Cannibalism
Many written reports and testimonies collected by the Australian
War Crimes Section of the Tokyo tribunal, and investigated by
prosecutor William Webb (the future Judge-in-Chief), indicate that
Japanese personnel in many parts of Asia and the Pacific committed
acts of cannibalism against Allied prisoners of war.
In many cases this was inspired by ever-increasing Allied attacks
on Japanese supply lines, and the death and illness of Japanese
personnel as a result of hunger. However, according to historian
Yuki Tanaka: "cannibalism was often a systematic activity conducted
by whole squads and under the command of officers".
This frequently involved murder for the purpose of securing
bodies.
For example, an Indian POW, Havildar Changdi Ram, testified that:
"[on November 12, 1944] the Kempeitai beheaded [an Allied] pilot. I
saw this from behind a tree and watched some of the Japanese cut
flesh from his arms, legs, hips, buttocks and carry it off to their
quarters... They cut it small pieces and fried it."
November 9, 1945. Jemadar (junior commissioned officer) Chint Singh
of the Indian Army at an identification parade in New Guinea,
indicating a Japanese soldier whom he claimed mistreated him while
he was a prisoner of war.
Japanese forces used many Indian Army personnel captured in Malaya
and Singapore as forced labour in the South West Pacific.In some
cases, flesh was cut from living people
another Indian POW, Lance Naik Hatam Ali (later a citizen of
Pakistan), testified that in New Guinea:
the Japanese started selecting prisoners and everyday one prisoner
was taken out and killed and eaten by the soldiers. I personally
saw this happen and about 100 prisoners were eaten at this place by
the Japanese. The remainder of us were taken to another spot 50
miles [80 km] away where 10 prisoners died of sickness. At this
place, the Japanese again started selecting prisoners to eat. Those
selected were taken to a hut where their flesh was cut from their
bodies while they were alive and they were thrown into a ditch
where they later died.
Perhaps the most senior officer convicted of cannibalism was Lt
Gen. Yoshio Tachibana, who with 11 other Japanese personnel was
tried in relation to the execution of U.S. Navy airmen, and the
cannibalism of at least one of them, in August 1944, on Chichi
Jima, in the Bonin Islands. They were beheaded on Tachibana's
orders. As military and international law did not specifically deal
with cannibalism, they were tried for murder and "prevention of
honorable burial". Tachibana was sentenced to death.
source
