Michael Sturma

In the opening stages of the Pacific War, the Japanese were surprised not only by the speed of their success, but the number of surrendered personnel who came under their control. Within the first five months of the war, they captured over 140,000 Allied servicemen. Traditionally, these POWs are portrayed as victims of Japanese cruelty. In Prisoners of the Empire, Sarah Kovner argues “that there was nothing inherent to Japanese character or culture that led to the inhumane treatment of POWs” (3). Instead, the Japanese government lacked a coherent approach to prisoners of war. In the wake of Japan’s rapid territorial expansion, POWs became an afterthought. Most of the cruelty was unintended...

The U.S. and the War in the Pacific, 1941-45 analyzes the Pacific War with a focus on America’s participation in the conflict.

Fought over a great ocean and vast battlefields using the most sophisticated weapons available, the Pacific War transformed the modern world. Not only did it introduce the atomic bomb to the world, it also reshaped relations among nations and the ways in which governments dealt with their own peoples, changed the balance of power in the Pacific in fundamental ways, and helped to spark nationalist movements throughout Asia. This book examines the strategies, technologies, intelligence capabilities, home-front mobilization, industrial production, and resources that ultimately enabled the United States and its allies to emerge victorious. Major themes include the impact of war, conceptions of race, Japanese perspectives on the conflict, and America’s relations with its allies. Using primary documents, maps, and concise writing, this book provides students with an accessible introduction to an important period in history.

Incorporating recent scholarship and conflicting interpretations, the book provides an insightful overview of the topic for students of modern American history, World War II, and the Asia Pacific.

Field Marshal Count Terauchi’s personal surrender of swords to Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten in November 1945 highlights some of the complexities related to the Japanese surrender in Southeast Asia. Japanese swords served as important symbols for both their owners and the Allies. Mountbatten’s determination to dispossess the Japanese of their swords reflected his views on Japan’s militarism and a desire to impress upon soldiers their subservience to British authority when most had not been directly defeated in battle. On the other hand, Mountbatten was constrained by the huge area placed under his command, the lack of resources at his disposal and rising nationalist resistance. In these circumstances, Mountbatten sought the co-operation of surrendered Japanese personnel in British interests. The issue of surrendering Japanese swords underlines Mountbatten’s conflicting objectives and Count Terauchi’s efforts to manipulate the situation.

While the suffering of Allied prisoners of war on the Thai-Burma railway during the Second World War is well documented, much less is known about the Asian labourers employed on the project. Focusing on Thai and Chinese workers in Thailand, this study argues that although Asian labourers often suffered in a way comparable to prisoners of war, they also exercised some agency in their dealings with the Japanese. Many workers were motivated to work on the railway by relatively high wages, and at times they employed physical resistance against their treatment. Those workers resident in Thailand often exercised the option of absconding from railway work sites. At times, as elsewhere in the war, race became a central issue and showed not merely social prejudice but political calculation as well. The Thai government acted to protect Thai workers from the excesses of Japanese employment, but this was often at the expense of Chinese labourers resident in Thailand, outsiders who bore the brunt of harsh treatment.

The high death rate of Allied prisoners of war in the Pacific compared with those in Europe is commonly used to signify the barbarous way in which the Japanese fought the Second World War. This study examines the extent to which ‘friendly fire’ inflated the death rate of Allied prisoners under the Japanese, and evaluates more broadly the perceived disparity between Japanese and German treatment of Allied prisoners of war (POWs). Four broad conclusions are drawn. First, that while Allied submarine and air attacks elevated the deaths rate of Allied prisoners held by the Japanese, even if these are excluded the POW death rate remains significantly higher than for those held by Germany. Second, in some respects, POW death rates under the Japanese can be more productively and favourably compared to Germany's treatment of Soviet prisoners on the Eastern front than its treatment of Western captives. Third, the death rates mask the diversity of prisoners’ experience under the Japanese. Finally, it is suggested that perhaps the single most important difference between German and Japanese treatment of Allied prisoners was the latter's failure to adequately distribute Red Cross supplies.

Despite the extreme stress faced by submariners on patrol during the Second World War, the incidence of mental breakdown appears to have been very low. Contemporary researchers identified a number of factors that contributed to the mental health of crew members, including their selection, training, rest between patrols and confidence in their leaders. Based largely on the reminiscences of submarine veterans, this article argues that men’s attitudes also played a significant role in coping with danger on patrols. Many submariners adopted a fatalistic attitude that allowed them to accept or deny the likelihood of their deaths. At the same time, they often practiced beliefs and rituals in an attempt to balance the odds of survival in their favour.

The Japanese convoy HI-72, attacked by a wolf pack of American submarines after it departed Singapore in September 1944, has gained some notoriety because two of the ships sunk carried Allied prisoners of war. Beyond this, however, the convoy’s fate highlights some of the factors which made US submarines so effective while disclosing the shortcomings of Japanese escorts. An examination of the extant battle reports by the convoy ships reveals that the Japanese were aware of many of the factors which contributed to their shipping losses, but also unaware of how heavily the odds were stacked against them at this stage of the war.