P. O. W Camp Thesis

The acronym P.O.W, stands for prisoners of war. These Camps were run by the German and Japanese militaries. They would house captured soldiers, officers and pilots of allied armies. In the Camps these men were tortured and given little food to survive. They were in some regions forced to work for long hours under harsh conditions. Many of the captured suffered and died of malnutrition and exhaustion. Although German and Japanese forces were allied during the Second World War the conditions in German P.O.W Camps greatly differed from conditions in Japanese P.O.W Camps. For example, in Europe those sent to P.O.W Camps were separated based on their ranking. Whereas in Asia less efforts were made to separate the captives in terms of ranking. One

Enemy troops captured were spread out between Japan and all other Japanese occupied nations such as Taiwan & Singapore. Residents of Japanese P.O.W Camps were apprehended soldiers but also any citizens of allied nations who happened to be in Japan during the outbreak of the war. Japanese forces completely disregarded the statements of the Geneva Convention and went their own route. Orders and punishments were determined by the officers of the Camps. In terms of layout, the property was surrounded by barbed wires and tall wooden fences. Any escape attempts would be punished by execution, prisoners were also housed in barracks. Japanese soldiers/officers who spoke english were hard to come by, as a result the soldiers captured had to learn japanese to understand the orders they were being given. Those who failed to obey their commands were beaten. During Tenko, the daily roll-call residents were to call out their prisoner numbers in japanese. Many worked in mines, fields, shipyards and factories. The captives were to live on a mere 600 calories a day. They were generally fed barley, green stew, and meat or fish once a month as well as seaweed stew. Prisoners in Asian P.O.W Camps did not receive Red Cross were captives sent to construct the Burma-Thailand railway. Illness was very common many suffering malnutrition, Ulcers and