Figure 1.--Here is graphic photogrphic evidence found in files at Singporrt after the War of the Japnese Army using Indian Sikh POWs for live-fire target practice. The Japanese seem to have taken a spcial dislike to the Sikhs, perhaps because of the long hair. We are not sure just where this occurred. The fact that the Japanese Army took photographs of this and filed them pronbly in 1942 tells you a great deal about the mindset pf the Japnese commnders. Click on the image for more details.

The Japanese took Indians serving with the Indian Army, part of the British Forces, POWs. This primarily occured in Singapore, but other Indian Army units were captured elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Singapore surrendered (February 1942). Some 40,000 Indian soldiers became Japanese POWs. About 30,000 joined the pro-Japanese Indian National Army (INA). This was eventually commanded by Subhas Chandra Bose who aligned with the NAZIs and Japanese because he believed their offer of independence for India was genuine--the Asia for Asians narrative. Bose spent most of the War in Germany cooperating with the NAZIs, but arrived in Singapore to take over leadership of the INA. It is difficult to assess the motivation of these soldiers. Some surly believed the Japanese and their INA puppet leaders. For many it was probably the better treatment offers by the Japanese for INA forces as opposed to POW camps. The INA forces remained in Singapore or were deployed to Burma to fight the Allied forces there. The POWs who refused to change sides were sent to transit camps in the Dutch East Indies island of Java--Batavia (now Jakarta) and Surabaya. From there they were shipped off to combat areas where they were set to work as slave labor building military emplacements and facilities. The horrors began with the transport. he POWs were given little water or food. he men were so closely cramped in hot, fetid conditions that it was almost impossible to lay down. The few survivors provided horrific tales of their treatment emerged even before the war was over. "On the ship that took them to the Admiralties, two thousand were herded below like cattle, were allowed on the hatchways only once a day." [Times] On another ship, the Japanese told the Army doctor Cpt. Pillay that "water and air were not for prisoners." They had to survive with just two cups of water every day. They were forced to drink seawater. As a result, many perished before reaching their destinations. The destinations included New Guinea and the Solomons (New Britain, and Bougainvillea) as well as other islands. As the War progressed, the Japanese logistical system was unable to supply and properly feed their soldiers, especially in far-flung combat areas like New Guinea and the Solomoms. The Japanese soldiers in New Guinea and the Solomons began to starve. So you can imagine how the Indian POWs fared. At the camps, the Japanese made no distinction between Indian officers and men. The slightest infraction of camp rules, largely unintentional, brought severe punishment -- often life-threatening beatings. As the starving men lost their ability to work, they would be marched out of camp and used as live-fire targets to help train green recruits. Those not killed out right were bayoneted. Here we see photogrphic evidence (figure 1). The primary Japanese base in the South Pacific was Rabaul on New Britain. There massive fortifications were built for the large Japanese garrison. One report describes conditions there. "At Rabaul, their normal working day was from 10-12 hours, but bon days when heavy bombing raids were put in by the Americans, they would work 12 to 14 hours. Towards the end, their diet consisted of small quantities of sweet potatoes and tapioca. It was only stealing livestock and small quantities of rice that the men were able to exist. Men caught or even suspected of stealing food were shot." [Sharma] Much more came out in the war crimes trials after the War. Trials were held at many locations, including Rabaul. Indian readers were horrified at the details that trickled in from those trials. A Reuters reporter cabled a message to the Times of India "The Japanese Lieutenant Hisata Tomiyyasu found guilty of the murder of 14 Indian soldiers and of cannibalism at Wewak (New Guinea) in 1944 has been sentenced to death by hanging from Rabaul." [Sharma] Disgracefully, many nationalists groups in India today idealize Bose and the INA and refuse to honor the Indian soldiers that bravely defied the Japanese.

Sources

MacArthur, Brian. Surviving the Sword: Prisionors of the Japanese in the Fat East, 1942-45 (Random House, 2005), 458p.

Sharma, Manimugdha S. "Japanese ate Indian PoWs, used them as live targers in WW II,"Times of India" August 11, 2014).

Times of India (May 16, 1944).

Created: 12:59 AM 2/28/2022
Last updated: 12:59 AM 2/28/2022