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The Nanking Massacre and Other Japanese Military Atrocities, 1931-1945
INTRODUCTION to UNIT 7
Prisoners of War and Forced Labor
The atrocities and inhumane treatment committed by the Japanese Imperial Army against American
and other Allied Forces during the Asia Pacifi c War will go down in history as some of the most brutal and
horrendous acts perpetrated by humans on other human beings. It is almost inconceivable and unimaginable
without the testimony of the prisoners and perpetrators. These testimonies confi rm that the atrocities did
take place.
Testimonies:
#1. “My back and shoulder were broken, my teeth knocked out, my nose and head split wide open, all of this
done by civilians working for Mitsui, and done an a regular basis.”
—Source: Sgt. Lester Tenney, My Hitch in Hell.
#2. “I knelt at the doctor’s left side,” Kanemiori said. “He cut into the left thigh. Every time he came upon a
sinew, he took the scissors out of my hand to cut it. While cutting through my thigh, he told me to
hold on to the fl esh because he did not want to get any dirt on it. I complied with his request.”
“That night Major Matoba and a number of other offi cers brought a delicacy to Admiral Kinizo Mori’s
headquarters. Matoba had Floyd’s liver prepared specially for the party. ‘I had it pierced with bamboo sticks
and cooked with soy sauce and vegetable’,” Matoba said.
—Source: Corpsman Kanemiori, Japanese Imperial Army, who is speaking about an American POW named
Floyd as written in Flyboys by James Bradley.
#3. “I steadied myself, holding the sword at a point above my right shoulder, and swinging down. The air reeked
from all that blood. I washed off the blade, and then wiped it with the paper provided. Fat stuck to it and
wouldn’t come off.” – Learning to cut off prisoners’ heads.
—Source: 2 nd Lieutenant Tamaka, Japanese Imperial Army as written in Flyboys by James Bradley.
With the full knowledge of Emperor Hirohito, the bastardization of the Bushidō Code before the war
led to the practice of elite offi cer corps allowing treatment that was rarely heard of in the European theater
of World War II.
When the United States Army and Marines liberated American prisoners of war in late 1945, they had
no idea of the conditions that they would see when they entered the POW and Forced Labor Camps. The
journey to Japan for many POWs would only be the beginning of their horrifying experience. Many of them
would not even make it to Japan because of the terrible conditions on board what would become known as
“Hell Ships.” Imagine the liberators coming upon a man who had weighed 230 lbs. when he enlisted in the
service and now weighed only 103 lbs—a skeleton of his former self! The men who survived the Japanese
torture were barely alive to tell their story at the end of the war.
The atrocities that took place on the island of Palawan, on December 14, 1945 saw 145 American POWs
murdered. Five of the POWs managed to escape and tell their story to the men of General MacArthur’s U.S.
Army Command in the Philippines. These testimonies saved 511 American POWs and one British soldier
from execution when they were rescued on one of the most famous rescues of World War II. The “Great
Raid” was carried out successfully by the U.S. Army’s 6 th Ranger Battalion. Without the courage of these
Rangers, all of the POWs would have been executed by the Japanese Imperial Army.
This unit focuses on the treatment of POWs as well as on victims of forced labor.
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