Hell Ships and Broken Conventions: Japan's Brutal Treatment of WWII POWs

by Maryanne Henderson

The horrors of war extend far beyond the battlefields. Allied soldiers captured by the Japanese would experience starvation, illness, extreme mistreatment, and all too easily, the possibility of death. It is important to analyze the Japanese treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs) during the Second World War, starting with the Japanese disregard for international laws that addressed how POWs should be treated in times of war: “Though a signatory to the 1929 Geneva Convention concerning sick and injured POWs, the Japanese government did not ratify the convention. In its place, the Japanese established their own laws… Nevertheless, throughout the Second World War, Japan often violated these regulations while simultaneously claiming that POWs received proper treatment.” [1] While many nations united in ratifying the Geneva Convention to protect soldiers and POWs, Japan, like a few others such as the Soviet Union, declined to do so and systematically exploited and abused Allied POWs during the conflict.

Japan transported Allied POWs on ships infamously known as “hell ships.” Many of these vessels were former passenger liners or cargo ships, converted from civilian use into floating prisons that inflicted terror, humiliation, and torture on their human cargo. [2] As the name suggests, POWs endured unimaginable horrors, packed into cramped holds with minimal food, water, or ventilation. These prisoners were destined for labor camps to work in brutal conditions, but many never reached their destination, their health and strength succumbing to the journey’s atrocities.

Survivors described being packed “like sardines in their tins, the sick mixed with the healthy below deck,” leading to outbreaks of dysentery and other diseases. [3] Japanese guards enforced strict rules, with punishments as severe as beheading for minor infractions like “misbehaving.” Some POWs were bound and gagged simply for requesting water. Those who survived the voyage faced equally horrific labor camps in mainland Japan or other occupied territories. Many ships never reached their destination, often sunk by Allied submarines or aircraft, as these unmarked vessels—whether former passenger liners or cargo ships—were defenseless against attack.

Two notorious hell ships were the Tango Maru and the Junyo Maru. The Tango Maru, originally named Rendsburg, was a 6,200-ton cargo ship built in 1925 at Vulcan-Werke Hamburg und Stettin Actiengesellschaft in Hamburg, Germany, as Yard No. 639 for the Deutsche Australische Dampfschiffs-Gesellschaft. After changing hands, it was seized by the Dutch in 1940, renamed Toendjoek, scuttled in 1942, and refloated by the Japanese Navy, becoming a hell ship. [5] On February 25, 1944, the USS Rasher sank it in the Java Sea, approximately 25 miles north of Bali, with three torpedoes, unaware it carried about 3,500 Allied POWs and Javanese laborers. The result of the sink resulted to about 3,500 casualties. [4]

The Junyo Maru, a cargo vessel constructed in Glasgow in 1913, was acquired by the Japanese Navy and repurposed as a hell ship. On September 18, 1944, at approximately 5:30 am, the British submarine HMS Tradewind torpedoed the ship off Sumatra’s coast, striking the bow and stern. The sinking killed around 5,620 of the 6,520 passengers, including 1,520 Allied POWs and 5,000 Javanese laborers. About 680 survivors were forced to work on the Pakan Baroe Railway in Sumatra, enduring continued brutal conditions. [6]

Photograph taken by Walter Edwin Frost, A photograph of the Junyo Maru in 1933, Wikimedia Commons.

Edward J. Wisz, born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on September 23, 1916, was a U.S. Army corporal in World War II. Captured by the Japanese at Bataan on April 9, 1942, he endured the brutal Bataan Death March to Camp O’Donnell and was later transferred to Cabanatuan, the largest POW camp in the Philippines. In October 1944, Wisz was among 1,803 Allied POWs boarded onto the Arisan Maru for transport to labor camps in Japan. On October 24, 1944, the unmarked ship was torpedoed by an American submarine in the South China Sea’s Bashi Channel. [7] Japanese guards abandoned the ship, leaving POWs trapped in the holds. Some who reached the deck raided food lockers, desperate to eat before facing death. Only nine prisoners survived the sinking. [8] Wisz was shot and killed by Japanese guards while attempting to escape the sinking vessel. 

In conclusion, Japan’s inhumane treatment of Allied POWs during World War II, exemplified by the hell ships, reflected a deliberate disregard for those who surrendered. By ignoring the 1929 Geneva Convention’s guidelines, Japan violated basic human rights, subjecting POWs to starvation, disease, and death at every turn. The hell ships remain a grim reminder of these atrocities, underscoring the importance of remembering such horrors to advocate for improved treatment of POWs in future conflicts.

Sources:
[1] Dale L. Harwood, “Broken Promises and False Hopes: Japanese Policy and Attitude Towards Allied POWs During the Second World War”, Fort Hays State University (2002).
[2] Anna Costa, “Voyage of Horrors: The Tragic Journeys of WW2’s Hell Ships,” Pacific Atrocities Education, 2024, https://www.pacificatrocities.org/blog/voyage-of-horrors-the-tragic-journeys-of-ww2s-hell-ships.
[3] Linda Goetz Holmes, Unjust Enrichment: How Japan’s Companies Built Postwar Fortunes Using American POWs (Stackpole Books, 2001), 36. 
[4] “Tango Maru (+1944),” Maritime Stepping Stones, https://mass.cultureelerfgoed.nl/tango-maru-toendjoek-rendsburg.
[5] “Junyo Maru (+1944),” Maritime Stepping Stones, https://mass.cultureelerfgoed.nl/tango-maru-toendjoek-rendsburg.
[6] Ibid
[7] “CPL Edward J. Wisz,” Find a Grave, 2010, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56769380/edward_j-wisz.
[8] Ibid