The Pacific War, like the war in China, was a war without mercy. The only thing worse than being killed by bombs or bullets was to be captured alive by the Japanese.
>The dogged resistance enraged Japanese soldiers, who massacred at least 157 British and Canadian prisoners by bayonet, beheading, and in some cases burning alive (the flame-enshrouded victims “cried like a lot of pigs,” noted a Japanese corporal).
>The incensed Japanese leveled cruel vengeance by beheading the men from the batteries and tying the others together to drown or be eaten by crocodiles.
>In April 1942, the Kempetai managed to round up two hundred Allied soldiers who attempted to maintain resistance. They were placed in three foot-long-long bamboo pig baskets and transported to Surabaya. From there, they were taken out to sea and, still in the baskets, tossed into the shark-infested waters.
– Richard Frank, on some of the numerous atrocities Imperial Japan’s armies committed in the 1942 offensives
The feeling was mutual.
>“Lieutenant General Slim’s armies were known for their pitiless treatment of any Japanese they might fight in their advance: the enemy was to be killed, not captured. British forces killed 80,000 Japanese soldiers in Burma.
– Rana Mitter, on British policies on POWs in Burma
Iron_Cavalry on
2,000,000 to 3,000,000 Chinese soldiers died between 1937 and 1945. America lost 110,000 soldiers, Marines and sailors, the majority in 1944-1945. 100,000 Commonwealth (mostly Indian) and Australian soldiers died in Burma, Malaya and New Guinea. Adding 30,000 Red Army soldiers, 30,000 Filipino soldiers, and guerrilla losses across Indochina and Indonesia, total Allied military deaths range between 2,500,000 and 3,500,000.
2,200,000 Japanese soldiers and sailors died in the Pacific War, the majority of starvation and disease. Another 400,000 collaborators (mostly from Wang Jingwei’s government) died in service to fear or genuine collaboration.
At a conservative estimate, 12,000,000 Chinese civilians died between 1937 and 1945, most to famines and genocide. Higher estimates place the numbers at 20,000,000. Another 4,000,000 Indonesian civilians died, mostly in the Java famine and slave labor projects. 2,000,000 Vietnamese died, most in the famine ravaging the Red River Delta. 3,000,000 Indian civilians died in the Bengal Famine. 1,000,000 Japanese civilians died of hunger and American firebombing. Combined with 500,000 Filipinos, 200,000 Burmese, 100,000 Malaysians and 150,000 Okinawans, total civilian deaths in the Pacific War come to roughly 24,000,000.
CantaloupeCamper on
Pic 1: Guy on the left carrying a Mauser C96?
Pic 11: That is not the hole to be in that day…
CarolinaWreckDiver on
The quote about Slim’s troops reminds me of a great anecdote from his excellent memoir, *Defeat Into Victory*. Slim was visiting the front where the Gurkhas had just made a successful attack and were collecting the dead Japanese for burial in a mass grave. To Slim’s shock, he saw a Gurkha pull out his kukri to behead a wounded Japanese soldier. He told the Gurkha to stop and the Gurkha, horrified, replied: “But sahib, we cannot bury him alive!”
It goes to show how ingrained the expectation of no quarter was in the Pacific War.
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The Pacific War, like the war in China, was a war without mercy. The only thing worse than being killed by bombs or bullets was to be captured alive by the Japanese.
>The dogged resistance enraged Japanese soldiers, who massacred at least 157 British and Canadian prisoners by bayonet, beheading, and in some cases burning alive (the flame-enshrouded victims “cried like a lot of pigs,” noted a Japanese corporal).
>The incensed Japanese leveled cruel vengeance by beheading the men from the batteries and tying the others together to drown or be eaten by crocodiles.
>In April 1942, the Kempetai managed to round up two hundred Allied soldiers who attempted to maintain resistance. They were placed in three foot-long-long bamboo pig baskets and transported to Surabaya. From there, they were taken out to sea and, still in the baskets, tossed into the shark-infested waters.
– Richard Frank, on some of the numerous atrocities Imperial Japan’s armies committed in the 1942 offensives
The feeling was mutual.
>“Lieutenant General Slim’s armies were known for their pitiless treatment of any Japanese they might fight in their advance: the enemy was to be killed, not captured. British forces killed 80,000 Japanese soldiers in Burma.
– Rana Mitter, on British policies on POWs in Burma
2,000,000 to 3,000,000 Chinese soldiers died between 1937 and 1945. America lost 110,000 soldiers, Marines and sailors, the majority in 1944-1945. 100,000 Commonwealth (mostly Indian) and Australian soldiers died in Burma, Malaya and New Guinea. Adding 30,000 Red Army soldiers, 30,000 Filipino soldiers, and guerrilla losses across Indochina and Indonesia, total Allied military deaths range between 2,500,000 and 3,500,000.
2,200,000 Japanese soldiers and sailors died in the Pacific War, the majority of starvation and disease. Another 400,000 collaborators (mostly from Wang Jingwei’s government) died in service to fear or genuine collaboration.
At a conservative estimate, 12,000,000 Chinese civilians died between 1937 and 1945, most to famines and genocide. Higher estimates place the numbers at 20,000,000. Another 4,000,000 Indonesian civilians died, mostly in the Java famine and slave labor projects. 2,000,000 Vietnamese died, most in the famine ravaging the Red River Delta. 3,000,000 Indian civilians died in the Bengal Famine. 1,000,000 Japanese civilians died of hunger and American firebombing. Combined with 500,000 Filipinos, 200,000 Burmese, 100,000 Malaysians and 150,000 Okinawans, total civilian deaths in the Pacific War come to roughly 24,000,000.
Pic 1: Guy on the left carrying a Mauser C96?
Pic 11: That is not the hole to be in that day…
The quote about Slim’s troops reminds me of a great anecdote from his excellent memoir, *Defeat Into Victory*. Slim was visiting the front where the Gurkhas had just made a successful attack and were collecting the dead Japanese for burial in a mass grave. To Slim’s shock, he saw a Gurkha pull out his kukri to behead a wounded Japanese soldier. He told the Gurkha to stop and the Gurkha, horrified, replied: “But sahib, we cannot bury him alive!”
It goes to show how ingrained the expectation of no quarter was in the Pacific War.