Taiwanese POWs in New Guinea

Many Taiwanese farmers drafted to serve in the Pacific War as members of the Agricultural Production Brigade never came home. On Jan 12, 1945, 148 [out of 200] with four from Tamsui, Mr 張根池, Mr 郭福林, Mr 陳九連, and Mr 張流和 were killed in Cape St Jacques, near Saigon. They were on board of Shinsei Maru, a transport ship, sunk by 2 bombs and one torpedo delivered by F6Fs from the US Navy.

Many more such Taiwanese military workers [as well as combat soldiers] ended up in Papua New Guinea. Those who survived the war were incarcerated in POW camps. It was not until one year later when they finally returned home to Taiwan. Here are some photo records:

Photo taken on Nov 23, 1945 showing the POW camp site in Kokopo [formerly Rabaul], New Britain, where Taiwanese, Korean, and Japanese POWs were detained

Taiwanese POWs outside of a storage tent in the 20th POW camp located in Lae, Australian New Guinea, Nov 3, 1945

Taiwanese POW camp trustees in Lae

Growing vegetables - doing what they did best

The Taiwanese have often been portrayed as sadistic prison guards who abused and killed Allied POWs. These were actually in the extreme minority, not among the 80,433 combat soldiers. In all, of the 207,083 Taiwanese who served, 173 [most of them guards] were convicted, sometimes without legal representation, as class BC war criminals with 26 sentenced to death and executed. Needless to say, it was not a pleasant experience for the Taiwanese during and after the trial - in the hands of the Australian military who intended on exacting revenge.

Addendum:

Dr Wei Chiu-Jin, a Taiwanese draftee from Wu-feng, sends his memoir. He recalls waiting to be shipped out from Singapore in early 1945 and saw the arrival of the Awa Maru 阿波丸, the Red Cross relief ship that carried vital supplies to US and Allied POWs. He mentioned seeing shipment of coffee, cigarettes, etc, intended for the American POWs.

Awa Maru was sunk by USS Queenfish on April 1, 1945, despite the Relief for POWs agreement that accorded the ship safe passages. Except for 1 survivor, 2,004 on board were all lost. After this attack, no more supplies for the POWs. The negotiation for a replacement ship was never concluded and the Japanese demand for the compensation of the ship and the lives lost was never met.

The wreckage of Awa Maru was found by the PRC in 1977 and the salvage operation that ensued had recovered no gold, platinum, or diamonds - treasure rumored to be on board.