On February 15, 1942, Singapore, an important British colonial town in Southeast Asia, fell, and became a staged trophy of the Japanese army's crusade. However, the city of affluence was plunged into a period of brutal rule, witnessing the unspeakable atrocities of the Japanese army, which became a bloody page of the atrocities of World War II.
The fall of Singapore
Crimes are everywhere: hospital massacre
Soon after the Japanese takeover of Singapore, a horrific massacre took place at Alexandra Hospital, killing some 200 unarmed civilians. Immediately afterward, an Australian nurse was killed alive on Banka Island, and Operation Shuqing also caused about 200 civilian casualties. Between 5,000 and 50,000 ethnic Chinese were slaughtered in a genocidal massacre.
Prisoners of Humiliation: Human Flesh Range
In the smoke of gunfire, 130,000 British Empire officers and soldiers were captured, marking the greatest defeat in the history of the Empire. They were met with cynicism from the Japanese army, who saw surrender as a shameless defeat. Soon, the 40,000 captured Indian Army men were faced with a choice: to join the anti-British Indian National Army, or to be harshly treated by the Japanese.
Those who refused to join were scattered to the islands of Southeast Asia, where they worked daily under the torture of heat and disease. What's even more cruel is that some prisoners were used as live targets at the Japanese shooting range, and their lives mysteriously withered away. Photographs made public during the 1946 war trial show that the Japanese army painted the hearts of Sikh prisoners with paint circles as "target" targets to practice sniping skills.
Cannibalism among colleagues: Animals are inferior
What is even more chilling is that after the end of World War II, the atrocities of the Japanese army were gradually exposed, revealing a brutality rarely seen in the world -- the Japanese army actually ate the flesh of Indian prisoners of war! In April 1946, Japanese Lieutenant Hisada Tomiyasu was sentenced to death by hanging for killing 14 Indian soldiers in New Guinea in 1944 and eating their flesh.
In that year, the reporter directly interviewed eyewitnesses, an Indian captain, who witnessed the Japanese doctor leading a regiment to eat Indian prisoners. "They cut off the livers, buttocks, legs, and arms of the captives, cooked them, and ate them." The surviving captives also bluntly stated that the Japanese army used cannibalism as a psychological and tactical means.
This horrific crime shocked the whole world.
Fellow travelers: Tear goodbye to slaughtering the city
At the same time, the brutal atrocities of the Japanese army did not stop. Countless captives died of extreme abuse and malnutrition, and only 5,500 of the 55,000 Indian soldiers captured in Singapore alone survived.
In August 1945, the Allies conspired to retake Singapore with Operation Zipper. Unexpectedly, in the face of the emperor's surrender will, Seishiro Itagaki was a resolute officer of the Japanese army, and secretly deployed a desperate plan of "killing all the prisoners and fighting a decisive battle to the end". Eventually, he reluctantly accepted surrender on orders from his superiors. A few days later, the Allies retook the tormented city.
End:
When the Allies arrived, the sight was striking: mass graves, charred corpses burned alive, hospitals turned slaughterhouses...... The atrocities of the Japanese army are jaw-dropping. The tragic situation in Singapore is really a microcosm of the war crimes in the Pacific, and it opened the curtain on the unbridled crimes of the Japanese army. It is our duty to remember this history of the massacre and pay tribute to the victims, so that such a human tragedy will not be repeated in the future.