PRISONERS CRUCIFIED

Evening Star, Issue 25173, 12 May 1944, Page 3

PRISONERS CRUCIFIED

APPALLING JAPANESE ATROCITIES REVELATIONS BY RESCUED INDIANS IH NEW GUINEA iN.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent)! SYDNEY, May 11. Chinese who aided Australian guerrillas in Malaya were crucified by the Japanese, who nailed them to palm trees with iron spikes driven through their foreheads. This and other appalling atrocities inflicted 1 by the Japanese have been revealed by Indian, prisoners rescued by American forces after their invasions' pf Hollandia (Dutch New Guinea) and the Admiralty Islands. The prisoners rescued at these two places numbered 621, including 462 members of a Sikh regiment captured at Singapore Sixty-nine of the Indians were found on the Admiralty, Islands, and 393 at Hollandia. One hundred and fifty-nine prisoners ofi other nationalities were also rescued at : Hollandia. Those rescued included Australians, Americans, Dutch, Chinese, Filipinos, Poles, and CzechoSloraks. At Aitape (_British New Guinea) 86 Javanese prisoners were rescued.

The announcement of the recapture of the Allied prisoners is stated briefly in General MacArthur's communique to-day ' LIKE CATTLE. " We were herded along the road like cattle during an 18-day march from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur," said Jemadar Chingara Singh, of the Fifth, iSikh Regiment, telling how he had seen crucified Chinese. " The Japanese tried to make us shave off our beards, and when they gave us meat it was always unclean. On our way to Manus Island 35 Sikhs died and were, thrown overboard. At Manus we had to dig slit trenches for the Japanese, but were left entirely unprotected ourselves." SICK PUT TO DEATH.

Lance-corporal Gurman Singh told how 15 Sikhs who became ill were put to death by the Japanese at Rabaul. The Japanese apparently decided against wasting time and medical supplies on sick men, who were given injections, after which they died. Subadar Gulzara Singh said: "1 was captured at Singapore with a.number of other Indian troops. We were separated from our officers, and put into coolie camps. We were made to work like slaves. The Japanese showed, no respect for us. Frequently we were slapped and abused, and very seldom received any food from, our guards. The Chinese were often kind to us, but at great risk. Those found helping us were tortured and killed. On the ship which took us to the Admiraltys we were herded below decks like cattle —2.000 of us. We were allowed out on the hatchways once a day, and usually became the sport of Japanese soldiers, who inflicted indescribable' indignities upon us from the decks above " CRUDE MEDICAL TREATMENT. A nursing orderly, Mohd Afsar, of] the Fifteenth Indian General Hospital, was taken to Rabaul. " Men were beaten with sticks and rifle butts,", ha said. "Very few of us had ground sheets, and the rest had to 6leep in the open in pouring rain. Many, became ill through exposure and the bites of iusects. Medical treatment, when it was given at all, was rough and crude." The Indians rescued by the Americans were the first troops captured by the Japanese in Malaya and at Singapore. Prior to their release they had been used as a labour corps by their captors. Other released prisoners, telling stories of Japanese cruelty, said that the men, weakened by a diet consisting almost wholly of rice, were beaten by"guards to maintain the fast working pace set by the foremen. No treatment was provided for prisoners stricken by malaria or dysentery. The Japanese, however, seemed unable to control malaria among their own troops. One Indian sergeant, estimated that 50 per cent, of the i Japanese in the Hollandia area had been malarial casualties. The Indians fought on the right flank of the Australian Eight Division v before they were captured on February 14, 1942 When they left Singapore captured Australians were working oa the roads. . The Japanese casualties since the Hollandia and Aitape' landings on April 22 now total 1.502 killed and 290 prisoners. The details are: Hollandia —977 killed, 259 captured; Aitape—s2o Skilled. 31 captured. •