BEHIND THE FENCE: Life as a P.O.W. in Japan, 1942-1945

Les was captured by the Japanese in 1942, and remained a prisoner until liberation in 1945. During that time he kept a secret diary, recording life in the camps day by day, listing names of prisoners, illnesses, deaths, their daily diet and treatment at the hands of their captors. This secret record survived, written in three palm-sized diaries in an astonishingly microscopic hand. Mr. Chater's diaries were used as evidence at the Tokyo War Crimes trials.

Reproduced almost entirely, these diaries present an accurate picture of the horrendous conditions in the camp but also of the efforts of a few such as Les himself to maintain morale among the prisoners, of the likable nature of Japanese civilians, and even some guards and of the difficulty of keeping up the antagonism of enemies in the face of daily, shared hardships.