Enemy Airmen's Act: Difference between revisions
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On 16/17 March 1945, 331 [[USAAF]] [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress|B29]] [[heavy bombers]] launched a [[firebombing]] raid against the Japanese city of [[Bombing of Kobe in World War II|Kobe]] as part of the [[strategic bombing]] campaign on Japan. After the raid, 8,841 residents were confirmed to have been killed in the resulting [[firestorms]], which destroyed an area of three square miles and included 21% of Kobe's urban area. Three B-29 bombers were lost during the raid. Two B-20 airmen, Sergeant Algy S. Augunus and 2nd Lieutenant Robert E. Copeland, who survived after being downed were captured by the Japanese and taken to the Osaka military prison where the Central Army had its headquarters. The captured fliers were brought before a [[kangaroo court]] and found guilty of "indiscriminate bombing" of [[Bombing of Osaka in World War II|Osaka]] and Kobe and sentenced to death. Asked if he had any last words, Sergeant Augunus stated simply: "I don't hate none of you, because you did your duty as I did my duty, only what I want to say is that this damn war will be over soon and there will be peace forever. That is all". After a botched beheading that the Japanese tried to cover up, the two Americans were shot and killed in the head at point-blank range.<ref>{{cite book |title=Conduct Under Fire: Four American Doctors and Their Fight for Life as Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945 |author=John A. Glusman |date=April 25, 2006 |page=285 |publisher=[[New American Library|NAL]] |isbn=0-4512-3410-3}}</ref> |
On 16/17 March 1945, 331 [[USAAF]] [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress|B29]] [[heavy bombers]] launched a [[firebombing]] raid against the Japanese city of [[Bombing of Kobe in World War II|Kobe]] as part of the [[strategic bombing]] campaign on Japan. After the raid, 8,841 residents were confirmed to have been killed in the resulting [[firestorms]], which destroyed an area of three square miles and included 21% of Kobe's urban area. Three B-29 bombers were lost during the raid. Two B-20 airmen, Sergeant Algy S. Augunus and 2nd Lieutenant Robert E. Copeland, who survived after being downed were captured by the Japanese and taken to the Osaka military prison where the Central Army had its headquarters. The captured fliers were brought before a [[kangaroo court]] and found guilty of "indiscriminate bombing" of [[Bombing of Osaka in World War II|Osaka]] and Kobe and sentenced to death. Asked if he had any last words, Sergeant Augunus stated simply: "I don't hate none of you, because you did your duty as I did my duty, only what I want to say is that this damn war will be over soon and there will be peace forever. That is all". After a botched beheading that the Japanese tried to cover up, the two Americans were shot and killed in the head at point-blank range.<ref>{{cite book |title=Conduct Under Fire: Four American Doctors and Their Fight for Life as Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945 |author=John A. Glusman |date=April 25, 2006 |page=285 |publisher=[[New American Library|NAL]] |isbn=0-4512-3410-3}}</ref> |
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It is estimated that 132 Allied airmen who were shot down participating in the [[air raids on Japan|bombing campaign on Japan]] in 1944-45 were [[summarily executed]] after short kangaroo trials or [[drumhead court-martial]]s. 33 American airmen were deliberately killed by IJA personnel at Fukuoka, including 15 who were beheaded shortly after the Japanese Government's intention to surrender was announced on August 15, 1945.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Francis |first1=Timothy L. |date=November 1, 1997 |title=”To Dispose of the Prisoners”: The Japanese Executions of American Aircrew at Fukuoka, Japan, during 1945 |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/phr/article-abstract/66/4/469/79565/To-Dispose-of-the-Prisoners-The-Japanese |journal=[[Pacific Historical Review]] |volume=66 |issue=4 |pages=471-472 |doi= |
It is estimated that 132 Allied airmen who were shot down participating in the [[air raids on Japan|bombing campaign on Japan]] in 1944-45 were [[summarily executed]] after short kangaroo trials or [[drumhead court-martial]]s. 33 American airmen were deliberately killed by IJA personnel at Fukuoka, including 15 who were beheaded shortly after the Japanese Government's intention to surrender was announced on August 15, 1945.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Francis |first1=Timothy L. |date=November 1, 1997 |title=”To Dispose of the Prisoners”: The Japanese Executions of American Aircrew at Fukuoka, Japan, during 1945 |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/phr/article-abstract/66/4/469/79565/To-Dispose-of-the-Prisoners-The-Japanese |journal=[[Pacific Historical Review]] |volume=66 |issue=4 |pages=471-472 |doi=3642234 |access-date=26 July 2022}}</ref>{{Full}} Mobs of civilians also killed several Allied airmen before the Japanese military arrived to take the men into custody.<ref>Tillman (2010), p. 170</ref>{{Full}} Another 94 airmen died from other causes while in Japanese custody, including 52 who were killed when they were deliberately left in a prison during the [[bombing of Tokyo]] on May 24-25, 1945.<ref name="Takai_Sakaida_114">Takai and Sakaida (2001), p. 114</ref>{{Full}}<ref>Tillman (2010), pp. 171–172</ref>{{Full}} |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 22:53, 26 July 2022
The Enemy Airmen's Act was a law passed by Imperial Japan on 13 August 1942 which stated that Allied airmen participating in bombing raids against Japanese-held territory would be treated as "violators of the law of war" and subject to trial and punishment if captured by Japanese forces. The Enemy Airmen's Act contributed to the deaths of hundreds of Allied airmen act throughout the Pacific and Asian theaters of World War II. Shortly after World War II, the Enemy Airmen's Act was held illegal at the Allied war crimes trials in the Far East and Japanese officers who carried out mock trials and illegal executions were punished.
Background
Doolittle Raid
In an operation conducted primarily to raise morale in the United States following the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, 16 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers were carried from San Francisco to within range of Japan on the aircraft carrier USS Hornet. These aircraft were launched on 18 April 1942 and individually bombed targets in Tokyo, Yokohama, Yokosuka, Nagoya, and Kobe. The Japanese air defense units were taken by surprise, and all the B-25s escaped without serious damage. The aircraft then continued to China and the Soviet Union, though several crashed in Japanese-held territory after running out of fuel, resulting eight airmen to be apprehended by Japanese forces. Japanese casualties during the Doolittle Raid were 50 killed and over 400 wounded and about 200 houses were destroyed.[1][2]
Response
The Japanese were completely embarrassed of the impact of the Doolittle Raid. On 13 July, 1942, the Japanese Vice Minister of War issued Military Secret Order 2190: "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."
Following receipt of that Order, the Assistant Chief of Staff of Imperial Army Headquarters dispatched it to the Chief of Staff of the Japanese Expeditionary Force in China. He attached a Memorandum which stated that "in regard to Military Secret order No. 2190 concerning the disposition of the captured enemy airmen, request that action be deferred....pending proclamation of the military law and its official announcement, and the scheduling of the date of execution of the American airmen." On 13 August 1942, General Shunroku Hata, Supreme Commander of the Japanese Forces in China promulgated Military Order No. 4, which became known as the "Enemy Airmen’s Act". This law, which was in part ex post facto, provided that:
- Article 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.[3]
Allied casualties
The Enemy Airmen's Act contributed to the deaths of untold numbers of Allied airmen throughout the Pacific War. The first victim under the act was the Doolittle raiders captured by the Japanese in China in April 1942. They were put on trial on 28 August and charged with allegedly strafing Japanese civilians during the 18 April raid. However, the Japanese did not produce sufficient evidence against them. Worse, the eight airmen were forbidden to give any defenses and nonetheless found guilty of "bombing, strafing, and otherwise attacking of civilians with the objective of cowing, intimidating, killing or maiming them" and sentenced to death. However, on the urging of Prime Minster Hikidi Tojo, Emperor Hirohito commuted five others to life imprisonment. The others were taken to a cemetery outside Shanghai where they were executed by firing squad on October 14, 1942.[4][5] News of the execution caused U.S. public outrage and President Franklin D. Roosevelt condemned the Japanese as "barbarous" and "depraved". Historian John W. Dower noted that the public outrage "was comparable to the rage that greeted the news of Pearl Harbor." The British embassy in Washington D.C. reported the emotional response to London that the uproar was such that it "sharply increased the stimulus of national anger and humiliation which makes of the Pacific front permanently a more burning issue than [the] European front is ever likely to be."[6]
On 16/17 March 1945, 331 USAAF B29 heavy bombers launched a firebombing raid against the Japanese city of Kobe as part of the strategic bombing campaign on Japan. After the raid, 8,841 residents were confirmed to have been killed in the resulting firestorms, which destroyed an area of three square miles and included 21% of Kobe's urban area. Three B-29 bombers were lost during the raid. Two B-20 airmen, Sergeant Algy S. Augunus and 2nd Lieutenant Robert E. Copeland, who survived after being downed were captured by the Japanese and taken to the Osaka military prison where the Central Army had its headquarters. The captured fliers were brought before a kangaroo court and found guilty of "indiscriminate bombing" of Osaka and Kobe and sentenced to death. Asked if he had any last words, Sergeant Augunus stated simply: "I don't hate none of you, because you did your duty as I did my duty, only what I want to say is that this damn war will be over soon and there will be peace forever. That is all". After a botched beheading that the Japanese tried to cover up, the two Americans were shot and killed in the head at point-blank range.[7]
It is estimated that 132 Allied airmen who were shot down participating in the bombing campaign on Japan in 1944-45 were summarily executed after short kangaroo trials or drumhead court-martials. 33 American airmen were deliberately killed by IJA personnel at Fukuoka, including 15 who were beheaded shortly after the Japanese Government's intention to surrender was announced on August 15, 1945.[8][full citation needed] Mobs of civilians also killed several Allied airmen before the Japanese military arrived to take the men into custody.[9][full citation needed] Another 94 airmen died from other causes while in Japanese custody, including 52 who were killed when they were deliberately left in a prison during the bombing of Tokyo on May 24-25, 1945.[10][full citation needed][11][full citation needed]
References
- ^ "America Hits Back: The Doolittle Tokyo Raiders". Factsheets. National Museum of the US Air Force. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
- ^ Coox (1994), p. 394
- ^ When Mercy Seasons Justice: What Happens to Intermediate Actors in the Chain of Command
- ^ Clayton Chun (January 31, 2006). The Doolittle Raid 1942: America's first strike back at Japan (Campaign). Osprey Publishing. p. 85. ISBN 1-8417-6918-5.
- ^ Stewart Halsey Ross (December 13, 2002). Strategic Bombing by the United States in World War II: The Myths and the Facts. Osprey Publishing. p. 59. ISBN 0-7864-1412-X.
- ^ John D. Lukacs (May 3, 2011). Escape From Davao: The Forgotten Story of the Most Daring Prison Break of the Pacific. NAL. p. 285. ISBN 0-4512-3410-3.
- ^ John A. Glusman (April 25, 2006). Conduct Under Fire: Four American Doctors and Their Fight for Life as Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945. NAL. p. 285. ISBN 0-4512-3410-3.
- ^ Francis, Timothy L. (November 1, 1997). ""To Dispose of the Prisoners": The Japanese Executions of American Aircrew at Fukuoka, Japan, during 1945". Pacific Historical Review. 66 (4): 471–472. doi:3642234. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
{{cite journal}}: Check|doi=value (help) - ^ Tillman (2010), p. 170
- ^ Takai and Sakaida (2001), p. 114
- ^ Tillman (2010), pp. 171–172