Thread: Books on war
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Old 29-12-13, 08:10
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Default One Fourteenth of an Elephant

The brutal behaviour of the Japanese forces during WW2 has once again come under scrutiny as a result of the recently released film 'The Railway Man' Starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman. The film deals with the emotional damage suffered by the lead character (Firth) as a result of his maltreatment as a POW working on the Thai-Burma railway.
For anyone wishing to know what it was really like to labour under Japanese control as a POW in WW2 with first hand accounts of japanese brutality and total indifference to the suffering of others including their own wounded this book cannot be surpassed.
One Fourteenth of an Elephant by Ian Denys Peek is arguably the definitive work on the day to day treatment of Japanese held prisoners and I had trouble putting it down as the author's descriptive ability is a rare gift to encounter.
If you read one book on the topic make it this one, it is not a dirge, it is a story of triumph over adversity.

One Fourteenth of an Elephant by Ian Denys Peek, ISBN 0 330 36463 4

David
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