During war, prisoner of war camps were never where you wanted to end up, but in World War 2 the worst POW camps were those of Japan. During the course of the war over 140,000 soldiers would be imprisoned in Japanese camps. Of these, one in three died from starvation, overwork, punishments and disease. Japan ignored the Geneva Conventions so camp guards could inflict any punishment they wished whenever they wanted to.
Living conditions were very poor. Prisoners lived in barracks and were given only mats to sleep on. Their Japanese guards rarely spoke English so new prisoners needed to learn commands quickly since the punishments for no response was a beating. This was a common occurrence because the men had to call out their prison number in Japanese every morning at roll-call. Prisoners lived on a 600 calorie a day diet. The majority of survivors lived on barley, green stew, meat or fish once a month and seaweed stew. One prisoner said, "... I was- a white slave. I worked 12 hours a say on a diet of soy beans and seaweed."
Escape attempts were very rare in these camps due to the fact that camps were enclosed with barbed wire of high wooden fencing and often located in remote areas. If an escape attempt was made, the person who attempted it was executed in front of all the other prisoners, in some cases along with ten other prisoners.
Living conditions were very poor. Prisoners lived in barracks and were given only mats to sleep on. Their Japanese guards rarely spoke English so new prisoners needed to learn commands quickly since the punishments for no response was a beating. This was a common occurrence because the men had to call out their prison number in Japanese every morning at roll-call. Prisoners lived on a 600 calorie a day diet. The majority of survivors lived on barley, green stew, meat or fish once a month and seaweed stew. One prisoner said, "... I was- a white slave. I worked 12 hours a say on a diet of soy beans and seaweed."
Escape attempts were very rare in these camps due to the fact that camps were enclosed with barbed wire of high wooden fencing and often located in remote areas. If an escape attempt was made, the person who attempted it was executed in front of all the other prisoners, in some cases along with ten other prisoners.
The worst camp was the group that was sent to make the Burma-Thailand Railroad. They worked alongside Asian laborers and laid 260 miles of track by hand. They worked from dawn to dusk, 10 days on with one day off, moving earth, building bridges, blasting through mountains and moving track. Prisoners worked on a diet of rice and vegetables, suffering from malnutrition, cholera, and ulcers. Of the 61,000 workers sent there 13,000 (20%) would die.
Sources:
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/changi_pow_camp.htm
http://www.historyonthenet.com/ww2/pow_camps_japan.htm
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