So far, the scheme has cost the public finances over 250 million pounds – and the Japan government not a single yen. British taxpayers have, in effect, been paying for Japanese aggression and war crimes, while the British government’s main priorities regarding Japan include not antagonizing a country whose businesses employ so many people throughout the United Kingdom. In much the same way that geopolitical and economic concerns prevented the victorious Allied powers from properly punishing the Japanese for their conduct when the war ended in 1945, so the means taken to resolve the compensation issue now appear to be designed to appease Japan, rather than force it to face up to its global responsibilities in a manner similar to that of postwar Germany.
Liberated Dutch and British children stand in the open gate to the infamous Tjideng Ghetto in Batavia (now Jakarta),Java, September 1945. In total,33,700 Dutch children were interned by the Japanese during the Second World War,often in appalling circumstances.
Houses on Laan Trivelli,a road inside the Tjideng Ghetto,indicating the overcrowding from which the internees suffered. Designed to accommodate 2,000 internees, by June 1945 the Ghetto held 10,300 women and children.
Young children play beside their accommodation huts at Kampong Makassar Camp in Java. The 3,500 internees did not learn that the war was over for several days after the Japanese surrender in August 1945.
The female washhouse at Kampong Makassar Camp.
Outram Road Jail,Singapore. This former British prison ended up holding captive hundreds of British families,including many young children.
Ash Camp,Shanghai. Located in a former British Army barracks,the prisoners marked the roofs of huts and the central square with large TW letters to indicate their location to Allied aircraft around the time of the Japanese surrender. Food and medical supplies were parachuted to them.
Japanese guards at Tjideng Ghetto sit sullenly outside of the guard house. The Japanese remained under arms after their surrender to protect the camp from Indonesian nationalists.
Liberated American and British women and children pose with GIs at Santo Tomas Camp in the Philippine capital Manila. US Army forces literally broke into the camp and fought with the Japanese guards in early 1945 as General MacArthur's forces overran Luzon Island.
Many of the families imprisoned at Santo Tomas had been forced by overcrowding to live in shanties on the university grounds. Conditions were rough and ready and added greatly to the hardships many American and British families suffered.
An American soldier poses with liberated internees in the Philippines,1945.
Living conditions for Dutch women and children inside the Tjideng Ghetto were overcrowded and very basic.
Two Dutch boys inside the Tjideng Ghetto.
Royal Navy ratings from HMS Cumberland pictured with liberated Dutch children at Tandjong Priok Camp,Java, September 1945.
General Hideki Tojo,Japanese Prime Minister and Minister of War,who was directly responsible for the appalling conditions that existed inside civilian internment camps across Asia.
Japanese soldiers at Santo Tomas Camp during negotiations with the US Army to obtain the release of 200 white hostages being held inside the Education Building.
Appendix A
Chronology of the Asia-Pacific War
1936
25 November Japan signs the Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany
1937
7 July Japan invades China
13 December Start of the ‘Rape of Nanking’
1939
May–August Japanese and Soviet forces fight the Battle of Nomonhan on the Manchurian-Mongolian border and Japan is defeated
1 September Germany invades Poland
3 September France, Britain and the Commonwealth declares war on Germany
1940
22 June France falls to the Germans
Japan invades and occupies French Indochina
26 June United States places an embargo on iron and steel imports to Japan
27 September Japan signs the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy
1941
10 January Thailand invades French Indochina
22 June Germany invades the Soviet Union
26 July United States places an oil embargo on Japan
7 December Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, Midway Island and the Philippines
8 December Japanese invade British Malaya, Thailand and Hong Kong
9 December China declares war on the Axis Powers
10 December Japan sinks the British capital ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse off Malaya and begins landings on the Philippines
14 December Japan invades Burma
16 December Japan invades Borneo
20 December Japan attacks the Netherlands East Indies
24 December Japan occupies Wake Island after a bitter battle with US forces
25 December Hong Kong surrenders to the Japanese
1942
3 February Japanese forces begin landing in the Netherlands East Indies
Japanese aircraft attack Port Moresby, New Guinea
15 February British forces surrender to the Japanese in Singapore
Japanese aircraft attack Darwin in Australia
27 February Japanese Navy wins the Battle of the Java Sea
8 March Japanese invade New Guinea
6 April Japanese invade the Admiralty and British Solomon Islands
9 April US forces in the Bataan Peninsula, Philippines, surrender to the Japanese
18 April The Doolittle Raid is launched on Tokyo
1 May Japanese forces capture Mandalay, Burma
6 May US forces on Corregidor Island, Philippines, surrender to the Japanese
7 May Battle of the Coral Sea
23 May British withdrawal from Burma completed
4 June Japanese attack Midway Island
6 June Japanese invade the Aleutian Islands
US Navy is victorious at The Battle of Midway
7 August US forces land on Guadalcanal in the British Solomon Islands
9 August Japanese Navy victorious at the Battle of Savo Island
12 August Japanese land at Buna, New Guinea
18 September Australian forces begin advancing down the Kokoda Trail, New Guinea
11–12 October Japanese Navy defeated at the Battle of Cape Esperance
17 October British forces advance into the Arakan, Burma
26 October Japanese Navy victorious at the Battle of Santa Cruz
1943
2 February Soviet Union wins the Battle of Stalingrad
13 February British launch the first Chindit expedition into Burma
2 March Battle of the Bismarck Sea
20 June US forces invade New Georgia
3 September Allied forces land in Italy
20 November US forces land on Tarawa
1944
31 January US forces land in the Marshall Islands
2 March British launch second Chindit expedition into Burma
15 March Japanese invade India at Imphal and Kohima
22 April US forces land at Hollandia, New Guinea
31 May Japanese begin withdrawing from Kohima
4 June Allied forces capture Rome
6 June D-Day landings in Normandy, France
15 June US forces land on Saipan
18 July Japanese forces begin withdrawing from Imphal
15 September US forces land on Peleliu
20 October US forces land on Leyte, Philippines
24–25 October Battle of Leyte Gulf
December British 14th Army enters Burma
1945
9 January US forces land on Luzon, Philippines
11 January British forces cross the Irrawaddy River, Burma
19 February US forces land on Iwo Jima
2 March British forces capture Meiktila, Burma
20 March British forces capture Mandalay, Burma
1 April US forces land on Okinawa
12 April President Roosevelt dies
30 April Hitler dies in Berlin
3 May British forces enter Rangoon, Burma
8 May Germany surrenders
26 July Churchill resigns as British Prime Minister
6 August Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan
8 August Soviet Union declares war on Japan and invades Manchuria
9 August Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan
15 August Japan announces its surrender
26 August Soviet invasion of Manchuria complete
2 September Formal surrender of Japan
Appendix B
Asia: Then and Now
Former Name Present Name
Batavia Jakarta
Chapei (Shanghai district) Zhabei
Chungking Chongqing
Lunghwa (Shanghai district) Longhua
Netherlands East Indies Indonesia
Nanking Nanjing
Peking Beijing
Pootung (Shanghai district) Pudong
Tientsin Tianjin
Weihsien Weifang
Appendix C
British and Commonwealth
Dead Shanghai and Yangzhou 1941–45
As an example of the suffering inflicted upon Allied civilians who were interned by the Japanese in Asia during the Second World War, detailed below is a list of British and Commonwealth citizens who perished in Shanghai. The city of Shanghai is an excellent example of the experience of internment, boasting as it did a large pre-war expatriate community, who were sent to a large number of internment camps by the Japanese. Throughout China (and excluding Hong Kong), about 1,500 children under the age of sixteen were interned by the Japanese during the war. Reading the list indicates the diverse nature of those who were interned, their ages, occupations and camps. Thousands more perished in other areas of China, Hong Kong, the Netherlands East Indies and Japan, and the names listed below are but an example of the fate of Allied civilian men, women and children all across Asia. Notice how few children perished in the Shanghai camps (highlighted in bold), testament to J.G. Ballard’s comment that ‘our parents starved themselves for us.’
British Citizens
2. ABRAHAM, Civilian, JULIAN. Age 66. 31 March 1945. Died at Lincoln Avenue Internment Camp, Shanghai.
3. ACKERMAN, Civilian, ELIZABETH. Age 56. 20 September 1943 at Lunghwa Internment Camp, Shanghai.
4. AIERS, Civilian, MAGGI. Age 59. 19 January 1945, Died at Lincoln Avenue Internment Camp, Shanghai.
5. ASHDOWNE, Civilian, WALLACE CHARLES GEORGE, Dr. Age 79. 13 August 1944. Died at Yangchow C Internment Camp, Yangzhou.
6. AUSTIN, Civilian, PERCY JOHN. 9 May 1945. Age 48. Son of Frank Thomas Austin and Charlotte Austin, of 1 Palamos Road, Leyton, Essex; husband of Winifred Austin, of Thanes, Brands Hill Avenue, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Died at Haiphong Road Internment Camp.
7. BAKER, Sister, GERTRUDE. Age 66. 7 July 1943 at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Shanghai.
8. BALL, Civilian, ESTHER MARIE. Age 34. 10 September 1944. Wife of James Ball, of 35 Duke Street, Wigan, Lancashire. Died at Country Hospital, Shanghai.
9. BARRY, Civilian, JAMES JOSEPH, M.M. 7 March 1943. Age 47. Superintendent, Shanghai Municipal Police. Son of John and Mary Barry, of Ballyman, Co. Dublin, Republic of Ireland; husband of Margaret C. Barry, of Shanganagh, Shankill, Co. Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Died at Shanghai Police Hospital.
10. De Sa HOPE, Civilian, Sheila May, 1943, age 2. Daughter of G.B. de sa Hope. Died at Ash Camp.
11. BELL, Civilian, LAWSON. 10 March 1943. Husband of Mary C. Bell, of 49 Kingwailing Road, Glasgow. Died at Shanghai Police Hospital.
12. BLANCKENSEE, Civilian, ALFRED STEPHEN. 17 August 1945.Age 68. Son of the late Aaron and Elizabeth Blanckensee husband of Gen Blanckensee, of 24 Kwen Ming Lee, 941 Dixwell Road, Shanghai. Died at St. Luke’s Hospital, Shanghai.
13. BLANDFORD, Civilian, EDWARD JOHN, age 83. March 1943, Chapei Camp.
14. BOURNE, Civilian, MARGARET HELENA. Age 63. 4 December 1944. Wife of H. L. Bourne. Died at Lunghwa Internment Camp.
15. BOYES, Civilian, GEORGE MASON. Age 68. 28 August 1943. Died at Yangchow A Internment Camp, Yangzhou.
16. BROOMFIELD, Civilian, GEORGE. 23 December 1944. Age 51. Shanghai.
17. BROWN, Civilian, ANNIE. Age 55. 11 February 1945 at Shanghai General Hospital.
18. BROWN, Civilian, THOMAS. 21 May 1945. Age 62. Died at Great Western Road Camp, Shanghai.
19. BRUCE, Civilian, WILLIAM PETER. Age 53. 30 December 1944. Husband of Edith Augusta Bruce, of 9 Grove Avenue, York Road, Doncaster, Yorkshire. Died at Shanghai General Hospital.
20. BURNS, Civilian, NORMAN. 26 September 1943. Age 39. A.M.I.E.E. Son of Mary Jane Burns, of Fairmont, Butts, Stanhope, Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham, and of the late Jacob Burns; husband of Margaret Burns, of 7 Claremont South Avenue, Gateshead, Co. Durham. Died at Pudong Internment Camp.
21. BUTTERFIELD, Civilian, SHEILA KATHLEEN MARY. 5 October 1943. Age 32 of Hankow Club, Hankow (Hankou). Daughter of W. G. Hare, of 154 Penstone Road, Waterloo, Huddersfield, Yorkshire; wife of Henry Samuel Butterfield. Died at Yu Yuen Road Internment Camp, Shanghai.
22. BYRNE, Civilian, ERNEST GODFREY. Age 68. 10 June 1943. Husband of S. M. K. Byrne. Died at Country Hospital, Shanghai.
23. CHAMBERLAIN, Civilian, LILIAN MABEL. 30 August 1943. Age 56 of 60 New Street, Castle Bromwich, Birmingham. Daughter of Mabel Brazier, of 1355 Stratford Road, Hall Green, Birmingham; wife of A. H. Chamberlain. Died at Country Sanatorium, Shanghai.
24. COOK, Civilian, JOHN ALEXANDER. Retired Shanghai Municipal Police Officer. Age 71. Died 8 February 1944 at Shanghai Police Hospital.
25. COVENEY, Civilian, ALEXANDER HENRY. 17 September 1944 at Isolation Hospital, Shanghai.
26. CRAFTER, Chief Engineer Officer, EARNEST RICHARD, S.S. Marie Moller (Shanghai), Merchant Navy, 1 July 1943, aged 64. Son of Richard Andrew Crafter, O.B.E., and Catherine Crafter; husband of Lily Mary Crafter, of Lancaster. Died at Shanghai.
27. CUMMING, Civilian, KENNETH MENZIES. 26 November 1944. Age 57 of Shanghai. Died at Shanghai General Hospital.
28. DAVID, Civilian, HABABA SHALONE. Age 82. 19 July 1945 at St. Luke’s Hospital, Shanghai.
29. DAVIDSON, Civilian, A R. 15 September 1943. Shanghai.
30. DAVISON, Civilian, LEA AUGUSTA. 3 November 1944. Age 33. Wife of William R. Davison. Died at Shanghai General Hospital.
31. DAVIES, Civilian, HENRY WILLIAM. Age 63. 13 December 1943. Husband of L.M. Davies. Died at Shanghai General Hospital.
32. DAWSON, Civilian, ADELAIDE BLANCHE. 15 September 1943. Age 78 at Shanghai General Hospital.
33. DUNBAR, Stoker 1st Class, JAMES (C/KX 87890), HMS Peterel, Royal Navy, died 11 December 1941, Shanghai.
34. DUNCAN, Civilian, ANNIE MCBEAN LOW. Age 42. 16 September 1945. Wife of George Duncan. Died at Shanghai General Hospital.
35. DUNSTAN, Civilian, MABEL CORNELIA. 21 March 1945. Age 56 of Shanghai. Died at St. Luke’s Hospital, Shanghai.
36. EABRY, Civilian, ERNEST JOHN, aged 54. 22 May 1945 at St. Luke’s Hospital, Shanghai.
37. ENGLEY, Civilian, ERNEST RICHARD. Age 59. 14 October 1944 at Shanghai Isolation Hospital.
38. ETHERINGTON, Civilian, JOSEPH BURTON. 11 February 1943. Age 52 of 52a Tynsin Road. Son of the late L. and R. Etherington; husband of Marjorie Etherington. Died at Japanese Kempeitai Military Police Headquarters, Jessfield Road, Shanghai.
39. FABIAN, Civilian, SYDNEY PHILIP. Age 69. 10 January 1945. Husband of A. N. Fabian, of 59 Edinburgh Road, Shanghai. Died at Lunghwa Internment Camp, Shanghai
40. FINCH, Civilian, GEORGE THOMAS. 28 January 1945. Age 71. Husband of Marie Bennett Finch. Died at Shanghai General Hospital.
41. FLEMING, Civilian, DOUGLAS. 30 November 1942.
Age 63 of 961 Avenue Foch, Shanghai. Son of the late Richard and Louise Fleming, of 98 Mundania Road, Honor Oak, London; husband of Amy Julia (Doree) Fleming. Died at Shanghai General Hospital.