In December 1937, the Chinese capital, Nanjing, falls and the Japanese army unleash an orgy of torture, murder, and rape. Over the course of six weeks, hundreds of thousands of civilians and prisoners of war are killed. At the very onset of the atrocities, the Danish supervisor at a cement plant just outside the city, 26-year-old Bernhard Arp Sindberg, opens the factory gates and welcomes in 10,000 Chinese civilians to safety. He becomes an Asian equivalent of Oskar Schindler, the savior of Jews in the Holocaust.
This biography follows Sindberg from his childhood and on his first adventures as a sailor and a Foreign Legionnaire to the 104 days as a rescuer of thousands of helpless men, women, and children in the darkest hour of the Sino-Japanese War. After his remarkable achievement, he receded back into obscurity, spending decades at sea and becoming a naturalized American citizen, before dying of old age in Los Angeles in 1983.
The book sets the record straight by providing the first complete account of Sindberg's life in English. What emerges is the surprising tale of a person who was average in every respect but rose to the occasion when faced with unimaginable brutality, discovering an inner strength and courage that transformed him into one of the great humanitarian figures of the twentieth century and an inspiration for our modern age.
December 1942 saw the bloodiest Christmas in the history of mankind. Men were killing each other in greater numbers than ever before. The Holocaust continued, and innocent civilians were murdered by the thousands throughout the evil Nazi empire, even as the perpetrators celebrated the birth of Christ.
Millions stationed in far-off lands amid the greatest conflict in human history feared this was their last Christmas in freedom, or their last Christmas alive. At the same time as the slaughter continued unabated, throughout the world there were random acts of kindness. These gestures also straddled religious barriers and sometimes included those of non-Christian faiths.
At the same time, Christmas 1942 saw the injunction of 'good will to man' distorted in ugly and callous ways. In Berlin, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels spent time with his family while still buried in feverish fantasies about the Jewish world conspiracy.
Christmas 1942 saw the entire range of man's conduct towards his fellow man, reflecting the extremes of behavior, good and bad, that World War II gave rise to. The way the holiday was marked around the world tells a deeper, more universal story of the human condition.
In early 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy were advancing on all fronts, humiliating Allied forces throughout the Pacific. In a matter of months, Japan had conquered an area larger than Hitler's empire at its apex. Hawaiians and Australians feared a future under Hirohito. The fate of half of mankind was hanging in the balance.
But by the end of 1943, the tables had turned entirely. The American-led military machine had kicked into gear, and the Japanese were fighting a defensive battle along a frontline that crossed thousands of miles of land and sea. In Japan Runs Wild, 1942-1943, historian Peter Harmsen details the astonishing transformation that took place in that period, setting the Allies on a path to ultimate victory over Japan.
The second installment of Peter Harmsen's three-part history, Japan Runs Wild, 1942-1943 continues his comprehensive chronicle of the Pacific Theater during the Second World War. Giving due emphasis to the Japanese-American struggle, Harmsen also sheds light on the other peoples involved, including the British, Australians, Soviets, Filipinos, Indians, and Koreans. Above all, the central importance of China is highlighted in a way that no previous general history of the war against Japan has achieved.
The last installment of the War in the Far East trilogy, Asian Armageddon 1944-1945, continues and completes the narrative of the first two volumes, describing how a US-led coalition of nations battled Japan into submission through a series of cataclysmic encounters. Leyte Gulf, the biggest naval battle ever, was testimony to the paramount importance of controlling the ocean, as was the fact that the US Navy carried out the only successful submarine campaign in history, reducing Japan's military and merchant navies to shadows of the former selves. Meanwhile, fighting continued in disparate geographic conditions on land, with the chaos of Imphal, the inferno of Manila, and the carnage of Iwo Jima forming some of the milestones on the bloody road to peace, sealed in Tokyo Bay in September 1945. It was a world where the stage was set for the Cold War and for international rivalries that last to this day, and a new constellation of powers emerged.
War in the Far East is a trilogy of books comprising a general history of World War II in the Asia Pacific. Unlike other histories on the conflict it goes into its deep origins, beginning long before Pearl Harbor, and encompasses a far wider group of actors to produce the most complete account yet written on the subject and the first truly international treatment of this epic conflict.
War in the Far East is a trilogy of books offering the most complete narrative yet written about the Pacific Theater of World War II, and the first truly international treatment of the epic conflict. Historian Peter Harmsen weaves together a complex and revealing narrative, including facets of the war that are often overlooked in historic narratives. He explores the war in subarctic conditions on the Aleutians; details the mass starvations in China, Indochina, and India; and offers a range of perspectives on the war experience, from the Oval Office to the blistering sands of Peleliu.
Storm Clouds Over the Pacific begins the story long before Pearl Harbor, showing how the war can only be understood if ancient hatreds and long-standing geopolitics are taken into account. Harmsen demonstrates how Japan and China's ancient enmity led to increased tensions in the 1930s, which, in turn, exploded into conflict in 1937.
The battles of Shanghai and Nanjing were followed by the Battle of Taierzhuang in 1938, China's only major victory. A war of attrition continued up to 1941, the year when Japan made the momentous decision to pursue all-out war. The infamous attack on Pearl Harbor catapulted the United States into the war, as the Japanese also overran British and Dutch territories throughout the western Pacific.
