Human Bullets a Soldier's Story of Port Arthur

by Tadayoshi Sakurai, Count Okuma (Introduction)

1907. Translated by Masujiro Honda and Edited by Alice Mabel Bacon. Contents: Mobilization; Our Departure; The Voyage; A Dangerous Landing; The Value of Port Arthur; The Battle of Nanshan; Nanshan After the Battle; Digging and Scouting; The First Captives; Our First Battle at Waitu-Shan; The Occupation of Kenzan; Counterattacks on Kenzan; On the Defensive; Life in Camp; Some Brave Men and their Memorial; The Battle of Taipo-Shan; The Occupation of Taipo-Shan; The Field after the Battle; The First Aid Station; Following Up the Victory; The Storming of Taku-Shan; Sun Flag on Taku-Shan; Promotion and Farewells; The Beginning of the General Assault; A Rain of Human Bullets; The Forlorn Hope; and Life Out of Death.

Genres: Japan, History, Japanese History, War, Military History

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1999

Reviews

[Capsguy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brutal, this must have been Japan’s equivalent to Storm of Steel. I would have appreciated knowing more about his experiences directly after the war and how he was received as a veteran of such a momentous event for the nation at the time.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a treat to find a first hand account of a conflict that is often forgotten about. Sakurai does a good job of describing the events up to the Seige of Port Arthur and just how bloody it was. It is a bit flowery in the language but that is a byproduct of being a book by a turn of the century Japanese individual. Also I have never read a book where the author wants to die so much *but that’s okay because it would’ve been an honorable death in combat.

*personal joke

[Deb Urbano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brutal, but informative 25-year-old Japanese soldier's account of his experience in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. Sakurai wrote it with his left hand, because he lost his right in the war. The intended audience was Japanese, and translation into English did not happen until decades later.

Footnotes were brief, but invaluable.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted this book to be good, but it was just such a damn bore that the memory of struggling through it overshadows any positive thing I could say.