Extended Edition: The United States Retakes Wake Island in 1943

When the US surrendered Wake Island on 23 December 1941 after the second invasion attempt by the Japanese, the Americans on the island immediately became prisoners of war (POWs). Of the nearly 449 Marines of the 1st Defense Battalion and VMF-211, 49 were killed and 32 wounded in action, while the rest became POWs. Of the 68 Navy personnel, 3 were killed in action and 5 were wounded in action. The Army detachment did not lose any of its soldiers, while the 1,146 civilians lost 70 killed and 20 wounded. 

If you know anything about the war in the Pacific and the Japanese military’s treatment of POWs, these Americans were in for a long, hard journey of internment. Three weeks after the battle ended, most of the American POWs, except for 350-360, were put aboard the Nitta Maru, a passenger cargo liner built during the 30s. The vessel brought fresh supplies to Wake and 500 additional Japanese troops on 12 January 1942. Those that were left on the island were either too badly wounded to be moved or were civilian contractors who the Japanese would use to refortify the island (many knew how to operate the heavy machinery). Roughly 20 started due to injuries, and another 367 remained for their construction experience. The rest were put on the Nitta Maru, bound for Japan. 

On 17 January, the Nitta Maru arrived in Japan, where the Americans were put on display for the Japanese press, most likely used for propaganda purposes. The vessel then continued on to China. These prisoner vessels were often called “hell ships,” as they were left in crammed holds in unsanitary conditions. The POWs were constantly subject to beatings and tormented by their Japanese captors. On this journey, Toshio Saito, the Japanese commander, carried out the execution of five POWs as retribution for the defense of Wake. Five men were chosen at random and were brought topside, where Saito told them, “You have killed many Japanese soldiers in battle. For what you have done, you are now going to be killed as representatives of American soldiers.” They were then beheaded and the bodies thrown overboard. 

Nitta Maru seen in service in 1940. She would be converted into an escort carrier called Chūyō in 1942.

Sadly, this treatment was pretty common throughout the war. The Japanese despised anyone who surrendered, for it went against their Bushido code. But moreover, the Japanese had a very racist worldview, perceiving themselves as the superior Asian race that should dominate the Pacific rather than white, Western powers. The racial nature of this war led to unimaginably cruel acts of hate and violence (1195 Singalong Street during the Battle of Manila, for example). As such, the journey of these POWs doesn’t stop here. 

From China to Japan

Those transported to China arrived in Shanghai before being placed on a train bound for Woosung, where they spent several years. A report produced by the Red Cross and published in the LA Times on 23 August 1943 describes the conditions in this camp:

A total of 1500 American civilians, along with 48 British naval personnel and merchant seamen, are interned in this camp near the Whangpoo River, Shanghai.

[Note: Carefully omitted in any mention were the 203 China Marines and Wake Island military in this camp]

Prisoners of war, including some Wake Island survivors, in formation at a camp in Hokkaido. 

The camp, originally an army barracks, consists of seven long huts, some smaller buildings, and a large enclosure, which had been leveled to form recreation grounds, and two vegetable gardens. As far as is known, conditions in this camp are tolerable. The prisoners suffered severely from the cold last winter, but the activities of the International Red Cross Committee delegate in Shanghai, who provided stoves and fuel, have improved the situation. Parcels, medicine, warm clothes, and other necessities are sent into the camp under his direction twice a month.

Work is mainly agricultural and not heavy. Medical attention was initially unsatisfactory, but some improvements have been achieved. Prisoners do their own cooking. With the help of parcels sent to the camp and the rations provided, they are able to produce satisfactory results.

In 1945, these prisoners were then moved to Manchuria by train before being shipped over to Japan to work in a coal mine. When the war ended, they were taken to a camp near Tokyo as ordered by the US.  

The Wake Island 98

Meanwhile, back on Wake Island, many Americans were used as forced laborers to rebuild after the invasion and improve the island’s defenses. The Japanese were worried that the US might come back to retake the island, so they made use of the skill sets and expertise the American POWs had to do just that. Many of the improvements were made to the defenses along the southern and eastern shores, where the Japanese believed an invasion force would most likely land (and, based on my blog, I think they would’ve been proven right).

US carrier-based aircraft conducted the air strikes on 5 and 6 October that prompted the massacre of the 98 American POWs.

During this period, Wake Island was constantly harassed from the air by American air power (this would prove important, as we’ll see). From January to November 1942, 45 POWs on the island died from various causes. On 11 May 1942, 20 more POWs, which included the last military POW, were sent to China aboard the Asama Maru. In September,  265 were taken aboard the Tachibana Maru. Then in December, the new Japanese garrison commander, Shigematsu Sakaibara, arrived to take command. 

In July, he executed one POW for stealing food. As the island is hit by air raids from aircraft based on USS Yorktown on 5 and 6 October, Sakaibara begins to fear that an invasion is imminent. On 7 October 1943, he ordered the execution of the remaining 98 American POWs on the island. One of these POWs escapes, carving a message on a rock that still exists there today, before he was recaptured and personally executed by Sakaibara. To this day, we do not know the name of the prisoner who escaped and wrote this message. 

The rock carving was made by one POW who initially escaped the massacre on 7 October 1943. 

The Japanese tried to claim the POWs died in a bombing raid, but that story was found to be false. At war’s end, Sakaibara was tried and found guilty of war crimes. He would be hanged for the massacre. 

Had the US retaken Wake Island in the timeframe I mapped out in the associated blog, it would not have been soon enough to save these POWs. Even so, it’s clear that the POWs probably would’ve been executed at the first sign of a real invasion.

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Sources

1. AlphaHistory. (n.d.). Von Moltke & the Schlieffen Plan (1911). https://alphahistory.com/worldwar1/von-moltke-schlieffen-plan-1911/

2. Battle of Wake Island. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wake_Island

3. Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. (n.d.). Seven Weeks’ War. https://www.britannica.com/event/Seven-Weeks-War 

4. HistoryNet. (n.d.). Battle of Wake Island. https://www.historynet.com/battle-of-wake-island/

5. History.Navy.Mil. (n.d.). Defenders of Wake. https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/world-war-ii/1941/philippines/defenders-of-wake.html

6. Mansell.com. (n.d.). Woo Sung POW Camp, China. http://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/other/woo_sung.html 

7. National Park Service. (n.d.). USMC Pacific Campaign History. https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/wapa/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003119-00/sec6.htm

8. Warfare History Network. (n.d.). Wake Island: Alamo in the Pacific. https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/wake-island-alamo-in-the-pacific/

Images

1. Wikimedia Commons. (n.d.). 98 rock, Wake Island [Photograph]. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:98_rock,_Wake_Island.jpg

2. Wikimedia Commons. (n.d.). Nitta-maru 1940 [Photograph]. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nitta-maru_1940.jpg

3. Wikimedia Commons. (n.d.). Prisoners of War in Formation, 1945 (9044196356) [Photograph]. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prisoners_of_War_in_Formation,_1945_(9044196356).jpg

4. Wikimedia Commons. (n.d.). SED’s attack Wake Island, Oct. 5 and 6, 1943 – NARA – 520609 [Photograph]. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SED%27s_attack_Wake_Island,_Oct._5_and_6,_1943_-_NARA_-_520609.jpg

5. Wikimedia Commons. (n.d.). Shigematsu Sakaibara [Photograph]. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shigematsu_Sakaibara.jpg

6. Wikimedia Commons. (n.d.). Wake civilian contractors marching in captivity 1941 [Photograph]. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wake_civilian_contractors_marching_in_captivity_1941.jpg