Post by Administrator on Oct 2, 2022 19:17:45 GMT
National Memorial Arboretum
On This Day in 1942, the Lisbon Maru sank while transporting over 1,800 British prisoners of war (POWs). 828 POWs died after they were locked in the holds of the ship by their Japanese Imperial Army captors, who then shot at the men as they tried to escape.
The Lisbon Maru was a Japanese freighter requisitioned as a troop transporter which set sail, armed, from Hong Kong in late September 1942 carrying nearly 800 troops and 1,816 British POWs to be taken to Japan as slave labour.
As it had no markings to show the presence of the POWs on board, it was a legitimate target for allied attack and was torpedoed by USS Grouper on the morning of 1 October. It was holed below the waterline and the hatches were battened down on the three cargo holds where the POWs were crowded in cramped and squalid conditions.
When the POWs realised that their Japanese guards intended for them to go down with the ship, they began to plan their escape. The prisoners managed to break out of the holds just before it sank, but the Japanese troops began firing at them with rifles and machine guns as they jumped into the sea.
The intervention of local Chinese fishermen, who began to rescue men from the water, caused the Japanese to stop the killing but 828 of the prisoners died from gunshot wounds or drowning.
The Lisbon Maru memorial at the Arboretum commemorates the 828 prisoners of war who died between 27 September and 5 October 1942 and over 200 more who died later in captivity.
On This Day in 1942, the Lisbon Maru sank while transporting over 1,800 British prisoners of war (POWs). 828 POWs died after they were locked in the holds of the ship by their Japanese Imperial Army captors, who then shot at the men as they tried to escape.
The Lisbon Maru was a Japanese freighter requisitioned as a troop transporter which set sail, armed, from Hong Kong in late September 1942 carrying nearly 800 troops and 1,816 British POWs to be taken to Japan as slave labour.
As it had no markings to show the presence of the POWs on board, it was a legitimate target for allied attack and was torpedoed by USS Grouper on the morning of 1 October. It was holed below the waterline and the hatches were battened down on the three cargo holds where the POWs were crowded in cramped and squalid conditions.
When the POWs realised that their Japanese guards intended for them to go down with the ship, they began to plan their escape. The prisoners managed to break out of the holds just before it sank, but the Japanese troops began firing at them with rifles and machine guns as they jumped into the sea.
The intervention of local Chinese fishermen, who began to rescue men from the water, caused the Japanese to stop the killing but 828 of the prisoners died from gunshot wounds or drowning.
The Lisbon Maru memorial at the Arboretum commemorates the 828 prisoners of war who died between 27 September and 5 October 1942 and over 200 more who died later in captivity.