The Real Tenko

Extraordinary True Stories of Women Prisoners of the Japanese

The author of Children of the Camps delves into the harrowing true stories behind the TV drama: the fate of women held in Japanese captivity during WWII.

This book details the treatment of Allied servicewomen, female civilians, and local women by the Japanese occupation forces, including the massacres of nurses (such as that at Alexandra Hospital, Singapore), disturbing atrocities on both Europeans and Asians, and accounts of imprisonment. It reveals how many ended up in Japanese hands when they should have been evacuated. Also covered are the hardships of long marches and the sexual enslavement of white and native women (so called “Comfort Women”). The book is a testimony both to the callous and cruel behavior of the Japanese and to the courage and fortitude of those who suffered at their hands.

“This well-researched book has to be read.” —UK Ministry of Defence

“The story of the Allied medical staff who were caught in Japan’s wave of terror during the Second World War . . . briefly follows the fate of Australian nursing survivors as they try to rebuild their shattered lives.” —Soldier Magazine

“Accounts of Japanese brutality towards Allied prisoners of war are quite well known, but the fate of the tens of thousand[s] of Allied women and children who fell into their hands is not so familiar (at least since memories of the TV drama Tenko have faded). This harrowing account should go some way towards redressing that balance . . . an important piece of work looking at an aspect of the Second World War that should not be forgotten.” —HistoryOfWar.org