Download e-book for kindle: Victory in Defeat: The Wake Island Defenders in Captivity by Gregory J. W. Urwin

Told right here for the 1st time in brilliant aspect is the tale of the defenders of Wake Island following their hand over to the japanese on December 23, 1941. The extremely popular army historian Gregory Urwin spent a long time studying what occurred and now deals a revealing examine the U.S. Marines, sailors, squaddies, and civilian contractors in captivity. as well as exhaustive archival learn, he interviewed dozens of POWs or even a few of their eastern captors. He additionally had entry to diaries secretly stored via the prisoners. this knowledge has allowed Urwin to supply a nuanced examine the japanese guards and the way the american citizens survived three-and-a-half years in captivity and emerged with a miles decrease loss of life price than such a lot different Allied body of workers captured within the Pacific.

In half, Urwin says, the reply lies within the Wake Islanders’ institution of life-saving groups that stored their dignity intact. Their mutual-help networks inspired those that faltered less than actual and mental torture, together with what's this present day known as water boarding. The publication notes that the japanese camp respectable accountable for that warfare crime was once sentenced to existence imprisonment via an American army tribunal. such a lot Wake Islanders spent the warfare at camps simply outdoor Shanghai, one of many few areas the place eastern gurus accredited the pink go to help prisoners of conflict. the writer additionally calls cognizance to the generosity of civilians in Shanghai, together with Swiss diplomats and the yank and British citizens of the fabled overseas payment, who supplied foodstuff and garments to the prisoners. furthermore, a few guards proved to be much less vicious than these stationed at different POW camps and sometimes went out in their strategy to reduction inmates. because the first historic paintings to completely discover the captivity of Wake Island’s defenders, the booklet deals details no longer present in different international warfare II histories.