quite a long while)… a vivid reconstruction of the experiences of the men who endured Dartmoor, as well as the hundreds who did not survive… a compelling story of human indifference, cruelty and endurance.’ -- TLS‘The Dartmoor Massacre provides the dramatic climax of Nicholas Guyatt’s The Hated Cage, a compelling and compassionate study of the largest overseas contingent of American POWs before World War II… a vivid and convincing reconstruction.’ -- Wall Street Journal‘This is history as it ought to be – gripping, dynamic, vividly written, and altogether brilliant in its interpretation. Nicholas Guyatt has liberated a motley crew of American sailors from the double darkness of Dartmoor Prison and our own poor historical memory.’ -- Marcus Rediker, author of The Slave Ship: A Human History‘A beautifully narrated tale that starts with a forgotten massacre in an English prison and opens out on to a truly epic global canvas. This book illuminates how profoundly Black history underpins the national stories of Britain and the United States – and of the world beyond.’ -- Priyamvada Gopal, author of Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent‘Captivating, heartbreaking and uplifting, The Hated Cage takes us on a journey to human creativity and resilience even when violence is lurking on the surface. It shows us the power of togetherness in the midst of suffocating conditions.’ -- Olivette Otele, author of African Europeans‘In this brilliant book, Nick Guyatt tells the fascinating story of a long-forgotten massacre of American sailors in a British prison. While that tale on its own is gripping, The Hated Cage uses this prison drama to unlock a range of insights about life and death across the nineteenth-century Atlantic world. A must-read work.’ -- Kevin M. Kruse, professor of history, Princeton University‘In Britain, American military cemeteries dot the landscape, none more forgotten or haunting than the one at Dartmoor, with 271 American sailors from the War of 1812. Guyatt has written a stunning, revealing history of one of the darkest and most inhumane outposts of the British empire, hidden in plain sight and historical memory in southwest England. The book is a withering tale of race and the suffering fate of seamen in the age of sail. It is also a brilliant reminder of why we do research and why we remember.’ -- David W. Blight, Sterling Professor at Yale, author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom‘In Guyatt’s truly extraordinary recovery of Americans imprisoned long ago, he has excavated a most disturbing racial as well as carceral past, one that will feel disturbingly familiar, and one that underscores on every page the imperative of finally reckoning with white supremacy if there is to be a different future.’ -- Heather Ann Thompson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Blood in the Water‘Nicholas Guyatt’s absorbing story of the early nineteenth-century Dartmoor prison “massacre” asks who was an American and could Black men, detained as British as prisoners of war, be citizens? Told by way of archival sleuthing and exacting analysis, The Hated Cage is a fascinating study of how ideas about racism and the state became fused to one another in the early American republic. It is a must-read for anyone concerned with the origins of the anti-Black thought of our own time.’ -- Martha S. Jones, author of Vanguard‘Mostly set in a prisoner-of-war camp located on an otherworldly English moor, Nicholas Guyatt’s The Hated Cage is history at its most beguiling. Guyatt expertly synthesizes critical maritime and prison scholarship to give us a unique window into war, repression, racial violence, and incarceration in early modern American history. Anyone interested in exploring the meaning of the American Revolution would do well to lay off its founding fathers and read Guyatt’s account of long-ignored, tellingly so, events in Dartmoor’s “Black Prison”.’ -- Greg Grandin, Peter V. and C. Vann Woodward Professor of History, Yale University‘A gripping book that tells the forgotten account of the events that occurred in Dartmoor prison in 1815. In The Hated Cage, Guyatt masterfully centres attention on an intriguing cast of characters to document in clear detail the histories of race, violence and the struggles for survival that sit at the heart of the entangled connections between Britain and the US.’ -- Imaobong Umoren, associate professor of international history, London School of Economics and Political Science‘[A] colorful account… Expertly weaving digressions on the history of incarceration and the racial dynamics of America’s shipping industry into the narrative, Guyatt delivers an engrossing look at an intriguing historical footnote.’ * Publishers Weekly *

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Book Synopsis'One of the greatest novels of the Second World War' The Times. 'A remarkable find' Antony Beevor. 'A masterpiece' Mail on Sunday. Stalingrad, November 1942. Lieutenant Breuer dreams of returning home for Christmas. But he and his fellow German soldiers will spend winter in a frozen hell – as snow, ice and relentless Soviet assaults reduce the once-mighty Sixth Army to a diseased and starving rabble. Breakout at Stalingrad is a stark and terrifying portrait of the horrors of war, and a profoundly humane depiction of comradeship in adversity. The book itself has an extraordinary story behind it. Its author fought at Stalingrad and was imprisoned by the Soviets. In captivity, he wrote a novel based on his experiences, which the Soviets confiscated before releasing him. Gerlach resorted to hypnosis to remember his narrative, and in 1957 it was published as The Forsaken Army. Fifty-five years later Carsten Gansel, an academic, came across the original manuscript of Gerlach's novel in a Moscow archive. This first translation into English of Breakout at Stalingrad includes the story of Gansel's sensational discovery.Trade ReviewOne of the greatest novels of the Second World War * The Times *Gerlach's truly magnificent novel [...] is a devastating account of the appalling privations suffered by the German army, left to their fate by the foundering, over-stretched Fatherland. A masterpiece * Mail on Sunday *A remarkable find -- Antony Beevor[It] is so deftly handled and well constructed... It is astonishing that [this] is Gerlach's first attempt at fiction' * The Sunday Times *This excellent book will shine a light on the horrors of the Eastern Front for a new generation of English-speaking readers... An absolute gem of a book' * Soldier magazine *[Written with] raw, vivid immediacy, which piles up compelling images and episodes... It is an exceptional, powerful and moving work' * Sunday Times *Anyone who wants an idea of what Stalingrad was really like should read this book... Gerlach records the lives and feelings of soldiers of all ranks' * Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung *

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Book SynopsisImprisoned in a remote Turkish POW camp during the First World War, two British officers, Harry Jones and Cedric Hill, cunningly join forces. To stave off boredom, Jones makes a handmade Ouija board and holds fake séances for fellow prisoners. One day, an Ottoman official approaches him with a query: could Jones contact the spirits to find a vast treasure rumoured to be buried nearby? Jones, a lawyer, and Hill, a magician, use the Ouija board - and their keen understanding of the psychology of deception-to build a trap for their captors that will lead them to freedom. The Confidence Men is a nonfiction thriller featuring strategy, mortal danger and even high farce - and chronicles a profound but unlikely friendship.Trade ReviewFox, a former senior obituary writer for The New York Times and the author of three previous books, unspools Jones and Hill's delightfully elaborate scheme in nail-biting episodes that advance like a narrative Rube Goldberg machine, gradually leading from Yozgad to freedom by way of secret codes, a hidden camera, buried clues, fake suicides and a lot of ingenious mumbo jumbo. At moments, The Confidence Men has the high gloss of a story polished through years of telling and retelling * The New York Times *Exceptionally entertaining ... [Fox] never loosened her grip on my attention -- Michael Dirda * Washington Post *The Confidence Men couldn't have come along at a better time. This story of two unlikely con artists - young British officers who use a Ouija board to escape from a Turkish prisoner-of-war camp - is a true delight, guaranteed to lift the spirits of anyone eager to forget today's realities and lose oneself in a beautifully written tale of an exciting and deeply moving real-life caper -- Lynne Olson, author of Madame Fourcade's Secret WarMargalit Fox is one of the premier narrative storytellers we have today, and The Confidence Men is a wonderfully entertaining brew of history, thrills, and ingenuity, one that highlights the rare occasion when con artistry is employed for the greater public good -- Sarah Weinman, author of The Real Lolita and editor of Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit & ObsessionA true account of one of the most daring and implausible examples of wartime cunning by British soldiers * Daily Express *Rarely has a means of escape seemed as unlikely as a handmade Oujia board and a fake séance ... Margalit Fox's book explores how the men used psychology to dupe camp staff over many months - and how it nearly cost them their mental health and physical safety * BBC History Magazine *One of the strangest tales of the First World War ... an awesome book made even more valuable by such outstanding research and insight * Britain at War *Wonderfully researched and written * Who Do You Think You Are? *The story is incredible ... this is a great read * NB Reviews *

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Book SynopsisAs Nelson Mandela said, ‘a nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.’ Shadowland tells the sometimes inspiring, often painful stories of Germany’s prisoners, and thereby shines new light on Germany itself. The story begins at the end of the Second World War, in a defeated country on the edge of collapse, in which orphaned and lost children are forced to live rough, scavenging and stealing to stay alive, often laying the foundations of a ‘criminal career’. While East Germany developed detention facilities for its secret police, West Germany passed prison reform laws, which erected, in the words of a prisoner, ‘little asbestos walls in Hell’. Shadowland is Germany as seen through the lives, experiences, triumphs and tragedies of its lowest citizens.

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'[Reveals] the full horror of a warped version of Bushido. It is not a pleasant read, but a necessary one.' Russ Lockwood, MagwebThe war crimes trials at Nuremberg and Tokyo meted out the Allies' official justice; Lord Russell of Liverpool's sensational bestselling books on the Axis' war crimes decided the public's opinion. The Knights of Bushido, Russell's shocking account of Japanese brutality in the Pacific in World War II, describes how the noble founding principles of the Empire of Japan were perverted by the military into a systematic campaign of torture, murder, starvation, rape and destruction. Notorious incidents like the Nanking Massacre and the Bataan Death March emerge as merely part of a pattern of human rights abuses. Undoubtedly formidable soldiers, the Japanese were terrible conquerors. Their conduct in the Pacific is a harrowing example of the doctrine of mutual destruction carried to the extreme, and begs the question of what is acceptable - and unacceptable - in total war.

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Book SynopsisThe mistreatment and captivity of women by the Japanese is a little known and poorly documented aspect of the Second World War. In The Real Tenko, Mark Felton, who has a fast growing reputation as an authority and author on the war in the Far East, redresses this omission with a typically well researched yet necessarily gruesome account of the plight of Allied service-women, female civilians and local women in Japanese hands.Among the atrocities shamefully committed by the Emperor's forces were numerous massacres of nurses; that at Alexandra Hospital, Singapore being perhaps the best known. The lack of respect for their defeated enemies extended in full measure to both European and Asian women and their vulnerability was all too often shockingly exploited. Those who found themselves imprisoned fared little better and suffered appalling indignities and starvation. Also covered are the hardships of gruelling marches under extreme conditions. Whereas the sexual enslavement of so called 'Comfort Women' has been regarded as affecting only Asiatic women, it transpires that this horror was experienced by whites as well.The Real Tenko is a disturbing and shocking testimony both to the callous and cruel behaviour of the Japanese and to the courage and fortitude of those who suffered at their hands.

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Book SynopsisPrisoners of war have featured in virtually every conflict that the US has engaged in since its revolutionary beginnings. Today visitors to Washington will frequently see a black POW flag flying high on government buildings or war memorials in silent memory. This act of fealty towards prisoners reflects a history where they have frequently been a rallying point, source of outrage and problem for both military and political leaders. This is as true for the 2003 Iraq War as it was the American Revolution. Yet, the story of prisoners in American wars (both enemies taken and soldiers captured) reveals much about the nation itself; how it fights conflicts and its attitudes towards laws of war. A nation born out of an exceptional ideology, the United States has frequently found itself faced with the contradictory imperatives to be both exemplary and secure: while American diplomats might be negotiating a treaty at The Hague, American soldiers could be fighting a bloody insurrection where it seemed that few if any rules applied. By taking a historical approach, this book demonstrates that the challenges America faced regarding international law and the war on terror were not entirely unique or unprecedented. Rather, to be properly understood, such dilemmas must be contextualized within the long history of those prisoners captured in American wars.Trade Review'makes a valuable contribution to debate on the US military and the development of the politics of the laws of war in relation to the treatment of prisoners of war and prisoners in war.' * Dr Ruth Blakeley, University of Kent *'The laws of war have been much discussed, often both criticized and revered, but also often little understood--especially in relation to politics. Stephanie Carvin increases our understanding of this vexing topic, especially concerning prisoners of war in irregular armed conflict. Rather than providing another legalistic treatise on the Geneva Conventions and Protocols, she has asked how does a nation's ideology affect how it views the laws of war. She takes the controversial policies of the George W. Bush Administration after 9/11 regarding enemy detainees and puts them in historical perspective, with an emphasis on the political values driving legal interpretation. The result is a readable and intriguing analysis of national ideology, policy making, and international law.' * David P. Forsythe, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Author of The Humanitarians: The International Committee of the Red Cross *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I: A Weapon and Restraint: America and Restraints on Conflict in the Age of Total Wars 1750-1950 Chapter 1: Culture or Carnage? The Laws of War in the First Wars of the Republic 1750-1860 Chapter 2: ManifestA" Humanitarians: The United States, International Law and Modern Warfare 1860-1950 Part II: There and Back Again?: The United States and the Laws of War from Vietnam to Abu Ghraib Chapter 3: Legal Revolution America and the Laws of War After Vietnam Chapter 4: Just cause and Just Means? Linking the purpose and tactics of war after 9/11 Chapter 5: Failure of an Ethos? Operation Iraqi Freedom, America and Abu Ghraib Conclusion: The United States and future of the laws of war

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Book SynopsisIn the early years of the second world war, Japan had the upper hand in the Pacific theatre. Thousands of Allied servicemen were captured and endured brutal treatment – many died, and most of the survivors were held until war’s end in August 1945.This book tells the story of the men who were incarcerated at the Mukden POW camp in northeast China, which was designated for prisoners with special technical skills and high-ranking officers. They included troops from British and Dutch territories and Australia, but the majority were Americans who had been captured in the Philippines and taken part in the infamous Bataan Death March.Based on extensive field research and interviews with former POWs, Yang Jing’s harrowing account of life in the Mukden camp provides detailed evidence of the crimes perpetrated by the Japanese during the second world war, as well as a Chinese perspective on a fascinating period of history.

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Book SynopsisThe time was 7.40 p.m., the date 15 February 1942. The light was fading fast, the Allied forces were encircled, and the bombardment was relentless, as Singapore fell to the Japanese. Discarding their weapons, the Lancashire Loyals quietly withdrew to their quarters, where they ‘composed themselves as best they could for the silent ordeal of the night, numbed and galled by the bitterness of enforced surrender’. So began three and half years of incarceration at Keijo POW camp in Korea. This is the previously untold story of the brave Lancastrians who endured, told by Chris Given-Wilson, whose father was one of those captured. It is a story of brutality, starvation and disease, but also one of survival, determination and creativity. Among the many ways the prisoners sought to keep their spirits up were the staging of surprisingly sophisticated shows, complete with Gloria d’Earie, the resident female impersonator; the growing of fresh vegetables to improve their health; and the regular publication of Nor Iron Bars (co-edited by the author’s father), with its satirical portrayals of camp life. Copies of this banned journal were successfully concealed from the guards to be smuggled home, and can be seen at the Lancashire Infantry Museum. Chris Given-Wilson writes with warmth and humour, to reveal both the best and the worst of human nature. This book should be read by everyone, but perhaps especially all proud Lancastrians.Table of ContentsPreface vii Principal sources xi Abbreviations and illustrations xii Chapter 1: Lion City 1 Prisoner stories: ‘James’ 15 Chapter 2: Fukai Maru 17 Prisoner stories: Gunner Starkey 31 Chapter 3: Endurance 35 Prisoner stories: Bombardier Butler 55 Chapter 4: Insincerity 59 Prisoner stories: Dr Mizuguchi 71 Chapter 5: Rank 75 Prisoner stories: Artists 91 Chapter 6: Mainichi 97 Prisoner stories: ‘Their Nibs’ 113 Chapter 7: ‘Not necessarily to Japan’s advantage’ 119 Prisoner stories: ‘My first uncensored letter for three and a half years!’ 126 Retrospect: ‘The hinge of fate’ 129 Bibliography 138 Endnotes 140

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