"The History of the Featherston POW Camp in WWII" Topic

"New Zealand's only prisoner of war (POW) camp was located on the outskirts of the small Wairarapa town of Featherston, some 60km north of Wellington. Featherston was no stranger to having a military camp located on its door step, as there had been a large army training camp based there during the First World War. However, this camp however was different; this camp was not for New Zealand soldiers, but for the enemy.

The camp was established at very short notice in September 1942 after the New Zealand government was asked by the American government if they would be willing to detain Japanese prisoners captured by the American forces in the Pacific. Although the government agreed to this request, what they did not realise was that around 450 Japanese prisoners were already on their way and would arrive in New Zealand within a matter of days! As a result, a series of tents, temporary cook houses and bathrooms had to be quickly set up and a rough perimeter fence were hastily established on the site of the old army camp at Featherston…"

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What an interesting story and a very balanced account of what went wrong. For obvious reasons, we hear little about Japanese as POWs, other than the well documented attempts at mass breakout.

Very interesting. I confess I had never thought about the problems of handling Japanese POWs.

Happy you enjoyed it boys…

Armand

An interesting read. Considering how Allied POWs were treated I have little sympathy for the Japanese POWs. Even though they had nothing to do with how the Allied ones were treated.

Oh read the story of the mass breakout as they stormed the wire in OZ. Largely unarmed against an MG.

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Call them crazy but hundreds died charging a Vickers with clubs and knives. I knew some GCs were awarded to Aussie guards who stood their ground but died and the link tells more.

Not too many Jap POWs, but treat them with "care". Funny thing, the word is that most, once captured, lapsed into total passivity and obeyed orders from their captives. It was cultural differences that led to "disturbances" and attempted massacres.

Thanks!

Armand

There's no way around it: the Germans and Japanese fought the dirtiest war possible, and there's only so much you can pin on Tojo and Hitler. At some level, those societies are collectively responsible for the way they fought the war. The Germans were a little more forthcoming in accepting responsibility than the Japanese, but neither of them got strict justice.

But in the real world, that's how it works.