| Exhibit "J" - The order
authorizing brutal guards and commanders to flee Source: NARA, War Crimes, Japan, RG 24, Box 2011 |
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 Page One of authorization for Guards
to flee because of mistreatment of POWsDated 20 Aug 1945, 5 days after the surrender. For larger image, 72 dpi, 72 Kb file, click on image |
Translation of Exhibit "J" Complete text as submitted for trial. (Higher resolution file available upon request.) |
 Page Two of authorization for Guards
to flee because of mistreatment of POWsDated 20 Aug 1945, 5 days after the surrender. For larger image, 72 dpi, 87 Kb file, click on image |
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Doc
2701, Exhibit "O" - The order to murder all the POWs Source: NARA, War Crimes, Japan, RG 24, Box 2015 While some claim the author of this "policy memorandum" from the War Ministry did not have the authority to issue such an order, this "policy" was transmitted to every POW Camp Group Command and POW prison camp commander. Other documents in this same file show that input of suggestion for the "Methods to dispose of the POWS" had been solicited from all commands in the preceding months. Per Toru Fukubayashi: "It appears that the Japanese Army did have a policy to kill all the POWs if Allied Forces landed on Japanese home islands. Some argue that there are few materials to prove that this policy existed. However, Mr. Yamashita, who was the commander of Iruka Branch Camp (Nagoya No.4) in Mie Prefecture, told me in 1998 that ideas about how to kill the POWs had been discussed among the principal members of the branch camp." See below ATIS bulletin excerpt. |
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 Page 1 of the War Ministry's order
for the disposition (murder) of all POWs. For larger image, 72 dpi, 80
Kb file, click on imageDate of order: 1 Aug 1944 |
Translation
of Exhibit "O" Applicable text as submitted for trial. (Higher resolution file available upon request.) |
 Page 2 of the War Ministry's order
for the disposition (murder) of all POWs. For larger image, 72 dpi, 83
Kb file,click on image.Date of order: 1 Aug 1944 |
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N.B. The Japanese had plans to murder all prisoners starting in September of 1945 (link). However, see this ATIS bulletin excerpt ("Put all prisoners to death"), translated from a Japanese document in the Philippines, March 30, 1944: For further information regarding the above documents, see these following PDF files of excerpts from the Tokyo War Crimes Trials (IMTFE). Many of the pages are of poor quality, however, due to the low resolution of the originals online. IMTFE_Exhibits2656-2701_A-O_1946-09-18_1947-01-09 - Summaries of trial exhibits including Exhibits A through O
IMTFE_14706-14727_Taiwan_documents_1947-01-09 - Trial transcripts regarding Taiwan document exhibits IMTFE58-441_Summary_of_Arrangements_for_POWs_Exhibits_H-O IMTFE_James_Cross_affidavits_re_exhibits - Affidavits by Maj. James T. N. Cross, British American Formosa War Crimes Team member (and former POW), who introduced the documents IMTFE 57-58 Regulations on Treatment of POWs p216-301 (Part A - Part B) - Laws, Rules, and Regulations Pertaining to POWs; POW Labor IMTFE58-340_Outline_for_Disposal_of_POWs_1945-03-11 - Re transfers and utilization of POWs, and the change of locations of camps. Note that the POWs "may be set free" in the event of an attack. IMTFE57,58-311_Employment_Use_of_POWs_1942-03to09 - Re sending POWs to Korea (to "stamp out respect and admiration" for the Allies); Use of POWs for Labor Shortage; Employment of POWs IMTFE58-350_Tojo_Treatment_of_POWs_1942-07_1946-03 - Tojo's instructions to POW camp commanders re treatment of POWs; Interrogation of Tojo re mistreatment of POWs IMTFE58-338_Cautions_on_POW_Info_Censorship_1943-12-20 See also these documents: Treatment of Surrenders, Leyte, PI, IMTFE Document 2707 -
Nov. 1944
Prisoners of war will be [kill]ed
on the battlefield; those who surrender, who are of bad character, will
be resolutely [kill]ed in secret and counted as abandoned corpses. By
"Prisoners of War" we mean soldiers and bandits captured on the
battle-field; by "surrender" we mean those who surrender or submit
prior to the battle, Prisoners of War will be interrogated on the
battle-field and should be immediately [kill]ed excepting those who
require further detailed interrogation for intelligence purposes.
Japanese Instructions on How to
Interrogate (full ATIS
Report on Japanese Interrogation Methods, June 1946)In the event of it must be carried out cautiously and circumspectly, with no policemen or civilians to witness the scene, and care must be taken to do it in a remote place and leave no evidence. Malicious surrenderers will be taken into custody for the time being and after observance of public sentiments will be [kill]ed secretly when the inhabitants have forgotten about them, or secretly under pretext of removal to some distant locality, thus avoiding methods likely to excite public feeling. --------- No. 6. The treatment of Surrenders When prisoners are taken, those who are not worth utilizing shall be disposed of immediately except those who require further detailed interrogation for intelligence purposes... Surrenderers found to be malicious after the interrogations performed on them according to No. 126 of Part I of the orders concerning important operational matters will be immediately killed in secret and will be disposed of so as not to excite public feeling. On Killing POWs - Nov. 1944 Kill_All_Order_posted_in_camps_1944 - article from American Ex-POW organization Airmen to be "suitably disposed of": Hoka_wa_tekigi_shochi_subeshi_1945-04_from_IMTFE-Docket288.pdf More information can be found on the webpage Atrocities Against Allied POWs: What we knew and when, and how we reported the facts. For a very interesting and enlightening discussion on the "kill all POWs" orders, see Atrocities. From the IMTFE - Prosecution's opening statement on war atrocities Doc 6914 and War atrocities in Indo-China Doc. 2772: "The chronicle of murder and
mistreatment in every area will indicate the pattern of warfare used by
the Japanese Government and Army and will describe inter alia the
massacre of 5,000 Chinese and the brutal ill-treatment of Europeans in
Singapore; the indiscriminate killing of the native inhabitants of the
occupied areas; the loss of the lives of 16,000 Allied prisoners of
war, the deaths of over 100,000 coolies and the brutal ill-treatment of
almost every man during the construction of the Burma-Siam Railway; the
infamous death marches at Bataan and in Borneo; the massacre of
Australian nurses and other civilians at Banka Island; the Palawan
massacre; the massacre at Tol Plantation in New Guinea; the massacre of
200 prisoners of war at Laha; the massacre of Europeans and natives at
Long Nawan, Bandjermassin. Pontianak and Tarakan; the murders at Wake
Island; the killing of survivors from ships which had been sunk; and
the widespread extermination of prisoners of war and civilians."
----- "In most of the areas there will be evidence of the plans to kill all prisoners of war in the event of there being a landing by allied troops in Japan or any attempt made to recapture them. In some of the areas these plans were in fact put into execution. Even in the absence of any direct order, from the fact that similar plans had been prepared in many areas, it may be deduced that such plans were part of the policy of those in control of prisoners of war." ----- "One fact which will assist the Tribunal in determining the innocence or guilt of the accused lies in a comparison between the number of persons who died in captivity in Germany and Italy and the numbers who were killed or died in captivity in Japan. In Germany and Italy 142,319 British prisoners of war were reported captured and of those 7,310 or 5.1 per cent were killed or died in captivity. 50,016 British prisoners of war were in the power of the Japanese and of these 12,433 or 24.8 per cent were killed or died in captivity." |
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