During the Second World War, there were executions carried out all over the different theatres
of the conflict. But some of the worst war crimes were carried out by the Japanese Army,
and the way they treated some prisoners of war was completely barbaric. Many were forced
into conducting back breaking work on projects such as the Burma Railway, and the conditions
that many Prisoners of War were kept in were truly awful. One way in which Japan would
deal with enemy airmen was to brutally sentence them to death. Many of these Allied soldiers
who had been participating in bombing raids in Japan and their lands, and were captured
were sentenced to death, and many were executed in terrible ways including by sword. But why
was this? Join us today as we look at the Brutal Executions of Allied Airmen by the
Japanese Army. To support our channel, please make sure to subscribe.
On the 13th August 1942, Imperial Japan passed a law and act known as the Enemy Airmen’s
Act. This was a law that stated that any allied airmen participating in bombing raids against
the Japanese in Japan and also territory occupied by them, would be deemed as ‘violators of
the law of war,’ accusing them of being war criminals. This law then meant they were
subject to punishment and trial if captured by the Japanese, and this specific law led
to the deaths of 100s of Allied Airmen throughout the Pacific theatre. This law led to after
the Second World War ended, a number of Japanese Officers who had carried out the illegal executions
of allied airmen being sentenced to death themselves for war crimes.
One raid on Japan carried out by the United States Air Force was the Doolittle Raid, also
known as the Tokyo Raid. It was the first air operation to strike Japanese islands,
and despite being minor compared to later raids, it showed that the Japanese were vulnerable
to air attacks. It was done in retaliation for Pearl Harbour, and was made up of 16 B-25B
Mitchell medium bombers, and each aircraft had a crew of 5 and were launched from USS
Hornet which was in the Pacific Ocean just off Japan. The raid killed around 50 people
and injured 400 including civilians, but the Doolittle Raid had an important psychological
effect on the Japanese. In the US it raised Morale, but in Japan it increased fear of
bombing raids. Of the 16 air crews, 14 complete crews returned. 8 airmen were captured by
the Japanese and three of them were later executed. 8 of them were captured and were
sentenced to death at a military trial in China, before 5 sentences were commuted. The
men were kept in terrible conditions, but on the 28th August 1942 Leftenant Dean E Hallmark,
Leftenant William G Farrow, and Sgt Harold A Spatz were put before a show trial, and
in accordance with the Allied Airmen act, the three were condemned to die. They were
advised on the 14th October 1942 that they would be executed the next day. The three
Americans were brought by truck to the Public Cemetery Number 1 outside of Shanghai. They
were then executed in ceremonial fashion and procedure of the Japanese military, being
shot by a firing squad.
The Doolittle raid embarrassed the Japanese military, and a Secret Military Order was
stated that, ‘an enemy warplane crew who did not violate wartime international law
shall be treated as prisoners of war, and one who acted against the said law shall be
punished as a wartime capital crime.’ The Supreme Commander of the Japanese Forces in
China would agree to this also, and the enemies Airmen Act was passed. This had different
elements to it, and it said. ‘rticle I: This law shall apply to all enemy airmen who
raid the Japanese homeland, Manchukuo, and the Japanese zones of military operations,
and who come within the areas under the jurisdiction of the China Expeditionary Force.
Article II: Any individual who commits any or all of the following shall be subject to
military punishment: Section 1. The bombing, strafing, and otherwise
attacking of civilians with the objective of cowing, intimidating, killing or maiming
them. Section 2. The bombing, strafing or otherwise
attacking of private properties, whatsoever, with the objectives of destroying or damaging
same. Section 3. The bombing, strafing or otherwise
attacking of objectives, other than those of military nature, except in those cases
where such an act is unavoidable. Section 4. In addition to those acts covered
in the preceding three sections, all other acts violating the provisions of International
Law governing warfare. Article III: Military punishment shall be
the death penalty [or] life imprisonment, or a term of imprisonment for not less than
ten years. This military law shall be applicable to all
acts committed prior to the date of its approval.’
This law led to a large amount of allied casualties and airmen being executed by the Japanese.
News of the executions of the three airmen of the DooLittle raid led to huge amounts
of Anger in America, and President Roosevelt condemned the Japanese claiming they were
depraved war criminals and were barbarous. Uproar also reached London, and there was
also anger by the British, and with this the Americans really began to hate the Japanese.
This did cause tension for those Japanese people living inside of America. There were
countless executions of allied airmen who were captured following their attacks on Japanese
held lands, and many of these were performed in public and with immense brutality. One
example is the Chichijima Incident which took place in late 1944. In this the Japanese killed
8 Americans in the Bonin Islands and then treated their remains terribly. 9 airmen escaped
from their planes after being shot down during bombing raids, and 8 of them were captured.
The 9th managed to evade capture, and incredibly was the future American President George H
W Bush, a 20 year old pilot. The captured men were beaten and tortured, and then were
executed on the orders of Leftenent General Tachibana. The men were led into a public
area, before they were then beheaded by sword. Allegedly there Japanese then ate parts of
the bodies of four of the men.
Further executions continued in the pacific theatre. On the 16th March 1945, 331 B-29
heart bombers attacked the Japanese city of Kobe as part of strategic firebombing raid
on the city. It resulted in almost 900 Japanese residents being killed in the firestorms which
destroyed 20% of Kobe. During the attack, 3 B-29s were shot down and lost. Two airmen
were captured by the Japanese after they survived being shot down. They were taken to the Osaka
Military Prison and tortured before they were then sentenced to death. They had been found
guilty of indiscriminate bombing, and the pair were then taken to a place of execution.
One of the men Sergeant Augunus, stated ‘I don’t hate none of you, because you did
your duty as I did my duty, only what I wasn’t to say is that this damn war will be over
soon and there will be peace forever. That is all.’ After attempting to behead the
pair, the Japanese then had to switch execution methods shooting the Americans in the head
as the sword method was botched.
132 allied airmen who were shot down during bombing raids on Japan in the final two years
of the war were executed following trials. Some of these were not even subject to trial,
and a number were deliberately killed including 32 in Fukuoka. 15 of these were beheaded following
the Japanese’ governments intention to surrender was announced. Japanese civilians also attacked
several allied airmen before they could be taken into custody, and for this a number
of mobs killed the men. Also another 94 airmen died from other causes such as succumbing
to injuries, and 52 were killed when they were deliberately left inside a prison by
the Japanese as Tokyo was bombed on the 24th and 25th May 1945.
In July 1945, a flight of B-24 aircraft went on a bombing mission in Singapore, and one
aircraft was shot down. 7 survivors were picked up by two ships and were brought to a naval
base, and then weeks later the men were executed. After the war had come to an end, the Allied
occupation then switched to bringing many of the Japanese officers who had conducted
the trials and illegal executions under the Enemy Airmen’s Act to justice. They brought
a number to trial, and during one trial of Leftannt Commander Okamota, he was accused
of ordering the executions of American airmen in Singapore. Information came out that the
pilots were taken to a naval base and then split up into two groups. Following being
loaded onto a truck, the men were then executed by Japanese sailors allegedly by beheading.
The Enemy Airmen’s Act was a piece of legislation enacted by the Japanese to target those men
who were bombing Japanese settlements. It resulted in the executions of hundreds of
Allied Airmen who fell into captivity, and many of the executions ordered were by sword
and were done in public. These stories helped to make the Japanese incredibly feared, and
their war crimes were later attempted to be punished. But hundreds of allied airmen were
executed when they should have been considered Prisoners of War and probably kept in prison
during the duration of the war, but many who were were kept in horrifying conditions that
would haunt them until the day they died.
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