The Knights of Bushido: A Short History of Japanese War Crimes

by Russell of Liverpool, Edward Frederick Langley Russell, Baron

• ISBN13: 9781853674990
• ISBN10: 1853674990
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-06-01
• Publisher: Motorbooks Intl

Summary

This is the classic, standard account of Japanese war crimes; a best seller in its time, but out of print for many years. Between 1931 and 1945 Japanese troops rampaged through one defeated country after another, executing civilians, despoiling cities, massacring prisoners and cruelly exploiting prisoners of war and native populations. This carefully constructed history charts this brutal swathe of destruction, objectively examines individual crimes and details the reasons behind Japan's unprecedented disregard for accepted humanitarian principles. Japanese troops behaved with considerable brutality in their war against China a campaign designed 'to punish the people of China'. The Nanking massacre of December 1937 was just one example of the appalling series of atrocities the Japanese inflicted on the conquered Chinese. Japan also excelled in the mistreatment of prisoners of war. Allied troops unfortunate enough to fall into Japanese hands were abused, humiliated, starved and forced to serve as slave labor. This sweeping indictment of atrocities committed by the forces of the Rising Sun is a detailed and carefully documented study and one which throws light onto one of the most disturbing episodes of World War II.

Table of Contents

New Introduction	xiii
From Mukden to Pearl Harbour	1	(38)
The China Incident	39	(14)
The General treatment of Prisoners of war	53	(17)
The Murder of Captured Aircrews	70	(12)
Life and Death on the Burma-Siam Railway	82	(14)
The Massacre and Murder of Prisoners of War	96	(21)
The Prison Hulks	117	(20)
The Death Marches	137	(12)
The Prison Camps	149	(56)
The Civilian Internment Camps	205	(8)
War Crimes on the High Seas	213	(20)
Cannibalism, Vivisection and mutilation	233	(8)
Atrocities Against the Civilian Population Under Japanese occupation	241	(33)
The Kempaitai	274	(8)
Retribution	282	(31)
Appendix: Some Legal Aspects of War Crimes trials	313	(14)
Index	327