Japanese War Crimes

Discussions on the Holocaust and 20th Century War Crimes. Note that Holocaust denial is not allowed. Hosted by David Thompson.
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David Thompson
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Re: Japanese War Crimes

#61

Post by David Thompson » 04 Mar 2009, 00:26

Arek -- You remarked:
Please excuse me if I repeat question about Japanese atrocities comitted in China from 7 July 1937 to siege of Nankin 13 december 1937. I haven`t found a topic related to that matter.
We have at least ten threads on the subject. The main thread (17 pages long) is at:

Warcrimes in Nanking 1937
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=40634

See also:

Nanking
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=57273
Rape of Nanking
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=79213
Wartime Japanese newspaper account of Nanking
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=140930
In the name of the Emperor (the rape of Nanjing documentary)
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=100883
1937 Nanjing Massacre - who is right?
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=122574
The beheading competition
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=117063
John Rabe - The good Nazi.
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=68435
John Rabe: The Nazi Who Saved Lives
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=51419
The death of Iris Chang
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=85764

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Arek
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Re: Japanese War Crimes

#62

Post by Arek » 05 Mar 2009, 16:26

David thanks for links, but none of that threads refer strictly to acts of atrocities, if there were such, from 7 july 1937 to seizure of Nanking, but without war crimes committed in that city. In one of that threads you are just giving the information, based on H. Bix, that Rape of Nanking was rather isolated incident, if we are talking about big cities. But I am looking for some information about mass murder, rapes etc commited from beginning of the war in july to 13 december.

How did Japanese army behave in the country, in that period of time, for example.?


PS. There are many links about Japanese war crimes in AHF, so excuse me if I missed some related to my question.


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Re: Japanese War Crimes

#63

Post by David Thompson » 05 Mar 2009, 16:42

My apologies, Arek; I misunderstood your question. If there is a chronological list of Japanese war crimes committed in China, I haven't seen it.

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Peter H
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Re: Japanese War Crimes

#64

Post by Peter H » 08 Mar 2009, 02:46

The Nanking Atrocity, 1937-38 by Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi covers the period,including the advance from Shanghai,and atrocities in the rural environs on the march to Nanking.

http://www.amazon.com/Nanking-Atrocity- ... 1845455002

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Re: Japanese War Crimes

#65

Post by David Thompson » 08 Mar 2009, 03:22

Thanks, Peter H.

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Re: Japanese War Crimes

#66

Post by Arek » 17 Mar 2009, 10:38

Thanks for help Peter.

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Peter H
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Re: Japanese War Crimes

#67

Post by Peter H » 17 Mar 2009, 12:08

This link here also lists Japanese War Crimes in China but further details are in Chinese:

http://www.centurychina.com/wiihist/japcrime/index.html


1932
Pingdingshan Massacre(1932.9.10-)

1935
Laoheigou Massacre,Qingyuan Town Massacre(1935.5-)
Andong massacre(1935)

1936
Baijiabaozi massacre(1936.7.15-)

1937
"4.15" and "3.15" massacre(1937-1938)
Linqiu Massacre(1937.9.23-)
Shuoxian Massacre(1937.9.23-)
Ningwu Massacre(1937.9-10)
Massacres at Hangzhou Bay Area (1937.11-1938)
Jingshanwei Massacre(1937.11.4)
Wuxi Massacre(1937.11.27-)
Wuhu Massacre(1937.12.10-)
Yangzhou Massacre(1937.12.14-)

1938
Sihe Town Massacre(1938.1-)
Massacres in Wuhan(Central China, 1938.10-)
Tanjiao Lake Massacre Place(1938-1945)

1940
Sanzhao Massacre(1940)

1943
Badongmu massacre(1943)

1945
Changsheng village Massacre(1945.3.22)
Hedong county massacre(1945.2.14-)

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Peter H
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Re: Japanese War Crimes

#68

Post by Peter H » 19 Mar 2009, 01:50

Of interest,the Burma-Thailand railway commissioning.

http://www.arts.cornell.edu/Knight_inst ... ehuang.pdf
On October 25, 1943, as a small military band struck up the tiny strains of Kimigayo, Railway Commanding Lieutenants Sasaki and Imai ceremoniously drove the last spike of the rail junction some 40 miles from the Burmese border//
The last spike was said to have been of gold:

http://samilitaryhistory.org/lectures/kwaibrdg.html
FINALLY, ON 17 OCTOBER, 1943, THE RAILWAY LINE WAS JOINED AT KONKUITA, ABOUT 18 KM SOUTH OF THE THREE PAGODA PASS. THE WORK WAS HALTED LONG ENOUGH FOR A FILM CREW TO FILM THE EVENT OF DRIVING IN THE LAST SPIKE ON THE TRACK. APPARENTLY, THE GOLDEN SPIKE WAS STOLEN SHORTLY AFTERWARDS - BY AN AUSTRALIAN! THE RAILWAY LINE OF 415 KM, HAD BEEN COMPLETED IN THE RECORD TIME OF 17 MONTHS, TWO MONTHS BEHIND SCHEDULE DUE TO THE MISTAKE IN SURVEYING WHERE THE TRACKS SHOULD LINK TOGETHER.
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Peter H
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Re: Japanese War Crimes

#69

Post by Peter H » 31 Mar 2009, 00:16

Kalagon Massacre 1945

http://www.burmastar.org.uk/kalagon.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalagong_massacre
The Japanese had occupied the village and rounded up all the inhabitants for questioning. Women and children were raped and beaten but no information was forthcoming. The Kempeitai therefore ordered the entire village massacred. The inhabitants were taken in groups of five to ten persons to nearby wells, blindfolded, and bayoneted, and their bodies were dumped in the wells. An estimated 600 villagers died in the massacre.

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Re: Japanese War Crimes

#70

Post by Peter H » 07 Apr 2009, 08:40

The execution of Richard Harvey,11 years old

http://www.ww2australia.gov.au/japadvance/harvey.html
Although the fate of many Australians who remained in Rabaul will probably never be officially confirmed, we do know what happened to Richard Harvey.

Richard was the youngest Australian to be executed by the Japanese during World War II. He was 11 years old in May 1942 when he was shot by a Japanese firing squad near Matupit in New Britain. Just six months earlier the Australian Government had organised the evacuation of all European women and children from Papua and New Guinea. Among the small group of women who had requested permission to remain in Rabaul, Richard's mother, Marjorie Manson, was one of only two who were not working there as nuns, nurses or missionaries.

Marjorie Manson had gone to New Guinea to work as a secretary in 1937, taking her then six-year-old son with her. Not long after her arrival she wrote home to her mother in Brisbane to tell her that she had married a planter, A A (Ted) Harvey.

Ted Harvey had been a coastwatcher during 1940 but was cut from the service in 1941. Despite warnings to keep off the air after the Japanese invasion of Rabaul, he continued to transmit reports by commercial frequency. Members of the Imperial Japanese Navy arrested the family after a local informer revealed their hiding place and they were taken to Rabaul and subjected to a three-day court martial. The three of them were found guilty of spying and communicating with the enemy and sentenced to death by firing squad. According to one Japanese witness, it was

a miserable scene and the parents had clasped hands with the boy between them.

[Statements by Yoshimura and Hamata, quoted by Hank Nelson in 'The Return to Rabaul', The Journal of Pacific History, Vol 30, No 2, 1995 pp.149-150]

Strangely, the Australian Government took no action against the Japanese perpetrators during the War Crimes Tribunals at the end of World War II. The Australian Legal Officer, Major A D McKay, accepted the Japanese evidence that the court martial had been fair and that the execution of the Harveys, including 11-year-old Richard, had not violated war codes.

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Re: Japanese War Crimes

#71

Post by Peter H » 15 Apr 2009, 11:34

Sanzhao (Sanzao)Massacre as mentioned above.Sanzao is SW of Macau:

http://deltabridges.com/article/news/sa ... documented

A JAPANESE documentary crew from NHK World TV is in Sanzao Town of Jinwan District to shoot evidence of when the Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces invaded the area in early 1938. The crew will stay for half a month.
Japanese historians have portrayed the Special Naval Landing Forces as civilized during the war of aggression against China, but in fact, they committed numerous atrocities, Yang Zhao, a reporter and interpreter for the team, pointed out.
Learning through the Internet last month of the Sanzao 10,000-Death Field left behind by the naval force, Yang and three of his colleagues decided to come to Zhuhai to record the recollections of some of the survivors who are still alive. They say they intend to reveal the historical truth so that Japanese people can know what actually happened and reflect upon the war, Yang said.

Meanwhile, Nong Weixiong, a researcher from the Institute of Modern History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, came to Sanzao in February and realized the importance of the historical period, which has long been ignored by domestic research institutes.

After occupying Sanzao Island, the first venue of Japanese troops to invade South China, the force began to attack Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Hainan. Moreover, it was from this foothold that the troops fought their way to India, Vietnam and other areas, Nong said.

A provisional title -- Confession of the Imperial Japanese Navy -- will be given to the documentary, Yang revealed. As a member of the NHK World TV crew, each year he and his colleagues produce documentaries about the Japanese offensive against China for broadcast around August 15 when the war ended. He said he had never before heard of the Japanese intrusion into Sanzao or the 10,000-Death Field.

The Japanese troops took possession of Sanzao to make it a military base. They built Sanzao Airport as their base of operations, Nong explained. Research on this period of history in Sanzao is of vital importance for the overall research on Japanese aggression in China, he added.

Having taken hold of Sanzao, the Japanese naval forces began to slaughter local residents. On the 12th of the third lunar month, they gathered 386 villagers in Yunong Village and shot them with machine guns, leaving no survivors at all. Most of the victims were the elderly and the young.

Li Yixing, 86, told a story of what happened at noon the next day when more than a thousand people were killed in Sanzao. “I was 15 years old then. When people were busy cooking lunch, a group of Japanese broke into homes and forced the people to an area by a small river in the village. All of them were shot dead but, due to my small size, I was buried under the villagers’ bodies, alive. Fortunately, I crawled back home. My mother and my 1-year-old sister also escaped the slaughter, the former for having gone a distance to get water and the latter, for sleeping quietly in bed. We went up to the nearby hill with other survivors,” Li said.

Cold and hungry, his infant sister was crying all the time. Afraid of drawing the attention of the Japanese troops, his mother choked the life out of her, Li stated, weeping bitter tears.

After interviewing quite a few villagers in their 90s, the crew will take more pictures of the military facilities, such as blockhouses built by the Japanese troops, and interview even more villagers during the two weeks, Yang said.
Five hundred Sanzao Town officials and villagers took part in a memorial event in front of the Sanzao 10,000-Death Field Monument last Tuesday, the 13th of the third lunar month.

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Re: Japanese War Crimes

#72

Post by kellybee » 18 Apr 2009, 13:35

Hi,
not sure if I am looking in the right place. I am after information about hangings that took place in new guinea during ww2. My grandfather was a warrant officer and he says he was forced to execute natives whilst in new guinea. I have read a little bit about this but he recollected executing about only 10 or 11 people and other accounts number alot more.
He said he was in the army police and that he was forced to do as commanded, against his wishes. I have applied for his military records but I beleive they are rrstricted. Any further information would be greatly appreciated. thanks

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Peter H
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Re: Japanese War Crimes

#73

Post by Peter H » 18 Apr 2009, 13:54

Hi

Refer here

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 1#p1300651

Might have been the Higaturu hangings.

Article here as well.

http://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/f ... ngings.pdf
The executions took place before a large assembly of villagers, who,
summoned by Grahamslaw, began to assemble the day before the event.
At the appointed time, Grahamslaw addressed the crowd, speaking in the
Motu lingua franca he knew, also using the services of a local interpreter
who repeated what was said in the local language.
As Grahamslaw recalled, it was a grim experience. Each man was given
the chance to speak, and each did so. Grahamslaw recalled that
Embogi's speech had a profound effect on all present. He had a sonorous
voice and was obviously a gifted orator. He stated that he had done
wrong, and that he was fully conscious of this. He said that he was an
uneducated man, and had not known better. He stated that the
punishment he was about to receive was just, and urged his people to
heed the Government and to obey its laws.
Grahamslaw wrote as follows; "I lay awake most of that night listening to
the drums beating and the wailing of the mourners in the village
adjacent to Higaturu, and I relived the events of the day. I had seen
death in various forms during the preceding 12 months, but nothing
affected me as deeply as the hangings of Embogi and his fellow
murderers."

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Re: Japanese War Crimes

#74

Post by kellybee » 18 Apr 2009, 14:07

Hi,
I have read the article, and I beleive it is maybe related. I think there may have been another incident. I am not sure but it was described as a deterrent rather than a punishment. THanks for your helpl anyway :D

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Re: Japanese War Crimes

#75

Post by Peter H » 20 Apr 2009, 13:48

Atrocities against inhabitants of Rabaul

From Bruce Gamble's Darkest Hour:The True Story of Lark Force at Rabaul:

-"the Rabaul market was the site of numerous public executions,which served the dual purpose of demonstrating Japanese domination over the civilian populace and deterring would be rebels.."

-"the Japanese rounded up several Chinese officials from the local chapter of the Nationalist Party,accused them of 'underground activities' and summarily executed them.."

-"on another occasion three natives charged with cutting wires were publicly beheaded.."

-"there were literally hundreds of victims,from individual sentences to mass executions...in one example..no fewer than thirty islanders were beheaded merely because 'they discussed giving food to another native suspected of aiding the Allies.'"

-POWs from Asia brought in as labour--"about six thousand Indians were imprisoned near Kokopo along with 'several thousand' Chinese..another two thousand Malays and Burmese were kept in a single compound[at Tunnel Hill Road]..prisoners caught trying to escape were mutilated,their toes or the lower parts of their feet sliced off with swords.."

More here:

http://ajrp.awm.gov.au/ajrp/remember.ns ... enDocument
Numerous records can be found in files of the war crime trials on Japanese ill-treatment of indigenous people, Chinese and Australian residents.The accurate number of villagers who were killed by the Japanese is difficult to estimate due to the paucity of documented records. The most reliable source is postwar reports of patrol officers who conducted investigation on war damages for compensation. The Australian government compensated villagers even for the loss and damage caused by the Japanese in order to regain villagers’ confidence in their administration and to express their gratitude for their cooperation during the war. In Kokopo area, at least one or two members of all 17 villages were killed by the Japanese for reasons such as "suspected of assisting an Allied airman to escape"; "accused of leaving the village with the intention of joining Australian troops", "suspected of assisting Australian troops", "suspected of being contact with Mr English [Australian intelligence officer]", "accused of spying when found in close proximity to Japanese living quarter one night", and so on. In Keberinga Village, the Japanese massacred the villagers, and the patrol officers estimated at least 40 were killed in this.

The Chinese were another target of brutality mainly because the Japanese suspected that some were members of Kuomintang Party. Those Chinese who were suspected of leaking information to the Australian troops or of holding information, were beaten, tortured and executed. Japanese suspicion against Chinese seems to be so deep. There was an allegation that one Japanese Military Policeman thrashed a Chinese man only because he possessed electric light bulbs, a union jack flag and lead wire. Similarly three members of Harvey (an Australian coconut planter family at Keravat) - a husband, wife and their son - were executed suspected of spying. Indigenous Christian sisters were tortured, being suspected of holding information...

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