i hope Japan apologize for those western POWs' death...and be more like Ally's POW policy in next war

Originally Posted by AussieNick

Incredible cruelty in those POW camps, if they were lucky enough to be taken to a POW camp and not get killed outright. I forgot the Canadians were in Singapore as well.

Hongkong not Singapore


I know Canadians imprisoned all Japanese in Canada in what could only be called POW camps; and yeah...our prisons were a fair bit less cruel the the German ones...mind you, German bombers weren't destroying North American towns...

Hongkong not Singapore


I know Canadians imprisoned all Japanese in Canada in what could only be called POW camps; and yeah...our prisons were a fair bit less cruel the the German ones...mind you, German bombers weren't destroying North American towns...

Hong Kong? I would have figured they would have been part of the british garrison in Singapore. Oh well.

Originally Posted by AussieNick

Hong Kong? I would have figured they would have been part of the british garrison in Singapore. Oh well.

Well Hong Kong would be the other major British garrison I suppose, I dunno though; we hear alot more about the war in Europe then that in the Pacific in Canada.

The Italian POW's in Australia had an extraodinary amount of freedom.
They worked on local farms and towns, many left camp in the morning and returned of an evening for roll call. Many were alowed to live on the farms where they worked.
Generally they were pretty amiable and happy to be out of the war.
On the other hand the Japanese POWs at Cowra in NSW were cruel to their own comrades and then there was that mass breakout. The biggest mass escape of WWII.
My Grandfather was one of the civilians that helped to capture some of them. Those that didn't commit suicide etc.

You guys threw Koreans and Chinese into those camps with the Japanese. Oh gee, thanks a lot guys

Japanese soldiers who surrendered were kept in camps in the new Zealand, and possibly Australia.

When the Marines departed Iwo Jima they had taken 212 POWs. The Marines were replaced by regular Army and Navy personnel. They continued to take POWs (or kills), and those units sustained some casualties in the process. The total POW count for Iwo Jima approached 1000. I believe there were still incidents with Japanese soldiers who remained in hiding until well into the 1950s.