Japan’s Gestapo: Murder, Mayhem and Torture in Wartime Asia

The book opens by explaining the origins, organisation and roles of the Kempetai apparatus, which exercised virtually unlimited power throughout the Japanese Empire. The author reveals their criminal and collaborationist networks, which extorted huge sums of money from hapless citizens and business. They ran the Allied POW gulag system which treated captives with brutality and a complete lack of mercy. Other Kempetai activities included biological and chemical experiments on live subjects, slave labour, including ‘Comfort Women’ drawn from all races. Their record of reprisals against military and civilians was unrelenting. For example Colonel Doolittle’s raid on Tokyo in 1942 resulted in a campaign of revenge not just against captured airmen but thousands of Chinese civilians. Their actions amounted to genocide on a grand scale. Of particular distaste is the revelation of the Maruta vivisection campaign. The author backs up his text with first hand testimonies from those survivors who suffered at the hands of this evil organization. He examines how the guilty were bought to justice and the resulting claims for compensation. SELLING POINTS: * Reveals the deeply disturbing activities of the Kempetai, Japan’s military and secret police. * Written by an acknowledged authority on WW2 in the Far East. This book complements his earlier works, Slaughter at Sea and The Coolie Generals. * The ruthlessness of the Kempetai against white and Asian peoples in their occupied territories is deeply shocking. * Candidate for serialization. ILLUSTRATIONS 16 pages of b/w plates