What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
Japan's cruel treatment of prisoners of war is well known internationally, during World War II, the Japanese army burned and looted in our country, creating tragic cases such as the Nanjing Massacre that shocked home and abroad; after the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese army frantically invaded the Philippines and created a "Bataan death march" that shocked the world.
In March 1942, after the United States learned of the war situation, in order to save MacArthur, he was transferred to the Southwest Pacific Theater as the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces, while Jonathan Wainwright was promoted to lieutenant general, responsible for commanding the U.S.-Philippine coalition forces, when the U.S. troops fighting in the Philippines had no manpower and supplies, and up to 80% of the soldiers were suffering from various diseases because they could not adapt to the tropical jungle.
In April, the U.S.-Philippine coalition was running out of ammunition, and Jonathan Wainwright believed that resistance was meaningless, and surrender might save his life, so he surrendered to the Japanese army on April 9, and 78,000 U.S.-Philippines troops became prisoners.
But if Wainwright had known in advance what had happened next, he would have most likely held out against the Japanese, and on April 10, the U.S.-Philippines, captured by the Japanese, began marching on foot from Milestone 167, two miles east of Mariveles airfield, without knowing where they were going.
At first, the prisoners of war thought that they would soon reach the camp, but the truth was far more cruel than he thought, and the Japanese army did not treat the prisoners of war in accordance with international conventions, and before the march, the commander of the Japanese Philippine Dispatch Army, Masaharu Homa, had issued a "death order": any prisoner of war who could not hold on to the camp would be eliminated.
It was a hot summer, these prisoners of war had problems eating and drinking, according to survivors afterwards, the Japanese army would only give them a golf-sized rice, and they still had to walk forward non-stop, the pain can be imagined, even if the road encountered a water source, the prisoners of war rushed to drink water in ecstasy, and eventually they would only die under the guns of the Japanese army.
The destination of these prisoners of war was the Oudner concentration camp 120 kilometers away, and when they finally arrived at the destination, 15,000 people died on the road for various reasons, and after arriving at the prisoner of war camp, the bitter days of the prisoners of war were not over, they were tortured, forced to work hard, etc., so in just two months, about 26,000 people died.
Jonathan Wainwright, the highest-ranking officer among prisoners of war, was also slapped and beaten by Japanese guards, but the Japanese did not treat high-ranking officers and prisoners of war the same way they did other prisoners of war, and they also gave special preferential treatment to such prisoners of war.
In June 1943, after Wainwright was taken to the Muzha prisoner-of-war camp in Taiwan, he could enjoy a room with a table for eating and writing, and eat enough food to avoid labor and hard labor, and even receive a monthly allowance of 100 yuan, and the Japanese would appear amiable when they saw Wainwright, and accompany Wainwright to fish for a picnic.
Of course, the Japanese suddenly changed their attitude and treated Wainwright well for a purpose, and soon Ōsa Zozawa "hoped" that Wainwright would write a letter to Roosevelt asking the United States to immediately stop the war, but Wainwright did not agree and strictly refused.
After the Pacific War entered the period of allied counteroffensive, the Japanese army repeatedly lost battles and began to plan the way back, so it began to give preferential treatment to prisoners of war, especially senior prisoners of war, which must be treated carefully, and these people are bargaining weights and life-saving straws for the Japanese high-level.
In 1944, Wainwright and other senior prisoners of war were transferred to the Fengtian prisoner-of-war camp, and even on August 15, 1945, the Kwantung Army did not give up using them as bargaining weights and tried to transfer them to South Korea, but the U.S. military took the lead and rescued the American and British prisoners of war in the camp.