Country Area Atrocity Victims Number Year
Ambon Is. Laha Beheadings POWs 312 1942
Andaman Isles Widespread Massacre* Civilians 1,386 1945
Ballale Is. Ballale Massacre Civilians 69 1942
Banga Is. Serut Beheadings/Massacre Civilians 103 1942
Batan Is. Buyan Beheadings Airmen 4 1944
Borneo Balikpapan Beheadings POWs 9 1942
Borneo Banjarmasin Massacre Civilians 60 1942
Borneo Loa Kulu Massacre Civilians 598 1945
Borneo Pontianake Shooting Civilians 46 1942
Borneo Sandakan Massacre POWs 560 1945
Burma Widespread Beheading/ Shooting POWs 138 1942-44
Burma Kwai Railway SlaveLabour POWs 6, 960 1942-44
Celebes Widespread Massacre Civilians 213 1942
Formosa POW Camps Starving/Shooting POWs 170 1943-45
Japan POW Camps Sickness/ Brutality POWs 2, 315 1942-45
Java Widespread Massacres Civilians 9, 800 1942-45
Malaya Parit Sulong Machine Gunning POWs 157 1942
Maritime Widespread Massacres Ships’ Crews 1, 460 1942-44
Misool Is. Binjap Beheading Airmen 5 1943
Moluccas Is. Obi Beheading Airmen 3 1943
Neth East Indies Maritime Pig-basket Drowning POWs 1, 390 1942-45
New Britain Widespread Beheading/ Torture Airmen/POWs 388 1942-45
New Guinea Widespread Beheadings/ Massacre Mixed 640 1942-44
New Ireland Widespread Beheading Airmen 17 1943-44
Palau Is. Palau Massacre Civilians 37 1942-44
Philippines Widespread Massacres POWs/ Civilians 19, 740 1942-44
Sado Is. Aikawa Entombment POWs 387 1945
Sarawak Widespread Massacres Civilians 290 1942-45
Singapore Widespread Massacres Civilians 13,760 1942-45
Sumatra Widespread Massacres POWs/ Civilians 14, 000 1942-45
Sumba Is. Widespread Massacres POWs/ Civilians 144 1942-44
Sumbawa Is. Widespread Massacres POWs/ Civilians 290 1942-45
Tarawa Is. Tarawa Beheadings NZ Coast Watchers 23 1942
Truk Is. Truk Beheadings POWs/ Merchant Navy 19 1942-44
* Massacre: Shooting, Bayoneting, Beheading.
Ambon Is. Laha Beheadings POWs 312 1942
Andaman Isles Widespread Massacre* Civilians 1,386 1945
Ballale Is. Ballale Massacre Civilians 69 1942
Banga Is. Serut Beheadings/Massacre Civilians 103 1942
Batan Is. Buyan Beheadings Airmen 4 1944
Borneo Balikpapan Beheadings POWs 9 1942
Borneo Banjarmasin Massacre Civilians 60 1942
Borneo Loa Kulu Massacre Civilians 598 1945
Borneo Pontianake Shooting Civilians 46 1942
Borneo Sandakan Massacre POWs 560 1945
Burma Widespread Beheading/ Shooting POWs 138 1942-
Formosa POW Camps Starving/Shooting POWs 170 1943-
Maritime Widespread Massacres Ships’ Crews 1, 460 1942-
Moluccas Is. Obi Beheading Airmen 3 1943
Neth East Indies Maritime Pig-
Sarawak Widespread Massacres Civilians 290 1942-
Truk Is. Truk Beheadings POWs/ Merchant Navy 19 1942-
* Massacre: Shooting, Bayoneting, Beheading.
COMMENT
As investigations are continuing to reveal more atrocities in the identified areas, the above totals should in no way be considered absolute. Further, many areas collectively or individually, such as Banga Island, Dutch New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, as examples, have not yet fully discovered all atrocities committed by the Japanese. There were many instances of isolated executions particularly of Allied airmen that the Allied War Crimes Sections accept will never be solved. This difficulty also applies to deliberate massacres of torpedoed ships’ crews where they vanished without trace similar to the disposal of captured Allied personnel who were encased in bamboo pig-baskets by the Japanese, transported out to sea on coastal craft and heaved overboard to schools of sharks.
Atrocities perpetrated at sea and without evidence thereto though known of, are difficult to prove at law without live eye-witnesses and sworn testimony. Fortunately, a few survivors from torpedoed Allied ships were able to confirm, despite previous Japanese denials, that their lifeboats had been rammed and machine-gunned, but they could not identify the Japanese warships or submarines involved. In the instance of wholesale pig-basket drowning and being torn apart by sharks, there were no survivors to tell of these sadistic atrocities. So far as can be determined, 1390 POWs perished by this barbaric method of execution.
Finally, as intimated in the latter part of this chronicle, I have not attempted to correlate atrocities committed in the following areas. China, Hong Kong, Korea, Manchuria or Sakahlin. The task without proper documentation would be impossible, however, sufficient is known about the Rape of Nanking (1937) where 300,000 Chinese were massacred, and Harbin, Manchuria, where 60,000 prisoners lost their lives in biological and germ warfare experimentation, to realise that overall, the Imperial Armed Forces of Japan were responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of helpless victims wherever they rampaged.
In conclusion and to reinforce previous assessments, it would be no exaggeration to reiterate the appalling fact that so far as accountability is concerned, only one-tenth of Japanese wartime criminality, in an overall perspective has been uncovered. If, as present indicators suggest, investigations and prosecutions are wound down and cease altogether, then, for every ten atrocities committed by the Japanese, nine will escape punishment. The same parallel will apply (by deliberate default) to the lack of investigations into Imperial Japanese Army brothels. Approximately a quarter-of-a-million women and girls – some as young as thirteen – who were forced into sexual slavery, will be denied justice by a man who, for political reasons, chooses to keep the lid on a national scandal that would seriously embarrass his new Japanese collaborators. I refer to General Douglas MacArthur.
As investigations are continuing to reveal more atrocities in the identified areas, the above totals should in no way be considered absolute. Further, many areas collectively or individually, such as Banga Island, Dutch New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, as examples, have not yet fully discovered all atrocities committed by the Japanese. There were many instances of isolated executions particularly of Allied airmen that the Allied War Crimes Sections accept will never be solved. This difficulty also applies to deliberate massacres of torpedoed ships’ crews where they vanished without trace similar to the disposal of captured Allied personnel who were encased in bamboo pig-
In conclusion and to reinforce previous assessments, it would be no exaggeration to reiterate the appalling fact that so far as accountability is concerned, only one-
