Guests of the Emperor: The Secret History of Japan's Mukden POW Camp

by Estate of Linda Goetz Holmes

The one unresolved issue of the Pacific War is the treatment of our prisoners of war, during and after World War II, both by the Japanese and by our own government. Never before in our military history have so many Americans, military and civilian, been taken captive by an enemy at one time. It was a triumph for the Japanese, and an embarrassment to our own government. Over 36,000 men, mostly military but some civilian, were thrown into Japanese military POW camps, forced to labor for companies working to meet quotas for Japan's war effort.
Guests of the Emperor takes you inside the largest fixed military prison camp in the Japanese Mitsubishi's huge factory complex at Mukden, Manchuria, where 1,200 American prisoners were subjected to brutal cold, starvation, beatings, medical experiments and an extremely high death rate while being forced to help manufacture parts for Mitsubishi's Zero fighter planes.
This book is the first to reveal conclusively that some Americans at Mukden were singled out for medical experiments by Japan's biological warfare team, the infamous Unit 731, located just a few hundred miles from this camp.
Nowhere else did American prisoners despise their officers so much; commit more creative sabotage; survive such brutal cold; endure death by friendly fire; and require the combined efforts of an OSS rescue team and special recovery unit, to come home alive.
Anyone who wants to know more about the Pacific War, with all its contradictions and deceptions, will want to read The Manchurian Mystery.

Genres: World War II, History

192 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2010

Reviews

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting history of one of the largest concentrations of American POWs forced to work as slave labor for the Japanese. This book goes more into an overview of what happened with some specific incidents detailed. The Japanese did some medical experiments on the POWs without their consent and often without the POWs knowing what the medical staff were doing. Because many of the POWs became sick and some died under these medical experiments it appears to be clear that some of things they were doing were calculated to be unhealthy. This book does not have a good breakdown on what chemical warfare and biological agents were used. Part of the reason is that the Japanese hid their work during and after the war. There was an order right at the end of the war that went out for Japanese forces to destroy evidence that might reflect poorly on the Japanese empire. As a result detailed records for the medical experiments have not been found.

This book does spend some time on what it was like coming back from this camp. There was a gag order on the POWs from this camp where they were ordered not to discuss what happened to them. The logic was the government wanted to tamp down on anti-Japanese feelings at the end of the war. For some men, this had devastating impacts as they refused to tell their doctors what they suffered while seeking post-war treatment in their effort to abide by the gag order.

The book also has some discussion on the post-war efforts to hold Japanese accountable for torture and murder of the POWs. While there were a few people that suffered strict penalties (one guard who beat several people to death just because he could was hanged) most of the guards received light punishments and were protected and rewarded by their government after brief stints in jail.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for more of what happened to the POWs but got a lot of statistics, unanswered questions, and one-sided responses. I was just underwhelmed with the lack of material used. This is something I could have written for one of my undergrad classes. I am sorry, I just think that a lot of newer material/facts/articles could have been used over outdated sources to create this one. It did not add any substantial "unknowns" to the subject and did not feel researched but more of footnotes put into a book. The writing and photos were very much late '80s/early '90s style, so I was surprised to see this book was written rather recently. Sorry to the author (who has passed), and while I did learn a few new facts, it is not a book I would use as my main source to become more proficient in the matter.

[Rosemary Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written, unfortunately. The information repeats and could easily be condensed.

[Edward A. hanson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, quick read. Some repetitive information in the book.

[Barbara Lovejoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the ladies at my monthly tertulia recommended this book. I had not heard of it, but the subject caught my interest. The events--tragedies of war--in this book were new to me. Yet, it is an important part of our history I need and want to know.

[Rachel Willis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The history presented in this book is important and needs to be known, but the writing is biased and boring. I plan to search out better accounts of the experience of American POWs at Mukden.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book while informative and atrocious reads like a legal brief. The goal of the book seems more to prove the atrocities of Unit 731 happened and by whom vs what those were. It reads like the daily notes from a legal trial and in many ways that is exactly what it is.
The Japanese of WWII were not good hosts for our POWs and the Genevea convention meant nothing to them.