Japanese bloody killed abuse European POWS during the world war 2.

Discussion in 'War Against Japan' started by tivew, Aug 1, 2011.

  1. BarbaraWT

    BarbaraWT Member

    TiView I agree with you! Australians of the WW2 generation suffered terribly as Prisoners of the Japanese. Conditions were more like Concentration camps. We descendants have not forgotten what happened and view the Japanese with distrust, despite their “good manners” in ordinary civilian life.
     
  2. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    I have returned to some online research on the British intervention in French Indo-China after the Japanese surrender and this thread appears to be the best place to add this - although I am not adding anything on the thread's title.

    The catalyst for this was helping a family member research a relative a British officer, Robert Prentice, who served in the 3/8th Gurkha Rifles and commanded a company there. The 3/8th C.O. was a Ted Russell, a regular officer from the 9th Gurkha Rifles. In one letter in the 1980's he refers to: 'The maps we had were French and they erred considerably having been printed before the Japanese occupation.'

    For the main formation involved see: 20th Infantry Division (India) - Wikipedia under the command of General Gracey. Note the division's British battalions were removed in April 1945: https://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/CGSC/CARL/nafziger/944PIAA.pdf and most, if not all the division's Indian soldiers were professionals who faced the prospect of demobilization upon returning to India.

    The Divisional Commander, General Gracey, is the focus of a book - not read by me yet - which was published in 2014 by Palgrave: 'Vietnam and the Unravelling of Empire General Gracey in Asia 1942-1951' by T.O. Smith, an Associate Professor of History at Huntington University, USA, whose speciality is in decolonisation and political violence in South and Southeast Asia.

    Palgrave's website shows parts of the chapters can be previewed is: Vietnam and the Unravelling of Empire - General Gracey in Asia 1942-1951 | T. Smith | Palgrave Macmillan

    It is available still via: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vietnam-Unravelling-Empire-General-1942-1951/dp/1349496561

    The intervention in French Indo-China was called Operation Masterdom and there is a summary here: Masterdom | Operations & Codenames of WWII

    There is a superb chapter on the intervention by Daniel Marston, an accomplished military historian of the Indian Army. He refers to the 32 Brigade arriving in October 1945 and cites the 3/8th C.O. twice in the footnotes. The brigade left in late December 1945. Not the irony the chapter is on a Japanese MoD website. See: http://www.nids.mod.go.jp/english/event/forum/pdf/2014/08.pdf

    To my surprise the Imperial War Museum (IWM) Oral History Collection has only one interview with an officer from the 3/8th and Reel 5 refers to the time in Saigon. Alas it is not available online: Bainbridge, Harry (Oral history)

    In 1970 a small paperback was published 'The British in Vietnam; by George Rosie; it has been criticised since, but this review reflects the controversy around the intervention: VIETNAM 1945 » 14 Nov 1970 » The Spectator Archive
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2019
  3. morrisc8

    morrisc8 Under the Bed

    These are original photos from my collection.
    Keith

    One of a series of Photos from a crewman onboard American LST 1012
    ( Tank landing Ship) which was at the Invasion of Sicily and Italy Naples 1944 and Shanghai and Transported Japanese Prisoners of War to Japan in 1946.
    Photos 1 and 2. 1946 China - Longkou - Japanese POWs queuing loading on an LST
    Last photo.1946 China - Shanghai - a Japanese POW who said he had Killed 1300 Chinese with a Machine Gun. No ID for him.
    jap pows LST 1946.jpg jap pows 1946.jpg jap pow 1946 jap.jpg
     

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