General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
IJN treatment of USN submariner POW's
Posted by:
kurt
()
Date: August 16, 2002 01:22PM
<HTML>
"I am somewhat flabbergasted with your view on more or less similar incidents during the Pacific war"
Do I understand you to feel that stories of mistreatment of US POW's by the Japanese are without credibility? Are you denying that US Submariner POW's were mistreated? (!!??)
US submariners, when captured, were subjected to systematic torture and beatings, both by their immediate captors, and at the special IJN camps set up for submariner POW's. Capt O'Kane was less than 100 lbs when he was liberated. See 'Clear the Bridge', and 'Wake of the Wahoo' for more POW stories, and details of these camps. Remember that of over 100,000 US POW's (of all services) captured by the Japanese, well over half died in captivity - a darn sight higher percentage than Germans who died in US custody, I'll bet. Don't have specific figures of % of US submariner POW's who died in captivity, but I'll also bet it was a heck of a lot higher than that for German U-boat crewmen POW's.
Yes, Blair chronicles a few nice incidents - the Captain who captured Dick O'Kane was a bit philisophical - but remember Dick O'Kane was subjected to months of beatings, torture, and starvation as a POW.
Wounded, uncooperative, or just unlucky US POW's were thrown back into the sea - see the story of from the Sculpin where a wounded US sailor was thrown in the water to die:
[www.csp.navy.mil]
The story is also in Blair's Silent Victory.
The Japanese would routinely depth charge through 'enemy' or POW personnel after a sinking. This is documented in the accidental sinking of POW ships by the USS Pompanito - see the book by the same name. (No, they weren't US submariners, it's true, but they were allied POW's - mostly British). The Japanese depth charged the allied POW's dumped into the water, and shot those trying to climb into lifeboats.
There are a number of documented instances of IJN subs shooting survivors of merchantmen sinkings, the I-8 being among the most notorious. The I-8 Captian responsible died before the war ended; perhaps his trial would have occurred if he had lived. See Boyd and Yoshida's book on IJN sub operations.
I guess what I was trying to get across was that making a big thing about Walker is blowing things out of proportion given all the other monsterous things that happened in WWII. But it seems that some on this board feel that the only bad things that happened in WWII were done to the Germans and Axis powers, not by them......</HTML>
"I am somewhat flabbergasted with your view on more or less similar incidents during the Pacific war"
Do I understand you to feel that stories of mistreatment of US POW's by the Japanese are without credibility? Are you denying that US Submariner POW's were mistreated? (!!??)
US submariners, when captured, were subjected to systematic torture and beatings, both by their immediate captors, and at the special IJN camps set up for submariner POW's. Capt O'Kane was less than 100 lbs when he was liberated. See 'Clear the Bridge', and 'Wake of the Wahoo' for more POW stories, and details of these camps. Remember that of over 100,000 US POW's (of all services) captured by the Japanese, well over half died in captivity - a darn sight higher percentage than Germans who died in US custody, I'll bet. Don't have specific figures of % of US submariner POW's who died in captivity, but I'll also bet it was a heck of a lot higher than that for German U-boat crewmen POW's.
Yes, Blair chronicles a few nice incidents - the Captain who captured Dick O'Kane was a bit philisophical - but remember Dick O'Kane was subjected to months of beatings, torture, and starvation as a POW.
Wounded, uncooperative, or just unlucky US POW's were thrown back into the sea - see the story of from the Sculpin where a wounded US sailor was thrown in the water to die:
[www.csp.navy.mil]
The story is also in Blair's Silent Victory.
The Japanese would routinely depth charge through 'enemy' or POW personnel after a sinking. This is documented in the accidental sinking of POW ships by the USS Pompanito - see the book by the same name. (No, they weren't US submariners, it's true, but they were allied POW's - mostly British). The Japanese depth charged the allied POW's dumped into the water, and shot those trying to climb into lifeboats.
There are a number of documented instances of IJN subs shooting survivors of merchantmen sinkings, the I-8 being among the most notorious. The I-8 Captian responsible died before the war ended; perhaps his trial would have occurred if he had lived. See Boyd and Yoshida's book on IJN sub operations.
I guess what I was trying to get across was that making a big thing about Walker is blowing things out of proportion given all the other monsterous things that happened in WWII. But it seems that some on this board feel that the only bad things that happened in WWII were done to the Germans and Axis powers, not by them......</HTML>
