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The Royal United Services Institute of New South Wales Incorporated
Hell’s Heroes - The Forgotten Story of the worst POW Camp in Japan
By: Roger Maynard (588/36113)
Publisher: Harper Collins ISBN: 9780732285234
Hell’s Heroes is the story of the prisoner-of-war camp that never was – so dubbed by one old soldier because the atrocities that occurred there went largely unreported at the time. But while the Burma-Thailand railway, the Bataan death march and events at Changi became synonymous with Japanese brutality, the experiences of those imprisoned in camps like the notorious 4-B provided a measure of horror to match some of the world’s most notorious war crimes.
In this gripping history of the men of Camp 4-B, Roger Maynard draws on the diaries and memories of those who survived. Their recollections demonstrate a strength and inner determination that seem impossible to comprehend today. How could these blokes endure such physical deprivation and discomfort for so long? What happens to men when death is all around them? How do they keep hope alive?
April 2009
