Order to kill all POWs
A year before the end of WW2, the Japanese War Ministry issued written orders to all prison camp commandants instructing them to prepare for the "final disposition" of their POWs:
You can find the translated version of this order issued to a camp commandant in Taiwan here. Further orders followed in the months ahead.
The POWs were to be annihilated as and when Allied forces landed in the Japanese-occupied territories where they were being held. This was to prevent the POWs from being liberated by the Allies and becoming a fighting force again.
The Palawan massacre
The order prompted a brutal massacre in the Philippines, following mistaken Japanese intelligence that Allied forces were about to land on the island of Palawan.
The island's POWs were herded into air-raid shelters which were then doused in petrol and set on fire. Some, who had tried to get away, were machine-gunned; others sought desperately to climb to safety over a nearby cliff, only to be hunted down and bayonetted – some of them begging for mercy.
This account of the Palawan bloodbath provides a chilling glimpse into what very nearly became the fate of all Allied prisoners in the Far East.
The island's POWs were herded into air-raid shelters which were then doused in petrol and set on fire. Some, who had tried to get away, were machine-gunned; others sought desperately to climb to safety over a nearby cliff, only to be hunted down and bayonetted – some of them begging for mercy.
This account of the Palawan bloodbath provides a chilling glimpse into what very nearly became the fate of all Allied prisoners in the Far East.
Civilian death plans
Civilian internees (including women and children) were not to be spared either.
Both POWs and civilians were being held at the Batu Lintang camp in Borneo. Execution plans unearthed there after the war provided for all of them to be killed, as follows:
Both POWs and civilians were being held at the Batu Lintang camp in Borneo. Execution plans unearthed there after the war provided for all of them to be killed, as follows:
Women internees, children and nuns to be given poisoned rice.
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Internee men and Catholic fathers to be shot and burned.
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POWs to be marched into the jungle, to be shot and burned.
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Sick and weak to be left at the camp to be bayonetted, and the entire camp to be destroyed by fire.
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This was a revised version of an earlier plan (with women and children being burned in their barracks), originally intended to be carried out on 17/18 August 1945.
The execution plans were abandoned owing to the Japanese surrender on 15 August. The closeness of these dates shows how near these orders came to being carried out.
The execution plans were abandoned owing to the Japanese surrender on 15 August. The closeness of these dates shows how near these orders came to being carried out.
Digging their own graves
In the final months of the war, the POWs held in Thailand were forced to dig vast trenches (10 feet deep and 10 feet wide) all around their camps. Machine guns were then placed at the outside corners of each such camp, pointing inwards at the prisoners.
In some instances, sympathetic Korean guards tipped POWs off as to the date that had been set for their execution ...
In some instances, sympathetic Korean guards tipped POWs off as to the date that had been set for their execution ...
Saved by the skin of their teeth
The Japanese were expecting an Allied invasion of Thailand on or around 21 August 1945, and were set to annihilate the prisoners on that date. (In fact, the Allies were planning to land in Thailand on 18 August, so the prisoners' demise may have been even more imminent than that.)
So, when Japan surrendered on 15 August, the Thailand prisoners were less than a week away (and POWs in the other territories less than a month away) from their planned execution date.
Now that Japan had surrendered – prompted by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – no Allied invasions would be necessary.
The timing of the atomic bombs had therefore been crucial: If the war had been continued by conventional means for just a short time longer, the prisoners and internees would have been killed.
So, when Japan surrendered on 15 August, the Thailand prisoners were less than a week away (and POWs in the other territories less than a month away) from their planned execution date.
Now that Japan had surrendered – prompted by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – no Allied invasions would be necessary.
The timing of the atomic bombs had therefore been crucial: If the war had been continued by conventional means for just a short time longer, the prisoners and internees would have been killed.
Impact of the atomic bombs
The atomic bombs thus saved approximately 123,000 military and civilian prisoners from imminent death.
That equates to roughly half the combined death toll at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Yet the last-minute salvation of these 123,000 people is almost universally overlooked – even by those who argue that, by hastening the end of the war, the bombs saved more lives than they destroyed.
That equates to roughly half the combined death toll at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Yet the last-minute salvation of these 123,000 people is almost universally overlooked – even by those who argue that, by hastening the end of the war, the bombs saved more lives than they destroyed.