Japan violated the Geneva Convention in 1931 when she invaded Manchuria, and again in 1937 when she invaded China both without a declaration of war. The world shouldn't have been surprised when the Japanese bombers made their sudden attack on Pearl Harbor without a declaration of War, further violating the Articles of Code 1929. Actually, the Japanese had never approved the Geneva Convention, either in theory or in practice, especially concerning P.O. W. s.
To the Japanese, surrender was a violation of military morality. In any defeat, a loyal Japanese soldier would commit hari kiri.
Discipline in the Imperial Army was enforced by frequent slapping, beating and kicking of junior officers and enlisted men for rather minor offenses. For serious crimes, discipline was more complex. The victim could be turned over to a Judo expert for suitable punishment. He could be given the water treatment. He could be tied to a fence post, and slapped beaten or kicked by each passing soldier. He could be used for bayonet practice by recruits. Severe crimes called for an officer to unsheathe his samurai sword and behead the criminal. The head was displayed to others, tied to a bamboo pole, so the observer would learn that crime does not pay. Enlisted men with little or no rank, had no one to slap, beat or kick, so a captured enemy filled an important gap in their system. In the minds of the Japanese, they were. Not barbarians or savages, but merely loyal and patriotic personnel administering a just punishment to those who dared to defy authority, the Emperor or the Gods.
Atrocities were committed on many work details, including the farm. Some were for the punishment of rather minor rules and others were for the amusement of the guards, who enjoyed watching the Americans performing super Herculean tasks.
Once a month, I had to carry hundred pound sacks of rice from the gate to mess halls. This could have been easily accomplished by carts, but the Japanese thought that the Americans should "pay the price!" As a result I developed three hernias, which became a considerable handicap in completing my tour with "the Sons of Heaven."
The Japanese seemed very little concerned that more Americans and Filipinos died as their prisoners, on the "Death March," in prison camps, on labor details, hell ships, and working in coal mines and munitions factories, than died at the hands of the Japanese on the battlefields. Those of us, who were guests of the Nipponese Emperor, have little doubt that some of the treachery was learned from the German Kulture.
We, who were captives and prisoners of the Japanese, will never be able to forgive them, but knowing their background did help to explain some of their vicious actions. However, it did not make their barbarous, brutal, cruel savagery any easier to endure.
Very few ex-P.O.W.s will ever drive Toyotas, Datsuns or Mazdas.
Chapter VII AMERICANS!
We kept getting reports on our little radio that MacArthur was winning battles in many places, some of which we'd never heard of: