Suggested Reading - Phil's Picks

Phil Doddridge has provided the list of books below that will assist those wishing to delve deeper into the events surrounding the Battle of Hong Kong, operations in the Far East and events connected with life as a POW.

They are listed in random order, and some have a brief note.


  • The Fall of Hong Kong, by Philip Snow, 477 pages. Yale University Press. Britain, China and the Japanese occupation. Transfer of sovereignty in 1997.ISBN 0-300-09352-7.
  • The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru by Tony Banham, 300 pages Hong Kong University Press. The sinking of the hell ship by US submarine Grouper. ISBN-13: 978-962-209-771-1.
  • Towards the Setting Sun by James Bradley. 145 pages. Griffin Press Ltd. An escape from the Thailand-Burma Railway, 1943. ISBN 0 9590187 0 0
  • My Hitch in Hell by Lester I Tenney. 219 pages. Brassey’s Washington London. The Bataan Death March and beyond. ISBN 0-02-881125-9
  • Brick Hill and Beyond by Gordon Fairclough 139 pages. Library and Archives Canada. Escape from Hong Kong to Burma 1942. ISBN 0-9736019-0-6.
  • The Road Past Mandalay by John Masters. 343 pages. Cassell Military Paperbacks. A professional soldier in the Indian Army. ISBN 0-304-36157-7.
  • The Jack Ford Story co-authored by Jack Fitzgerald Transcontinental Print. Newfoundland’s POW in Nagasaki. 239 pages. ISBN 987-1-897174-23-4.
  • Entre bombes et barbeles by Ronald Cormier. 223 pages. Editions d’Acadie. Temoinages d’aviateurs et de prisonniers de guerre acadiens, 1939-1945. ISBN2-7600-0176-8.
  • The War Bonnet by Edgar Baptiste. Controversial account by the man who claims to have escaped from Japanese POW camp in Hong Kong. 177 pages. Trafford Publishing, ISBN1-4251-1478-4.
  • Dogs at War by Blythe Hamer. Hero dogs including an account of Gander’s heroism. 159 pages. Carleton Books. ISBN 1 84222 262 7
  • Prisoners of the Japanese by Gavan Daws. POWs of World War II in the Pacific. 462 pages Quill William Morrow, New York. ISBN 0-668-14370-9
  • Long Night’s Journey into Day by Dr. Charles C. Roland (Recently deceased) Prisoners of War in Hong Kong and Japan1941-1943. 421 pages, Wilfrid Laurier University Press. ISBN 0-88920-362-8.
  • To the Kwai and Back by Ronald Searle. War drawings 1939 -1945 Souvenir Press 190 pages of drawings and text. ISBN 0285637452.
  • The Rising Sun by John Toland. The decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1072 pages A Bantam Book published by arrangement with Random House Inc. ISBN0-553-20462-0 acco
  • Roses in December by David J. Sanford 199 pages of sketches, photos and text including Maltby’s report of the battle of Hong Kong. Lulu Enterprises.
  • Yankee Samurai by Joseph D. Harrington. The secret role of Nisei in America’s Pacific Victory.276 pages Pettigrew Enterprises. ISBN not listed.
  • Stanley: Behind Barbed Wire by Jean Gittins. Civilian internees in Stanley prison camp. 164 pages. Hong Kong University PressISBN 962-209-061-3.
  • Long Way Back to the River Kwai by Loet Velmans. Memories of World War II. 230 pages. Arcade Publishing, New York. ISBN 1-55970-7o6-2.
  • Animals at War by Isabel George and Rob Lloyd Jones. An account of animal heroes including Gander. 64 pages. Printed in China. ISBN 978074607701-6.