Witness World War II (from Shanghai to the Pacific Theater)

Author: Cheng Honglu Cheng Hong
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Features: This book centers on the personal experiences of U.S. Marine Corps officer Isaiah Vanceles during World War II in China and the Pacific theater. It includes hundreds of historical photographs of Shanghai and World War II that Vanceles took and collected during that time. The book begins with Vanceles accompanying the U.S. Marine Corps into the Shanghai Concession, then describes the standoff with Japanese occupation soldiers on the edge of the concession, revealing the atrocities of Japanese fascism in China and the resilient resistance of Chinese civilians and soldiers. It continues through the later stages of the Pacific War to the decisive battle between the U.S. and Japan on Iwo Jima, presenting direct visual evidence of the Japanese army's indiscriminate bombing along the banks of the Huangpu River, at transportation hubs, with streets littered with the bodies of victims, and the actual scenes of Chinese military resistance on the battlefield. Among these photographs, images of the Four Provinces Campaign of the Chinese army and the after the bombing of the Shanghai Grand World are particularly precious. The book also narrates a touching story of Vanceles' own joys and sorrows, a real-life tale as dramatic as a Hollywood film, from "Madame Butterfly" to "A Second Handshake," adding a deeper layer of reflection on life as people learn about war.