During the United States' carpet bombing of the Tokai region, in which hundreds of people died, the crews of several planes bailed out and were captured. Rather than being tried as prisoners of war in a military court, they were given a summary trial and beheaded, on the orders of Lt. Gen. Okada.
In 1948, Okada and 19 subordinates involved in the executions were indicted for not giving the airmen a formal tribunal and accused of failing to treat them as prisoners of war under the rules of the Geneva Conventions.
In response to the indictment, Okada insisted that the crew were not POWs but war criminals who carried out indiscriminate bombings, violating the 1923 Rules of Aerial Warfare. He also claimed that he could only give them a summary trial in the chaos and confusion at that time. At the same time, though, Okada admitted responsibility for the execution of the U.S. airmen and protected his subordinates by saying they had just followed his orders.
Okada called the trial a "hosen" (legal battle) and his honest and dignified attitude impressed those in the court, especially the American judges and prosecutors, who eventually called for his sentence to be commuted. Even though he was sentenced to be hanged, Okada thanked them for a fair trial.
I rarely post about tragic stuff.. . but I decided that the complete deleting of war crimes from the collective knowledge because of censored books that are all the Board of Education will "approve" for US public schools, pisses me off enough to post the facts on a rare occasion.
In 1948, Okada and 19 subordinates involved in the executions were indicted for not giving the airmen a formal tribunal and accused of failing to treat them as prisoners of war under the rules of the Geneva Conventions.
In response to the indictment, Okada insisted that the crew were not POWs but war criminals who carried out indiscriminate bombings, violating the 1923 Rules of Aerial Warfare. He also claimed that he could only give them a summary trial in the chaos and confusion at that time. At the same time, though, Okada admitted responsibility for the execution of the U.S. airmen and protected his subordinates by saying they had just followed his orders.
Okada called the trial a "hosen" (legal battle) and his honest and dignified attitude impressed those in the court, especially the American judges and prosecutors, who eventually called for his sentence to be commuted. Even though he was sentenced to be hanged, Okada thanked them for a fair trial.
I rarely post about tragic stuff.. . but I decided that the complete deleting of war crimes from the collective knowledge because of censored books that are all the Board of Education will "approve" for US public schools, pisses me off enough to post the facts on a rare occasion.
Incendiary carpet bombing of the Tokai region (Nagoya, etc.) killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, not "hundreds". Similar firebomb attacks on Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, and most other Japanese cities killed upwards of 200,000 people and displaced millions, again mostly civilians. The incendiary devices used were very carefully designed and tested to burn down the typical Japanese wood home and create firestorms, not destroy factories or military bases.
ReplyDeleteOne can argue about the necessity and morality of what was done, but ultimately it's the victor who gets to decide what does and doesn't constitute a war crime...
The Japanese didn't follow the rules for treatment of POW's either. Read "Unbroken" about Louie Zamperini during WW2. The Japanese didn't tell the Red Cross that he was a POW and forced the POWs to perform slave labor, among other mistreatment.
ReplyDeletethat was my point.... I didn't give any thought to the widespread carpet bombing of Japan... but shit, how does dropping nuke bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki follow the Geneva convention? Those were civilian populations wiped OUT. Ended the damn war in the Pacific though. I wonder, just how long would the war with Japan gone on without the nukes? The USA only had ONE combat mission on the home island of Japan, the rest of the combat was all in other places. Anyway, Japan also did slave labor of the Chinese, and other countries, and used their girls and women as sex slaves, willing or not.
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