Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 9

29/10/2023 17:19 Japanese prisoners of war in World War II | Military Wiki | Fandom

Military Wiki EXPLORE POPULAR PAGES PROJECT MAINTENANCE

FANDOM

FAN
CENTRAL
BETA

ADVERTISEMENT
GAMES

SIGN IN REGISTER

ANIME

338,051
Military PAGES
MOVIES EXPLORE POPULAR PAGES PROJECT MAINTENANCE

TV
in: Pages using ISBN magic links, Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, Military history of Japan
during World War II, Japanese prisoners of war

Japanese prisoners of war in


SIGN
VIDEO IN TO
EDIT

World War II
WIKIS

This article is about personnel from Japan held as POWs by the Allies. For Allied personnel held as
POWs by Japan, see Prisoner of war#Empire of Japan.
START A
WIKI It has been estimated that between 19,500 and 50,000
Japanese military personnel surrendered to Allied forces
prior to the end of the Pacific War in August 1945.[1] The
number of Japanese soldiers, sailors, and airmen who
surrendered was limited by the Japanese military
indoctrinating its personnel to fight to the death, Allied
personnel often being unwilling to take prisoners,[2] and
many Japanese soldiers believing that those who
surrendered were often killed anyway.[3] [4] Following the war
the United States and Britain delayed the repatriation of
many Japanese prisoners until 1946 and 1947 respectively
and the Soviet Union continued to hold hundreds of
thousands of Japanese prisoners of war (POW) until the early
1950s.

A group of Japanese captured during the


Contents Battle of Okinawa.

1. Japanese attitudes to surrender


2. Allied attitudes

3. Prisoners taken during the war


4. Intelligence gathered from Japanese POWs

5. Allied prisoner of war camps

6. Post-war

7. See also
8. Notes

9. Footnotes
10. References

11. Further reading

Fandom Trivia

Military History Quiz


7 questions

Quiz

Check out more quizzes at Fandom Trivia

Japanese attitudes to surrender


During the 1920s and 1930s, the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) adopted an ethos which required
soldiers to fight to the death rather than surrender.[5] This policy reflected the practices of Japanese
warfare in the pre-modern era.[6] During the Meiji period the Japanese government adopted western
Tell us about how your entertainment
policies
preferences towards
have POWs, and few of the Japanese personnel who surrendered in the Russo-Japanese
changed!
WarTV
MOVIES, were punished
SHOWS at the GAMES?
OR VIDEO end of the war. Prisoners captured by Japanese forces during this and the
First Sino-Japanese War and World War I were also treated in accordance with international Follow on IG TikTok Join Fan Lab

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Japanese_prisoners_of_war_in_World_War_II 1/9
29/10/2023 17:19 Japanese prisoners of war in World War II | Military Wiki | Fandom
standards.[7] Attitudes towards surrender hardened after World War I. While Japan signed the 1929
Military Wiki EXPLORE POPULAR PAGES PROJECT MAINTENANCE
Geneva Convention covering treatment of POWs, it did not ratify the agreement, claiming that

FANDOM
surrender was contrary to the beliefs of Japanese soldiers. This attitude was reinforced by the
indoctrination of young people.[8]

The Japanese military's attitude towards surrender was


institutionalised in the 1941 "Code of Battlefield Conduct" (Senjinkun),
FAN which was issued to all Japanese soldiers. This document sought to
CENTRAL
BETA
establish standards of behavior for Japanese troops and improve
discipline and morale within the Army, and included a prohibition
against being taken prisoner.[11] The Japanese Government

GAMES
accompanied the Senjinkun's implementation with a propaganda
campaign which celebrated people who had fought to the death rather
A Japanese soldier in the sea than surrender during Japan's wars.[12] While the Imperial Japanese
off Cape Endaiadere, New
ANIME Guinea on 18 December 1942 Navy (IJN) did not issue a document equivalent to the Senjinkun, naval
holding a hand grenade to his personnel were expected to exhibit similar behavior and not
head moments before using it
to commit suicide. The surrender.[13] Most Japanese military personnel were told that they
Australian soldier on the beach would be killed or tortured by the Allies if they were taken prisoner.[14]
MOVIES
had called on him to
surrender.[9][10] The Army's Field Service Regulations were also modified in 1940 to
replace a provision which stated that seriously wounded personnel in
TV field hospitals came under the protection of the Red Cross Convention of 1864 with a requirement that
the wounded not fall into enemy hands. During the war this led to wounded personnel being either
killed by medical officers or given grenades to commit suicide.[15]
VIDEO

While scholars disagree over whether the Senjinkun was legally


Those who know shame are weak.
binding on Japanese soldiers, the document reflected Japan's
Always think of [preserving] the honor
WIKIS societal norms and had great force over both military personnel of your community and be a credit to
and civilians. In 1942 the Army amended its criminal code to yourself and your family. Redouble
specify that officers who surrendered soldiers under their your efforts and respond to their
START A
WIKI command faced at least six months imprisonment, regardless expectations. Never live to experience

of the circumstances in which the surrender took place. This shame as a prisoner. By dying you will
avoid leaving a stain on your honor.
change attracted little attention, however, as the Senjinkun
imposed more severe consequences and had greater moral
Senjinkun[12]
force.[13] Japanese attitudes towards surrender contributed to
the harsh treatment which was inflicted on the Allied personnel
they captured.[16]

Not all Japanese military personnel chose to follow the precepts set out
on the Senjinkun. Those who chose to surrender did so for a range of
reasons including not believing that suicide was appropriate or lacking
the courage to commit the act, bitterness towards officers, and Allied
propaganda promising good treatment.[17] For instance, recent analysis
of Japanese soldiers' diaries conducted by Richard Aldrich of
Nottingham University has found that what is allegedly a common Two Australian soldiers with a
Japanese POW in October
perception of the Japanese soldier as being fanatically devoted to the 1943.
Emperor and codes such as bushido is not necessarily true in all
cases.[18] 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.[19]

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.[4] 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 magazine. In these reports Americans were portrayed as
"deranged, primitive, racist and inhuman".[20] Hoyt in "Japan’s war: the great Pacific conflict" argues
that the Allied practice of taking bones from Japanese corpses home as souvenirs was exploited by
Japanese propaganda very effectively, and "contributed to a preference to death over surrender and
occupation, shown, for example, in the mass civilian suicides on Saipan and Okinawa after the Allied
landings".[20]

The causes of the phenomenon that Japanese often continued to fight even in hopeless situations
has been traced to a combination of Shinto, Messhi hoko (self-sacrifice for the sake of group), and
Bushido. However, a factor equally strong or even stronger to those, was the fear of torture after
capture. This fear grew out of years of battle experiences in China, where the Chinese guerillas were
considered expert torturers, and this fear was projected onto the American soldiers who also were
expected to torture and kill surrendered Japanese.[21]

In a June 1945 report an Office of War Information (OWI) officer noted that 84% of Japanese POWs
expected torture or death at the hands of their American capturers, and that this was a greater factor
than Bushido when it came to Japanese fighting to the death.[21]

Tell us about how your entertainment


preferences have changed!
MOVIES, TV SHOWS OR VIDEO GAMES?
Follow on IG TikTok Join Fan Lab

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Japanese_prisoners_of_war_in_World_War_II 2/9
29/10/2023 17:19 Japanese prisoners of war in World War II | Military Wiki | Fandom
ADVERTISEMENT
Military Wiki EXPLORE POPULAR PAGES PROJECT MAINTENANCE

FANDOM Allied attitudes


The western Allied governments sought to treat captured Japanese in
accordance with international agreements which governed the
treatment of POWs.[16] Shortly after the outbreak of war in December

FAN
1941 the British and United States governments transmitted a message
CENTRAL
to the Japanese government through Swiss intermediaries asking if
BETA
Japan would abide by the 1929 Geneva Convention. The Japanese
A Japanese soldier
Government responded stating that while it had not signed the surrendering to three US
convention, Japan would treat POWs in accordance with its terms; in Marines in the Marshall Islands
GAMES
during January 1944.
effect though Japan failed to meet any of the convention's
requirements. While the Allies notified the Japanese government of the
identities of Japanese POWs in accordance with the Geneva Convention's requirements, this
ANIME
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.[22]

MOVIES
Allied military personnel were reluctant to take Japanese prisoners at the start of the war. US forces
were generally unwilling to accept the surrender of Japanese during the first two years of the war due

TV to a combination of racist attitudes and anger at Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and atrocities
committed against Allied troops.[16][23] Australian soldiers were also reluctant to take Japanese
prisoners for similar reasons.[24] Incidents in which Japanese troops booby-trapped their dead and
VIDEO wounded or pretended to surrender in order to lure Allied troops into ambushes were well known
within the Allied militaries and also hardened attitudes against seeking the surrender of Japanese on
the battlefield.[25] As a result, Allied troops believed that their Japanese opponents would not
WIKIS surrender and that any attempts to surrender were deceptive;[26] for instance, the Australian jungle
warfare school advised soldiers to shoot any Japanese troops who had their hands closed while
surrendering.[24] Furthermore, in many instances Japanese soldiers who had surrendered were killed
START A
WIKI
on the front line or while being taken to POW compounds.[27] The nature of jungle warfare also
contributed to prisoners not being taken, as many battles were fought at close ranges where
participants "often had no choice but to shoot first and ask questions later".[28]

Despite the attitudes of combat troops and nature of the fighting, Allied
militaries made systematic efforts to take Japanese prisoners
throughout the war. Each US Army division was assigned a team of
Japanese American personnel whose duties included attempting to
persuade Japanese personnel to surrender.[29] Allied forces mounted
Two surrendered Japanese
soldiers with a Japanese an extensive psychological warfare campaign against their Japanese
civilian and two US soldiers on opponents to lower their morale and encourage surrender.[19] This
Okinawa. The Japanese soldier
on the left is reading a included dropping copies of the Geneva Conventions and 'surrender
propaganda leaflet. passes' on Japanese positions.[30] This campaign was undermined by
Allied troops' reluctance to take prisoners, however.[31] 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. 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 programs were partially
successful, and contributed to US troops taking more prisoners. In addition, soldiers who witnessed
Japanese troops surrender were more willing to take prisoners themselves.[32] Allied propaganda and
demoralisation resulting from Japan's deteriorating position also contributed to an increased
incidence of Japanese soldiers surrendering or deserting.[33] 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.[34]

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. US Navy submarines were
occasionally ordered to obtain prisoners for intelligence purposes, and
formed special teams of personnel for this purpose.[35] Overall, however,
Allied submariners usually did not attempt to take prisoners, and the
number of Japanese personnel they captured was relatively small. 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.[36]
In a small number of instances Allied submariners deliberately fired on Japanese POW bathing on
board the USS New Jersey,
the survivors of Japanese ships. December 1944.

Allied forces continued to kill Japanese personnel who were attempting to surrender throughout the
war.[37] It is likely that more Japanese soldiers would have surrendered if they had not believed that
they would be killed by the Allies while trying to do so.[2] Fear of being killed after surrendering was one
of the main factors which influenced Japanese troops to fight to the death, and a wartime U.S. Office
of Wartime Information report stated that it may have been more important than fear of disgrace and a
desire to die for Japan.[38] Instances of Japanese personnel being killed while attempting to surrender
are not well documented, though anecdotal accounts provide evidence that this occurred.[23]

Prisoners taken during the war


Tell us about how your entertainment
Estimates
preferences the numbers of Japanese personnel taken prisoner during the Pacific War differ.[1][23]
haveofchanged!
Japanese
MOVIES, historian
TV SHOWS Ikuhiko
OR VIDEO Hata claims that up to 50,000 Japanese became POWs before Japan's
GAMES?
surrender.[39] The Japanese Government's wartime POW Information Bureau believed that 42,543 Follow on IG TikTok Join Fan Lab

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Japanese_prisoners_of_war_in_World_War_II 3/9
29/10/2023 17:19 Japanese prisoners of war in World War II | Military Wiki | Fandom
Japanese surrendered during the war;[15] a figure also used by Niall
Military Wiki EXPLORE POPULAR PAGES PROJECT MAINTENANCE
Ferguson who states that it refers to prisoners taken by United States
[40]
FANDOM
and Australian forces. Ulrich Straus states that about 35,000 were
captured by western Allied and Chinese forces[41] and Alison B. Gilmore
has calculated that Allied forces in the South West Pacific Area alone
captured at least 19,500 Japanese.[42]a

FAN As the Japanese forces in China were mainly on the offensive and
CENTRAL A Japanese POW being led off
BETA
suffered relatively few casualties, few Japanese soldiers surrendered to a US Navy submarine in May
Chinese forces prior to August 1945.[43] It has been estimated that at 1945.

the end of the war Chinese Nationalist and Communist forces held

GAMES
around 8,300 Japanese prisoners. The conditions these POWs were held in generally did not meet the
standards required by international law. The Japanese government expressed no concern for these
abuses, however, as it did not want IJA soldiers to even consider surrendering. The government was,

ANIME however, concerned about reports that 300 POWs had joined the Chinese Communists and had been
trained to spread anti-Japanese propaganda.[44]

MOVIES The Japanese government sought to suppress information about captured personnel. On 27
December 1941, it established a POW Information Bureau within the Ministry of the Army to manage
information concerning Japanese POWs. While the Bureau cataloged information provided by the Allies
TV via the Red Cross identifying POWs, it did not pass this information on to the families of the prisoners.
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.
VIDEO 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. The lack of communication
with their families increased the POWs feelings of being cut off from Japanese society.[45]
WIKIS

Intelligence gathered from Japanese POWs


START A
WIKI The Allies gained considerable quantities of intelligence from Japanese
POWs. Because they had been indoctrinated to believe that by
surrendering they had broken all ties with Japan, many captured
personnel provided their interrogators with information on the
Japanese military.[39] 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.[47] This view proved incorrect, however,
and many Japanese POWs provided valuable intelligence during
interrogations. Few Japanese were aware of the Geneva Convention
and the rights it gave prisoners to not respond to questioning.
Moreover, the POWs felt that by surrendering they had lost all their A US surrender leaflet
depicting Japanese POWs. The
rights. The prisoners appreciated the opportunity to converse with
leaflet's wording was changed
Japanese-speaking Americans and felt that the food, clothing and from 'I surrender' to 'I cease
resistance' at the suggestion
medical treatment they were provided with meant that they owed of POWs.[46]
favours to their captors. 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. As a result of these factors, Japanese POWs were often
cooperative and truthful during interrogation sessions.[48] The value of this intelligence more than
outweighed the cost of maintaining prisoners in POW camps.[49]

Japanese POWs were interrogated multiple times during their captivity. Most Japanese soldiers were
interrogated by intelligence officers of the battalion or regiment which had captured them for
information which could be used by these units. Following this they were rapidly moved to rear areas
where they were interrogated by successive echelons of the Allied military. They were also questioned
once they reached a POW camp in Australia, New Zealand, India or the United States. These
interrogations were painful and stressful for the POWs.[50] Force was not used by Allied interrogators,
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.[51]

Some Japanese POWs also played an important role in helping the Allied militaries develop propaganda
and politically indoctrinate their fellow prisoners.[52]

Allied prisoner of war camps


Japanese POWs held in Allied prisoner of war camps were treated in accordance with the Geneva
Convention.[53] By 1943 the Allied governments were aware that personnel who had been captured by
the Japanese military were being held in harsh conditions. 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.[54] This was not successful, however, as the Japanese government
refused to recognise the existence of captured Japanese military personnel.[55] Nevertheless,
Japanese POWs in Allied camps continued to be treated in accordance with the Geneva Conventions
until the end of the war.[56] Most Japanese captured by US forces after September 1942 were turned
over to Australia or New Zealand for internment. The United States provided these countries with aid
through the Lend Lease program to cover the costs of maintaining the prisoners, and retained
responsibility for repatriating the men to Japan at the end of the war. Prisoners captured in the central
Tell usPacific
about how your
or who entertainment
were believed to have particular intelligence value were held in camps in the United
preferences
States.have
[57] changed!

MOVIES, TV SHOWS OR VIDEO GAMES?


Follow on IG TikTok Join Fan Lab

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Japanese_prisoners_of_war_in_World_War_II 4/9
29/10/2023 17:19 Japanese prisoners of war in World War II | Military Wiki | Fandom
Prisoners who were thought to possess significant technical or
Military Wiki EXPLORE POPULAR PAGES PROJECT MAINTENANCE
strategic information were brought to specialist intelligence-gathering

FANDOM
facilities at Fort Hunt, Virginia or Camp Tracy, California. After arriving in
these camps, the prisoners were interrogated again, and their
conversations were wiretapped and analysed. Some of the conditions

Japanese POWs practice


at Camp Tracy violated Geneva Convention requirements, such as
baseball near their quarters, insufficient exercise time being provided. However, prisoners at this
several weeks before the
FAN Cowra breakout. This camp were given special benefits, such as high quality food and access
CENTRAL
photograph was taken with the to a shop, and the interrogation sessions were relatively relaxed. The
BETA
intention of using it in
propaganda leaflets, to be continuous wiretapping at both locations may have also violated the
dropped on Japanese-held spirit of the Geneva Convention.[59]
areas in the Asia-Pacific
GAMES region.[58]
Japanese POWs generally adjusted to life in prison camps and few
attempted to escape.[60] There were several incidents at POW camps, however. On 25 February 1943,

ANIME POWs at the Featherston prisoner of war camp in New Zealand staged a strike after being ordered to
work. The protest turned violent when the camp's deputy commander shot one of the protest's
leaders. The POWs then attacked the other guards, who opened fire and killed 48 prisoners and
MOVIES wounded another 74. Conditions at the camp were subsequently improved, leading to good relations
between the Japanese and their New Zealand guards for the remainder of the war.[61] More seriously,
on 5 August 1944, Japanese POWs in a camp near Cowra, Australia attempted to escape. During the
TV fighting between the POWs and their guards 257 Japanese and four Australians were killed.[62] Other
confrontations between Japanese POWs and their guards occurred at Camp McCoy in Wisconsin
during May 1944 as well as a camp in Bikaner, India during 1945; these did not result in any fatalities.[63]
VIDEO In addition, 24 Japanese POWs killed themselves at Camp Paita, New Caledonia in January 1944 after a
planned uprising was foiled.[64] News of the incidents at Cowra and Featherston was suppressed in
Japan,[65] but the Japanese Government lodged protests with the Australian and New Zealand
WIKIS governments as a propaganda tactic. This was the only time that the Japanese Government officially
recognized that some members of the country's military had surrendered.[66]

START A
WIKI The Allies distributed photographs of Japanese POWs in camps to induce other Japanese personnel to
surrender. This tactic was initially rejected by General MacArthur when it was proposed to him in mid-
1943 on the grounds that it violated the Hague and Geneva Conventions, and the fear of being
identified after surrendering could harden Japanese resistance. MacArthur reversed his position in
December of that year, however, but only allowed the publication of photos that did not identify
individual POWs. He also directed that the photos "should be truthful and factual and not designed to
exaggerate".[67]

Post-war
Millions of Japanese military personnel surrendered following the end
of the war. 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.[68] In order
to prevent resistance to the order to surrender, Japan's Imperial
Headquarters included a statement that "servicemen who come under
the control of enemy forces after the proclamation of the Imperial
Rescript will not be regarded as POWs" in its orders announcing the end
A Japanese prisoner of war
of the war. While this measure was successful in avoiding unrest, it led watching a British Royal Air
Force Dakota transport landing
to hostility between those who surrendered before and after the end of at Bandoeng, Java during May
the war and denied prisoners of the Soviets POW status. In most 1946.

instances the troops who surrendered were not taken into captivity,
and were repatriated to the Japanese home islands after giving up their weapons.[39] Repatriation of
some Japanese POWs was delayed by Allied authorities. Until late 1946, the United States retained
almost 70,000 POWs to dismantle military facilities in the Philippines, Okinawa, central Pacific, and
Hawaii. British authorities retained 113,500 of the approximately 750,000 POWs in south and south-
east Asia until 1947; the last POWs captured in Burma and Malaya returned to Japan in October
1947.[69] The British also used armed Japanese Surrendered Personnel to support Dutch and French
attempts to reestablish their colonial empires in the Netherlands East Indies and Indochina
respectively.[70] At least 81,090 Japanese personnel died in areas occupied by the western Allies and
China before they could be repatriated to Japan. Historian John W. Dower has attributed these deaths
to the "wretched" condition of Japanese military units at the end of the war.[71][72]

Nationalist Chinese forces took the surrender of 1.2 million Japanese military personnel following the
war. While the Japanese feared that they would be subjected to reprisals, they were generally treated
well. This was because the Nationalists wished to seize as many weapons as possible, ensure that the
departure of the Japanese military didn't create a security vacuum and discourage Japanese
personnel from fighting alongside the Chinese communists.[73] The nationalists retained over 50,000
POWs, most of whom had technical skills, until the second half of 1946, however. Tens of thousands of
Japanese prisoners captured by the 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.[69]

Hundreds of thousands of Japanese also surrendered to Soviet forces in the last weeks of the war and
after Japan's surrender. 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
[23]
Tell uscaptured.
about how Unlike
your the prisoners held by China or the western Allies, these men were treated harshly
entertainment
preferences
by theirhave changed!
captors, and over 60,000 died. Japanese POWs were forced to undertake hard labour and were
MOVIES,
heldTV
inSHOWS
primitiveOR VIDEO GAMES?
conditions with inadequate food and medical treatments. This treatment was similar
Follow on IG TikTok Join Fan Lab

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Japanese_prisoners_of_war_in_World_War_II 5/9
29/10/2023 17:19 Japanese prisoners of war in World War II | Military Wiki | Fandom
to that experienced by German POWs in the Soviet Union.[74] The treatment of Japanese POWs in
Military Wiki EXPLORE POPULAR PAGES PROJECT MAINTENANCE
Siberia was also similar to that suffered by Soviet prisoners who were being held in the area.[75]

FANDOM
Due to the shame associated with surrendering, few Japanese POWs wrote memoirs after the war.[23]

See also
FAN Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union Wikimedia Commons has
CENTRAL
BETA
media related to Japanese
prisoners of war of World
Notes War II.

GAMES
^a Gilmore provides the following numbers of Japanese POWs taken in the SWPA during each year of
the war; 1942: 1,167, 1943: 1,064, 1944: 5,122, 1945: 12,194[42]

ANIME
Footnotes
1. Fedorowich (2000), p. 61 37. Ferguson (2007), p. 544
MOVIES 2. Bergerud (1997), pp. 415–416 38. Dower (1986), p. 68

3. Johnston (2000), p. 81 39. Hata (1996), p. 263

4. Ferguson (2004), p. 176. 40. Ferguson (2004), p. 164

5. Drea (2009), p. 257 41. Straus (2003), p. ix


TV
6. Strauss (2003), pp. 17–19 42. Gilmore (1998), p. 155

7. Strauss (2003), pp. 20–21 43. Straus (2003), p. xiii

8. Strauss (2003), pp. 21–22 44. Straus (2003), p. 24


VIDEO
9. "Australian War Memorial 013968" (http://cas.a 45. Hata (1996), p. 265

wm.gov.au/item/013968). Collection database. 46. Gilmore (1998), p. 172

Australian War Memorial. 47. Straus (2003), pp. 116 and 141
WIKIS
http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/013968. Retrieved 48. Straus (2003), pp. 141–147

1 January 2010. 49. Hata (1996), p. 272

10. McCarthy (1959), p. 450 50. Straus (2003), pp. 126–127


START A 11. Drea (2009), p. 212 51. Straus (2003), p. 120
WIKI
12. Straus (2003), p. 39 52. Fedorowich (2000), p. 85

13. Straus (2003), p. 40 53. MacKenzie (1994), p. 512


14. Dower (1986), p. 77 54. MacKenzie (1994), p. 516
15. Hata (1996), p. 269 55. MacKenzie (1994), pp. 516–517
16. Straus (2003), p. 3 56. MacKenzie (1994), p. 518
17. Strauss (2003), pp. 44–45 57. Krammer (1983), p. 70
18. Aldrich (2005), p. 9 58. "Australian War Memorial - 067178" (http://cas.a
19. Gilmore (1998), p. 2 wm.gov.au/item/067178). Collection database.
20. Harrison, p.833 Australian War Memorial.

21. Interrogation: World War II, Vietnam, and Iraq, http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/067178. Retrieved

NATIONAL DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE COLLEGE 25 December 2009.

WASHINGTON, DC. (2008), ISBN 978-1-932946- 59. Straus (2003), pp. 134–139

23-9, p.31-34 60. Straus (2003), p. 197

22. Straus (2003), p. 29 61. Straus (2003), pp. 176–178

23. La Forte (2000), p. 333 62. Straus (2003), pp. 186–191

24. Johnston (2000), p. 95 63. Straus (2003), pp. 191–195

25. Dower (1986), p. 64 64. Straus (2003), pp. 178–186

26. Gilmore (1998), p. 61 65. MacKenzie (1994), p. 517

27. Dower (1986), p. 69 66. Straus (2003), pp. 193–194

28. Johnston (1996), p.40 67. Fedorowich (2000), pp. 80–81

29. Bergerud (2008), p. 103 68. Straus (2003), pp. xii–xiii

30. Ferguson (2007), p. 550 69. Dower (1999), p. 51

31. Gilmore (1998), pp. 62–63 70. Kibata (2000), p. 146

32. Gilmore (1998), pp. 64–67 71. Dower (1986), p. 298 and note 6, p. 363

33. Gilmore (1998), p. 8 72. MacArthur (1994), p. 130, note 36

34. Gilmore (1998), p. 169 73. Straus (2003), pp. xiii–xiv

35. Sturma (2011), p. 147 74. Straus (2003), p. xiv

36. Sturma (2011), p. 151 75. La Forte (2000), p. 335

References
Aldrich, Richard J. (2005). The Faraway War: Personal Diaries of the Second World War in Asia and the
Pacific. London: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-60679-6.
Bergerud, Eric (1997). Touched with Fire. The Land War in the South Pacific. New York: Penguin Books.
ISBN 0-14-024696-7.
Bergerud, Eric (2008). "No Quarter. The Pacific Battlefield" (http://books.google.com.au/books?id=-6t5rzelg
XcC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA96#v=onepage&q=&f=false). In Yerxa, Donald A.. Recent Themes in Military History:
Historians in Conversation. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 1-57003-739-6.
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=-6t5rzelgXcC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA96#v=onepage&q=&f=false.
Carr-Gregg, Charlotte (1978). Japanese Prisoners of War in Revolt. The Outbreaks at Featherston and
Cowra during World War II. St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press. ISBN 0-7022-1226-1.
Dower, John W. (1986). War Without Mercy. Race and Power in the Pacific War. New York: Pantheon Books.
ISBN 0-394-50030-X.
Dower, John W. (1999). Embracing Defeat. Japan in the Wake of World War II. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company / The New Press. ISBN 0-393-04686-9.
Drea, Edward J. (1989). "In the Army Barracks Of Imperial Japan". Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces
and Society. ISSN 1556-0848 (http://www.worldcat.org/issn/1556-0848).
Drea, Edward J. (2009). Japan's Imperial Army. Its Rise and Fall, 1853–1945. Modern War Studies. Lawrence:
University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-1663-3.
Fedorowich, Fred (2000). "Understanding the Enemy: Military Intelligence, Political Warfare and Japanese

Tell us aboutPrisoners
how your of entertainment
War in Australia, 1942-45" (http://books.google.com/books?id=ktCv32ysz0AC&pg=PA146&dq#

preferencesv=onepage&q&f=false).
have changed! In Towle, Philip; Kosuge, Margaret; and Kibata Yōichi. Japanese prisoners of war.
London: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 1-85285-192-9. http://books.google.com/books?
MOVIES, TV SHOWS OR VIDEO GAMES?
id=ktCv32ysz0AC&pg=PA146&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false. Follow on IG TikTok Join Fan Lab

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Japanese_prisoners_of_war_in_World_War_II 6/9
29/10/2023 17:19 Japanese prisoners of war in World War II | Military Wiki | Fandom
Ferguson, Niall (2004). "Prisoner Taking and Prisoner Killing in the Age of Total War: Towards a Political
Military Wiki EXPLORE POPULAR PAGES PROJECT MAINTENANCE
Economy of Military Defeat". SAGE Publications. ISSN 1477-0385 (http://www.worldcat.org/issn/1477-038
5).
FANDOM
Ferguson, Niall (2007). The War of the World. History's Age of Hatred. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-
14-101382-4.
Ford, Douglas (May 2010). "US Perceptions of Military Culture and the Japanese Army's Performance During
the Pacific War". Maney Publishing. ISSN 0729-2473 (http://www.worldcat.org/issn/0729-2473).
Frank, Richard B. (2001). Downfall. The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire. New York: Penguin Books.
FAN ISBN 0-14-100146-1.
CENTRAL
BETA
Gilmore, Allison B. (1995). ""We Have Been Reborn": Japanese Prisoners and the Allied Intelligence War in the
Southwest Pacific". Berkeley: University of California Press.
Gilmore, Allison B. (1998). You can't fight tanks with bayonets: psychological warfare against the Japanese
Army in the Southwest Pacific (http://books.google.com.au/books?id=h3sz1wF3a5oC&dq=Japanese+priso
GAMES
ners+of+war&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s). Studies in war, society, and the military. University of Nebraska
Press. ISBN 0-8032-2167-3. http://books.google.com.au/books?
id=h3sz1wF3a5oC&dq=Japanese+prisoners+of+war&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
ANIME
Hata, Ikuhiko (1996). "From Consideration to Contempt: The Changing Nature of Japanese Military and
Popular Perceptions of Prisoners of War Through the Ages". In Moore, Bob and Fedorowich, Kent. Prisoners
of War and Their Captors in World War II. Oxford: Berg. ISBN 1-85973-152-X.
MOVIES Johnston, Mark (1996). At the Front Line. Experiences of Australian Soldiers in World War II. Melbourne:
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56037-3.
Johnston, Mark (2000). Fighting the enemy: Australian soldiers and their adversaries in World War II (http://

TV
books.google.com.au/books?id=zOgMy7rBFCoC&source=gbs_navlinks_s). Melbourne: Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 0-521-78222-8. http://books.google.com.au/books?
id=zOgMy7rBFCoC&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
Kibata, Yoichi (2000). "Japanese Treatment of British Prisoners of War: The Historical Context" (http://books.
VIDEO
google.com.au/books?id=ktCv32ysz0AC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Japanese+prisoners+of+war&cd=1#v=o
nepage&q=&f=false). In Towle, Philip; Kosuge, Margaret; and Kibata Yōichi. Japanese prisoners of war.
London: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 1-85285-192-9.
WIKIS
http://books.google.com.au/books?
id=ktCv32ysz0AC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Japanese+prisoners+of+war&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false.
Krammer, Arnold (1983). "Japanese Prisoners of War in America". Berkeley: University of California Press.
START A ISSN 0030-8684 (http://www.worldcat.org/issn/0030-8684).
WIKI
La Forte, Robert S. (2000). "World War II-Far East". In Vance, Jonathan F. Encyclopedia of Prisoners of War
and Internment. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-57607-068-9.
MacArthur, Douglas (1994). MacArthur in Japan: The Occupation: Military Phase (http://www.history.army.m
il/books/wwii/MacArthur%20Reports/MacArthur%20V1%20Sup/Index.htm). Reports of General MacArthur.
Washington D.C.: United States Army Center of Military History.
http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/MacArthur%20Reports/MacArthur%20V1%20Sup/Index.htm.
MacKenzie, S.P. (1994). "The Treatment of Prisoners of War in World War II". Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press. ISSN 0022-2801 (http://www.worldcat.org/issn/0022-2801).
McCarthy, Dudley (1959). South–West Pacific Area – First Year: Kokoda to Wau (http://www.awm.gov.au/hist
ories/second_world_war/volume.asp?levelID=67907). Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 1 – Army.
Canberra: Australian War Memorial. http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/second_world_war/volume.asp?
levelID=67907.
Straus, Ulrich (2003). The Anguish of Surrender: Japanese POWs of World War II (http://books.google.com.a
u/books?id=h4TU3z3DYD4C&dq=The+Anguish+of+Surrender&source=gbs_navlinks_s). Seattle: University
of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-98336-1. http://books.google.com.au/books?
id=h4TU3z3DYD4C&dq=The+Anguish+of+Surrender&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
Sturma, Michael. Surface and Destroy : The Submarine Gun War in the Pacific. Lexington, Ky.: University
Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-2996-9.

Further reading
Corbin, Alexander D. (2009). The History of Camp Tracy : Japanese WWII POWs and the Future of Strategic
Interrogation. Fort Belvoir: Ziedon Press. ISBN 0578029790.
Sareen, T.R. (2006). Japanese Prisoners of War in India, 1942-46 : Bushido and Barbed Wire. Folkestone:
Global Oriental Ltd. ISBN 978-1-901903-94-2.

v·t·e World War II


Western Europe • Eastern Europe • Mediterranean and Middle East • Asia and the Pacific • West Africa •
East Africa • Atlantic • Americas • Casualties • Military engagements • Conferences • Commanders

Australia • Belgium • Brazil • Canada • China • Czechoslovakia • Ethiopia •


Finland (1944–1945) • France • Greece • India • Italy (from September 1943) •
Allies
(leaders)
Luxembourg • Mexico • Netherlands • New Zealand • Norway •
Philippines (Commonwealth) • Poland • South Africa • Soviet Union •
United Kingdom • United States • Yugoslavia
Bulgaria • Independent State of Croatia • Finland • Germany • Hungary •
Axis and Free India • Iraq • Italy (until September 1943) • Italian Social Republic • Japan
Participants Axis-aligned
(leaders) • Manchukuo • Philippines (Second Republic) • Romania • Slovakia • Thailand
• Vichy France
Albania • Austria • Baltic States • Belgium • Czech lands • Denmark •
Estonia • Ethiopia • France • Germany • Greece • Hong Kong • India • Italy
Resistance • Jewish • Korea • Latvia • Luxembourg • Netherlands • Norway •
Philippines • Poland (Anti-communist) • Romania • Thailand • Soviet Union •
Slovakia • Western Ukraine • Vietnam • Yugoslavia

Timeline Prelude Africa • Asia • Europe

1939 Poland • Phoney War • Winter War • Atlantic • Changsha • China

Weserübung • Netherlands • Belgium • France • Britain • North Africa •


1940 West Africa • British Somaliland • Baltic States • Moldova • Indochina •
Greece • Compass

1941 • East Africa • Yugoslavia • Yugoslav Front • Greece • Crete • Iraq •


Tell us about how your entertainment Soviet Union (Barbarossa) • Finland • Lithuania • Syria and Lebanon • Kiev •
preferences have changed! Iran • Leningrad • Moscow • Sevastopol • Pearl Harbor • Hong Kong •

MOVIES, TV SHOWS OR VIDEO GAMES?Philippines • Changsha • Malaya


Follow on IG TikTok Join Fan Lab

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Japanese_prisoners_of_war_in_World_War_II 7/9
29/10/2023 17:19 Japanese prisoners of war in World War II | Military Wiki | Fandom
• Borneo (1941–42)
Military Wiki EXPLORE POPULAR PAGES PROJECT MAINTENANCE
Burma • Changsha • Coral Sea • Gazala • Midway • Blue • Stalingrad •
1942
Dieppe • El Alamein • Guadalcanal • Torch
FANDOM
Tunisia • Kursk • Smolensk • Solomon Islands • Sicily • Lower Dnieper • Italy
1943
• Gilbert and Marshall Islands • Changde
• Monte Cassino / Shingle • Narva • Korsun–Cherkassy • Tempest • Ichi-Go
• Overlord • Neptune • Normandy • Mariana and Palau • Bagration •
Western Ukraine • Tannenberg Line • Warsaw • Eastern Romania • Belgrade
FAN
CENTRAL 1944 • Paris • Gothic Line • Market Garden • Estonia • Crossbow • Pointblank •
BETA Lapland • Hungary • Leyte • Ardennes • Philippines (1944–1945)

• Burma (1944–1945)

GAMES • Bodenplatte • Vistula–Oder • Iwo Jima • Okinawa • Italy (Spring 1945) •


Syrmian Front • Berlin • Czechoslovakia • Budapest • West Hunan •
Surrender of Germany • Project Hula • Manchuria • Manila • Borneo •
1945
Atomic bombings • Kuril Islands • Shumshu
ANIME

• Surrender of Japan
• Air warfare of World War II • Attacks on North America • Blitzkrieg •
MOVIES
Comparative military ranks • Cryptography • Home front • Lend-Lease •
Manhattan Project • Military awards • Military equipment •
General Military production • Nazi plunder • Technology • Total war •
TV Strategic bombing

• Bengal famine of 1943


VIDEO • Effects • Expulsion of Germans • Operation Paperclip • Operation Keelhaul
• Occupation of Germany • Morgenthau Plan •
Territorial changes of Germany • Soviet occupations • • Romania • • Poland • •

WIKIS Aftermath Hungary • • Baltic States • Occupation of Japan • First Indochina War •
Indonesian National Revolution

START A
• Cold War
WIKI
Allied war crimes • • Soviet war crimes • • British war crimes • •
Aspects United States war crimes • German / Wehrmacht war crimes • • Holocaust •
War crimes Italian war crimes • Japanese war crimes • • Unit 731 •
Croatian war crimes (against the Serbs) / against the Jews) •
Serbian war crimes
German military brothels • Camp brothels •
Rape during the occupation of Japan • Comfort women • Rape of Nanking •
War rape
Rape during the occupation of Germany •
Rape during the liberation of France • Rape during the liberation of Poland
Finnish prisoners of war in the Soviet Union •
German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union •
German prisoners of war in the United States •
Italian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union •
Prisoners
Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union •
Japanese prisoners of war in World War II •
Nazi crimes against Soviet POWs • Polish prisoners of war in the Soviet Union
• Romanian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union

Category

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under
GFDL (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License).
The original article can be found at Japanese prisoners of war in World War II and the edit history here (http://en.wi
kipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Japanese+prisoners+of+war+in+World+War+II&action=history).

....

Categories

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.

Tell us about how your entertainment


preferences have changed!
EXPLORE PROPERTIES
MOVIES, TV SHOWS OR VIDEO GAMES?
Follow on IG TikTok Join Fan Lab

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Japanese_prisoners_of_war_in_World_War_II 8/9
29/10/2023 17:19 Japanese prisoners of war in World War II | Military Wiki | Fandom
Fandom Wiki
Military EXPLORE POPULAR PAGES PROJECT MAINTENANCE Fanatical

Muthead
FANDOM

FOLLOW US

FAN
CENTRAL
BETA
OVERVIEW

What is Fandom? Terms of Use

GAMES
About Privacy Policy

Careers Global Sitemap


ANIME
Press Local Sitemap

Contact
MOVIES

COMMUNITY

TV
Community Central Help

Support
VIDEO

ADVERTISE

WIKIS Media Kit

Contact

START A
WIKI

FANDOM APPS
Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat.

Military Wiki is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community.

VIEW MOBILE SITE

Tell us about how your entertainment


preferences have changed!
MOVIES, TV SHOWS OR VIDEO GAMES?
Follow on IG TikTok Join Fan Lab

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Japanese_prisoners_of_war_in_World_War_II 9/9

You might also like