Conditions in Japanese Prisoner of War Camps In World War II The Japanese viewed those who surrendered as inferior and subject to the mercy of their captures. Tojo, the Japanese war minister, informed the commandants of prisoners of war camps the Japanese government had not signed the Geneva Convention and they were not bound to it. The Japanese field code for soldiers required soldiers to commit suicide rather than surrender. Because of the time schedule set for conquest by Japanese high command, Japanese soldiers slaughtered surrendering Allied soldiers routinely. On Dutch Timor, 800 Australians surrendered only to be tied together and used for bayonet practice. “The Japanese commander explained prisoners were likely to drag upon the movement of his troops.” When Japanese troops overrun Hong Kong, Colonel Tanaka told his troops, take no prisoners. At the Royal Army Medical Corps dressing station, staff and wounded offered no resistance. They were led out and executed on a nearby hill. On April 8, 1942, General King summed up the situation of his troops on Bataan. His troops had enough food and ammunition left for two days. Weakened by starvation and disease, the men could barely muster enough strength to move yet alone fight another battle. King knew he had no choice but to disobey orders. At 0900 on April 9th, King surrendered 78,000 men to the Japanese. King had secured enough vehicles and gas to transport his men to the prison camps. However, the Japanese had other plans. Groups of prisoners assembled in various locations in the vicinity of Mariveles at the tip of the Bataan Peninsula. A series of marches set out north towards ... ... middle of paper ... ... no water and no food. Prisoners drank blood and urine to try and quench their thirst. The unmarked ships carried cargo as well as the prisoners. American submarines sunk many of the ships in route to Japan and other locations in Asia. On September 7, 1944, two torpedoes stuck the Shinyo Maru, Japanese guards started shooting the prisoners. The ship sunk. Out of 750 prisoners on board only 200 survived. On December 14, 1944, an American Navy plane attacked the Orokyu Maru. The ship held 308 prisoners of war, most of which managed to swim to a nearby island. Filipino guerillas helped the survivors get off the island and to freedom via an American submarine. On October 24th, 1944, the Arisan Maru sank after being struck by three torpedoes from American destroyers. The Arisan Maru held 1800 prisoners, only three survived.
The American Turtle was ready for her initial mission on September 6, 1776, just after midnight in the New York Harbor. The operator, Ezra Lee, failed in his attempt to sink the HMS Eagle because he failed to secure the screw of the gunpowder magazine to the ship. The Turtle made two more attempts to sink enemy ships but they both failed. The end of the American Turtle is unknown. Some think she was accidentally sunk, dismantled, or destroyed. The Turtle was the very first submarine to be used in the...
The USS Indianapolis was a heavy cruiser. She did not have heavy armor which made her vulnerable to torpedo attacks. She had been ordered to sail on July 16, 1945, to deliver a bomb that would end the war. Unfortunately, it sank before it arrived.
middle of paper ... ... After I was disposed of, the corporal then made the majority of the 27 sufferers march with the rest of the troops. Most of the men, including an Australian chaplain, died during succeeding weeks, largely as a result of this calculated brutality.’ (Iggulden, 2009, p.22)
Japanese stood their ground and on December 7,1941.The surprise attack on the Americans that destroyed or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded at Pearl Harbor(document
bombers initiated the first bombing of the island. The bombings by the Japanese continued until December 23, when under continuous shelling, the Americans, under U.S. Navy Commander Winfield Scott Cunningham, were finally forced to surrender. Although the Japanese finally took the island, they incurred heavy losses. Three cruisers and one transport sustained heavy damage, two destroyers and one patrol boat were sunk, while 820 Japanese soldiers were killed, with another 333 wounded. In contrast, American military casualties included 120 killed, 49 wounded, with two missing in action.
prison camp by the Japanese. Only a year later were they safe in American arms
Army eventually decided to allow the prisoners to leave the camps if they joined the U.S. Army but only 1,200 took the option. The last Japanese internment camp in the United States was closed in 1945. President Roosevelt canceled the order in 1944, two years after signing it. It wasn't until 1968, almost 24 years after the camps had been closed that the U.S. government decided to make reparations to those who had lost property due to their imprisonment. In 1988 surviving prisoners were awarded $20,000. Only 60,000 out of the 127,000+ prisoners of the internment camps were still alive. As a sign of their negative feelings towards the USA, 5,766 prisoners renounced their American citizenship because they were sent to the internment camps. (1) (2) After that the Japanese were released and lived along with other
On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into World War II (Prange et al., 1981: p.174). On February 19, 1942, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 authorizing the Secretary of War and Military Commanders to prescribe areas of land as excludable military zones (Roosevelt, 1942). Effectively, this order sanctioned the identification, deportation, and internment of innocent Japanese Americans in War Relocation Camps across the western half of the United States. During the spring and summer of 1942, it is estimated that almost 120,000 Japanese Americans were relocated from their homes along the West Coast and in Hawaii and detained in U.S. government-run concentration camps (Daniels, 2004: p.3). Approximately two-thirds of these men and women were either nisei—second generation Japanese—or sansei—third generation—Japanese Americans, the other third were issei—first generation—Japanese immigrants living in the United States at the time. While issei generation Japanese people were born in Japan and were not eligible for United States citizenship, members of the nisei and sanei generations were born in the United States, and therefore, were legal American citizens. Regardless of this distinction in citizenship, however, American powers perceived all of these men and women to be an imposing threat to the security of the United States.
Even before the battle started, America saw his attack coming. Japan had bombed the Dutch harbor in Alaska on the days of June 3rd and 4th. Japan landed there instead of on the islands of Attu and Kiska, in fear the United States might be there. There attacks failed when the plan to get the American fleet from Midway to aid the freshly bombed Dutch harbor. At 0900 hours an American patrol boat spotted the Japanese fleet seven hundred miles from Midway. At that point admiral Soroku Yamamoto’s plans of a sneak attack were over. Admiral fletcher commanded the U.S.S. Yorktown before it was sunk by the Japanese. Then at 0750, japan spots nine enemy (American) planes fifteen miles out. Tones, a Japanese cruiser, opened fire on the American pilots. Almost instantly if an American bomber plane were hit it would explode and go down. The bombers dropped their torpedoes to far from their targets, so the torpedoes didn’t land a single blow to Japan. At 1040 japan sent from Hiryu,...
How do you judge the atrocities committed during a war? In World War II, there were numerous atrocities committed by all sides, especially in the concentration and prisoner of war camps. Europeans were most noted for the concentration camps and the genocide committed by the Nazi party in these camps. Less known is how Allied prisoners were also sent to those camps. The Japanese also had camps for prisoners of war. Which countries’ camps were worse? While both camps were horrible places for soldiers, the Japanese prisoner of war camps were far worse.
After reading the short story Ten Hours I found many differences and similarities to real life Concentration Camps, but first, if you don’t know about history research shows that you will be “Lost in Time.” As we all know Concentration Camps started in between 1933 and 1945, Also in the short story Ten Hours it takes place in 1942.
In 1942 Roosevelt signed the Executive order 9066 which forced all Japanese-Americans to evacuate the West Coast. They were forced out no matter their loyalty or their citizenship. These Japanese-Americans were sent to Internment camps which were located in California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas. There were ten camps all-together and 120,000 people filled them (2009). The immigrants were deprived of their traditional respect when their children who were American-born were indorsed authority positions within the camps. In 1945 Japanese-American citizens with undisrupted loyalty were allowed to return to the West Coast, but not until 1946 was the last camp closed.
After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States was filled with panic. Along the Pacific coast of the U.S., where residents feared more Japanese attacks on their cities, homes, and businesses, this feeling was especially great. During the time preceding World War II, there were approximately 112,000 persons of Japanese descent living in California, Arizona, and coastal Oregon and Washington. These immigrants traveled to American hoping to be free, acquire jobs, and for some a chance to start a new life. Some immigrants worked in mines, others helped to develop the United States Railroad, many were fishermen, farmers, and some agricultural laborers.
The total men killed were estimated to be around 9,000, while approximately 8,000 of the mariners were killed at sea, and 12,000 wounded. The number of POW's where approximately 663 and only 66 died as prisoners in camps or aboard Japanese ships while being transported. Only 31 ships vanished without a trace to watery graves. Since the end of the war it has been calculated that one in twenty-six mariners that served aboard merchant ships during WW II died in the line of duty. The casualties were kept secret during the war to keep any information about success or failure from the enemy, also to help attract and keep mariners at sea.
In the early morning of 19 February 1945, United States Marines assigned to the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Division led the initial assault on the Japanese controlled island of Iwo Jima, with the objective of capturing and securing the island. This was the beginning of one of the fiercest and bloodiest; and more decisively, the most strategically important battles fought during World War II. After the dust had settled, and the smoke had cleared, the causalities and losses were astounding. 6,821 U.S. Marines along with 18,844 members of the Imperial Japanese Army had paid the ultimate sacrifice. A decisive US victory on the island of Iwo Jima later played a pivotal role in the overarching defeat of the Japanese Empire and its Armed Forces (Morison, 1945).