JAPANESE BARBARITIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25940, 5 September 1945, Page 4

JAPANESE BARBARITIES

It has long Seen feared that, after the defeat of Japan, terrible stories would be revealed of ill-treatment of prisoners of war. This fear is being grimly realised. The cabled report; of the experiences of men of all services and all ranks make appalling reading. The catalogue of horror is one which in some ways rivals the ghastly records of Belsen and Dachau. The revelation of the existence of an inquisition camp where prisoners were systematically starved and tortured is one instance of the manner in which the Japanese have excelled in infamy. It is this deliberate, sadistic policy of inflicting individual suffering that especially distinguishes these cruelties from the mechanical pursuit of mass extermination by the Germans. Years ago the rape of Nanking gave warning to the world of the blood lust of the Japanese, and, later, incidents involving European civilians in the Shanghai concessions indicated the excesses with which their peculiar inferiority complex would manifest itself. The fate of British survivors after the fall of Hongkong shocked the civilised world by the complete violation of all international codes for the treatment of prisoners of war. Helpless soldiers and nurses were subjected to the vilest indignities; they were beaten, starved, and slaughtered, but death must have been the greatest favour that could be granted to the unfortunate women. It might still have been possible to concede that these acts were carried out in the mad exul-

tation of a victory over the hated white races—it was an orgy typical only of a barbarous and uncivilised people at war—but even such an allowance as this was to be proved over-generous. It was only in January, 1944, that the story of the “ death march from Bataan ” was revealed. In the words of Lieu-tenant-colonel W. E. Dyess, who eventually escaped, it was a story of “361 days filled with murder and cruelty such as few American soldiers have ever endured.” There was no room left for doubt that the Japanese as a general and consistent policy practised atrocities against those whom the fortunes of war had delivered helpless into their hands. Now the veil of silence that hung over the fates of those captured in various theatres of war is being lifted. There can be no justification for the deeds with which the Japanese have stained their war record, and there is nothing that can be said even to palliate the enormity of the offences. No person, whatever his race, who has known normal human relationships could perform such acts as have been repeatedly authenticated without the knowledge that he was guilty of crimes against humanity. In the jungles of Malaya and Borneo men died literally by the hundreds, cruelly treated, overworked, starved, and neglected. They died of malaria, beriberi, and dysentery, but they could have been saved if the Japanese had provided medical supplies. In Japan itself a Swiss representative of the International Red Cross reported that 5000 of 34,000 American prisoners were sick. Another Japanese camp, a show place for inspections, was the scene of fantastic experiments in human suffering. In Manchuria, the prisoners were underfed and poorly clad in the bitterest weather. These inhumanities are excelled by the treatment dealt out to captured submarine crews and airmen, who were singled out for individual subjection to repeated beatings and torture under .which many of them died—and it can take a long time to kill a man by torture. There must be speedy retribution for these crimes, and no effort must be spared to locate those responsible for them, though it is possible that the difficulties of identification will be considerable. Australia has a long reckoning to settle with the Japanese, and there will be general support for the Commonwealth Government’s action in requesting the immediate arrest of Japanese war criminals. Undoubtedly America and Great Britain will take steps to bring to trial, the men guilty of these deeds, but it is of importance that no time should be lost in fulfilling these intentions. A valuable lesson can be taught if this is done, and justice and humanity demand that it must be done.