Battle of Hong Kong:Examining POWs in WWII

Hong Kong, 1941• British Colony in Asia• Canada asked to

provide troops (2,000)• first major mission of

WWII • The Winnipeg

Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles

• lack of training; classified by the Canadian defence department as “unfit for combat.”

The Bombardment of Hong Kong

• December 13, 1941

• the Japanese began 5 day bombardment of the island of Hong Kong

• the British thought the Japanese would never come across the water at night. Canadians were assured that the Japanese were racially prone to seasickness. Because of their eye shape, their night vision was supposed to be poor.

The Attack

• At 10:00 pm on December 18, the Japanese crossed to the island, the Canadians found themselves under fire in the pitch black.

• By the time British headquarters accepted that the attack was real, the Japanese had landed 7,500 soldiers on the island of Hong Kong.

• The Japanese swept across the channel from the mainland and rolled the defenders back up the mountains in the centre of the island.

The Surrender

• Allied forces surrender on Christmas Day 1941 • Allied soldiers were now prisoners of war (POW)

• many expected to be treated civilly according to the rules of the Geneva Convention

Geneva Convention

• signed in July 1929 • 53 nations sign & ratify• rights of captive and captor• prisoners of war “must at all times be

humanly treated”• Japan signs Convention, not ratified

Japanese Ideology

• saw captives as cowards to be punished • shame to be captured• ideology influences treatment of captives

Conditions

• inhumane• buildings drafty, filthy, infested with lice, bed

bugs• crowded sleeping quarters• forced to learn Japanese to obey commands• beatings• poor food; usually filthy rice• slave labour (coal mines, building bridges)

Conditions, cont’d

• disease (pneumonia, dysentery)• malnutrition• no medication• Cholera (intestinal disease)

POW Camps

• Canadians not liberated until 1945

• about 300 Canadians die in the POW camps

• if Japan were invaded, all prisoners of war would be executed.

The Geneva Convention Article 13• Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. Any

unlawful act or omission by the Detaining Power causing death or seriously endangering the health of a prisoner of war in its custody is prohibited, and will be regarded as a serious breach of the present Convention. In particular, no prisoner of war may be subjected to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are not justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the prisoner concerned and carried out in his interest.

• Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity.

• Measures of reprisal against prisoners of war are prohibited.

The Geneva Convention Article 14

• Prisoners of war are entitled in all circumstances to respect for their persons and their honour. Women shall be treated with all the regard due to their sex and shall in all cases benefit by treatment as favourable as that granted to men. Prisoners of war shall retain the full civil capacity which they enjoyed at the time of their capture. The Detaining Power may not restrict the exercise, either within or without its own territory, of the rights such capacity confers except in so far as the captivity requires.