How were Australian POWs treated by the Japanese in World War 2?

Answer 1

The Japanese treated ALL Allied prisoners B A D L Y. The Empire of Japan was not a signatory to the Geneva Convention, therefore they were not bound to treat their prisoners humanely. The Code of Bushito dictated that Japanese Soldiers would never be captured. If they were, that brought shame not only to the man who surrendered, but to his family also. The Japanese applied this Code to Allied Prisoners, military & civilian alike, making them sub-human in the eyes of their captors. Simply put, Allied POWs were loathed by their Japanese captors. Richard V. Horrell WW 2 Connections.com Answer AS RICHARD SAID ABOUT THE CODE OF BUSHITO. ALSO I BELEIVE ACCORDING TO THE SAME CODE,A PRISONER THAT WAS EXECUTED BY BEHEADING WAS CONSIDERED TO HAVE DIED WITH HONOR. HOWEVER WESTERNERS FOUND IT A QUITE APPALLING WAY TO GO.(I AGREE)

Further:

Apart from the idological approach, which overstates the realities on the ground, there was a practiclal one. The Japanese army need a labour force. The POW were impressed as slaves to build military railways, work in mines, war production. Australian prisoners were used along with other prisoners and inhabitants of the conquered countries as labourers on the Siam-Burma railway construction and in Japan in mining and industry. This had nothing to do with ideology. As a Japanese said 'many men must die' meaning that the work would be unrelentingly severe to achieve the aim of the railway construction - to support the Burma campaign - nothing to do with Bushido.

Answer 2

Beaten with bamboo canes, starved, lack of medical treatment in some places, threatened, made to feel they were all about to be excuted. Female POWs raped. Beheadings. Buried up to their head in the ground. Beaten, locked in small "sheds", strapped to the ground mostly naked in the sun. There even reports that one or more where crucified!

Answer 3

The treatment of Australian prisoners of war at the hands of the Japanese was brutal. They were often forced to live in uninhabitable jungle, at the mercy of the elements, endure hours of exhausting physical labour, receive no medical treatment, be starved, taunted, abused, maltreated, beaten and derided by their Japanese captors.The Japanese treatment of prisoners of war was not in accordance with the various international conventions regarding the human rights of prisoners. Instead, it often ended in the deaths of their prisoners.The inhumane treatment of POWs was not forbidden in Japanese culture. In January 1941, the Japanese minister for the army, General Hideki Tojo issued a 'no surrender' clause in a battle ethics brochure. This clause explained that it was more honourable for Japanese soldiers to die in battle than surrender.Japanese soldiers therefore often had little respect for the human rights of prisoners. They considered surrendering troops morally weak.

White POWs were treated abominably by the Japanese.

Answer 4

Every one that was unfortunate enough to have become a prisoner of the Japanese was mistreated. The Japanese had a culture of fight to the death so they had no respect for prisoners of war. They also had a culture where abuse towards their own people by their upper classes was endemic so they had no concept of of reasonable treatment of the enemy. This insular attitude and disrespect for all but the Japanese is to this day still very strong.It should be kept in mind that they themselves were also on the brink of starving during especial the later parts of the war.

Answer 5

The Japanese felt that it was not only dishonourable but disgraceful to surrender without fighting to the very end . Surrendering to the enemy was in direct contrast to the Bushido Code , the "Way of the Warrior", by which they lived and fought .

Answer 6

The Japane were not subscribers to the Geneva Convention. The Japanese military code forbade surrender, and they punished any of their soldiers who did. They applied the same code to foreign soldiers, and worked them relentlessly.

Answer 7

The Japanese soldiers had Bushido Kodeks which said that a soldier should rather die then give up. For them a POW had no honor.