TARAWA MASSACRE
JAP. COMMANDER KILLED. AUCKLAND, October 23. The declaration by the Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser) that every effort will be made to identify the Japanese war criminals responsible for the massacre of 22 Europeans, including 17 New Zealand prisoners of war, at Tarawa on October 15, 1942, and that they will be punished fully for the atrocity was unnecessary in one major case at least. The Japanese commander who was responsible for the infamous order under which the murders were carried out “got his’’ on the second day of the Battle of Tarawa. The story, of his end was told today by Captain James Forbes, R.N.R., who at that time was a roving pilot with the American Navy and took part in the assault. “The Japanese commander was killed on the second day of the action,” he said. “I saw his headquarters that day. It was a large concrete command post, 30 feet by 15 feet, with 34 inch walls. A 16-mch shell from a .warship had gone right through it. I saw the body of the Japanese commander, and the upper part of his body was not pleasant to look at.”
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Greymouth Evening Star, 24 October 1944, Page 2
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193TARAWA MASSACRE Greymouth Evening Star, 24 October 1944, Page 2
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