During the Second World War, Japan took about 140,000 prisoners of war from Western Allied countries, as well as tens of thousands of Indian and Filipino POWs and several hundred thousands of Chinese
Surrender of US forces at Corregidor, Philippines, May 1942
Australian and Dutch soldiers in Japanese captivity (Tarsau, Thailand 1943)
A group portrait of Australian survivors (all but one) from the Sakata prisoner of war camp in Japan
Dead American and Filipino soldiers during the Bataan Death March
Hell ship
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Hell ship is a term for a ship with extremely inhumane living conditions or with a reputation for cruelty among the crew. It now generally refers to the ships used by the Imperial Japanese Navy and Im
Allied prisoners of war of Japan
…on the humane treatment of POWs, subjecting captives to brutal conditions in prison camps, on forced marches, and aboard transport ships known as "hell ships". Many POWs were forced into labor on large-scale infrastructure projects, including the infamous Burma-Siam Railway, where tens of thousands perished…
Oryoku Maru in World War II
Montevideo Maru c. 1941
The "Hell Ship" plaque in San Antonio, Texas dedicated on the 54th anniversary of the SS Shinyo Maru incident.