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US treatment on Axis POWs during WWII?

How did the US treated the prisoners of war during World War II? Did nationalities played a role as different treatment were given to German, Japanese, Italian, or other Axis troops?

Where the Japanese treated any different especially over the Bataan Death March? Any executions or beating or were the rules for prisoner treatment followed?

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  • Beau
    Lv 6
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    With the exception of a few incidents, German, Italian and other European Axis troops who surrendered were generally treated better.

    The cultural shock that American troops experienced when fighting the Japanese - an enemy who often preferred to die in battle rather than surrender - was a significant factor in how Japanese POWs were treated. First of all, American troops often killed Japanese troops who did surrender because they feared it was a trap. Secondly, the anti-Japanese propaganda in the US also made American troops believe that the Japanese were sub-human. This coupled with stories of how Japanese troops treated Allied POWs often resulted in the beating or torture of any captured Japanese troops. In particular, it is well recorded that American troops mutilated the corpses of Japanese troops who surrendered, such as taking out teeth and beheading the corpse to take the skull as a souvenir. Such practice was never conducted on European Axis troops.

    When stories of how the US treated Japanese POWs reached the American media and Japanese media, Japanese propaganda used it to depict how barbaric the Americans were and to warn Japanese troops who wanted surrender the treatment they would get. This strengthened not just the Japanese troops' resolve to die in battle, but it served well to inflict fear on Japanese civilians who then also followed the military in the preference to commit suicide rather than surrender to American troops.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    For the Nazi's and Italians they were treated fairly well compared to how they took care of their prisoners. Usually they would be given some food and water. Not as much as you would see in an American Prison but enough to get them by without constantly starving.

    Japanese prisoners were very unlikely. Most of them would wind up making a suicide charge into American fire if they realized they would wind up loosing. They still believed in some Samurai codes and would rather die honorably on the battlefield than bring shame to their country be being captured. Most of the Japanese prisoners were the ones hiding around after an island has been killed. You would rarely see mass surrenders.

    Usually the US followed basic war laws founded by the Geneva convention.

  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    i anticipate you advise what were the outcome of being isolationist before ww2. basic... Pearl Harbor. ok that's simplistic although that's reality. each and every of the activities that led as a lot as Pearl harbor were immediately or circuitously led to through the isolationist guidelines of the time. the US had a militia presence in Japan round ww, we presented stability and modernization to the area (Japan became nevertheless a feudal kingdom on the top of the 1800's). both the US and Britain left japan suitable on the starting up of that is commercial revolution. basically abandoning it and forcing Japan in to a position the position it became no longer yet waiting to be completely self sufficient. even as warfare broke out contained in the pacific the US did not take sides, it took the region of being "impartial" even with for sure having well-liked family individuals with China. In Europe the league of international locations became abandoned because the US did not help it. because the US did not take a harder stand adversarial to the punitive damages set adversarial to Germany it opened the door for Hitler, and once information confirmed Hitler became re-arming the US did no longer something believing it to be a "eu" issue. also through seperating out selfs Germany became waiting to create a fantastic alliance and saved the different nationes relativly seperate. Isolationism saved us reduce off From England and saved us from modernizing our militia. ww1 ships and airplanes were the norm and actually the shortcoming of technological commerce agreements saved us about 5 years in the back of alternative international locations in maximum fields. It became the isolationist guidelines that gave the international the effect the US became no longer prepared or waiting to strive against. We apeared weak to different international locations and unwilling to take a stand. something of the international felt as even with the reality that the US turned right into a paper tiger and could be a non-component in international politics. there you bypass. there is unquestionably more desirable accessible. yet this may grant you with an theory.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Ver, very few Japanese were evern taken prisoner...

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  • 1 decade ago

    my grandpa was military police in ww2, they werent treated all that great. like 'dogs' is what he said.

    and the guy above is right, prisoners wernt takin usualy, esp in japan.

  • 1 decade ago

    the US has a long standing reputation of following the rules and laws of war besides a few isolated incidents

    Source(s): ROEs and other strict guidelines that i have never seen broken
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