Hellfire: Australia, Japan and the Prisoners of War by Cameron Forbes
For months during 1943 there was no night in Hellfire Pass. By the light of flares, carbide lamps and bamboo fires, men near-naked and skeletal cut a passage through stone to make way for a railway. Among these men were some of the 22,000 Australian soldiers taken prisoner by the Japanese during World War II. In camps across Asia and the Pacific they struggled, died, and survived with a little help from their mates.
Hellfire was researched in Australia, Japan and across South-East Asia. It draws on 50 first-person interviews, ranging from former prisoners to an old Mon villager deep in the Burmese jungle, and from Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew to veterans of the Imperial Japanese Army.
The result is a tour de force, a powerful and searing history of the prisoners of the Japanese.
Format: Paperback | 576 pages
Dimensions (cm): 24.1 x 16 x 4.5 | 1.14kg
Publication Date: 01 Apr 2005
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Imprint: Macmillan
Publication City/Country: Sydney, Australia
Language: English
Illustrations note: illustrations
Edition Number: 1
ISBN10: 1405036508
ISBN13: 9781405036504
Condition: Good
A book that has been read but is in good condition. Very minimal damage to the cover including very minor scuff marks along the edges, but no holes or tears. The dust jacket is included and in good condition (minor scuff marks and creasing along the edges). All pages are undamaged with no creasing or tearing, no pencil underlining of text, no highlighting of text, no writing in margins. No missing pages.