2 Atrocities and Payback

[Brian Denison]

I can't speak for what happened in Burma but the Japanese took quite a few US prisoners and some Dutch and Aussies. On the other hand to survive captivity one had to be on the lucky side of life. I also seem to recall the Japanese took a lot of British prisoners when Singapore fell and they formed an exile army from Indian troops that they captured.
If your father saw Aussies killing captured Japanese troops I would not be surprised.
Has far as the CW go's being captured in the CW was a lot like being captured by the Japanese in terms of survival odds.
Leftyhunter

I can only agree with this if your talking about black federals being captured by rebels. Or vice versa.

 

[Brian Denison]

Usually the Japanese could not be captured; they would fight until they were killed or took their own lives. In all the PTO memoirs I've read - Eugene Sledge's, Robert Leckie's, Sterling Mace's, and others most haven't heard of - non ever mention taking prisoners. Usually any Japanese soldiers found alive were killed instantly, as Allied troops couldn't risk helping them without putting their own lives in danger. It was a different story in the ETO or MTO, but the war against the Japanese in the Pacific was often take-no-prisoners. And usually any Allied troops captured or found wounded in the field were tortured to death by the Japanese in horrific ways - the infamous Goettge Patrol on Guadalcanal for example - so the Allies weren't always eager to take prisoners either.

Yeah the marines hated the Japanese. and for the Japanese the feeling was mutual. The Pacific war was merciless.

 

[leftyhunter]

I can only agree with this if your talking about black federals being captured by rebels. Or vice versa.

Which part do you not agree with? The Japanese did capture a lot of US troops in the Philippines and the CSA did kill captured white Unionist troops.
Leftyhunter

 

[leftyhunter]

Yeah the marines hated the Japanese. and for the Japanese the feeling was mutual. The Pacific war was merciless.

The US did capture and not kill Japanese troops but not many surrendered. Some where just knocked out due to concussion from explosives and came to. Later in the war some did voluntarily surrender.
Leftyhunter

 

[OldGreyMare]

Usually the Japanese could not be captured; they would fight until they were killed or took their own lives. In all the PTO memoirs I've read - Eugene Sledge's, Robert Leckie's, Sterling Mace's, and others most haven't heard of - non ever mention taking prisoners. Usually any Japanese soldiers found alive were killed instantly, as Allied troops couldn't risk helping them without putting their own lives in danger. It was a different story in the ETO or MTO, but the war against the Japanese in the Pacific was often take-no-prisoners. And usually any Allied troops captured or found wounded in the field were tortured to death by the Japanese in horrific ways - the infamous Goettge Patrol on Guadalcanal for example - so the Allies weren't always eager to take prisoners either.

If you have read Sledge's, very fine, memoir, then one of the things he does mention is not only did it not happen very often thanks to the mindset of the enemy, but also due to our own troops' attitudes.
War is a nasty business. No one comes out of it unscathed.

 

[5fish]

Our subs sunk Japanese unarmed fishing boats with old men and teens on them for the men were at war. They would raise up and machine gun the fishing boats... Start on page 169...

https://books.google.com/books?id=UrhBItGMEH4C&pg=PA170&dq=US sinks japaness fishing fleet&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VeE8Vdf5FcGzggTxo4CwBg&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=US sinks japaness fishing fleet&f=false


A war crime or not... it was war... the orders came form the top... legal order or not... leaving it up to the subs captains to decided... that says it all...

Page 30...

https://books.google.com/books?id=G...age&q=US sinks japaness fishing fleet&f=false

 

[OldGreyMare]

Well, the Japanese government did have those fishing boats pulling picket duty -- just like they put a lot of their wartime manufacturing into residential areas.
I suppose we could chalk this up to governments quite often being quite willing to sacrifice their people.

Their state propaganda arm had also fostered quite a bit of their citizens' fanatical attitudes towards fighting to the last man -- that certainly didn't help matters.
At a certain point our troops quit caring (and to be honest didn't really care all that much to begin with thanks to their own bias and conditioning).

 

[AUG]

If you have read Sledge's, very fine, memoir, then one of the things he does mention is not only did it not happen very often thanks to the mindset of the enemy, but also due to our own troops' attitudes.
War is a nasty business. No one comes out of it unscathed.

In one of the other memoirs, I believe it was Jim McEnery's Hell in the Pacific, he recounts finding the remains of the Goettge Patrol on Guadalcanal. He said that after that no one had any respect for the Japanese anymore. The patrol had been sent to bring aid to Japanese troops and laborers who were reportedly malnourished and willing to surrender, but the patrol was attacked and killed to the last man, with the exception of those who managed to escape. This was early in the Guadalcanal Campaign and really set the tone for the Marines there on what type of war it would be, along with the subsequent Banzai charges at Tenaru River and Edson's Ridge.

You also read in many memoirs, such as Sledge's or Leckie's, on how Allied troops would collect Japanese gold teeth and whatnot. I think the fact that they didn't surrender, in a way, dehumanized the image of the average Japanese soldier to the Allied troops. They were rarely able to see and/or speak to a living Japanese soldier, therefore they saw them as nothing else but a fanatical enemy.

 

[kholland]

Let's get back on topic and off of the Pacific Theater in WW 2. This thread was started based on "Wikipedia, citing "Some Great Big Civil War Encyclopedia" and the subject already lends itself to some "hot button" posts. * posted as moderator*

 

[Specster]

Unionist and USCT troops learned the hard way that if they surrendered they stood a good chance of being killed anyway. Why not return the favor has some did.
Leftyhunter

I dont think that was the rule throughout the war. The on again off again exchange cartels freed many POWs - many pretty quick. Even Andersonville, for all its horrors didnt last all that long - started late and ended before the war did, didnt it?

 

[ole]

Think Camp Sumter was still there. Some of those on the Sultana were from there. At least, that's what I read.