How were POWs captured in World War 2?

Answer 1

During WWII, there were many ways soldier's could become POW'S. One way was surrendering, when they lost the will to fight or were unable to fight. This happened a lot in the European Theater. But the Pacific Theater was tremendously different.

The Japanese soldiers believed that they should fight to the death, which resulted in very few being captured. Most would commit suicide over being captured. A lot of the ones that were captured were knocked out by blasts from shells or from bullets. There is a famous instance on Okinawa when Hiromichi Yahara, a Japanese colonel was captured because at the time of his capture, he was posing as a civilian teacher. He tried to evade the enemy, but they caught on and got him.