Practice resource Analysis. 2.3 The Featherston Incident: POWs die in a NZ camp 1943.
Introduction.
The Japanese never did invade New Zealand, despite widespread fears. In September 1942, at the request of
the US military, an internment camp for Japanese army prisoners of war was established at Featherston,
near Wellington. In 1942–43 the New Zealand government brought in 868 prisoners of war from
Guadalcanal. The first group were mostly civilians who had been drafted into the Japanese navy. Later,
captured or injured military personnel were also interned.
Source A.
On the morning of 25 February 1943 a working party from the compound containing naval and regular army
prisoners, which had been ordered the night before, refused to parade for the New Zealand duty officer until an
interview had been granted with the camp commandant. There was at first merely some parleying and repeated
orders by the adjutant of the camp for the men to parade for work, and for two Japanese officers who had got into
the men's compound to leave. All these were met by refusals, accompanied as time wore on by unconcealed
amusement on the part of the prisoners. About 10.30 a.m., nearly two hours after the first act of disobedience, the
orders became ultimatums, but threats by the camp authorities merely received the reply that force would be met
with force. One of the Japanese officers having been forcibly removed, the adjutant threatened the remaining one
with his revolver, fired a shot near him and then fired again, wounding him in the shoulder. There was immediately a
shower of stones and other missiles from among the 240 or so prisoners, and a concerted rush towards the 34
armed men of the guard who were by this time in the compound. The latter opened fire when the nearest prisoner
was seven yards away and the burst went on for 15 to 20 seconds. When it became possible to estimate the
casualties, it was found that 48 Japanese had lost their lives and 74 had been wounded. One of the New Zealand
guards died in hospital and six others were less seriously wounded as a result of ricochets.
…
Details of the incident were communicated to the Japanese Government, and a report of the proceedings of
the court of inquiry was later forwarded. Subsequent exchanges with the Japanese Government consisted, on their
part, of protests concerning the incident and rejections of the findings of the court of inquiry, and on our part, of
repudiations of these protests, which at the same time drew attention to examples of flagrant disregard of humanity
and international law by the Japanese in their treatment of Allied prisoners of war. It was feared that severe reprisals
might be taken by the Japanese on New Zealand prisoners in their hands.
Excerpt from: Mason, W. Wynn, Prisoners of War, Historical Publications branch, Wellington, 1954
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Pris-_N95664.html
Source B
In late February 1943 an incident occurred inside a Japanese prison compound at Featherston, New Zealand, which
offered a kind of blueprint of what was to happen at Cowra. An informer, a prisoner, had disclosed in December 1942
that a working party was plotting to overpower guards and seize arms at the camp; another informer, also a prisoner,
later advised of a plot to set fire to a compound and overpower guards when they entered to control the blaze.
After a series of provocative actions by 240 prisoners, the camp commandant threatened in February to separate the
non-commissioned officers from the private soldiers. This action proved to be a trigger for violence. A riot took place
two days later, in which Japanese—who had talked earlier of their desire to commit suicide—rushed headlong at an
officer and 40 armed guards, throwing large stones. As the prisoners reached the officer, the guards opened fire; firing
lasted between 30 and 60 seconds, and resulted in the deaths of 48 Japanese prisoners and the wounding of 63 others.
One New Zealand guard was killed, and six injured.
: www.teachingheritage.nsw.edu.au/section07/b.../wb2_breakout.doc
Source C.
A NZ author describes the crisis.
… Earlier arrivals generally accepted their lot, but some military prisoners regarded capture as the ultimate
disgrace – the belief that it was deeply shameful to work for the enemy was instilled in childhood. Rather
than return home as outcasts, they refused to work. Some wanted to commit suicide and on one occasion
pressured officers to ‘give us a lead’. ..
On 25 February 1943, however, a group of about 240 staged a sit-down strike in their compound, refusing
to work. Armed guards were brought in. One lieutenant, Adachi, refused to come out of the compound, and
sat with his men. They demanded a meeting with the commandant, who instructed his adjutant to get them
back to work.
Accounts vary on what happened next. It is believed that the camp adjutant shot and wounded Adachi. The
Japanese then rose, either starting to rush or seeming about to rush at the guards. Although there had been
no order to shoot, the guards opened fire with rifles and sub-machine guns as the Japanese threw stones
and moved towards them.
The shooting lasted about 30 seconds. Thirty-one Japanese were killed instantly, 17 died later, and about 74
were wounded. One New Zealander was killed and six were wounded.
A military court of enquiry exonerated New Zealand, but acknowledged the fundamental psychological and
racial differences between captor and captive, and the lack of a common language. The Japanese
government did not accept the court’s decision.
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/1216/featherston-prisoner-of-war-camp
Source D. Life in camp.
A Maori guard and one of the
prisoners
Source E. Camp Activities.
The carved alligator was made by an
unknown prisoner at one of the camp’s
so-called ‘hobby huts’. The other item
(right) is an example of one of the tokens
used at the camp. These tokens, plus
craftwork made and bartered by the
prisoners, were used to procure goods,
as legal currency was not permitted in the
camp.
http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/tag/prison-camps/
Source F.
Camp Conditions.
Each prisoner was allowed five blankets and a full set of clothing, including an extra pair of trousers. Food was
prepared by the prisoners' own cooks and included a daily ration of as much as six ounces of meat or fish, four
ounces (later ten ounces) of rice, and twelve ounces of bread, as well as fresh milk, butter and fresh fruit. Many of
the men arrived suffering from tropical and deficiency diseases, but after a few months in the camp many showed a
gain in weight and nearly all a general improvement in health. There was full provision for medical, dental, and
optical examination, and all medicines, dental work, and spectacles were supplied as needed. Most of the prisoners
were required to work at camp duties, including clearing gorse and levelling, for which they were not paid, and at
first 57 only were engaged on remunerative (paid) work, making concrete building blocks or cultivating vegetables.
The latter were paid at the rates agreed by the Commonwealth governments for payment to German prisoners.
Those who did camp duties only usually had their afternoons free and spent this and their other leisure hours
playing outdoor sports, sketching and carving, beautifying the entrances to their huts, or playing Japanese card
games. Although they had ample opportunity to write and send off letters, nobody availed himself of this privilege
for fear that he might make an ‘unfavourable impression’ on his family.
Excerpt from: Mason, W. Wynn, Prisoners of War, Historical Publications branch, Wellington, 1954
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Pris-_N95664.html
Source G.
Making chimneys for state houses- camp
labour.
http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/
Source H. A 2013 opinion on the causes of the “incident” by a university lecturer.
The official report of the military tribunal cleared the camp commandant, officers and guards of wrongdoing. The
report assigned ultimate responsibility for the deaths of the Japanese prisoners and wounding of others to the
behaviour of the two Japanese officers who were in the compound at the time. Forty-one prisoners died immediately
in a hail of bullets from guards, with seven more dying later from wounds. One New Zealand guard died of wounds
inflicted by friendly fire, and six others were injured by flying stones.
The findings of the report were officially adopted by the NZ and British governments and passed into the history of
NZ as an account of what happened. All involved in the incident were ordered to keep the facts secret, including all
nursing staff and camp employees, even those employed later. The records of the tribunal and records kept by
Government departments about the incident were embargoed for 30 years.
In the years after the lifting of the embargo in 1973 a different version of the incident has emerged, based on official
archives, interviews with former Japanese's prisoners and New Zealand guards, and from reports in Red Cross
archives in Geneva….
This work shows the Japanese prisoners did not riot in the way described in the New Zealand report. Some closest to
the Japanese officer when he was shot at threw stones at the guards in anger and protest at his shooting and also for the
killing of a prisoner who had been seated behind the officer when he was shot at. Their protest drew fire from the
guards, who opened fire without orders. The prisoners had staged a peaceful sit-in, waiting for the camp commandant
to arrive to explain why he wanted such a large number of prisoners for work parties that day. The New Zealand
officers who ran out of patience and the guards, who evidently panicked were responsible for what happened, not the
Japanese officers and POWs.
Once the shooting stopped, the authorities knew the story would have to be covered up.
The official report mixed fact with misinformation and disinformation. It is a report written for wartime and the
situation in 1943. It is what would be called today wartime propaganda, but because of the 30-year embargo it became
by default the historical account.
Jim Veitch is a senior fellow (lecturer) at Massey University’s Centre for Defence and Security Studies.
Source: www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/8420945/POW-massacre-message-distorted
Source I. A journalist’s response to Veitch.
I wouldn't want to spoil anyone's fine sentiments, academic Jim Veitch's in particular, but Japanese war crimes in World War II are
pretty well known.
I meant to look up a few famous instances, but stopped at the 1937 Rape of Nanking. Well, you would, really, because the way
invading Japanese troops there fell upon unarmed civilians, and the barbarous acts they performed, make for chilling reading.
A brief resume: An estimated 20,000 females, from infants to elderly, were raped and killed there, and in total around 300,000
people were apparently killed in the undefended city.
I expect the Chinese remember the Straw String Gorge Massacre that year, too, when Japanese troops tied up then shot and
bayoneted 57,500 Chinese prisoners of war.
China still has strong feelings about Japan, and vice versa I expect, as we might gather from the simmering dispute over some
uninhabited islands in the South China Sea that China calls the Diaoyus, and the Japanese Senkaku. A lot of seemingly trivial
spats in world affairs have long back stories, which is one useful thing about reading history. It explains things.
But history changes according to who tells it, where and when.
… Some Wairarapa locals, remembering their own war experiences, were angry when a memorial to the slain Japanese was
planted by a local Japanese business on the main road, near the site of the former camp. Some of them had fought the Japanese,
and some would have been their prisoners of war, treated much less pleasantly than the Japanese were in our sleepy neck of the
woods, where they were actually fed.
Nothing is easier than passing judgment on how ordinary people behaved in the past, and the guards who shot the rebellious
prisoners didn't do very well.
But to expect us to offer a state apology for the incident is whimsical, to put it mildly, and doesn't honour the millions of people in
our part of the world who suffered at Japan's hands in the Pacific War.
Weighed in the balance, the Featherston incident was sad and regrettable, but what a few panicky guards did here was nothing
against the backdrop of a war in which inhumanity was practised on a massive scale.
Rosemary McLeod 2013
www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/columnists/rosemary-mcleod/8360283/Apology-would-dishonour-Japans-victims
Source J. A modern Japanese journalist’s point of view.
At Featherstone, 60 miles north of Wellington, New Zealand, 248 Japanese military POW’s were interned in 1943. They had
hidden in caves at Guadalcanal for many days without food before they were taken captive by the US forces and handed over to
New Zealand. Many of them, therefore, were in poor health and only about 45 of them were made to work. The new Camp
Commander, however, ordered 105 men to be put to work. The Japanese NCO refused and sought a meeting with the Camp
Commander. The Commander ordered him to be detained for disobedience. The Japanese soldiers surrounded him tightly so as
to prevent his seizure. Thereupon the guards opened fire with machine guns, resulting in 48 deaths and 74 injured in a matter of
thirty seconds.
… New Zealand soldiers who were taken captive by the Japanese army in the Second World War numbered only 112. Not many
died as a result of maltreatment during their captivity [31 did not survive].* It has been generally understood, therefore, that there is
little strong animosity against Japan, based on personal war-time memories. A Japanese ex-soldier who happened to be on a visit
to New Zealand recently, however, encountered a strong expression of anti-Japanese feeling, when he wrote a letter to the editor
of a local newspaper which featured an article on the Featherstone incident, reflecting the official version of events. He just wanted
to point out its factual misrepresentation.
There was a flood of protest against the letter. Without refuting the letter’s factual basis, readers widely accused the Japanese of
atrocities in their POW camps and massacres at Nanking, and even of enslaving the Koreans under colonial rule.
Akira Sugino
http://www.japansociety.org.uk/13799/i-survived-for-all-that-–-a-tale-of-british-pow
Source K.
A Featherstone memorial to the dead POWs donated by
K. Nysse, a Japanese.
It reads: behold the summer grass/all that remains of
the/dreams of warriors.
haiku