The Cowra Breakout

by Mathew McLachlan

The riveting story of the missing piece of Australia's World War II history, told by bestselling historian Mat McLachlan (Walking with the Anzacs, Gallipoli: The Battlefield Guide).

During World War II, in the town of Cowra in central New South Wales, Japanese prisoners of war were held in a POW camp. By August 1944, over a thousand were interned and on the icy night of August 5th they staged one of the largest prison breakouts in history, launching the only land battle of World War II to be fought on Australian soil. Five Australian soldiers and more than 230 Japanese POWs would die during what became known as The Cowra Breakout.

This compelling and fascinating book, written by one of Australia's leading battlefield historians, vividly traces the full story of the Breakout. It is a tale of proud warriors and misfit Australian soldiers. Of negligence and complacency, and of authorities too slow to recognise danger before it occurred - and too quick to cover it up when it was too late. But mostly it is a story about raw human emotions, and the extremes that people will go to when they feel all hope is lost.

Genres: History, Australia

320 pages, Paperback

Published July 27, 2022

Reviews

[gemsbooknook Geramie Kate Barker · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘During World War II, in the town of Cowra in central New South Wales, Japanese prisoners of war were held in a POW camp. By August 1944, over a thousand were interned and on the icy night of August 5th, they staged one of the largest prison breakouts in history, launching the only land battle of World War II to be fought on Australian soil. Five Australian soldiers and more than 230 Japanese POWs would die during what became known as The Cowra Breakout.
This compelling and fascinating book, written by one of Australia’s leading battlefield historians, vividly traces the full story of the Breakout. It is a tale of proud warriors and misfit Australian soldiers. Of negligence and complacency, and of authorities too slow to recognize danger before it occurred – and too quick to cover it up when it was too late. But mostly it is a story about raw human emotions, and the extremes that people will go to when they feel all hope is lost.’
This book was riveting.
I am embarrassed to say that I had virtually no knowledge of the Cowra Breakout before going into this book. I was never taught about it in school and as an adult, most of my readings about WWII are about the war in Europe and the Holocaust. So I was very excited to learn about this piece of both Australian and WWII history.
Mat McLachlan has done a fantastic job with this book. It was detailed but not overwhelming in any way, and the writing was easy to follow yet still emotional. Having insights provided for both sides of this story allowed for the human story to be told and understood while still capturing an important part of Australian history.
I loved the fact that this book had a map and photographs in it, and I am glad that we got to hear from both Australians and Japanese when piecing together the timeline, the breakout itself, and the long-term feelings and consequences of the Cowra Breakout. This is one of those books that was captivating from start to finish.
The Cowra Breakout by Mat McLachlan is a must-read for all Australians.

Geramie Kate Barker
gemsbooknook.wordpress.com

[David Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the opening paragraph, battlefield historian Mat McLachlan provides a fascinating account of engineer First Class Tatsumi Hanada onboard the Japanese carrier Hiryu. McLachlan describes in detail how Tatsumi and his comrades prepare the aircraft prior to their strike against Pearl Harbour. This account is soon followed by Japanese pilot Hajime Toyoshina who would be part of the zero-escort protecting the bombers attack, weeks later he would be shot down during the attack of Darwin Harbour and be the first Japanese prisoner captured (Melville Island) and interned on the Australian mainland. He is, however, soon followed by other enemy airmen, who are shot down just days after Tatsumi and quickly interned. This is followed by accounts of Japanese soldiers captured in New Guinea, among them Lance Corporal Masaru Moriki, almost certainly captured during the battle for Oivi-Gorari, as he is transported to Kokoda Plateau and then evacuated to Australia. These Japanese airmen and soldiers, along with many others would all by 1943 make their way to the POW camp at Cowra.

Most of the Japanese POWs would have preferred death to capture, and their humane treatment by Australian authorities, only made their incarceration that much more unbearable. This ‘humiliation’ by the enemy would ultimately lead to increased animosity, contributing to the infamous ‘Cowra Breakout’ on 5 August 1944. During the early morning hours of darkness just over 1,100 Japanese prisoners of war charged the barbed wire, armed with baseball bats impregnated with nails, self-made knifes and other home-made weapons. It turned out to be the largest prison break during the war, and the bloodiest. It was more a mass suicide effort as opposed to an escape per se.

While Harry Gordon’s ‘Die like the Carp’ will for most remain the definitive account (as McLachlan himself admits), however McLachlan provides not only a great read, but it also summarises well the Japanese POW psyche, along with the Australian guards. It also not only provides a good account of the lead up to, the actual breakout, and its after affect (including the Australian cover-up), but significantly, it corrects a great injustice, which until now has remained unknown / neglected, by all other historians. Until McLachlan’s research the official Australian death toll was officially four men (and remains so): Lieutenant Harry Doncaster, along with privates Charles Shepherd, Ralph Jones and Ben Hardy. Jones and Hardy were both awarded the Georges Cross posthumously for sacrificing themselves in helping to make their Vickers machine gun inoperable as a mass of Japanese descended upon them. Until now the service and death of one other Australian has not been associated with the breakout.

McLachlan has now corrected a great injustice by placing Sergeant Tom Hancock’s death by friendly fire a few days later, as the fifth Australian victim of the Cowra breakout. Even Harry Gordon fails to include the death of Sergeant Hancock within his account. For this reason alone, this book is a significant retelling of the Cowra Breakout. McLachlan succinctly writes: ‘It seems that Tom Hancock has simply slipped through the cracks of history, overlooked both as part of the Cowra Breakout, and by the institutions tasked with making sure people like him are not forgotten. It’s an inexcusable oversight, which hopefully will be remedied in time’ (page 252). I think we can all agree that time is now.

In conclusion, this book is highly recommended for anyone interested in history, and Australian, and Australian military history in particular.

[Denita · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author has been meticulous in the research of this book in which he gives points of view from both the Japanese and Australian sides. This is an easy book to read which isn't weighed down by facts and figures and consequently my knowledge of this incident has been vastly improved by this brilliant piece of writing.

[Jessica Darlington · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great new take on a forgotten part of Australian war history. I would not normally read military history but this book is written as an historical narrative which is incredibly captivating! Would highly recommend!

[Shreedevi Gurumurty · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cowra Breakout occurred on August 5th 1944,when 1104 Japanese POWs attempted to escape from a POW camp near Cowra,NSW, Australia. It was the largest prison escape of WWII,as well as one of the bloodiest.During the escape and ensuing manhunt,5 Australian soldiers and 231-234 Japanese soldiers were killed.The remaining escapees were recaptured and imprisoned.Cowra was the town nearest to No.12 POW Compound,a major POW camp where Axis military personnel and civilians were detained throughout WWII.Relations between the Japanese POWs and the guards were poor,largely due to significant cultural differences.A riot by Japanese POWs at Featherston POW camp in NZ,in February 1943,led to security being tightened at Cowra.Eventually the camp authorities installed several Vickers and Lewis machine guns to augment the rifles carried by members of the Australian Militia's 22nd Garrison Battalion.In the first week of August 1944,a tipoff from a camp informer,led authorities to plan a move of all Japanese POWs at Cowra,except officers and NCOs,to another camp at Hay, NSW.The Japanese were notified of the move on 4 August.
The bugler,Hajime Toyoshima,had been Australia's first Japanese POW.Soon afterwards,prisoners set most of the buildings in the Japanese compound on fire and broke through the wire and had makeshift weaponry such as knives,and baseball bats.Some 359 POWs escaped,while some others attempted or committed suicide,or were killed by their countrymen.
The number of Japanese soldiers,sailors,marines,and airmen who surrendered was limited by the Japanese military indoctrinating its personnel to fight to the death(Senjinkun),Allied combat personnel often being unwilling to take prisoners because of atrocities committed by the Japanese,and many Japanese believing that those who surrendered would be tortured and killed by their captors.
The Allies directed that Japanese POWs be treated in accordance with the 1929 Geneva Convention.
The Japanese government sought to suppress information about captured personnel.Few POWs wrote home and the lack of communication with their families increased their feelings of being cut off from Japanese society.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mat McLachlan gives a detailed picture of the Cowra Breakout - billed as the only land battle of World War II to be fought on Australian soil, when Japanese prisoners-of-war, held in a camp near Cowra in Central West NSW, staged a breakout. He gives a picture some of the participants on both sides and writes both about the particular elements of the Japanese psyche that lead to their decision to break out and also the many failings of the Australian military before, during and after the event. By the time peace was restored, 234 Japanese had died (some by their own hand), 108 wounded and four Australians were dead and the same number wounded.
Initially, the authorities went to great lengths to cover up the extent of the casualties, not wishing to cause a diplomatic incident with the Japanese which might backfire on the treatment of Australians held in Japanese POW camps. However, the truth of what happened came out eventually.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

After finding out from my mother that my Pop was an instructor at the Training Camp in Cowra at the time of the Cowra breakout, I had to read this book. We have letters from Pop written at that time but they are very short on any detail, only referring to a disturbance there that we may have seen something about in the newspapers. He was actually in Sydney on leave the day of the breakout but returned on the Sunday to the camp. I found the initial part of the book, where Mat was setting up the Japanese PoWs, quite tedious, but once it got to the internment camp part it was fabulous. What a shambles the Australian response to the breakout was, let alone not doing anything about the earlier warning that it was imminent. It's hard to believe that searches weren't carried out, artillery not moved in, additional soldiers brought in, guards not posted 24 hours a day and the list goes on. I now have to plan a trip to Cowra!

[Lewis Woolston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember visiting Cowra when i was a kid and seeing the cemetery and the Japanese gardens. I've known about the breakout for a long time but this is the first time i've read about it.
The author has done a magnificent job. He has gone through every eye witness account, every letter, every report in the military archives, his research is flawless and thorough. But more than that he puts it all together in a narrative that is easy to read and entertaining.
This is probably the definitive account of these events. It's hard to see how anyone else can improve on such a thorough and well written book.
Highly recommended for all history buffs.

[Saturday's Child · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was younger my grandmother made mention of this event and the lack of information due to censorship that prevented the relatives of the soldiers who were killed from knowing what had happened at the time. For some reason that always stayed with me. Cowra, the name of the town is one that I have always associated with the event itself and yet I did not have a great deal of understanding about what occurred there in 1944. This book made for an insightful read and I now feel that I have a better understanding of what happened.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good summary of an event I knew a little about but McLachlan provides some context as to why events went the way they did. For those visiting Cowra to participate in parkrun you will be pretty much on the site of the camp, and it's worth a look around. I had not realised that the Cowra has the only Japanese war cemetery outside of Japan.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The historical detail and research were detailed and thorough. I enjoyed the historical account and I especially enjoyed the sections that were narrated and were an imaginative recount of events. Matt was unbiased in narrating facts from multiple perspectives. Matt is a well researched historian.

[Gil · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating account of a tragic yet heroic event, with rich insights into the personal histories of key players, especially the Japanese. A hugely informative and entertaining read.

[Mandy Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best read ever its a must

[Mark Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting as i've visited the Japanese Garden on the way to Bathurst