DBWI no great escape

1944


Abashiri Prison Haikado one of the worst POW camps during world war two, the prison had been converted over into a POW camp and the guards were infamously cruel to the british, American, Australian, and philopino soilgers stuck there. Many people died from mistreatment torture, being killed for minor offenses, and malnutrition.

Then Yoshie Shiratori arrived at the prison. The man had been falsely convicted of a murder he did not commit and managed to escape from Aomori prison, and Akita prison, as an insult the Japanese government placed him not in a Japanese prison but in the infamous POW camp.

Yoshi to his surprise that the POWs were supportive with the American POW in the cell next to him trying to learn Japanese, and sharing his meager rations with him to help him recover his strength, and also slipping a small wire through the tiny grate between them.

Yoshie remembered this kindness and when he escaped by rusting his manacles and grate with miso soup, he silently in the night grabbed some keys from the guard shack. It was raining that night and the guards had managed to get extra alcohol rations and were having an impromptu party. The escaped prisoners grabbed the guards weapons and proceeded to liberate other prisoners.

Then they surrounded the guards and forced them at gun point into the same cells that the prisoners had formerally occupied. Then the 2,000 POWS and Youshie fled into the mountains of Hakido, with the help of a stolen radio they were able to get an American crusier to rescue them.

Yoshie Shiratori the man who organized the escape became an international sensation and would be cleared of all charges in post war japan.

But what if Abashiri hadn't been converted into POW camp of if Yoshie hadn't been sent there or master minded the great escape. How would that have changed history?
 
Several bad Holloywood movies not been made. Several books on the subject not written. Its difficult to estimate how many of the escaped PoW would have survived had the break not occurred, but of the 2000 escapees some 1200 died in the mountains from exposure, malnutrition, and fighting the Japanese police and army. There is also the question of if the other tens of thousands of PW and forced laborers killed in 1944-45 would have been 'disposed of'. Its argued the embarrassment of the prison escape caused the IJA to accept the economic consequences and starve or shoot the bulk of the PW and other forced labor in Japan.

Worst case is of the 685 men who did survive the prison break and evacuation only a hand full survive the mass execution of the next eight months. Best case is there is not mass execution and 80 or 90% of the PoW survive the war.

Theres also the question of how many Japanese civilians actually died as a direct result of the escape and evacuation. Claims of those who fled/evacuated in advance of the PoW moving to the coast range from as little as 5,000 to over 50,000. Claims by the IJA for civilian deaths have proved totally unreliable. Efforts at post war accounting range from 523 to 1,837 however the latter number includes those documented to have died while under IJA attempts at care for the refugees/evacuees.
 
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Im going to have to disagree about the bad movies thing because the original great escape earned Steve Mc queen an Oscar for best actor and Bruce lee a Oscar for best supporting actor.

That movie still holds up, though I admit the remake sucks.
 
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