The remaining 936 British POWs were transported to Japan on the ‘Shinsei Maru’. By the time this ship reached the port of Moji in Kyushu – a further five British POWs had died. Of the original number of 1,816 British POWs that had boarded the ‘Lisbon Maru’ on September 27th, 1942, by the time they eventually arrived in Japan (around October 8th, 1942), only 931 British POWs remained! (What happened to the five seriously wounded British POWs left in Shanghai I do not know). This entire episode means that through a combination of a US ‘War Crime’ and continued Imperial Japanese ‘War Crimes’, in a matter of just eleven days in 1942, these two countries conspired to murder 885 British POWs! The number would have been much higher if not for the selfless actions of the Chinese fishermen (and their families) who came from Dongji Island!
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 