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Prelude to the Monsoon - Assignment in Sumatra (Hardcover, Reprint 2016 ed.)
Loot Price: R2,361
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Prelude to the Monsoon - Assignment in Sumatra (Hardcover, Reprint 2016 ed.)
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"When Major Gideon Francois Jacobs of the British Royal Marines
parachuted into the jungle of north Sumatra in the summer of 1945,
he entered a world little known to Westerners. . . . It seemed to
be a wild, primitive island where little of historical significance
had happened or was likely to happen." So begins the Introduction
to one of the most remarkable memoirs of World War II. The drama it
captures is one that has been scarcely recognized in the West.
Beginning with Japanese surrender to the Allies on Sumatra, the
narrative details the welter of international forces that struggled
for dominance on the island until native uprisings forced the
establishment of the new Indonesian republic. The story is told by
the very man whose assignment it was to take control of Sumatra
from 80,000 vanquished Japanese troops and to oversee the
liberation of all prisoner-of-war camps: G. F. Jacobs, a
twenty--three-year-old major in the Royal Marines.Through the eyes
of young Major Jacobs, a full view emerges of the "boiling
cauldron" that was Sumatra in 1945. In spite of the official Allied
victory, Jacobs had to attempt to rule Sumatra using the existing
Japanese military structure until British relief arrived. He
describes his dealings with the Japanese, who were reluctant to
admit defeat, and his relations with other elements of the ravaged
Sumatran population, which included Europeans such as the Dutch,
British, and Swiss. Indonesian insurgents lurk on the horizon as
the internal movement for independence begins. Jacobs's cast of
characters reflects the tensions and interests of their own
nations, and he must grapple with their values and attitudes along
with his own.Jacobs's personal eyewitness account of the
developments in Sumatra immediately after the Japanese surrender in
August of 1945 combines the excitement and adventure of a
fast-paced novel with a valuable record of a lost portion of
history. Eclipsed by events in other parts of the world, the drives
for power that surged through Indonesia after the war have never
been recounted fully.This book is a historical document of a period
that has left an indelible imprint upon the history of modern Asia.
An introduction by the noted American military historian D. Clayton
James provides a historical and political context for Jacobs's
exciting story.
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