Behind Japanese Lines: An American Guerrilla in the Philippines

Rating:
Summary: A terrific eye-witness narrative of combat operations.
Review: Behind Japanese Lines: An American Guerrilla In The Phillippines is the story of Ray Hunt, an American soldier who escaped the Bataan Death March and organized a troop of American and Filipino guerrillas. Hunt tells his own vivid and harrowing tale of life as a guerrilla behind Japanese lines, the struggle to survive and harass the Japanese, even the lingering fear among his troops that, because they had not followed orders to surrender to the Japanese when their units in Phillippines surrendered to the Japanese, they would be court martialled for desertion if the Americans won the war. Hunt also argues against the lack of American thanks or compensation to the insurgent Filipinos after the war. Behind Japanese Lines is an exceptionally well written, eye-witness narrative that is a much appreciated and welcome contribution to the growing library of World War II literature regarding combat operations in the Pacific Theater.

Rating:
Summary: Behind Japanese Lines.
Review: I would like to say that this book is great for me since the two Guerrillas in the book named William and Joseph Henry are my Grandfather and Uncle. Their father was Irish and their mother was Filipina. My Great Grandfather was killed by the Japanese and they took revenge. They are still alive and had some stories to tell! I would recommend this to anyone since I know first hand that this was a really good history lesson. To all the others who have been in the war, I give my respect and love. God bless you all!

Rating:
Summary: A riveting account of courage and sacrifice
Review: The Philippines' role as a major battleground in World War II must not be forgotten. Thus, Ray Hunt and Bernard Norling provide an important service in "Behind Japanese Lines: An American Guerrilla in the Philippines." The story of American servicemen fighting as guerillas during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines is an amazing one. Hunt's personal experience is just one of many such riveting experiences.

"Behind Japanese Lines" provides the reader with a vivid portrayal of Mr. Hunt's three-year ordeal as a guerilla on the island of Luzon, an ordeal he did not expect to survive. It also contains detailed analysis of the history of the Philippines and its complex relationship with the United States. The only drawback is that Mr. Hunt's narrative is abruptly and inconveniently interrupted by such analysis, presumably by Mr. Norling.

Importantly, Mr. Hunt gives much regard to the Filipino people, who suffered so much during the war. With their help and sacrifice, he was able to stay alive and fight to help liberate the Philippines. Very few other people of any nation gave so much in fighting for freedom during the war.

Also, Mr. Hunt is honest in his account of guerilla life. It was anything but easy, as rival guerilla gangs fought each other almost as often as they fought the Japanese. Even American guerillas fell under the spell of a near-anarchy situation and over-stepped their bounds. But such were the circumstances, and guerillas did what they could to survive. In any event, Japan's conduct in the Philippines was far worse than that of the guerillas.

All in all, the book is a good read and contributes much in the way of the history of the Philippines in World War II. Another similar book worth reading is "Lieutenant Ramsey's War: From Horse Soldier to Guerrilla Commander," by Edwin P. Ramsey and Stephen J. Rivele.

Rating:
Summary: A riveting account of courage and sacrifice
Review: The Philippines' role as a major battleground in World War II must not be forgotten. Thus, Ray Hunt and Bernard Norling provide an important service in "Behind Japanese Lines: An American Guerrilla in the Philippines." The story of American servicemen fighting as guerillas during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines is an amazing one. Hunt's personal experience is just one of many such riveting experiences.

"Behind Japanese Lines" provides the reader with a vivid portrayal of Mr. Hunt's three-year ordeal as a guerilla on the island of Luzon, an ordeal he did not expect to survive. It also contains detailed analysis of the history of the Philippines and its complex relationship with the United States. The only drawback is that Mr. Hunt's narrative is abruptly and inconveniently interrupted by such analysis, presumably by Mr. Norling.

Importantly, Mr. Hunt gives much regard to the Filipino people, who suffered so much during the war. With their help and sacrifice, he was able to stay alive and fight to help liberate the Philippines. Very few other people of any nation gave so much in fighting for freedom during the war.

Also, Mr. Hunt is honest in his account of guerilla life. It was anything but easy, as rival guerilla gangs fought each other almost as often as they fought the Japanese. Even American guerillas fell under the spell of a near-anarchy situation and over-stepped their bounds. But such were the circumstances, and guerillas did what they could to survive. In any event, Japan's conduct in the Philippines was far worse than that of the guerillas.

All in all, the book is a good read and contributes much in the way of the history of the Philippines in World War II. Another similar book worth reading is "Lieutenant Ramsey's War: From Horse Soldier to Guerrilla Commander," by Edwin P. Ramsey and Stephen J. Rivele.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Competent Account by a Competent Man
Review: This book is one of those excellent works by the University Press of Kentucky. They publish a great number of WW II personal narratives concerning the more obscure activities and less known theatres. I recall one written by a bandsman, the only one such I ever saw.
This review is based on the 1988 Pocket Book newstand edition of the 1986 hardback original.
The book is well written, quite thorough, and extensively sourced and noted, in contrast to many such works in which all that is set down about the author is in the blurb on the cover. There is also a handy map of Central Luzon printed on the inside back cover, a really great idea so that one can easily find it. Why don't other publishers do that? There is also a very useful index which covers not just personal names, as do so many, but has also subject listings to various topics.
As contrasted to the original book published during WW II, with the title "American Guerilla in the Phillipines", this one does not whitewash the dirty and brutal aspects of the war and its aftermath. All in all, a very interesting and well written work which deserves a place on the shelves of Spec Ops, "grunt" history, and personal narrative collections.

Rating:
Summary: A bit disappointing
Review: What I wanted out of this book was not really what I got. I wanted a personal memoir filled with interesting anectdotes, recountings of battles the author fought in and guerilla operations, in short: adventure. Perhaps you will think that a little bloodthristy of me, but it is what I bought the book for.

However, I found these things to be few and far between. There are a trifling amount of these kinds of episodes, but mostly Ray Hunt and his ghost writer gloss over these points of interest (for me, anyway) to comment on generalities of guerilla life in the Philippines and "to set the record straight." Though this was the first book I have read on guerilla operations in the Philippines, it quickly became clear that there are several camps with opposing views about what really happened during the war among US/Filipino guerilla forces, and each tries to get its version of events to be taken as history. Mr Hunt makes an effort to give his side of the story throughout the book from mostly personal information, so in this respect I think he did a good job.

He also takes the opportunity to unapologetically wax patriotic. He is unflinching in his thoughts that the US and MacArthur are always doing right, a tone which sometimes was too strong for me to take seriously. At one point he claims that the best thing for the Philippines after the war would have been to make it "the 49th state,"(this was before Hawaii and Alaska were admitted) presumably because America was and is the best thing going anywhere.

In short, this book is not one of men in battle and the hardships they undergo. It is one man's first person view of a seemingly ongoing argument about this particular bit of history, as well as providing a wealth of general background on the subject. I suspect that there are other, better books to buy on all these categories, and would recommend this book only to those who are deeply interested and want to read everything they can find on it.

Rating:
Summary: A bit disappointing
Review: What I wanted out of this book was not really what I got. I wanted a personal memoir filled with interesting anectdotes, recountings of battles the author fought in and guerilla operations, in short: adventure. Perhaps you will think that a little bloodthristy of me, but it is what I bought the book for.

However, I found these things to be few and far between. There are a trifling amount of these kinds of episodes, but mostly Ray Hunt and his ghost writer gloss over these points of interest (for me, anyway) to comment on generalities of guerilla life in the Philippines and "to set the record straight." Though this was the first book I have read on guerilla operations in the Philippines, it quickly became clear that there are several camps with opposing views about what really happened during the war among US/Filipino guerilla forces, and each tries to get its version of events to be taken as history. Mr Hunt makes an effort to give his side of the story throughout the book from mostly personal information, so in this respect I think he did a good job.

He also takes the opportunity to unapologetically wax patriotic. He is unflinching in his thoughts that the US and MacArthur are always doing right, a tone which sometimes was too strong for me to take seriously. At one point he claims that the best thing for the Philippines after the war would have been to make it "the 49th state,"(this was before Hawaii and Alaska were admitted) presumably because America was and is the best thing going anywhere.

In short, this book is not one of men in battle and the hardships they undergo. It is one man's first person view of a seemingly ongoing argument about this particular bit of history, as well as providing a wealth of general background on the subject. I suspect that there are other, better books to buy on all these categories, and would recommend this book only to those who are deeply interested and want to read everything they can find on it.