Prisoners of the Japanese

Fall of Singapore
Written By John Casey

Allied POWs - an overcrowded Changi Prison

With the Fall of Singapore, about 80,000 allied soldiers including some 15,000 Australians became prisoners of war (POWs) of the Japanese. Additionally, more than 40,000 Indian soldiers were captured but most reformed into the Indian National Army (INA) and changed sides to support the Japanese. On the islands of Java and Sumatra, 40,000 Dutch, British and including 3,000 Australians from the Australian 7th Division who had been diverted to Java on their way back from the Middle East, became captives of the Japanese. On Timor, Ambon and New Britain, a further 3,000 Australians became POWs. In total, about 22,000 Australian soldiers became POWs of the Japanese.

This unexpected capture of so many allied and Dutch soldiers provided a logistical problem for the Japanese by way of provision of food and adequate prison facilities. In most cases, food both in quantity and quality, became poor and prison facilities were grossly overcrowded. The POWs could grow or buy food from locals to support their rations but this was limited.

In Singapore, the INA were used to guard the POWs and, in many cases, dealt out punishments, including executions, ordered by the Japanese commanders. Work parties were organised, initially to assist in the recovery of those killed (both military and civilian) and arrange burial. Then extending to clearing the roads of rubble and the re-installation of power and water supplies. Finally, the Japanese solution to this abundance of manpower was to transfer the POWs from their prison camps to work camps around Southeast Asia and Japan.

The most significant use of POWs was in the construction of the Burma-Thailand Railway. In May 1942, the first group (“A” Force) made up entirely by 3,000 Australians was sent by ‘hell ship’ from Singapore to Burma to work, first building and repairing airfields and then on the northern section of the railway from Thanbyuzayat (in Burma) south to the Burma-Thailand border.

One of a limited number of stops where POWs could escape the cramped conditions of the train trip to Thailand

‘Hell ships’ were small to medium sized coastal steamers, generally in poor condition, which had wooden floors placed in the ship’s cargo holes being only about a metre high between floors not enabling the POWs to stand. A single ladder would provide access to the different levels making it difficult if an evacuation was required. Water for any purpose was not readily available and toilets were usually located on the main deck only. Ventilation was non-existent making the stench in the cargo holes, almost unbearable. None of the ships displayed the Red Cross which was a requirement of the Geneva Convention when prisoners were being transported. Japan was not a signatory to the Geneva Convention.

A month later, a 3,000 strong all-British group arrived at Ban Pong (Thailand) by train from Singapore, to start work from the southern end of the railway. However, train travel was not much better than the ‘hell ships’. The small steel boxcar carriages were like ovens during the day and refrigerators at night. Between 26 to 30 POWs were crammed into each carriage with barely sufficient room to sit. There was little water and a bucket was provided as a toilet. Stops only occurred when the locomotive required water or fuel. On the five-day journey, limited food was provided and was supplemented with fruit bought by the POWs, off the locals at each stop.

The Japanese continued to send POWs to work on the railway until the railway was completed in October 1943. Nearly 62,000 POWs (comprising 30,000 British, 18,000 Dutch, 13,000 Australians and about 1,000 Americans) were sent from Sumatra and Singapore to Burma and Thailand. Of this number, nearly 13,000 would die including nearly 3,000 Australians.

In July 1942, the next group of POW’s, “B” Force, was sent to Sandakan in Borneo to build a military airfield. This was followed by a second group (“E” Force) in March 1943 which disembarked at Kuching and then moved to Sandakan in June of the same year. Once the airfield was completed, the Japanese had no further use for the POWs and proceeded to starve them with the allocation of meagre food rations. In January 1945, the first of three ‘death marches’ occurred with the Japanese moving the fitter POWs inland. Of the more than 2,400 Australian and British POWs, only six Australians survived. The rest having been starved, beaten to death or died of disease or killed by execution.

Junyo Maru - 1,300 Dutch POWs died when it was sunk by an allied submarine

In some cases, POWs were sent directly to work camps in Japan to provide labour in factories and coal mines. Some POWs who had worked on the Burma-Thailand Railway, who were deemed fit enough, were also sent to work in Japan after the railway was completed.

Many POWs would not survive the trip to Japan. Several ships were torpedoed by allied submarines. Most notable were the sinking of the Montevideo Maru out of Rabaul in July 1942, in which 1,050 Australian POWs died, the Junyo Maru out of Java in September 1944 when more than 1,300 Dutch POWs died and the Rokyo Maru out of Singapore also in September 1944 which saw the loss of over 1,100 Australian and British POWs.

The transfer of POWs to Japan continued until January 1945.

At the end of the war, Australian POWs like other British, Dutch and American POWs were scattered throughout Southeast Asia, Japan and Manchuria. At Singapore, 5,000 Australians were recovered, in Thailand and Burma – another 5,000 Australians, in Japan, Korea and Manchuria - 3,000 Australians and another 1,000 Australians in Java, Sumatra and Ambon. Of the 22,000 Australians who became prisoners of war of the Japanese, more than 8,000 died.

John Casey
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