Tens of thousands of Japanese prisoners captured by Chinese communists were serving in their military forces in August 1946 and more than 60,000 were believed to still be held in Communist-controlled areas as late as April 1949. By dying you will avoid leaving a stain on your honor. [55] Force was not used in interrogations at any level, though on one occasion headquarters personnel of the US 40th Infantry Division debated, but ultimately decided against, administering sodium penthanol to a senior non-commissioned officer. Never live to experience shame as a prisoner. [61] This was not successful, however, as the Japanese government refused to recognise the existence of captured Japanese military personnel. While the Western Allies notified the Japanese government of the identities of Japanese POWs in accordance with the Geneva Convention's requirements, this information was not passed onto the families of the captured men as the Japanese government wished to maintain that none of its soldiers had been taken prisoner. Those who chose to surrender did so for a range of reasons including not believing that suicide was appropriate or lacking the will to commit the act, bitterness towards officers, and Allied propaganda promising good treatment. Following the war, the victorious Chinese Communist government began repatriating Japanese prisoners home, though some were put on trial for war crimes and had to serve prison sentences of varying length before being allowed to return. Each US Army division was assigned a team of Japanese Americans whose duties included attempting to persuade Japanese personnel to surrender. [78][79], Nationalist Chinese forces took the surrender of 1.2 million Japanese military personnel following the war. American prisoners of war celebrate the Fourth of July in the Japanese prison camp of Casisange. The number of women who were held as prisoners of war remains unclear, with few official records available. In addition, soldiers who witnessed Japanese troops surrender were more willing to take prisoners themselves. [49], The Japanese government sought to suppress information about captured personnel. [15] Most Japanese military personnel were told that they would be killed or tortured by the Allies if they were taken prisoner. Japanese POWs were forced to undertake hard labour and were held in primitive conditions with inadequate food and medical treatments. In addition, wounded Japanese soldiers sometimes tried to use hand grenades to kill Allied troops attempting to assist them. [74], Millions of Japanese military personnel surrendered following the end of the war. Back of map of Imperial Japanese-run prisoner-of-war camps with a list of the camps categorized geographically and an additional detailed map of camps located on the Japanese archipelago . [10], The Japanese military's attitude towards surrender was institutionalized in the 1941 "Code of Battlefield Conduct" (Senjinkun), which was issued to all Japanese soldiers. Following this they were rapidly moved to rear areas where they were interrogated by successive echelons of the Allied military. Career: 1938 - 41 Trainee Nurse, 1941 - 14 February 1942 Nurse in St John's Ambulance Brigade, and Voluntary Aid Detachment, 14 February 1942 - 1945 Prisoner of Japanese, 1946 - … The Allied interrogators found that exaggerating the amount they knew about the Japanese forces and asking the POWs to 'confirm' details was also a successful approach. Series 1 – Army, Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, Rape during the Soviet occupation of Poland, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Japanese_prisoners_of_war_in_World_War_II&oldid=998252066, Military history of Japan during World War II, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 4 January 2021, at 14:25. In 1942 the Army amended its criminal code to specify that officers who surrendered soldiers under their command faced at least six months imprisonment, regardless of the circumstances in which the surrender took place. Doctor Walker is the only woman to have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Historian John W. Dower has attributed these deaths to the "wretched" condition of Japanese military units at the end of the war. The submarines which took prisoners normally did so towards the end of their patrols so that they did not have to be guarded for a long time. [42] Instances of Japanese personnel being killed while attempting to surrender are not well documented, though anecdotal accounts provide evidence that this occurred. During the fighting between the POWs and their guards 257 Japanese and four Australians were killed. [15], The indoctrination of Japanese military personnel to have little respect for the act of surrendering led to conduct which Allied soldiers found deceptive. Interrogation: World War II, Vietnam, and Iraq, NATIONAL DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE COLLEGE WASHINGTON, DC. [81][82], Hundreds of thousands of Japanese also surrendered to Soviet forces in the last weeks of the war and after Japan's surrender. [28] Unlike the prisoners held by China or the western Allies, these men were treated harshly by their captors, and over 60,000 died. MacArthur reversed his position in December of that year, however, but only allowed the publication of photos that did not identify individual POWs. For the 75th anniversary of V-J Day, we spoke with Sarah Kovner about her new book, Prisoners of the Empire: Inside Japanese POW Camps, which goes beyond the horrific accounts of captivity to actually explain why inmates were neglected and abused, and contributes to ongoing debates over POW treatment across myriad war zones, even to the present day. [37] As a result, from May 1944, senior US Army commanders authorized and endorsed educational programs which aimed to change the attitudes of front line troops. Sergeant Mutsuhiro “The Bird” Watanabe at a series of Japanese POW camps. [70] In addition, 24 Japanese POWs killed themselves at Camp Paita, New Caledonia in January 1944 after a planned uprising was foiled. [8] The relatively good treatment that prisoners in Japan received was used as a propaganda tool, exuding a sense of "chivalry" in comparison to the more barbaric perception of Asia that the Meiji government wished to avoid. [20][28] Australian soldiers were also reluctant to take Japanese prisoners for similar reasons. A movie about women in prison, a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, no less, and it wasn`t on during the February sweeps? [67] There were several incidents at POW camps, however. [29] Incidents in which Japanese soldiers booby-trapped their dead and wounded or pretended to surrender in order to lure Allied combatants into ambushes were well known within the Allied militaries and also hardened attitudes against seeking the surrender of Japanese on the battlefield. [76] The British also used armed Japanese Surrendered Personnel to support Dutch and French attempts to reassert control in the Dutch East Indies and Indochina respectively. 2. The nationalists retained over 50,000 POWs, most of whom had technical skills, until the second half of 1946, however. In three years, between 1942 (the year the Japanese occupied Singapore) and 1945, Changi has earned its reputation as the most feared Japanese prison. In an attempt to win better treatment for their POWs, the Allies made extensive efforts to notify the Japanese government of the good conditions in Allied POW camps. Director: Burak ... a British colonel tries to bridge the cultural divides between a British POW and the Japanese camp commander in order to avoid bloodshed. Few Japanese were aware of the Geneva Convention and the rights it gave prisoners to not respond to questioning. During World War II, it has been estimated that between 19,500 and 50,000 members of the Imperial Japanese military were captured alive or surrendered to Western Allied combatants, prior to the end of the Pacific War in August 1945. [17] Aircrew from Japanese aircraft which crashed over Allied-held territory also typically committed suicide rather than allow themselves to be captured. The Soviet Union gradually released some POWs throughout the next few decades, but some did not return until the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, while others who had settled and started families in the Soviet Union opted to remain. In practice though, many Allied soldiers were unwilling to accept the surrender of Japanese troops because of atrocities committed by the Japanese. A burial detail of American and Filipino prisoners of war using improvised litters to carry fallen comrades following the Bataan Death March, Camp O’Donnell (c. 1942). Always think of [preserving] the honor of your community and be a credit to yourself and your family. The government was, however, concerned about reports that 300 POWs had joined the Chinese Communists and had been trained to spread anti-Japanese propaganda. The continuous wiretapping at both locations may have also violated the spirit of the Geneva Convention. [20], Not all Japanese military personnel chose to follow the precepts set out on the Senjinkun. [38], Survivors of ships sunk by Allied submarines frequently refused to surrender, and many of the prisoners who were captured by submariners were taken by force. The Soviet Union claimed to have taken 594,000 Japanese POWs, of whom 70,880 were immediately released, but Japanese researchers have estimated that 850,000 were captured. [26], The Western Allies sought to treat captured Japanese in accordance with international agreements which governed the treatment of POWs. [33], Despite the attitudes of combat troops and nature of the fighting, Allied militaries made systematic efforts to take Japanese prisoners throughout the war. While the Japanese feared that they would be subjected to reprisals, they were generally treated well. Director: Jean Negulesco | Stars: Claudette Colbert , Patric Knowles , Florence Desmond , Sessue Hayakawa The protest turned violent when the camp's deputy commander shot one of the protest's leaders. Prisoners captured by Japanese forces during this and the First Sino-Japanese War and World War I were also treated in accordance with international standards. The programs were partially successful, and contributed to US troops taking more prisoners. [18], While scholars disagree over whether the Senjinkun was legally binding on Japanese soldiers, the document reflected Japan's societal norms and had great force over both military personnel and civilians. During World War II, it has been estimated that between 19,500 and 50,000 members of the Imperial Japanese military were captured alive or surrendered to Western Allied combatants, prior to the end of the Pacific War in August 1945. (2008), Japanese prisoners of war of World War II, 1929 Geneva Convention for the Sick and Wounded Armies in the Field, war crimes committed against US and Allied nationals, Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union, https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/12/world/japan-s-blossoms-soothe-a-pow-lost-in-siberia.html, http://www.japansubculture.com/the-last-japanese-man-remaining-in-kazakhstan-a-kafkian-tale-of-the-plight-of-a-japanese-pow-in-the-soviet-union/, "Understanding the Enemy: Military Intelligence, Political Warfare and Japanese Prisoners of War in Australia, 1942–45", United States Army Center of Military History, Australia in the War of 1939–1945. [25] During the Pacific War the majority of Japanese military personnel did not believe that the Allies treated prisoners correctly, and even a majority of those who surrendered expected to be killed. Many were captured when Corregidor fell in 1942 and were subsequently transported to the Santo Tomas Internment camp in Manila, in the Philippines. Soviet and Chinese forces accepted the surrender of 1.6 million Japanese and the western allies took the surrender of millions more in Japan, South-East Asia and the South-West Pacific. On August 5, 1944, more than 1,000 Japanese prisoners of war staged an audacious escape from a camp in one of the deadliest events on Australian soil at the time. [27], Allied combatants were reluctant to take Japanese prisoners at the start of the Pacific War. On 27 December 1941, it established a POW Information Bureau within the Ministry of the Army to manage information concerning Japanese POWs. Wikimedia Commons [47]a, As the Japanese forces in China were mainly on the offensive and suffered relatively few casualties, few Japanese soldiers surrendered to Chinese forces prior to August 1945. This attitude was reinforced by the indoctrination of young people. This is the story of the Japanese prisoner of war camps on the island of Taiwan (Formosa) during the Second World War and of the men who were interned in them. Some Japanese accounts put the number at … Prisoners captured in the central Pacific or who were believed to have particular intelligence value were held in camps in the United States. While this measure was successful in avoiding unrest, it led to hostility between those who surrendered before and after the end of the war and denied prisoners of the Soviets POW status. These programs highlighted the intelligence which could be gained from Japanese POWs, the need to honor surrender leaflets, and the benefits which could be gained by encouraging Japanese forces to not fight to the last man. The human tragedy and the suffering of the Crimean Turks who were taken hostage as prisoners of war in German prison camps during World War II. Menu. In these reports Americans were portrayed as "deranged, primitive, racist and inhuman". During the war, this led to wounded personnel being either killed by medical officers or given grenades to commit suicide. This week we are looking at movies that explore the prisoner of war (POW) experience. [1][28] Japanese historian Ikuhiko Hata states that up to 50,000 Japanese became POWs before Japan's surrender. Until late 1946, the United States retained almost 70,000 POWs to dismantle military facilities in the Philippines, Okinawa, central Pacific, and Hawaii. [20] Shortly after the outbreak of Pacific War in December 1941, the British and United States governments transmitted a message to the Japanese government through Swiss intermediaries asking if Japan would abide by the 1929 Geneva Convention. Those taken by the Soviet Union were treated harshly in work camps located in Siberia. The wording of this material sought to overcome the indoctrination which Japanese soldiers had received by stating that they should "cease resistance" rather than "surrender". Although documentation is scarce, as with the end of the war Japanese Armed Forces systematically destroyed much of the limited available documentation related to their POW Camps, enough remains, in addition to survivor and witness accounts, to provide a horrific picture of life and captivity for Allied prisoners of war in the Pacific Theater. [57] This included developing propaganda leaflets and loudspeaker broadcasts which were designed to encourage other Japanese personnel to surrender. Jenny Martin was born in a prisoner of war camp in Singapore and her story is being remembered to mark 75 years since Hiroshima and the end of World War 2. Some ended up spending decades living in the Soviet Union, and could only return to Japan in the 1990s. [30] As a result, Allied troops believed that their Japanese opponents would not surrender and that any attempts to surrender were deceptive;[31] for instance, the Australian jungle warfare school advised soldiers to shoot any Japanese troops who had their hands closed while surrendering. A map (front) of Imperial Japanese-run prisoner-of-war camps within the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere known during World War II from 1941 to 1945. [21] During the later years of the war Japanese troops' morale deteriorated as a result of Allied victories, leading to an increase in the number who were prepared to surrender or desert. [50], The Allies gained considerable quantities of intelligence from Japanese POWs. [83] The treatment of Japanese POWs in Siberia was also similar to that suffered by Soviet prisoners who were being held in the area. Although the Bureau's role included facilitating mail between POWs and their families, this was not carried out as the families were not notified and few POWs wrote home. They were gradually released under a series of amnesties between 1953 and 1956. US Navy submarines were occasionally ordered to obtain prisoners for intelligence purposes, and formed special teams of personnel for this purpose. [53], Japanese POWs were interrogated multiple times during their captivity. Western Allied governments and senior military commanders directed that Japanese POWs be treated in accordance with relevant international conventions. They were also questioned once they reached a POW camp in Australia, New Zealand, India or the United States. When individuals wrote to the Bureau to inquire if their relative had been taken prisoner, it appears that the Bureau provided a reply which neither confirmed or denied whether the man was a prisoner. These prisoners—being Australian—promptly told the Japanese to do one. These interrogations were painful and stressful for the POWs. [44] Ulrich Straus states that about 35,000 were captured by western Allied and Chinese forces,[45] and Robert C. Doyle gives a figure of 38,666 Japanese POWs in captivity in camps run by the western Allies at the end of the war. In particular healthy and good-looking women prisoners between the ages of 17 and 35 caught the eye of SS recruiters. This was the only time that the Japanese Government officially recognized that some members of the country's military had surrendered. Belle Boyd spied for the Confederacy by carrying important letters and papers across enemy lines. [52] This view proved incorrect, however, and many Japanese POWs provided valuable intelligence during interrogations. [2] The number of Japanese soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen who surrendered was limited by the Japanese military indoctrinating its personnel to fight to the death, Allied combat personnel often being unwilling to take prisoners,[3] and many Japanese soldiers believing that those who surrendered would be killed by their captors.[4][5]. [34] Allied forces mounted an extensive psychological warfare campaign against their Japanese opponents to lower their morale and encourage surrender. After arriving in these camps, the prisoners were interrogated again, and their conversations were wiretapped and analysed. ... Jim Horton describes his time spent in a Japanese POW camp during WWII. [63], Most Japanese captured by US forces after September 1942 were turned over to Australia or New Zealand for internment. Miklós Jancsó’s 1966 film The Round-up is something rather different. [71] News of the incidents at Cowra and Featherston was suppressed in Japan,[72] but the Japanese Government lodged protests with the Australian and New Zealand governments as a propaganda tactic. During the Pacific War, there were incidents where Japanese soldiers feigned surrender in order to lure Allied troops into ambushes. [46] Alison B. Gilmore has also calculated that Allied forces in the South West Pacific Area alone captured at least 19,500 Japanese. [54] Similarly, Japanese sailors rescued from sunken ships by the US Navy were questioned at the Navy's interrogation centres in Brisbane, Honolulu and Noumea. This treatment was similar to that experienced by German POWs in the Soviet Union. In most instances the troops who surrendered were not taken into captivity, and were repatriated to the Japanese home islands after giving up their weapons. This change attracted little attention, however, as the Senjinkun imposed more severe consequences and had greater moral force. Top 35 Prisoners of War Movies. [43] Australian and US troops and senior officers commonly believed that captured Japanese troops were very unlikely to divulge any information of military value, leading to them having little motivation to take prisoners. In 1942, four Australian POWs did the unthinkable, and tried to escape from their Japanese prisoner of war camp. [5] In addition, the Japanese public was aware that US troops sometimes mutilated Japanese casualties and sent trophies made out of body-parts home from media reports of two high-profile incidents in 1944 in which a letter-opener carved from a bone of a Japanese soldier was presented to President Roosevelt and a photo of the skull of a Japanese soldier which had been sent home by a US soldier was published in the magazine Life. [3] Fear of being killed after surrendering was one of the main factors which influenced Japanese troops to fight to the death, and a wartime US Office of Wartime Information report stated that it may have been more important than fear of disgrace and a desire to die for Japan. [23], Japanese soldiers' reluctance to surrender was also influenced by a perception that Allied forces would kill them if they did surrender, and historian Niall Ferguson has argued that this had a more important influence in discouraging surrenders than the fear of disciplinary action or dishonor. Redouble your efforts and respond to their expectations. [39] Overall, however, Allied submariners usually did not attempt to take prisoners, and the number of Japanese personnel they captured was relatively small. During Word War II, American author Agnes Newton Keith is imprisoned by the Japanese in various POW camps in North Borneo and Sarawak. 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