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Book Review: Eyewitnesses to Massacre, edited by Zhang Kaiyuan, from M.E. Sharpe, 2001.

Eyewitnesses to Massacre is a difficult, disturbing, rewarding book. It is vitally important to understanding the Japanese aggression which predated Pearl Harbor by years. Its calm and personal records of incremental savagery and capricious butchery foreshadow the Bataan Death March and the Hell Ships, and demonstrate that the Japanese militarists did not confine their cruelty to Caucasian prisoners of war. They were equal opportunity robbers and rapists and treated everyone this way regardless of race.

Eyewitnesses to Massacre builds on diaries, letters, news bulletins, war criminal trial testimony, and interviews with American missionaries active in Nanking in the late 1930s. They describe on a day-to-day basis the confused withdrawal of the Chinese army, the arrival of the Japanese victors, and a growing storm of atrocities.

To understand the enormity of this horror, think of The Killing Fields in slow motion. First every ex-soldier and anyone looking like one was rounded up and machine-gunned or grenaded or burned or used for bayonet practice. Then Japanese soldiers started entering houses, buildings, and compounds, ostensibly looking for soldiers, but in reality casing out locations and seeking women. Wives and daughters are raped and/or abducted. Individuals and groups of Japanese start looting, using their bayonets and rifles in the face of any perceived opposition. Opium starts appearing on the streets (to fund puppet governments). Businesses are pillaged and burned. Infrastructure specialists (such as power plant staff) are driven off or killed. Embassies are entered and looted. Japanese proclamations of sanctuary are torn down by Japanese soldiers. A German resident flaunts his Nazi armband to assist threatened American missionaries. Japanese consular officials are powerless to influence the mad-dog behavior of their compatriots. Throughout all this there is a cast of thousands, a Longest-Day-sized cast of victims of robbery, rape, looting, and bombing. Of course (how could it be otherwise?) the saving efforts by missionaries contrast sharply with complete ineffectuality of their own countries’ diplomats.

Japan's legacy of barbarism is refracted through the experience of ten missionaries, in their diary entries, letters, and ever war-crime testimony.

Reading about similar events through the eyes of so many different participants is fascinating since each has a unique perspective and insight into the accelerating pace of destruction. And while the missionaries are isolated in an urban battlefield for months at a time, with no help from the outside, their faith remains unperturbed. Indeed, it empowers them to support and safeguard thousands of lives; amazingly their worldview is only strengthened by the surrounding savagery. However, there is nothing pollyannaish about them, some of the most moving portions of this book record their inner struggles to come to terms with massacre, their responsibilities, their commitments, and their struggle to hate evil but not evildoers. Few ever had their faith so aggressively and severely tested.

To this day Japanese schoolbooks find it hard to confront this heritage of casual cruelty and it is certainly easy to see why. Eyewitnesses to Massacre is not easy or pleasant reading. But it illuminates the Japanese role in Asia in the same way that the diary of Anne Frank helps us see the Nazi evil in action. And it shows us the relentless power and ingenuity of good in fighting evil.

Next time someone at the Smithsonian starts babbling about how the Japanese went to war to protect their unique way of life, share a few stories from this riveting book of personal experiences.

Book Review: Horyo, by Richard M. Gordon, Paragon House, 2001

Many experience war, few observe it, and even fewer understand what they observe. Richard Gordon’s desire to set the record straight about Japanese captivity and what it did to its captives is the foundation for this valuable, remarkable book. For too many people, images of POW camp life are based on one part The Great Escape and one part Hogan’s Heroes. Gordon describes the real life of captivity as few others have dared. Its rare, disturbing insight into the POW existence and the struggle to survive make it required reading for all servicemen.

Many factors doomed the American forces in the Philippines in 1941: lack of training, inadequate supplies, the dismal state of the officer corps, MacArthur’s inexplicable failure to protect his air assets in the hours immediately after the Pearl Harbor strike, and ultimately the Europe First strategy directed from Washington. Gordon touches on all these while focusing on the jagged edge of his own experience of capture and imprisonment. When the Philippines fell in 1942 he started out in Bataan, hiked to Camp O'Donnell, and shipped thence to Japan’s Mitsushima camp, scene of some of Japan's worst POW abuses. Gordon’s account of initial capture and the walk Camp O'Donnell is dramatic and detailed. Later, his description of liberation, transport, repatriation, and resettling are wonderful recreations of the joyful chaos of war’s end.

POWs in the Philippines suffered further due to the breakdown of command structures. The infamous death march disintegrated units, and reduced the inadequately-trained units to undifferentiated masses of men, most only looking out for themselves. These have all been told before. Gordon excels not only by the strong account of these experiences, but by his description of how POWs repeatedly victimized each other: withholding medicines used for barter, sexual predation, betrayal to the Japanese, and callous mutual disregard. The American units were atomized by the Japanese, and the physical trauma of the relocation of prisoners destroyed all unit cohesion. Gordon describes how the British prisoners, in contrast, maintained discipline and leadership in the most trying circumstances.

The book has one baffling omission. Its photographs include shots of Gordon visiting with former captors or their widows in the early 1990s. The emotional depth and complexity of this book would have been even richer had Gordon described his journey back to Japan 45 years after the war’s end and his confrontations with past tormentors.

Nonetheless, Horyo is a darkly illuminating account of a world where allies became enemies, where enemies displayed improbable kindness, and where individuality destroyed individuals. Gordon’s account is not reassuring, and through his restraint there simmers a lifetime of resentment, anger, and injustice. Yet these give his account an exceptional authenticity and emotional depth, far exceeding other accounts which merely catalog beatings and schemings. Implicit on every page is the challenge of how the reader would have acted any differently in such soul-crushing circumstances. No one will ever think of the Philippine campaign or POW experience the same way after reading this unique, powerful book.

Book Review: Last Voyage of the Henry Bacon

Over the years, every naval engagement of the Second World War has found its books and scholars. In contrast, the merchant convoys across the Atlantic have found favor with few historians. Yet every convoy took the same risks of sudden death and destruction, even compounded by their slow speed, lack of armament, and thin hulls. Almost every convoy was a protracted battle between hidden predators and slow targets. But few writers have measured the cost and told the tales.

This scarcity makes The Last Voyage of the SS Henry Bacon all the more a delight to read. Authors Foxvog and Alotta tell many stories: Norwegians fleeing Nazi scorched earth tactics, first-time sailors experiencing the gloom of Murmansk, desperate Soviet stowaways summarily returned to Stalinist captors, and indefatigable British officers searching for survivors amid submarine and airborne German menace. The authors score a major success with their skillful integration of so many narrative threads.

The basic story is straightforward. Early in 1945, the Liberty ship SS Henry Bacon traveled in convoy to Murmansk with supplies for the Soviet war effort. At the same time, British warships rescued Norwegian civilians left to die by the retreating Nazis. At Murmansk the supplies were unloaded, civilians transferred to the empty cargo ships, and the convoy returned. En route home, severe weather, hardware problems, and poor ballast separated Henry Bacon from the rest of the convoy. With navigational equipment carried away by the storm, the ship strayed north as the convoy steamed south. In this isolated condition it fell prey to a German air attack force.

Alone the crew of merchantmen and Navy gunners fought more than two dozen German attack aircraft, downing at least five before succumbing to a torpedo. Here the story-telling skill of the authors is especially strong. Norwegian civilians were given first place in the few undamaged lifeboats, and the crew survived as best they could in small rafts, and improvised floats. By the time rescuing British vessels arrived two hours later, many of the crew, including senior officers, had died from exposure or gone down with their ship.

Nearly sixty years later, there are still lessons from the events of this book: the tight cohesion of the Navy and merchant marine crew in the face of threats and war, the British commitment to allies in need, the casual callousness of the retreating Germans, and the complex relations between allies as different as Soviets and Americans. The moral of these stories, magnified by wartime drama amid nature’s fury, is how ordinary men become extraordinary in the face of crisis.

This by itself would be a great story. Yet much more than these adventures make this book so rewarding. The authors’ exhaustive research recounts incidents among crewmembers before and after their last trip, and brings terse ship records to vivid life. You feel the world of Depression-era men looking for adventure and a better life; some ended it in glory, others in the bars of distant lands. But the self-sacrifice, ingenuity, and persistence of these men was their defining quality

The Last Voyage of the SS Henry Bacon is absolutely compelling reading for anyone interested in WWII or sea adventure. It is rich in detail, deeply researched, well-told, and crammed with personal stories and riveting action. I can only hope that it comes to the attention of a film producer.

WWII Weekend: The 40s Live Forever

WWII Weekend takes place during the first weekend in June each year. This year was my ninth visit, and one of the things I most look forward to each year. My blog comments follow.

Unprecedented traffic on Saturday. I spent more than an hour (!) in the exit lane to get off Rte 222. For much of this, I sweltered in the heat, and looked longingly on a Coke truck one car ahead of me. Yankee Lady, a visiting B-17, sailed lazily overhead, like a resident in another world.

Getting In. Eventually torment ended, and I parked and waited 45 minutes for a bus. But the time was well-spent, chatting with two re-enactors. One had made a nurse’s outfit from the Afrika Korps period, relying on a pattern, and seeking the fabric, buttons, etc. The other, her son, had a U-Boat captain’s uniform. This seemed a little more worn, and had the feel of authenticity. Together we swatted horseflies and discussed their favored periods.

First Entrance. The event had been redesigned for this year, and the entrance immediately debouched into the French Village recreation, through which wandered civilians (i.e., folks like me), and German soldiers of widely varying ages and ferocity. Every year the re-enactors stage the fight for the town’s liberation. It felt very homey, semiautomatic weapons aside. But I pushed on, and found myself in the presence of Frank Speer as he lectured on his life as an ace and POW. His story as compelling, but most attention (mine at least) was taken by the gleaming, proud shape of the P-51 parked right behind him: Glamorous Gal. I was somewhat distracted by the glorious hardware, and hope that Speer’s comments were recorded to be distributed on the event’s DVD.

The re-enactors are always one of the most compelling features of the weekend. There are two types.

Military re-enactors. They laboriously acquire or recreate the uniforms, hardware, and accessories of the period. Uniforms, insignia, sidearms, helmets, belts, tents, texts, pots and pans, and of course weapons. Even food is authentic! I remember one year watching some German re-enactors boiling potatoes and chowing down dark bread, washing it all down with beer. A Russian re-enactor explained how he had been a Civil War re-enactor, but has shifted to the wartime USSR for a change of pace. Plus, he added, it was pretty cheap to get started with the basics: uniform, decorations, minor battle gear. Rifles went for a song. However, inevitably he ratcheted up his ambitions, and soon had his own machine guns and other battlefield accoutrements. Women were also to be found under the snapping red flags of the Soviet camp, in period dresses, with the jaunty Red Army caps. One officer poured water from a jerrycan into a bottle, from which he sipped as we chatted. There was a peasant woman re-enactor, lolling about with a couple of soldiers.

Perhaps the Germans had one of the most ambitious camps. There were the usual, inevitable warnings “Achtung!” “Minen!”, but no Nazi slogans were in evidence, which was quite a surprise. And one officer explained to me that the SS insignia on his lapels were covered in response to sensitivities. This seemed quite odd, since a stone’s throw away, vendors were selling Waffen SS and SS Panzer Division T-shirts! But the ways of American civilians are a mystery left unexplored this day. The Germans had a splendid exhibition of superb battlefield equipment, including a swath of awesome automatic weapons!

Not only that, the Germans had artillery and even a tank! An officer explained that the tank had been used for closeups in Saving Private Ryan. I watched in wonder as it fired several rounds. In addition there were some transport vehicles, and several artillery pieces, all meticulously maintained and looking appropriately menacing. Alas, there was no 88, thanks to the ATF. The ATF record of success speaks for itself (think of Waco). When this re-enactor group had applied to bring over a mint-condition 88 found in Europe, the ATF had insisted on cutting it in three pieces, to prevent its possible re-use. The re-enactors demurred. Apparently the ATF bureaucrats fretted that terrorists might smuggle the 88 into an airport or near the White House. Similarly, they had rendered inoperable the field pieces on display. I could not help but marvel at how well they protected us from the threat of attack by law-abiding re-enactors. I’m sure they list this on their great accomplishments for the year…

Not all the camps were built for conquest, though. There was a Polish encampment, and several UK groups. Mournful notes from a bagpipe contended with a 40s singer’s ballads. Most had tents, with beds and furniture and cooking utensils. These seemed to be sine quo non; others had firearms, bayonets, hand grenades, maps, signals books, manuals, field radios (early cell phones), ammo boxes, machine guns, and mortars.

The Americans, as might be expected, had the greatest establishment in terms of personnel and gear. And not merely in terms of tents, either! They had armored personal carriers, half-tracks, artillery, and jeeps like there was no tomorrow! It looked like someone had shaken an army surplus store over the field! On Friday the camp had driven as a task force through Reading on the way to the airfield. I was particularly impressed by one man, from the building industry, who had worked with a partner to put up a wood construction to house his loot. It displayed a huge collection of communications equipment. Everything from phones to walkie-talkies to backpack radios to telephone switchboards, along with the manuals and documentation to make them work, as well as wall-litter for signals tents: the maps and charts, etc. It was a labor of art as well as a labor of love. He explained to me that this represented only a portion of his collection!

Nearly every tent could have told a similar story: the medical tent, the officers’ tents, the German officers’ hangout, etc. So spellbound was I by these labors of historical love that I almost forgot the second type of re-enactors! The civilians!

Civilian Re-Enactors. Besides the military enthusiasts, many many others find WWII Weekend of compelling interest, such as civilian re-enactors. These people also look for the authentic 40s look in terms of clothing, accessories, and personal preparation. For men this might mean zoot suits (which were in evidence) with the wide-brimmed hats, or standard suits and shoes from the period. However, as is usual in matters of fashion, women made the most effort and achieved the greatest results.

Much in evidence were the hard red lipstick, penciled eyebrows, and thick curls of the period; in fact one magazine last year (Atomic?) had a cover story on how women could achieve the 40s look. Other went further, and had the shoes, belts, bracelets, purses, compacts, and even gloves (!) so common then. Many had the de rigueur hats with veils. Four meticulously recreated young ladies lined behind me for funnel cake, and social catastrophe was only avoided through careful use of the confectioners sugar dispenser. The eldest told me how she had found ancient patterns for sale on Ebay, and used these to create the four outfits. The hats had been acquired. One vendor told me how some of the women attended all three days, spending all their time shopping to expand their wardrobe collections, and to see and be seen. And it must be said that the results were impressive.

A few chose different paths, and recently I saw two women in Soviet-style worker’s coveralls in a Stalinist interpretation of Rosie the Riveter. They were a decided minority.

Vendors. No visit to WWII Weekend is complete without a stroll down vendor row. I was disappointed that some attendees of years past were absent, such as GhostWings, Aberjona Press, America in WWII magazine, Borders, and Atomic. But there were still vendors aplenty. T-shirts (my personal fave) abounded. Toy guns and gun recreations were everywhere. Models, complete and in boxes were available. Military and especially aviation art was purveyed. All kinds of military paraphernalia, from helmets to ammo boxes to field radios to manuals to airplane junk to imported DVDs and Waffen-SS T-shirts, could be had. This year I was particularly struck by a T-shirt for Sherman’s Civil War “BBQTour” of the South and several CDs of Panzer marches and Japanese wartime music. Now there’s something you won’t hear on the radio any time soon! A brisk business in dogtags hummed.

Besides all these recreations, the genuine articles were also to be found. Three merit elaboration.

The People. This event is annually blessed with dozens of veterans and experts who speak and meet with the public. I’ve heard Pearl Harbor survivors, combat engineers, pilots, B-24 gunners, and crewmembers of the Enola Gay speak at this event. This year had, among others, Lawrence O’Rourke, who worked as an engineer on the Manhattan Project, and Bob Bolinder, who flew a P-61 in combat. Several members of Easy Company from Band of Brothers were also present. Every year I am humbled anew by what they have done, and their matter-of-fact style. I’m hoping the DVD of this event will include either video of their presentations, or at least MP3s.

The Aircraft. In recent years WWII weekend has enjoyed the presence of a B-24, a B-29 (!), an Me 109, as many as two B-17s and three P-51s at a time. You never know who will show up from year to year, but yesterday I enjoyed Yankee Lady (B-17), a P-51, a P-47, and two B-25s (which I never see without thinking of Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo). A Yak was there as well. They showed off, they preened, they roared, they took off, they flew by, they smoked, they shot. They were gorgeous. And this leads us to the third genuine article.

The P-61. The pride and joy of the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum is its P-61 night-fighter, retrieved from a New Guinea crash site and under laborious reconstruction. Every year I see the progress, and hope I’ll be around to watch it fly. This year I saw the plane with a complete nose, standing on its own landing gear, and its cannon installed and the front crew compartment (for pilot and gunner) largely intact. The skin gleamed in the lights. It’s seen major progress, clearly. I chatted with a former P-61 pilot, and we discussed the project and its future. Of course I bought a(nother) P-61 T-shirt.

The variety of events was intoxicating. Veterans spoke, re-enactors displayed, aircraft flew by, a B-17 sold rides, troops marched, a fashion show was held, 40s songs were played by Carolyn Hannan and others, Abbot and Costello re-enactors performed, and R. Lee Ermey from History Channel’s Mail Call was available for autographs and pictures.

Really, there is too much for anyone to do everything. The only solution is to go every year.

Some miscellaneous notes:
- Be sure to buy a copy of the War News annual, available when you buy your $18 admission. It has total background on everyone and everything. The ads are fantastic, each one a loving recreation or copy from a 1940s counterpart. Worth much more than five bucks!
- The Spirit Of the Airwaves Players presented a fabulous recreation of period radio programs, using authentic props as much as possible, and in period garb. They do this really well every year. I'm getting the feeling they do the same repertoire every year, and wonder if they have been able to branch out into other episodes as well. But it is always a pleasure to listen to them, and see their joy for their art.
- In 1942, a flight of several P-38s and a couple of B-17s got lost in bad weather, and landed in Greenland. Several years ago one of the P-38s was located, reached, disassembled, retrieved through 300 feet of ice, and reassembled to fly again. What a story! Well, now an expedition is organizing to return, and retrieve all the P-38s, and both B-17s. This is Operation Bolero. They were represented at the show, and have a great story. Check out their website!
- Next year, leave very, very early to avoid the insane traffic getting onto Rte 183.

Dumbed Down, PC Textbooks for History

Today's MSNBC has an interesting article on the political drivers for textbooks:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12705167/?GT1=8199

It's synchronicity that this appeared two days after I posted a review of my son's history textbook, The Americans, by Gerald Danzer, et al. It coverage of WWII has serious deficiencies, largely due to PC-motivated additions and deletions. Here's a quote from my review:

- The Navajo Code-Talkers get their own sidebar on page 579. Their contribution was tactical, not strategic. However, the efforts of codebreakers who defeated Japanese and German encryption (truly war-winning, history-changing contributions) receive no such recognition, despite the pivotal significance of their achievments for the Battle of Midway and the Battle of the Atlantic, among others. Major deficiency!

- Many units distinguished themselves in the air war over Germany. Yet while the 8th Air Force receives no mention, for example, page 573 singles out the Tuskagee Airmen as "Heroes in Combat". The same page runs through the major minority units of concern to the book's authors, like a checklist. An all-Mexican unit is mentioned by name, the 101st Airborne is not!

- The effects of this "affirmative action" in history are a disappointment. As a result of it, for example, space is given to another ethic group checklist on page 564, yet no space is found anywhere for mention of the the Guadalcanal Campaign, the beginning and archetype of the Pacific island war. One has political significance. Apparently the other did not.

(the rest of my review is at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618015337/ref=pd_rvi_gw_3/103-6033827-7135015?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155)

The article refers to a chairwoman of a textbook committee who did not care of the books were "effective", only if they were "correct".

WWII Weekend! June 2-4!!

In a few weeks, the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum (www.maam.org) will hold its landmark World War II weekend, in Reading, Pennsylvania. Here's the URL:

http://www.maam.org/maamwwii.html

I've been attending for seven years straiht now, and have never failed to have a wonderful time. Here are some of the cool things worth experiencing:

- Flying examples of period aircraft, such as a B-17, B-24, P-38, P-47, P-51, Val, and dozens of others.
- Re-enactors of German and US forces, with a French village shootout reconstruction!
- Dozens of other men and women in period outfits.
- Veterans of the Ploeste raid and Pearl Harbor, among others, sharing their experiences.
- Home front reconstructions, from period kitchens to cars and even radio broadcasts.
- Displays by veteran and other groups.
- Dozens of tanks, trucks, half-tracks, and camp installations. Awesome stuff!
- Flyovers by B-17s and other planes.
- More vendors of more cool stuff than you can shake a stick at.
- The museum's loving-restored P-61 Black Widow has made great progress, and will be on landing gear display this year!

My children have loved it, my father has, and I have. The ambience is total: when you pay your entrance fee, they stamp "Buy War Bonds" on your hand!

Registration can be done at the gate. Parking is ample, wih regular buses ferrying you in and out. If you have the slightest interest in WWII, the period, or its people, you will love this weekend.

First post!

Welcome. This blog will focus on China past and present, and on the Second World War. They're not necessarily related, but enough points connect them to warrant joining them here. After all, this is a blog, not the Library of Congress.