Product Description

Over 305,000 Japanese soldiers fought in Burma between 1942 and 1945; 180,000 of them died. This book, uniquely, tells how the common soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army lived, fought and died in that terrible conflict. Here are straightforward accounts, sometimes moving, often shocking, of what it was like to fight a war in a strange country, far from home, short of food and weapons, confused, facing death from disease and starvation as well as enemy action. Sixty-two 'tales', translated from the Japanese, trace the Burma campaign in chronological sequence and together offer a new perspective on a terrible war. Japanese soldiers, navy men, fighter pilots, and others were from a different culture, but they were not the devils of popular legend. Just like their enemies, they were scared young men, fighting to the death a war they didn't understand.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #343488 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

About the Author
Dr Kazuo Tamayama is secretary of the Japan-British Society, is actively involved in the reconciliation of the Japanese and British peoples, and was awarded an honorary MBE in 1998. John Nunneley fought the Japanese in Burma, and was wounded in 1944. He is chairman of the Burma Campaign Fellowship Group, which exists to promote British-Japanese friendship. John Nunneley is the Chairman of the Burma Campaign Fellowship Group, a British veterans' association devoted to the promotion of understanding and reconciliation amongst former enemies.

Customer Reviews

The Emperor's soldiers in victory and defeat
TALES BY JAPANESE SOLDIERS Of The Burma Campaign 1942-1945 By Kazuo Tamayama and John Nunneley

The Japanese are famously reticent about the detail of their involvement in the Second World War. Now, for the first time, 62 personal accounts by private soldiers, non-commissioned officers and junior officers tell how they lived, fought, and died, in that merciless conflict from which only 118,352 of an army of 305,501 returned home.

Much of the material has been selected from recollections preserved in regimental histories, the closely-guarded, restricted records of the All-Burma Veterans Association of Japan, private papers, personal memoirs and interviews. No similar volume has ever before been published, either in Japanese or English.

Make no mistake. These are straightforward, unvarnished accounts, often stark and shocking, often intensely moving, by infantrymen, gunners, engineers, medics, navy men, pilots. They reveal, also, astonishing contrasts in human behaviour on the battlefield: of naked, adrenaline-fuelled savagery - and tears of compassion for the dying enemy soldier. Remarkably, there is ungrudging admiration for 'The Great British Empire' they were fighting to destroy.

They tell, almost casually, of that routine reckless bravery which soldiers of the Allied Forces witnessed again and again and could scarcely comprehend. Of unquestioned readiness to die a glorious death for their country - and deep melancholy at its imminent prospect. 'We cut our nails and hair, wrapped them in paper and sent them to the rear in case our bones were not recovered to be sent home for consecration at the Yasukuni Shrine.' And when taking one's own life in the 1944 monsoon retreat along 'Human Remains Highway' to the Chindwin River was to thousands of wounded, diseased and starving soldiers the only way out of a veritable hell.

The book covers the Second World War's longest campaign from victorious invasion to defeat and surrender. In chronological sequence each vividly readable story is headed with the name, rank and unit of the writer. British, Indian, Gurkha, East and West African and Chinese units are identified in scores of encounters, skirmishes and set-piece battles. These include: Bilin * Buthidaung * Donbaik * Imphal * Indainggyi * Indin * Irrawaddy River * Kanbalu * Kohima * Kokkogwa * Kuzeik * Kyaukse * Mandalay * Monywa * Rangoon * Pegu * Sangshak * Singel * Shwedaung * Shwegyin * Sinzeya * Sittang * Tavoy * Thadodan * Wanetchaung * Yenangyaung.

Timed to mark the 60th Anniversary of the outbreak of 'The Pacific War' that threw Britain against Japan, 'TALES BY JAPANESE SOLDIERS' is the authentic voice of Nippon's own 'Forgotten Army' despatched to fight to the death in Burma's jungles and mountains and plains.

The Burma campaign as never told before
A unique book, telling the story of the Burma campaign from a very different perspective. A refreshing insight into a war which no one likes talking about - simply because this was one war where no side can claim glory. An excellent read!

How refreshing
I wasn't there. So I ride a Japanese motorcycle and have a Japanese watch. It is common to knock to the Japs. How badly they treated the Ally POW's and, I guess, they deserve all the knocks they get because of it. But this helps to balance the overall picture. The Japs suffered too. The hunger, thirst, wounds, fighting. Whether we believed in waht they did or not doesn't matter, THEY did, and it's all here. From the start to the end. The Triumphs, the hopes, the tears. They suffered too - and most probably didn't want to do it.