World War II In the western world, surrender can be seen as honorable. The Japanese saw surrender as the ultimate shame. Their brutal treatment toward POWs during World War II reflected this philosophy. The Japanese often violated the rules of treatment for POWs found in the Geneva Convention. A British POW is pictured here about to be beheaded by a Japanese soldier. Prisoners of the Japanese were kept in huts such as these in Malaysian POW camps. The Japanese would force the POWs to sign non-escape clauses in order to justify executing them if they tried to escape, despite the fact that the Geneva Convention made this illegal. The open nature of this hut is deceiving, as it actually encouraged POWs to attempt a futile escape. Of these, one in three died from starvation, work, punishments or from diseases for which there were no medicines to treat. Over 140,000 Allied Prisoners of War were held captive in Japanese Camps. 22 000 Australians became POWs in World War 2 Most of these were captured by the Japanese (14000- 15000) By the end of the war the death rate of the Japanese captured prisoners was 34% (7600). This is in contrast to to the 8000 captured by the Germans with a death rate of 3%. POWs of the Japanese were forced to work on the Siam- Burmese Railroad. The conditions in the jungle were horrible and facilitated the spread of cholera, wet beriberi, tropical ulcers, malaria and more. The construction of the 415km railroad was very important to the Japanese military in order to transport supplies and troops. It was begun in October 1942 and finished in October 1943. Over 12000 POWs died on the railway and 70000-90000 civilians who were captives of the Japanese. On the right is a picture of POW Han Samethinis leg taken in January, 1944. Samethini was taken to the Chungkai POW camp in Thailand after suffering from malnourishment and tropical ulcers in his leg while working on the Burma Railroad. Han also contracted Malaria, and only survived due to the kindness of fellow POWs who managed to scrounge up enough quinine and food to keep him healthy. Pictured on the left are Prisoners of War at a Japanese Camp in Sumatra. The POWs were deprived of food and water, beheaded, shot, stabbed with bayonets, beaten with rifle butts, disemboweled, and were killed for helping other struggling POWs. In Borneo, 2700 Australians were forced to carve an airstrip out of the jungle - only 6 returned home after the war. The Sandakan death march is considered one of the most brutal treatments of POWs in History. Prisoners of the Japanese were also taken aboard hellships, like the Arisan Maru, and transported to Japan. The Japanese would not mark the prisoner vessels intentionally. As a result, allied forces would unknowingly sink ships with their own troops aboard.