No Mercy, No Leniency cover

No Mercy, No Leniency

by Cyril Cunningham

This is a documentary account of the treatment of British prisoners-of-war in Korea. The author was in charge of debriefing POWs for A19 - the MOD Prisoner of War Intelliegnce Organisation. The North Koreans and Communist Chinese were not part of the Geneva Convention and basically believed anything short of killling prisoners was 'lenient'. This led to torture and deprivation. But Government agencies were particularly interested as this was the first time troops had been subject to political indoctrination. Some prisoners - including my father Corporal Frank Upjohn - resisted these attempts at brain-washing and were singled out for particularly brutal treatment. The book is factual and readable - and perhaps has more resonance in this modern age of Guantanemo Bay and rendition.

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?