Behind the Barbed Wire
by Chester M. Biggs, Jr.
"Memoir of a World War II U.S. Marine Captured in North China in 1941 and Imprisoned by the Japanese Until 1945"
Popularity
3.71 / 5
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Details
War:
World War II
Perspective:
Prisoners of War
Military Unit:
US Marine Corps
True Story:
Yes
Biography:
Yes
Region:
Asia
Page Count:
403
Published Date:
2016
ISBN13:
9780786487707
Description
On December 8, 1941, Japanese troops methodically took over the U.S. Marine guard posts at Peiping and Tientsin, causing both to surrender. Imprisoned first at Woosung and then at Kiangwan in China, the men were forced to laboriously construct a replica of Mount Fujiyama. It soon became apparent that their mountain was to be used as a rifle range. In 1945 the author was among those transferred to the coal mining camp at Uteshinai in Japan. Recounted here are descriptions of the living and working conditions at the prison camps in China, the treatment of American prisoners by their Japanese captors, and how the POWs were able to hold themselves together.
