Cannibalism in Pacific War

[hoot72]

I have been reading extensively about alleged war crimes and war crimes trials in the PNG area after the war with regards to Cannibalism by Japanese soldiers against Indian POW's.

However, being a controversial topic as it is, are there any records of other acts of Cannibalism recorded in statements or records in other areas of the Pacific War such as Borneo or the Philippines or Java?

[Kingfish]

There were unconfirmed reports of cannibalism by Japanese soldiers on their own dead during the battles for Mt. Austen.

https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/GuadC/GC-fm.htm

Chapter 9, page 229 and footnote #47.

[R Leonard]

Chichi Jima quickly comes to mind.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichijima_incident

[Hans1906]

There is so very much about "japanese war crimes", and also about "cannibalism" online, probably to much...

Thinking about our fathers, the grandfathers, in the need to eat human flesh, at Stalingrad, or where ever, I am sorry.

As a not believing person at all, I am sorry, what to say...

Hans1906

[Erwinn]

Allied forces followed a starvation policy against some heavily fortified islands after they bypassed them. This did eventually led to cannibalism.

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Hoot72,

I don't know about cannibalism, but there was still head hunting in Borneo as late as the early 1960s.

My father was with 1st Malaysia Rangers during Confrontation with Indonesia in the early/mid 1960s and told me the following: The battalion was largely made up of Ibans from North Borneo, who had traditionally been head hunters. Because the Ibans were native to the local jungles, their British officers were never worried if a patrol was late returning. It was believed to signify that the patrol had had a successful but unreported contact with the Indonesians and had taken the heads back to their families' long houses, where the missing men could usually be found. However, no heads were ever found. The assumption was that this was because everyone was well aware that this was severely punishable. The battalion itself suffered no combat losses.

Cheers,

Sid.

[David Thompson]

For interested readers -- See the discussion threads at:

Cannibalism in the IJA
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=66159
Colonel Masanobu Tsuji
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=57245
Japanese War Crimes -- Wewak Trial
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=21498
Japanese ate Indian PoWs, used them as target practice
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=210170

[Hans1906]

Thanks for the links, David,

I was aware about the war crimes in China, but not, what happenend in the Pacific region, that makes you speechless...

Hans

[hoot72]

What I think would be good is to find out what the typical diet was for the Japanese soldier in 1935-1945. Was seafood the preferred choice over beef, pork, lamb or other exotic meats from the jungle?

At what point in time did it become acceptable to consume human flesh/meat and how did it come about and was it a "norm" in Japanese society prior to WW2 to consume human meat?

[hoot72]

Hi Hoot72,

I don't know about cannibalism, but there was still head hunting in Borneo as late as the early 1960s.

My father was with 1st Malaysia Rangers during Confrontation with Indonesia in the early/mid 1960s and told me the following: The battalion was largely made up of Ibans from North Borneo, who had traditionally been head hunters. Because the Ibans were native to the local jungles, their British officers were never worried if a patrol was late returning. It was believed to signify that the patrol had had a successful but unreported contact with the Indonesians and had taken the heads back to their families' long houses, where the missing men could usually be found. However, no heads were ever found. The assumption was that this was because everyone was well aware that this was severely punishable. The battalion itself suffered no combat losses.

Cheers,

Sid.

Hi Sid

Thank you for sharing. There is a really good book out there about the border confrontations called something along the lines of "ugly like a chicken's back side" or...I cannot remember the name but a really good book about the Borneo confrontations with both iban and gurkhas and special police detachments fighting it out with the Indonesians.

The Iban's suffered some sporadic attacks on their villages by these border crossings by Indonesian troops so revenge may have played a part once word travelled from village to village I suspect.

[hoot72]

For interested readers -- See the discussion threads at:

Cannibalism in the IJA
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=66159
Colonel Masanobu Tsuji
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=57245
Japanese War Crimes -- Wewak Trial
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=21498
Japanese ate Indian PoWs, used them as target practice
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=210170

Thank you for sharing David. Would be interesting to look deeper into this as there are allegations being made (via interviews conducted 70 years later after the end of the war) about canablism during the Borneo Death March which deserves some investigation.