Howie Felterbush i mean.. he’s not completely wrong. The US signed but did not ratify parts of the Geneva Convention additions in 1977, Protocol I and II. It’s kinda easy to google and check for yourself.
@@Ietterbox actually the guy in charge realized incinery bombs worked best on Japan. He knew what he was doing and was worried about being tried as a war criminal if the US lost.
@Ordinary Sessel it's well known in both the European and Pacific theatres civilians were targeted by the allies to slow production and break morale. War is not something you want in your country and to be avoided at all costs.
I have read that on Wake Island there is a large rock with the words “98 Americans executed by Japanese,” permanently carved into the rock. (I may have quoted it wrong.) The story goes that it was that last survivor who carved those words before he too was recaptured and executed. It would be interesting to know how much of that story is true.
The '98 Rock' most definitely exists. It has the words '98 US P.W 5-10-43' chiseled into it and a plaque that was added after the war. More info here www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-98-rock-united-states-minor-outlying-islands
The japanese warrior culture literally couldn't understand surrender- it was never an option for the average japanese soldier. Japenese POW's in Australia repeatedly charged their captors in order to be gunned down, preferring death to imprisonment. Therefore, the japanese had no respect for any of the POW's they held- to surrender instead of fighting to the death was seen as cowardly.
I don't think they really believed that, they were just deluded they would keep winning forever. Since they were captured then they should have no objection to execution
@@TEXwithNODS i can also see it as a "justified" strategic *militaristic* move, seeing as they were anticipating an invasion , needed the manpower away from the prison, and likely saw the prisoners as likely unattended attackers - so they had to, in their minds, take out the threat.. From a purely war perspective I can kind of understand the idea.
Dr. Mark Felton may be replacing my cable TV subscription. Always perfect. And his War Stories WITHOUT his usual MFP fantastic video footage, is STILL better than anything on television.
The 265 contractor POWs that were sent to Japan aboard Tachibana Maru then went further south to Sasebo's Fukuoka Camp 18B to work on Soto Dam. Their treatment was brutal; little food, little protection from the elements and dangerous work resulted in 53 deaths by time the dam was completed in April 1944. Originally those who died were buried near the dam, their remains were repatriated in 1949. In 1956 Sasebo City erected a memorial to the 53 POWs and 14 Japanese laborers who died building the dam. Every year around Memorial Day the US Navy and Sasebo City comes together and hold a memorial ceremony for them.
What happened to the American pows? Well basically what you would expect to happen to a bunch of pows in Japanese captivity who no longer served any purpose to their captors. Also incredible and depressing how that one American got away and hid for so long, only then to meet the most cruel of fates.
Thank you, Mark! I'm something of a WW2 history buff and always wondered why we didn't retake Wake sooner. Even more surprising is what happened after Wake was taken. This information is shouldn't have been this obscure. Thanks again, Mark!!
Dr. Felton, you are the real history channel. We never learned of these things in the states when we were in school, just 20 years after the war. It is also good to get the British side's perspective in your presenting of WWll history. Thank you.
I was supposed to go to Wake as part of a USAF communications mobility team in the early 80's. Thankfully I was never deployed. If I was deployed its likely no one would have been left to tell or listen to that story. Thanks again Dr. Felton for shedding light on bravery and history not taught about in U.S. schools.
@ Sure, I forgive everyone that did warcrimes hundred or even thousand years ago. I don't really care what happened in the past I look at the way people are acting now. The Japanese are doing very well and most people around the world like them. The people were a product of the time and their surroundings, we can't change things that happened in history.
I've read quite a few about WWII and I'm always amazed by the quality of Mark Felton's videos as well as the level of details in documentaries, this must mean tons of work reading and selecting sources on top of preparing the videos I'm learning like never, great job!
The Pacific campaign is such an interesting subject. I'd love to see someone do a video on the Australian involvement as far as the observer/comunication roles that were carried out.
Thank you for creating this content. While Japanese war crimes are documented, they seem to be less well-known in the popular consciousness. It is important, I think, that every generation learn about what human beings from every culture are capable of in times of war.
Mark, your work is outstanding. I’ve seen your work on Axis Sallies (I lived near Mildred Gillars’ college in Ohio) and Tokyo Rose, but would love an insightful piece on French Collaborators, during and after the war. Women were humiliated in public for relationships with Germans while Coco Channel walked. Maurice Chevalier escaped the public’s wrath. There must be more. I can’t imagine living in France with Vichy French and collaborators living side by side with Free French veterans/widows etc. You have the knowledge base and acumen to pull this off. Thank you.
@@badgerattoadhall Totally dishonorable, you're trying to defend the indefensible, just take a look at their own history of brutality, it goes all the way back to at least the invasions of Korea 1592-98. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimizuka "Mow down everyone universally, without discriminating between young and old, men and women, clergy and the laity-high ranking soldiers on the battlefield, that goes without saying, but also the hill folk, down to the poorest and meanest-and send the heads to Japan." 1937 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_Massacre 1945 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_massacre
In War dishonor is everywhere to be found. There are some interesting stories about the treatment of laborers during the building of The Burma Road, for example.
Bought and loved you book "Guarding Hitler". Like your video it was concise and informative. It presented information I hadn't read before. Nice job. (and of course my mind read it in your voice!)
Following the 1943 air raids the 2,000 Japanese garrison were almost cut off from supplies. Ultimately about three-quarters of the Japanese garrison perished. On September 4, 1945, the Japanese garrison surrendered to a detachment of United States Marines under the command of Brigadier General Lawson H. M. Sanderson. (src Wikipedia)
He thought the penalty to harsh after shooting 94 unarmed men that were tied up and beheading the one that got away? His justice is sloped the wrong way.
Thanks for the video Mark. What a tragic waste of life and horrendous war crime. Difficult to reconcile the Japan today to the Japan of the 1930’s and 40’s.
While I agree he deserves the monetary compensation that would come with a "Netflix" show, the quality of his research, writing, and narration far surpasses anything on that site. Netflix quite literally wouldn't be good enough, imho.
Please dude. Mark is a Historian, concerned with unearthing truths. Netflix is only interested in pushing its pro LGBT narrative (Stranger Things and Cuties is just the latest), on behalf of Barry and Michael Obama. Mark would take your comment as an insult.
@@edwardcharlesworth9679 worked. We jettisoned them straight into the future. Ever been there? You can buy used panties out of vending machines man. We did them a favor. I almost wanna drop one on us real quick and just fast-forward thru 2020
Wake island is an awesome place to visit. When walking around the island it feels like hallowed ground. Buildings/rooms are named after the brave men who served on the island.
I landed on Wake Island in 1966 on the way to nam . There was an old Japanese cannon outside the wood terminal building that we waited in . It was a shock to see it still there .
"To be replaced by the sound of waves lapping on the sea shore...." The Japanese soldier who recorded the last moments of RAAF Flight Lieutenant William Newton in his diary ended his account with: "This will be something to remember all my life. If ever I get back alive it will make a good story to tell, so I have written it down. "At Salamaua observation post, 30 Mar '43, 0110 hours, to the sound of the midnight waves."
It seems to me that it would be an interesting setting to a novel: A Japanese occupied island... and the guilt buried in the sand of the North shore...an island bypassed and withering on the vine...the two years spent waiting for what we now know was inevitable.
After being in japanese custody? Probly felt like a holiday. God I hate humans sometimes, Its so alien to me to even conceive of the kinds of things the Japanese and others did to POW's, like how? How do you get that way.
@@GrumpyMunkyGameDesign To understand the actions of the Imperial japanese, you must first understand Japanese culture, honor, guilt, and the value (or lack thereof) of humanity itself. Alien, indeed, is a very good way to view ancient Eastern ideologies that remained in modern times. Barbarism, committed with machines, is still barbarian.
@@Hongobogologomo 'and others' to quote myself. I don't relegate these atrocities to a single race or idealism, more the fact that a human of any race or gender and ideological background, could do these things to another human of any race or gender or ideological background, itself, is alien to me. I don't see race or gender or idealism, I only see humans hurting humans.
The escaped prisoner managed to carve an inscription in a rock “98 POWs 5-10-43” its on the south eastern part of the island on the shore of the lagoon. I wonder if he swam across the lagoon during his escape at night. I saw a sea snake swimming along in the shallows. It was a sobering sight when I travelled there last July.
Brought memories of my uncle, we didn't understand the horror he went through. He would try and rough house with us in the early fifties but would easily tire. His brother who was in WW I saw a documentary in the sixties and saw his brother Leo being marched by the Japanese on Wake Island.
Excellent narrative and story-telling from Mark Felton. What about the fate of the marines and navy personnel that were shipped to South East Asia to do forced labor? How many of those men survived the war?
Dick Breuer Yes, I agree. It still baffles me that even in the face of the terrible deeds these people did, and the facts were well known at the time, our own politicians like Joe McCarthy and others here in the US actually fought hard for these criminals not to face trial and their just rewards. The UN, led by the US, even sealed the records of many of the worst offenders so our own allies like Britain etc. could not access them! I still don’t understand that. I do understand things like Operation Paperclip, that rescued Werner Von Braun and others like him, as detestable as it was.
Agreed entirely 👍. All of the Trawniki men and women were criminal psycopaths who killed without mercy, and often for their own warped amusement. They should have ALL been hanged after the war, instead of just a handful.
Completely agree... but I cut the allies a little slack when I put myself in their shoes. When Germany/Japan were done... one must turn their focus to Stalin. He was committing any number of crimes while we were fighting alongside him.
Another eye opener, as usual well researched, names, ranks, dates, and quotes. Thank you yet again Dr Felton. Have you considered the Japanese mass escape from Cowra NSW Australia?
My Uncle was a civilian captured on Wake. He and his brother were taken to China, worked on the Burma railroad and then taken to work at a munitions plant in Tokyo. My Aunt told me after he talked to me about the war, witch he didn't even do with his own family, he had nightmares for weeks. He was a great man and raised a great family. Rest in peace Gene Hargis.
My father served in the Pacific from 1943/ 1945 as a US. Navy Hospital Corpsman. He saw his fair share of Japanese atrocities. He always said we should have fried as many as possible. Every World War II Pacific Veteran I ever spoke to felt the same way. They should know. They lived through it.
12:26 What do you mean duely hanged. Is that a thing? Do people hang someone twice, I feel like after their neck breaks the 1st time, the 2nd time around the head would just come off from the weight of the body 🤔??? Plz help.
Thanks for reporting this history. I have more respect for those officers who killed themselves than for the commander who order the senseless killing of innocent men and also made his men into war criminals.
@@puppetguy8726 Just mentioning that inane fact in this tragic context is proof that your head is made of wood and your body and soul hollow. A real puppet...
One thing I'm curious about and don't know the answer to is this... If an officer during WW2 was ordered to commit a war crime and refused the order, wouldn't they have been guilty of a crime then as well? It really seems like a no win situation for a junior officer.
This history offers a pretty good lesson in human nature. Cruelty then a demand for kindness. Awareness that what one has done is wrong. And eventually the truth comes out.
"Unfair"? Yeah, like how fair, noble, and honorable to personally behead a starving, unarmed, and tied up POW with a sword just to get your kicks playing a Samuari.Cowardly bastard lies to save his neck, then whines that he didn't get his way at the trial.
thank you sir for sharing this atrocity. The behavious of the Japanese in the war was unbelievable, and what they did in china was far far worse. The new generations of Japanese mostly do not know this history. Every nation has committed atrocities. It boggles the mind that Napoleon is venerated when he would be treated as a war criminal today (e.g., massacre of > 4000 arab troups on a beach)
I like how the Japanese Officers suddenly care about the Geneva convention when telling their stories.
Supposedly the Japanese never signed the Geneva same with the Soviet Union they never recognized it
@@Xiahoud you got that wrong
*QVOD LICET IOVI NON LICET BOVI*
mr hamburger he’s right about them not caring about it, but yeah they have signed it.
Howie Felterbush i mean.. he’s not completely wrong. The US signed but did not ratify parts of the Geneva Convention additions in 1977, Protocol I and II. It’s kinda easy to google and check for yourself.
I wish mark Felton owned the history channel.
I’ll pass the hat. The quality of programming would go up by 186,000 times.
Hah! Who would want to own a landfill?
Mark Felton IS THE History Channel.
You want to swap aliens for shitty pop history aimed at American nazi fetishists?
He does “own” the history channel, in the American way of speaking.
wild that the Japanese officer thought the mass murder of 98 civilians didnt warrant a death sentence
@GbbJunkie thats a little different bro, still wrong but unintentional. either way this comment has nothing to do with the topic
@@Ietterbox actually the guy in charge realized incinery bombs worked best on Japan. He knew what he was doing and was worried about being tried as a war criminal if the US lost.
@Ordinary Sessel it's well known in both the European and Pacific theatres civilians were targeted by the allies to slow production and break morale. War is not something you want in your country and to be avoided at all costs.
@@graham2631 If the US lost. I really don't think anyone would be thinking that would ever happen. Your source may be flawed.
@@Ietterbox "Wrong" can be debated for centuries, but "unintentional" is a monstrous lie..
Thank you Mark Felton for marking this piece of history.
Mark Felton > History Channel
Seine O'More They definitely aren’t what they use to be.
I have read that on Wake Island there is a large rock with the words “98 Americans executed by Japanese,” permanently carved into the rock. (I may have quoted it wrong.) The story goes that it was that last survivor who carved those words before he too was recaptured and executed. It would be interesting to know how much of that story is true.
@Roger Gertz Put down the bottle son.
The '98 Rock' most definitely exists. It has the words '98 US P.W 5-10-43' chiseled into it and a plaque that was added after the war. More info here www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-98-rock-united-states-minor-outlying-islands
@Roger Gertz The Return of the Legendary Super Fuper *. . . ;-)*
@Roger Gertz Please don't pollute this channel with QAnon ravings.
@@roscoewhite3793 is that what that nonesense is?
I was on Wake when the location of the massacre was found...
I really don’t understand the japanese, how is it honorable or brave to execute prisoners. Really just makes you a cowardly hypocrite
The japanese warrior culture literally couldn't understand surrender- it was never an option for the average japanese soldier. Japenese POW's in Australia repeatedly charged their captors in order to be gunned down, preferring death to imprisonment. Therefore, the japanese had no respect for any of the POW's they held- to surrender instead of fighting to the death was seen as cowardly.
Not totally.
They have not owned up to what they did during the war.
I don't think they really believed that, they were just deluded they would keep winning forever. Since they were captured then they should have no objection to execution
@@TEXwithNODS i can also see it as a "justified" strategic *militaristic* move, seeing as they were anticipating an invasion , needed the manpower away from the prison, and likely saw the prisoners as likely unattended attackers - so they had to, in their minds, take out the threat.. From a purely war perspective I can kind of understand the idea.
Dr. Mark Felton may be replacing my cable TV subscription. Always perfect. And his War Stories WITHOUT his usual MFP fantastic video footage, is STILL better than anything on television.
The 265 contractor POWs that were sent to Japan aboard Tachibana Maru then went further south to Sasebo's Fukuoka Camp 18B to work on Soto Dam. Their treatment was brutal; little food, little protection from the elements and dangerous work resulted in 53 deaths by time the dam was completed in April 1944. Originally those who died were buried near the dam, their remains were repatriated in 1949. In 1956 Sasebo City erected a memorial to the 53 POWs and 14 Japanese laborers who died building the dam. Every year around Memorial Day the US Navy and Sasebo City comes together and hold a memorial ceremony for them.
Tx for making sure we knew about that
What happened to the American pows? Well basically what you would expect to happen to a bunch of pows in Japanese captivity who no longer served any purpose to their captors. Also incredible and depressing how that one American got away and hid for so long, only then to meet the most cruel of fates.
It was not Just Americans That DIED it's why it's called a WORL WAR
At least he got 3 more weeks of life. For what it's worth.
Right? I bet that was a ROUGH 3 weeks... liekly was forced to turn himself in due to exposure or starvation...
Thank you, Mark! I'm something of a WW2 history buff and always wondered why we didn't retake Wake sooner. Even more surprising is what happened after Wake was taken. This information is shouldn't have been this obscure. Thanks again, Mark!!
Dr. Felton, you are the real history channel. We never learned of these things in the states when we were in school, just 20 years after the war. It is also good to get the British side's perspective in your presenting of WWll history. Thank you.
I was supposed to go to Wake as part of a USAF communications mobility team in the early 80's. Thankfully I was never deployed. If I was deployed its likely no one would have been left to tell or listen to that story. Thanks again Dr. Felton for shedding light on bravery and history not taught about in U.S. schools.
A fair and balanced telling of this very sad story.
I’m especially a fan of your Pacific theater content. Keep up the awesome work mark!
I still think the Japanese got off easy.
They suffered greatly during the war but they brought their suffering upon themselves. No one got off easy...
@ Sure, I forgive everyone that did warcrimes hundred or even thousand years ago. I don't really care what happened in the past I look at the way people are acting now. The Japanese are doing very well and most people around the world like them. The people were a product of the time and their surroundings, we can't change things that happened in history.
Far too easy.
@@Kekkeri59 Japan ignore the atrocities and war crimes of their past.
So does the United States.
I've read quite a few about WWII and I'm always amazed by the quality of Mark Felton's videos as well as the level of details in documentaries, this must mean tons of work reading and selecting sources on top of preparing the videos I'm learning like never, great job!
Mark, you made no mention of the message "98 US PW 5-10-43" that the escapee carved on a large coral rock before his recapture.
It was mentioned in the last episode I think
Mark your research is simply outstanding in the stories that we should never forget. Thanks for sharing!
The Pacific campaign is such an interesting subject. I'd love to see someone do a video on the Australian involvement as far as the observer/comunication roles that were carried out.
Michener wrote about it in South Pacific
Thank you for creating this content. While Japanese war crimes are documented, they seem to be less well-known in the popular consciousness. It is important, I think, that every generation learn about what human beings from every culture are capable of in times of war.
Mark, your work is outstanding. I’ve seen your work on Axis Sallies (I lived near Mildred Gillars’ college in Ohio) and Tokyo Rose, but would love an insightful piece on French Collaborators, during and after the war. Women were humiliated in public for relationships with Germans while Coco Channel walked. Maurice Chevalier escaped the public’s wrath. There must be more. I can’t imagine living in France with Vichy French and collaborators living side by side with Free French veterans/widows etc.
You have the knowledge base and acumen to pull this off. Thank you.
The IJM during WW2 were so brutal and dishonorable.
Not dishonorable. Look at the islands tjey gave no quarter and expected none. We would kill all but a handful of a garrison.
Badger at Toad Hall executing dozens of civilian contractors is unacceptable regardless of how screwed you are
@@badgerattoadhall Totally dishonorable, you're trying to defend the indefensible, just take a look at their own history of brutality, it goes all the way back to at least the invasions of Korea 1592-98.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimizuka
"Mow down everyone universally, without discriminating between young and old, men and women, clergy and the laity-high ranking soldiers on the battlefield, that goes without saying, but also the hill folk, down to the poorest and meanest-and send the heads to Japan."
1937
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_Massacre
1945
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_massacre
In War dishonor is everywhere to be found. There are some interesting stories about the treatment of laborers during the building of The Burma Road, for example.
@@panzermacher Leave any survivors, they may come back at another time for revenge, which the Japanese did not wish to risk.
Mark, you never disappoint.
I was literally just watching the first one when you said to tune in for part to just to have it been just posted
But it is sad on what happened
Excellent presentation on a little known event in the PTO. Thanks.
Bought and loved you book "Guarding Hitler". Like your video it was concise and informative. It presented information I hadn't read before. Nice job. (and of course my mind read it in your voice!)
Outstanding video and presentation
Following the 1943 air raids the 2,000 Japanese garrison were almost cut off from supplies. Ultimately about three-quarters of the Japanese garrison perished. On September 4, 1945, the Japanese garrison surrendered to a detachment of United States Marines under the command of Brigadier General Lawson H. M. Sanderson. (src Wikipedia)
He thought the penalty to harsh after shooting 94 unarmed men that were tied up and beheading the one that got away? His justice is sloped the wrong way.
He also said he executed his orders with PLEASURE! I think that slicing him with his katana salami-style (starting from the toes) is in order...
Excellent presentation, Mark. Very detailed and in-depth episode. As ever!
Keep the audio historicals coming.. Love them! Great work!
Excellent, as always, DOCTOR Mark Felton! 🙂
I like how the Japanese used the word (Excape)in there defending of there actions..... My question is. (Just where were they going to go?)
Thanks for the video Mark. What a tragic waste of life and horrendous war crime. Difficult to reconcile the Japan today to the Japan of the 1930’s and 40’s.
Mark, there are so many Tubers out there; I gotta say you are tops in in this history niche.
Thank you Mark Felton.
100.000 subs - congratulations!
Fantastic Dr. Mark. I especially enjoyed both parts. Thank you.
Im waiting for the day mark gets his own Netflix show
While I agree he deserves the monetary compensation that would come with a "Netflix" show, the quality of his research, writing, and narration far surpasses anything on that site. Netflix quite literally wouldn't be good enough, imho.
netflix is dogshit and his content isn't fake for that
@@johnqpublic2718 I agree. Netflix os overrated and never has anything I want to see. Other outlets are better suited for Mark.
I'd watch the shit out of it
Please dude. Mark is a Historian, concerned with unearthing truths.
Netflix is only interested in pushing its pro LGBT narrative (Stranger Things and Cuties is just the latest), on behalf of Barry and Michael Obama.
Mark would take your comment as an insult.
In fairness the Americans behaviour towards the Japanese after the war was pretty restrained.
The Americans could have done most anything and it would have looked restrained compared to what the Japanese did
Gunter G including dropping two atomic bombs...
@@gunterg7309 yes
@@edwardcharlesworth9679 worked. We jettisoned them straight into the future. Ever been there? You can buy used panties out of vending machines man. We did them a favor. I almost wanna drop one on us real quick and just fast-forward thru 2020
@@christopherroberts2183 haha
Another well researched and presented video.
Thanks Mark.
Good vid Mark, thank you Sir.
Mark's writing puts the listener in the middle of the action
Wake island is an awesome place to visit. When walking around the island it feels like hallowed ground. Buildings/rooms are named after the brave men who served on the island.
I landed on Wake Island in 1966 on the way to nam . There was an old Japanese cannon outside the wood terminal building that we waited in . It was a shock to see it still there .
Excellent storytelling as usual.
well made video keep them coming
Forgive? Possibly ... Never forget
Forgive.... ?
No.
Forget... ?
I pray,.. Never Again.
Never Stay Silent.
Keep the 10&7.
Nothing is learned if we just forgive, retribution is called for, let God forgive them if he wishes, for us revenge is best.
Absolutely Fascinating~!
What a fantastic video Mark. I enjoy your videos. I was wondering if you could do a video on Ambon island massacre at laha airstrip.
"To be replaced by the sound of waves lapping on the sea shore...." The Japanese soldier who recorded the last moments of RAAF Flight Lieutenant William Newton in his diary ended his account with:
"This will be something to remember all my life. If ever I get back alive it will make a good story to tell, so I have written it down.
"At Salamaua observation post, 30 Mar '43, 0110 hours, to the sound of the midnight waves."
Me: I should sleep, it's almost 2am
Mark Felton's new videos: how about no
Bravo Dr. Felton. Another great one.
Thank you
It seems to me that it would be an interesting setting to a novel: A Japanese occupied island... and the guilt buried in the sand of the North shore...an island bypassed and withering on the vine...the two years spent waiting for what we now know was inevitable.
Imagine what those three weeks were like for that survivor before he was recaptured and murdered.
After being in japanese custody? Probly felt like a holiday. God I hate humans sometimes, Its so alien to me to even conceive of the kinds of things the Japanese and others did to POW's, like how? How do you get that way.
@@GrumpyMunkyGameDesign To understand the actions of the Imperial japanese, you must first understand Japanese culture, honor, guilt, and the value (or lack thereof) of humanity itself.
Alien, indeed, is a very good way to view ancient Eastern ideologies that remained in modern times. Barbarism, committed with machines, is still barbarian.
@@Hongobogologomo 'and others' to quote myself. I don't relegate these atrocities to a single race or idealism, more the fact that a human of any race or gender and ideological background, could do these things to another human of any race or gender or ideological background, itself, is alien to me. I don't see race or gender or idealism, I only see humans hurting humans.
@@Hongobogologomo Shame the Japanese were not taught something about Western cultures.. like it's ok to surrender when there is no hope left.
I do love it when a story like this has a happy ending
Keep up the great work.... love ❤️ your videos mark 👍
The escaped prisoner managed to carve an inscription in a rock “98 POWs 5-10-43” its on the south eastern part of the island on the shore of the lagoon. I wonder if he swam across the lagoon during his escape at night. I saw a sea snake swimming along in the shallows. It was a sobering sight when I travelled there last July.
Brought memories of my uncle, we didn't understand the horror he went through. He would try and rough house with us in the early fifties but would easily tire. His brother who was in WW I saw a documentary in the sixties and saw his brother Leo being marched by the Japanese on Wake Island.
Excellent narrative and story-telling from Mark Felton. What about the fate of the marines and navy personnel that were shipped to South East Asia to do forced labor? How many of those men survived the war?
Not enough Japanese and German war criminals were executed
Dick Breuer Yes, I agree. It still baffles me that even in the face of the terrible deeds these people did, and the facts were well known at the time, our own politicians like Joe McCarthy and others here in the US actually fought hard for these criminals not to face trial and their just rewards. The UN, led by the US, even sealed the records of many of the worst offenders so our own allies like Britain etc. could not access them! I still don’t understand that. I do understand things like Operation Paperclip, that rescued Werner Von Braun and others like him, as detestable as it was.
Agreed entirely 👍. All of the Trawniki men and women were criminal psycopaths who killed without mercy, and often for their own warped amusement. They should have ALL been hanged after the war, instead of just a handful.
Completely agree... but I cut the allies a little slack when I put myself in their shoes. When Germany/Japan were done... one must turn their focus to Stalin. He was committing any number of crimes while we were fighting alongside him.
What about Our Own War Criminals ???
@@bryansmith1920 The vast majority of WW2 deaths were civilians and the Allied side was 85% of those casualties
Excellent video Mark!
Mark certainly has all the right stuff for making great videos.
@@raygiordano1045 correct!
Thanks
The rusted Gun Battery & the beautiful Dunes behind it now appears so Peaceful, in intro pic.
Thank ou for reporting this too sad criminal event, Dr. Felton.
100K coming up, great job!
Dude, Mark, u rock.
Thank you.
Whoa... this is one helluva story!! Really would make a great film...
there's 2 already.
Another eye opener, as usual well researched, names, ranks, dates, and quotes. Thank you yet again Dr Felton. Have you considered the Japanese mass escape from Cowra NSW Australia?
Sad these men were abandoned in the first place, they should have been picked up .
My Uncle was a civilian captured on Wake. He and his brother were taken to China, worked on the Burma railroad and then taken to work at a munitions plant in Tokyo. My Aunt told me after he talked to me about the war, witch he didn't even do with his own family, he had nightmares for weeks. He was a great man and raised a great family. Rest in peace Gene Hargis.
At least the Japanese Admiral didn’t call the whole thing a hoax meant to make him look bad
They had a documentary with the survivors on history channel years ago.
"The trial was unfair, the sentence unjust. I should be acquitted, given a medal and placed in charge of a Mitsubishi Auto plant of my choice!"
Great video
My father served in the Pacific from 1943/ 1945 as a US. Navy Hospital Corpsman. He saw his fair share of Japanese atrocities.
He always said we should have fried as many as possible. Every World War II Pacific Veteran I ever spoke to felt the same way. They should know. They lived through it.
Funny, his last words, 'I obey with pleasure..' Ha, it wasn't up to him to obey or not. He's dead for what did.
12:26
What do you mean duely hanged.
Is that a thing?
Do people hang someone twice, I feel like after their neck breaks the 1st time, the 2nd time around the head would just come off from the weight of the body 🤔??? Plz help.
Thanks for reporting this history. I have more respect for those officers who killed themselves than for the commander who order the senseless killing of innocent men and also made his men into war criminals.
You got yourself an sub love ur channel
The murdered American weren't the only tragedy, the wake island rail (bird) became extinct during ww2
I feel that thats a massively ignored topic of WW2. The amount of species that likely went extinct during all the land and sea bombinh
Who cares? Anyone who is more concerned about some birds than human beings needs their head examined.
@@garywagner2466 Nobody, me especially, said that the tragedies were of equal proportions
@@puppetguy8726 Just mentioning that inane fact in this tragic context is proof that your head is made of wood and your body and soul hollow. A real puppet...
The self preservation was strong with these war criminals, seems like even they knew there was no honor in killing defenseless men.
One thing I'm curious about and don't know the answer to is this...
If an officer during WW2 was ordered to commit a war crime and refused the order, wouldn't they have been guilty of a crime then as well?
It really seems like a no win situation for a junior officer.
I may have missed it, but who were the Americans in the screen shot?
This history offers a pretty good lesson in human nature. Cruelty then a demand for kindness. Awareness that what one has done is wrong. And eventually the truth comes out.
Must’ve been 3 long weeks for the escapee.
Thanks Mark.
How many reasons did Truman need to STOP Japan
Will there be another episode on some of the prisoners that were sent to China?
“But I obey, with pleasure” wow
Right? Kind of a weirdo imo..
The Japanese earned those nukes.
Agreed
YES-very much so
Taskforce containing the carrier Yorktown, October 5 and 6, 1943?
Big mistake there, unless there was a new carrier commissioned Yorktown, I don’t think so. It had been sunk a year before.
Mr. Mark.. what about the Army troops on the Island north of Midway?
"Unfair"? Yeah, like how fair, noble, and honorable to personally behead a starving, unarmed, and tied up POW with a sword just to get your kicks playing a Samuari.Cowardly bastard lies to save his neck, then whines that he didn't get his way at the trial.
If its any compensation my father and his comrades took no Japanese prisoners in Burma if they could possibly avoid it.
Hey doctor. What became of the wake prisoners who were sent to China or Japan?
thank you sir for sharing this atrocity. The behavious of the Japanese in the war was unbelievable, and what they did in china was far far worse. The new generations of Japanese mostly do not know this history. Every nation has committed atrocities. It boggles the mind that Napoleon is venerated when he would be treated as a war criminal today (e.g., massacre of > 4000 arab troups on a beach)
What is the photo?