Bamboo Cage

In 1942, RAF Flight Controller Robert Wyse became a Japanese prisoner of war on the Indonesian island of Java. In this no-holds-barred account, Wyse describes the harsh conditions he and his fellow prisoners suffered. Subjected to beatings, starvation, debilitating illness, and unbelievably harsh work, Wyse struggled to describe the brutalities he witnessed. Although the punishment for keeping a diary would have been severe, Wyse persevered, scrounging for bits of paper and slivers of pencil and hiding his writing wherever he could until it became too dangerous to continue. Then, in December 1943, he buried his notes in a bottle under his prison hut. Robert Wyse's diaries were retrieved by the Dutch authorities after the war. An historical goldmine of information on life as a prisoner of war, these diaries reveal both the worst and the best of human nature.