This is the diary of Brigadier General William Edward Brougher, who, after distinguishing himself as a combat leader in the unsuccessful defense of the Philippines, stoically endured confinement in Japanese prison camps in Luzon, Taiwan, Kyushu, and Manchuria from 1942 to 1945. Brougher’s frank, terse, and moving day-by-day descriptions of his sufferings and those of his fellow prisoners provide an absorbing account of human behavior under harsh conditions and terrible stress. Since his fellow inmates were the high-ranking officers and civilian governors of the surrendered American, British, and Dutch colonies of Southeast Asia, the diary is also an interesting study of interallied relations under extraordinary circumstances.
Editor D. Clayton James provides a narrative account of General Brougher’s combat record in the first Philippine campaign, accompanied by sketches of prison life drawn by a Dutch prisoner, Major General H. J. D. de Fremery. Also included are maps illustrating Brougher’s military operations and his travels as a prisoner from camp to camp.