Japan Genocide

By Erik M

How many Chinese were killed by

the Japanese in WW2?
From the invasion of China in 1937 to
the end of World War II, the Japanese
military regime murdered near
3,000,000 to over 10,000,000
people, most probably almost
6,000,000 Chinese, Indonesians,
Koreans, Filipinos, and Indochinese,
among others, including Western
prisoners of war.

Laha Airfield Massacre

February 1942
This ghoulish event, which killed more than 300 Australian and
Dutch POWs, followed the Japanese capture of the Indonesian
island of Ambon. Allegedly as an act of reprisal after the Allies
destroyed one of their minesweepers, the Japanese randomly
selected prisoners and executed them via beheading and
bayonet near the islands airfield. They then repeated the
process three more times during the month.
The magnitude of this atrocity was enough for an Australian
military tribunal to prosecute more than 90 Japanese officers
and soldiers after the war in one of the biggest war crime trials
in history. The tribunal sentenced four of the accused to death
and handed out a range of sentences for the others.
Unfortunately, they never got to try the mastermind, Rear
Admiral Hatakeyama. The Japanese officer died while awaiting
his trial.

Alexandra Hospital Massacre

February 1415, 1942
Just a day before the British surrendered Singapore,
Japanese soldiers stormed Alexandra Military Hospital
and slaughtered its occupants, including the
medical staff and patients. Even those undergoing
surgery were not spared.
Following the massacre, the Japanese forced those left to
clean up the mess and then herded them into cramped
rooms. When morning came, the Japanese rounded up
the 200 survivors (some died during the night) and
bayoneted them in the courtyard. Only five survived the
second massacreby hiding in a storm drain.
General Yamashita, upon learning the incident, had the
offending soldiers apprehended and executed.

Palawan Massacre
December 14, 1944
In another case of POW massacre, the Japanese stationed in
Palawan Island, Philippines tried to kill all their American
prisoners after wrongly assuming Allied forces had invaded.
After driving the prisoners into makeshift air raid shelters, the
Japanese burned them alive.
Those who fled the burning structures were bayoneted, shot, or
bludgeoned to death. A few dozen managed to make it as far
as the shoreline and hide there; the Japanese caught, tortured,
and executed almost all of them. Of the 150 prisoners, less
than a dozen survived to tell the tale, the lucky few somehow
finding the strength to swim across a bay to safety.
News of this grisly massacre prompted Allied forces to embark
on a series of raids to liberate prisons and camps held by the
Japanese across the archipelago.

Japanese Occupation Of Nauru

August 1942September 1945
Even the small South Pacific island of Nauru did not escape the
horrors of the war. During their occupation of the island, the
Japanese committed a string of atrocities, and a few stood out
for their brutality.
After a raid on the islands airfield by American bombers on
March 1943, the Japanese beheaded and bayoneted five
interned Australians in retaliation. That same year, the Japanese
also forcibly deported more than 1,000 indigenous inhabitants
as labor to other occupied islands to conserve rations.
During their occupation, the Japanese singlehandedly
exterminated the islands leper colony. Stowing the islands 39
lepers on a boat, the Japanese led them far out to sea and out of
sight. Afterward, Japanese gun boats fired at the vessel, sinking
it and killing all onboard.

Akikaze Executions
March 18, 1943
In what could be argued as an uncharacteristic yet brutal incident,
Japanese forces executed a boat of German civilians suspected of
spying for the Allies.
The incident began after the Japanese destroyer Akikaze, voyaging to
the Japanese stronghold in Rabaul, picked up German missionaries
and Chinese civilians living in the South Pacific islands of Kairuru and
Manu. En route to their destination, the captain of the ship received
instructions to execute the entire group. To accomplish this quietly,
the Japanese led their victims one-by-one to the back of the ship to a
makeshift gallows.
After securing the victims wrists to a pulley, the Japanese shot and
whipped the bodies then sent them overboard. The sounds of the
ship and the wind prevented further victims from suspecting
anything until the last moment. After three hours, the Japanese
successfully killed all 60 of their passengers, including two children
whom they threw overboard while still alive.

Indian Ocean Raid Massacre

March 18, 1944
In the final raid conducted by Japanese warships in the Indian Ocean,
the heavy cruiser Tone sank the British merchant vessel Behar and
captured 108 survivors . Captain Haruo Mayuzumi relayed his ships
success to his superior Rear Admiral Naomasa Sakonju, expecting
praise. Instead, the admiral berated the captain for bringing along
useless prisoners. He ordered their execution.
Mayuzumi appealed to his superior several times to spare the
survivors. The admiral did not relent, and Mayuzumi carried out his
orders. He divided the survivors into two groups composed of 36 and
72 members. The first contained the Behars captain and other
ranking personnel, and Mayuzumi transferred them to a second ship,
setting them free. The second group was not so lucky. When darkness
fell, the Japanese beheaded them all and threw their bodies to the
sea.
Sakonju would be later hanged. while Mayuzumi received a sevenyear imprisonment for his role in the incident.

Sook Ching Massacre

FebruaryMarch 1942
Following the Fall of Singapore, the Japanese wanted to mop up all
remaining resistance, especially among the Chinese living in the region.
To accomplish this, the notorious Japanese secret police Kempetai
initiated Operation Sook Ching (purge through cleansing) in February
1942.
Singapore was the first to be purged. After interning and interrogating
the citys entire Chinese population, the Kempetai herded those they
deemed as dangerous into military vehicles. They then transported
them to the citys outskirts and executed them all. This purging
operation soon found its way into other parts of Malaya as well.
The manpower shortage and rush made the Kempetai especially
merciless toward those in rural areas. They eliminated entire villages on
mere suspicion of subversive activity. Although we have no official
casualty figures, estimates range from 5,0006,000 (Japanese sources)
to a high of 30,000100,000 (Singaporean and Chinese sources).

I-8
March 26 and July 2, 1944
One of Japans most notorious submarines, the I-8, is best
remembered for sinking two Allied ships and for the crews terrible
conduct in the aftermath.
On March 26, 1944, the sub spotted and sank the Dutch freighter
Tsijalak hundreds of miles off the coast of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The
Japanese took 103 survivors onboard and massacred them with
swords and sledgehammers. They then bound those still alive and
left them on deck as the submarine dove below. Only five survived
the ordeal.
Just a few months later, the Japanese destroyed the US cargo ship
Jean Nicolet and subjected the survivors to the same brutal
treatment. The Japanese tortured and killed their prisoners by
making them pass through a gauntlet of swords and bayonets before
throwing their bodies overboard. The Japanese later dove after
spotting an Allied aircraft, with 30 prisoners still above deck. Only
two dozen of the 100-plus prisoners survived.

The Death Railway

June 1942October 1943
As their cargo ships were vulnerable to Allied raids, the
Japanese sought an alternative supply line to maintain their
forces in Burma. This culminated in the construction of a
415-kilometer (300 mi) railway between Burma and Thailand.
The railway used 60,000 Allied POWs and 200,000 Asian
conscripts for slave labor.
During the year-long construction, thousands died from the
grueling working conditions and inhumane treatment. A total
of 13,000 POWS along with approximately 80,000100,000
Asian laborers died constructing the railway. The plight of the
surviving workers did not end with the railways completion.
While the Japanese relocated some of the prisoners, they
continued to keep a contingent to maintain and repair the
railway in the face of Allied attacks.

The Massacre Of Manila

FebruaryMarch 1945
Early in 1945, General Yamashita planned for his men to evacuate
Manila and fight in the countryside. However, two Japanese
admirals ignored his order and committed their men to a final
stand inside the city. When the Americans arrived, the Japanese
forces realized that they faced certain death and vented their
rage on the hapless civilians trapped inside their lines.
For weeks, the Japanese raped, pillaged, and murdered. Aside
from the bayonets and beheadings, they machine-gunned
captives and set fire to buildings with people trapped inside. The
Americans ceased artillery strikes so the Japanese could
surrender, but the Japanese instead continued their rampage.
After the dust settled, all Japanese defenders of the city had died,
taking with them 100,000 civilian casualties. The incident left
Manila as one of the Allies most damaged capital cities, second
only to Warsaw.

Reference:
"10 Japanese Atrocities From World
War II - Listverse." Listverse. N.p., 05
May 2014. Web. 14 Dec. 2015.
"Google:People Also Ask." Google.
N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2015.
<https://www.google.com/webhp?
hl=en#hl=en&q=japanese+genocid
e+wwii>.