“Uncovered: Rare WWII Photo of Japanese POWs in Aitape, New Guinea (circa 1944)”

Aitape area, north east new guinea. c. 1944-04. naked japanese prisoners of war (pows) crouch together on the ground while awaiting transport after being captured by us invasion forces following the successful allied landing.

The japanese were probably stripped because of their habit of concealing weapons and grenades.

Working on Japanese POWs today. This is not an attack on America, it is just to point out how hard it was to get the Americans to take prisoners after the Japanese faked their surrender many times and killed American troops. Some comments I am adding:

Sometimes the Japanese forced the civilians to act against the Americans, or possibly, some acted on their own volition out of some strange loyalty to an Emperor who always treated them as second-class citizens. One example is found in the diary of an American Army engineer. He says that on 26 July 1945, two women emerged from a Japanese cave stark naked and beckoned to one of the patrols. The soldiers were seasoned fighters who had seen numerous ambushes and traps and immediately opened fire killing both women. As they fell to the ground both had hand grenades hidden beneath their armpits.

The US Navy Japanese/Oriental Language School Archival Project, THE INTERPRETER adds:

To be honest, the darker side of American actions must be set forth. One of our tasks shortly after our arrival was to prepare Japanese-language leaflets urging the Japanese troops to surrender. These leaflets were being dropped over battle areas by plane. One day I came across a young American soldier who had been fighting near the caves where we had recently dropped leaflets. Eagerly, I asked him, “Did those leaflets have any effect?” His response was, “Oh yeah, several soldiers came out waving those leaflets. But you don’t think we took them prisoner, do you?”

In some campaigns cases of beer were offered to troops who took prisoners and in others, days off were offered.

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