Beyond Duty: The Reasons Some Soldiers Commit Atrocities by Walter S. Zapotoczny

Author:Walter S. Zapotoczny [S. Zapotoczny, Walter]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781625451125
Publisher: Fonthill Media
Published: 2017-06-12T04:00:00+00:00

Massacres

Massacres of prisoners of war, civilian internees, sick and wounded, patients and medical staffs of hospitals, and civilian populations were common throughout the Pacific War. Prisoners of war and civilian internees were massacred in some instances shortly after capture.

A massacre at Balikpapan in Borneo occurred in the following circumstances: on 20 January 1942, two Dutch POW officers were ordered by the Japanese to Balikpapan to transmit an ultimatum to the Dutch commandant in which it was demanded to surrender Balikpapan intact. In case of noncompliance, all European were to be killed. The ultimatum was read in the presence of a Japanese major general and five other Japanese officers to the Dutch officers, who had to deliver it to the commander at Balikpapan. Reply was sent by the Commander of Balikpapan to the Japanese to the effect that the Commander at Balikpapan had had from the Dutch authorities the necessary instructions with regard to demolition, which, therefore, had to be carried out.

When the Japanese approached Balikpapan, the oil fields were set on fire. In an affidavit of an eyewitness, the Tribunal was given a description of the massacre of the white population of Balikpapan, numbering between eighty and 100, who were executed in a cruel manner on 24 February 1942, by being driven into the sea and subsequently shot after some had been killed by having arms and legs lopped off with swords, as is described later.

In this relation, it is interesting to note that there was produced, in this trial, a Foreign Affairs document marked ‘Very Secret’, containing a ‘tentative draft of Japan’s policies toward the Southern Regions’, dated 4 October 1940, In this draft, it states with regard to the Dutch East Indies: if any of the important natural resources should be destroyed, all the persons connected with the raw material, ten government officials concerned, shall be severely punished as being the responsible persons.

It was of vital importance for Japan to take the NEI oil fields intact. The oil question was a decisive element in the move to the South and the Japanese Government was very much afraid lest, in case of war, the oil fields would be set on fire. Matsuoka gave expression to this fear to von Ribbentrop on 29 March 1941, when he stated: ‘If at all avoidable, he would not touch the Netherlands East Indies, since he was afraid that in the event of a Japanese attack on this area the oil fields would be set on fire. They could be brought into operation again only after one or two years.’

In view of this, and remembering the fact that the Japanese Government officially ordered the destruction of all harmful documents, this Foreign Office draft obtains a special significance. Yamamoto, a former high official in the Foreign Office, when asked for the reason why most of the things planned in the ‘tentative draft’ actually did occur, in spite of the fact that this draft was, according to him, made only by a junior secretary, cynically replied that ‘these secretaries were very good students.

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