GRAZED BY THIRST

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 236, 4 September 1945, Page 5

GRAZED BY THIRST

HELL-SHIP SURVIVORS. MOST PRISONERS DIE. (N.Z. Press Association. —Copyright.! (Rec. 9.45 a,in.) TOKIO, Sept. 3. Nino American survivors of Bataan and Corregidor told how thirst-maddened prisoners killed one another, fighting over drinking water during the long sea voyage from Manila, says the Associated Press correspondent. The Japanese told them that only 8000 survived of the 22,000 prisoners from the Philippines. A sergeant said he was among 600 jambed in a hold 40ft square. They had just enough room to sit with their knees drawn up. For many days no water was issued and the crazed men fought for even one drop. Eight were killed in fighting over water and 30 others died from different causes. Formosan guards heat the prisoners continually. If there was any outbreak of noise the guards would pull the prisoners to the deck and make them kneel for hours on a steel cable which bit into their flesh.

The sergeant said the story of another shipload was famous throughout the prison camp. These prisoners were reported to . have been limited to one flask of water for three men every two days. Some slashed their wrists and drank the Mood. The killings in fights over the water reached hundreds. It is generally believed that 500 of the 1500 survived the journey. Another sergeant, said: “They tried to make us beasts.” ORDERS TO JAPANESE. As a result of the Japanese failure to remove prisoners of war from remote camps to central collection points for evacuation, General MacArthur lias ordered Japanese General Headquarters to provide adequate transport for this purpose immediately. Rescue teams are setting out tomorroiv for 10 camps in Eastern Honshu, where 2950 Allied soldiers await liberation. Weeks may pass before all the camps are bleared. In addition to Eastern Honshu there are 21 camps in Northern and Western Honshu. So far only 1500 prisoners have been liberated.

The Yokohama: correspondent of the New York Times says: “Tomorrow brings the task of rounding up 11,570 prisoners and civilian internees from the camps on Honshu. The Japanese camp administrators are adopting a catch-as-catch-can policy. Some are holding the prisoners and others are freeing them to do as they please. Already prisoners • who have hitchhiked more than a day from the camps have entered our lines. It is believed that untold numbers of Allied troops are trudging the roads en route to Yokohama.”

General MacArthur, in one of his first acts .as commander of Japan, demanded information regarding all Allied prisoners of war, 6000 of whom had apparently been moved recently from the Tokio area. The Japanese shortly before or iminediately after the cessation of hostilities moved prisoners from military targets near which they had been placed, in defiance of repeated Allied protests, in an attempt to force the Allies to desist from raiding the targets. The Japanese have been told to see that the prisoners are well fed and clothed and given medical care until such responsibility is undertaken by the Supreme Commander. General MacArthur lias also demanded all the camp records. American -doctors on tho hospital ship Benevolence have found that 25 per cent, of the 1518 liberated prisoners of war so far examined are suffering from tuberculosis due to malnutrition and poor hygiene. The others are mostly suffering from beri beri, dysentery, anaemia and extreme malnutrition. Some of the prisoners did not suffer illness, but lost weight. The Associated Press correspondent at Yokohama reports that four army teams are questioning prison-camp officials and liberated prisoners with a view to listing war criminals. The Americans found a huge quantity of undelivered packages and letters, some looted, in the warehouse district. General Cunningham, the heroic Wake Island commander, who was released from a Peiping prison camp, revealed that the Japanese sentenced him to 10 years’ imprisonment for his first attempt to escape and gave him a life sentence for his second attempt. A London message- says that the first 500 British prisoners to leave Japan are on their way home. They are aboard the escort carrier Speaker and are moving to an Allied port before flying to Britain. The other British prisoners on Honshu are not yet fit to travel by air and must await a hospital ship.