The Tokyo Trials - How America Sabotaged Justice in the Far East, 1945-58

The international effort to bring Japanese war criminals to justice was actively thwarted and sabotaged by the US occupation authorities led by General MacArthur and President Truman's administration in Washington. Why? Because Japan was needed as a postwar ally of the US to help stop the spread of Communism. But this meant that finding justice for the hundreds of thousands of Allied POWs, internees and local civilians who had been maltreated and often murdered by Japanese troops during WWII was very difficult. Many of the guilty were never charged, while those given prison terms were let out early.
Dr. Mark Felton is a well-known British historian, the author of 22 non-fiction books, including bestsellers 'Zero Night' and 'Castle of the Eagles', both currently being developed into movies in Hollywood. In addition to writing, Mark also appears regularly in television documentaries around the world, including on The History Channel, Netflix, National Geographic, Quest, American Heroes Channel and RMC Decouverte. His books have formed the background to several TV and radio documentaries. More information about Mark can be found at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Fe...
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Disclaimer: All opinions and comments expressed in the 'Comments' section do not reflect the opinions of Mark Felton Productions. All opinions and comments should contribute to the dialogue. Mark Felton Productions does not condone written attacks, insults, racism, sexism, extremism, violence or otherwise questionable comments or material in the 'Comments' section, and reserves the right to delete any comment violating this rule or to block any poster from the channel.
Credits: US National Archives; Library of Congress; Deomal2; Australian War Memorial; Imperial War Museum

[@almac2598]

My father fought the Japanese and saw what they did to prisoners. He would not have anything Japanese made in the house. We had to have European made electrical items, pretending to him that there were no Japanese components in them. Hated them till the day he died.

[@kharigraves1963]

Did he not see what Europeans had done to people in the camps???

[@heemdoctah]

@@kharigraves1963 Europeans were very bad however the way they did things in the east was unbelievable, I’d say worse than the Germans, plus I’m sure they killed more than the germans, 14million+ vs 6million+

[@kbanghart]

Wow I feel sorry for him, but also sorry for what that did to his brain.

[@PauloPereira-jj4jv]

​@@kharigraves1963 ... he fought against the Japanese, so this is not the point. Besides, the Japanese were the worst of all.

[@williamfinncannon-grosveno9266]

I believe that the people who looted all that gold and assets and had used that as a basis of a fortune that was passed to heirs well that estate and the heirs should be sued dor the whole of the profits and if won in court the peocedes should go to prosecutors of current war crimes

[@katierose7539]

A dear Australian friend of mine emotionally spoke of his father’s time as a prisoner of the Japanese in New Guinea. He was told about what happened from his paternal aunt because his father would never speak of what he experienced to his children. His father was traumatized for the rest of his life and at times found it difficult to face life. He was told by his aunt that prisoners would be shot in groups and butchered for food when the Japanese supply lines had been cut off. His father would only eat chicken or eggs for the rest of his life. Horrific to even comprehend.

[@zeitgeistx5239]

He’s lucky they didn’t eat his liver or dissected him alive. President George H W Bush narrowly escaped having his liver eaten on Chi Chi Jima. In 2020 Kinki University realized they had the remains of US airmen that were dissected alive still in their medical school collection.

[@noanyabizniz4333]

The fact that Japanese courts never tried any Japanese soldiers for war crimes shows just how valid these "trials" were.

[@alfredawomi2340]

Imagine been killed by Japanese Army just so to save food shortages when the Allies POW's gets more of nothing as Rations in the first place itself! 😔 😔

[@matpk]

@@alfredawomi2340 Compare 1930s Imperial Japan Vs 2020s Communist Chinazi In your next video

[@azurecliff8709]

★★★ Japan will never forgive the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ❢❢❢ It was a clear war crime ❢❢❢

[@thelastjohnwayne]

FACT A great friend of mine Rodney Scott was serving aboard the USS OKLAHOMA on Dec 7 1941 when the Japanese torpedoed her and she capsized. Rodney and his brother were both serving on the Oklahoma at the same time when she was torpedoed. Rodney survived but thought that his brother had died when 3 or 4 days later while walking along the docks working to rescue sailors and helping in salvage operations. Rodney saw someone walking up towards him and then realized it was his brother. Both brothers each thought that the other was lost. Also Note I had a Toyota pickup truck in the 80s and when I would go visit Rodney at his home, he would not let me park it on his property....... I had to park it a block away. Rest in peace my friend.

[@johnnyohanian4237]

Thanks Mark for setting the record straight. As an American I didn’t hear too much about McArthur’s hampering of justice. You honed in on the truth. It’s not pleasant, but the world needed to know. McArthur was eventually sacked by President Truman, but that was during the Korean War long after the damage was done.

[@tglake2894]

And he was sacked for defying the President, not for anything he did while committing these crimes against justice

[@mikefougere]

well said

[@steveelliott8640]

My father told me of an ex POW who returned to my hometown after the war and for the rest of his life refused to buy anything that was made in Japan, such was the horror he had observed.

[@davidsigalow7349]

My father served during the war, and many of his generation would never buy anything made in either Germany or Japan.

[@MrAitraining]

The Japanese in most cases treated U.S POW's far worse than the German's did.

[@indigocheetah4172]

My father was the same . He was a much older dad. He said , when you grow up you can many a good man . But never marry a Japanese man , such was the hatred .

[@azurecliff8709]

During World War II, 146,597 people were burnt to death in Tokyo by US military incendiary bombs. The US military also killed 142,572 people in Hiroshima and 75,520 people in Nagasaki by dropping atomic bombs. Do you understand? These indiscriminate mass murders against Japan were the cause of the Allied victory.

[@LowskBowski]

@@azurecliff8709 Japan was responsible for the death of 20 million Chinese civilians. They were absolutely unhinged and would not concede. How would you stop a country led by fanatics? What an absolute nightmare.

[@MRelemint]

Let’s not forget the terrible crimes committed in the Philippines. The Japanese were beyond brutal.

[@rudigruenberg6591]

History repeat it self many chinese people died under mao and many cambodians died from pol pot

[@rudigruenberg6591]

Mongols are also brutal as well

[@brendanzhang7488]

@@rudigruenberg6591 yes but who wants to charge them? there dead

[@oligultonn]

@@rudigruenberg6591 Japenese being brutal 77 years ago is the same as the Mongols being brutal 760 years ago. You can't compare how warfare was waged 683 years apart.

[@martinputt6421]

@@rudigruenberg6591 Doesn't make it right no matter who was brutal or when that brutality was done.

[@indigocheetah4172]

An Australian Nurse , Vivian Bullwinkell, assigned to the 2/13 AGH), in September 1941 she sailed for Singapore. After a few weeks with the 2/10th AGH, Bullwinkel rejoined the 13th AGH in Johor Baharu. Japanese troops invaded Malaya in December 1941 and began to advance southwards, winning a series of victories and, in late January 1942, forcing the 13th AGH to evacuate to Singapore. But the short-lived defence of the island ended in defeat, and, on 12 February, Bullwinkel and 65 other nurses boarded the SS Vyner Brooke to escape the island. Two days later, the ship was sunk by Japanese aircraft. Bullwinkel, 21 other nurses and a large group of men, women, and children made it ashore at Radji Beach on Banka Island; they were joined the next day by about 100 British soldiers. The group elected to surrender to the Japanese, and while the civilian women and children left in search of someone to whom they might surrender, the nurses, soldiers, and wounded waited. Some Japanese soldiers came and killed the men, then motioned the nurses to wade into the sea. They then machine-gunned the nurses from behind. Bullwinkel was struck by a bullet and pretended to be dead until the Japanese left. It has been started the Japanese Soldiers raped the Nurses , when Vivian , went before the War Tribunal , it was the said that she was told not to mention the rape. Vivian ,, remained a POW, until the end of the war. May they rest in peace .

[@skipads5141]

Sounds 100% like how the British and Americans took Japanese prisoners.

[@hydrolifetech7911]

​@@skipads5141your lies are blatant. The Japanese, Germans and other Axis POWs preferred surrender to Anglo-American forces because they knew they will be treated according to Geneva Convention. The Japanese, Germans and Soviet captivity was brutal with zero regard for Geneva Convention. Still you come on here and spew nonsense!

[@toomanyhobbies2011]

@@skipads5141 Ludicrous...

[@skipads5141]

@@toomanyhobbies2011: It is, isn't it? They murdered every Japanese and never took prisoners, napalmed millions of civilians of all ages.

[@ganndeber1621]

Moron@@skipads5141

[@CailenCambeul]

When Hirohito died in 88, I was an Australian Army Private on duty that night answering phone calls for my unit. The next morning, I was supposed to hoist the Australian flag at half-mast as a tribute to Hirohito. I set the flag at its full height. No officer or NCO said anything about it. I assume that they agreed.

[@RobertLewis-el9ub]

One of the worst Australian atrocities occurred on 16 February 1942, when 22 female Australian Army nurses, survivors of a sunken evacuation ship, were marched into the surf by Japanese soldiers off Bangka Island, east of Sumatra and machined-gunned to death. One victim faked death and survived the war (was prevented from reporting after the war that many of the nurses had been raped prior to death). There is obviously no moral or ethical basis for this slaughter. All Japanese involved should have been executed, however none ever faced prosecution.

[@larrybarnes3920]

Japanese atrocity. Or atrocities committed against Australians. Not saying we didn't dispose of the odd Japanese prisoners though. Noone was innocent.

[@paulkirkland3263]

When I was a boy in Australia, one of my school teachers, David Balfour-Ogilvy, was a close relative of one of those nurses - Elaine Balfour-Ogilvy. A dreadful atrocity.

[@xianseah4847]

USA knew they were on the wrong side of the war, since capitalism is fascist in nature.

[@paulkirkland3263]

@@xianseah4847 And Japan's militant nationalism wasn't fascist by nature ?

[@flyingsword135]

And Australian authorities that stopped her from being heard are no better than the Japanese

[@Ye4rZero]

Another comprehensive look at little-reported events in WW2, what this channel does better than any other on youtube

[@azurecliff8709]

★★★ Japan will never forgive the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ❢❢❢ It was a clear war crime ❢❢❢

[@dalemoss4684]

Allied governments had a role in this cover up. My dad was a researcher into Japanese atrocities and he told me that as the trials on Manus Island were wrapping up, with the most heinous crimes including mass torture and starvation of POW's, cannibalism, rape etc, a telegram arrived from Canberra ordering the immediate repatriation of all prisoners as part of a deal between the countries' governments in favour of a long-term coal contract. The whole thing was a joke considering what those POW's suffered.

[@Marshmobilise]

Good Lord that’s awful. Human lives and lasting justice traded for coal. The Australians who did that should be ashamed of themselves and be stripped of their citizenship (posthumously if need be) because they disgraced the nation and it’s soldiers by doing that. Eternal shame on those politicians.

[@muskokamike127]

IMO this is nonsense. Japan started the war Japan lost the war The gov't dissolved and an American, Canadian, British, and Australian government installed The land and resources of the country now become a part of said countries

[@colder5465]

Cover-up? For once, Americans protected Japanese developers of Bioweapons from justice. The ill-famous Unit 731, and it's commander, Gen Isii.

[@daeseongkim93]

​@@colder5465they got nothing significant out of the unit 731 scientists they didn't already know. A lot of Japanese experiments were barbaric compared to Germans and the V2 rocket engineers the US protected in Operation Paperclip. Even the Soviets could see that 731s experiments on venereal diseases and hypothermia were hog wash that they rightfully held the 731 scientists they captured in Manchuria on trial and summarily executed them

[@spencerkindra8822]

"By the end of 1958, every Japanese war criminal had been released from prison. No protests were made by any of the Allied governments and these men were welcomed as heroes back into Japanese society without any stigma of shame or criticism attached to them." Absolutely shameful both on the part of MacArthur but also Japan as a whole. Proves how deeply engrained the bushido culture was and still is into Japanese society. The fact that they were ever allowed to push back on the validity of the war crimes trials was a disgrace and a desecration of the graves of all the soldiers and civilians murdered by the Japanese military during World War II.

[@robertmickelberg3720]

War is bad, all sides did shady stuff they should have been held accountable for and never were. Griping about it nearly eighty years later is pointless.

[@QuincyVollstandig]

@@robertmickelberg3720 I agree people today in the US, Japan, Germany, and many others have done terrible things towards others. But it is pointless to condemned them now because it’s not what we learn. History is about learning the past and to learn how to prevent tragedies that once occurred to not happen again. We can’t use history as a weapon to downplay and to forever shame others of their past. The people born today all over the world are not like their ancestors or family was in those times so it’s not our place to condemned them. The only thing we can do living in the present to ensure that the dark chapters of human history is to be taught not to condemn, but to guide us and future generations to not share the same fate as our predecessors.

[@daniellap.stewart6839]

Bushido code more like bullshit code

[@generalpierogi7781]

@@robertmickelberg3720🤡🤡🤡

[@4T3hM4kr0n]

@@robertmickelberg3720 no, attempting to justify the atrocities of the japanese by stating that "all sides did shady stuff" is outright pathetic on your part

[@matthewwhitton5720]

The photographs of the skeletal POWs brought a tear to my eye, as they immediately reminded me of the absolutely dreadful state my uncle Tommy ( a member of the AIF ‘ Sparrow Force ‘ in then-Portuguese Timor ) was in upon freed from Japanese captivity, requiring six months of intensive care and recuperation in Australian hospitals. And, yes, as someone who resides in Japan, I can confidently state that virtually no commentary or recognition is forwarded on the nations disgraceful war record,..unless to indignantly deny it, or, incredibly, defend it. All and anything to do with WW2 is swallowed up in perennial posing as woebegone victims ( ie. Hiroshima and Nagasaki).

[@matthewwhitton5720]

He was simply defending his country from what appeared to be imminent invasion. The Dutch East Indies, the last bastion of the Allies between Australia and New Zealand, had collapsed. And purely for performing his duty as a member of Sparrow Force, for nation and Empire ( a commitment that was extremely common amongst Australians of his generation ….’ Not for Self, but Empire ‘ reads the village monument impeccably kept in my little hometown of Bellerive ) he was treated horrifically, forced to watch atrocities I won’t upset or appall anyone via detailing here,..and when, as kids, we’d catch glimpses of the revolting welts and still quite vivid wounds that coveted his back, he’d always laugh it off, saying “ Oh, that’s from when I fell of me bike as a lad “. Apologies or compensation or recognition of the wreckage made of his youth, from the Japanese Government ? Nothing. Not a single, solitary word.

[@azurecliff8709]

★★★ Japan will never forgive the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ❢❢❢ It was a clear war crime ❢❢❢

[@TheBillaro]

how can you live here? ive been here three months but i am leaving these cold, heartless and selfish people.

[@TheBillaro]

@@matthewwhitton5720 they love to sit there and say nothing when called out. they are sneaky masters of deception. truly awful people.

[@katierose7539]

Our neighbor growing up, was an Army nurse in the Pacific. Fortunately she was never captured, but the conditions in which she served to care for and comfort the wounded and sick are hard to imagine. She remained a nurse after the war and was an ER nurse at a hospital that had more stabbing and gunshot cases in a week than almost any comparably sized community. She was unflappable. A small woman with the heart of a lion. When questioned as to why she was never apologetic for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, she replied, “No Pearl Harbor, no Hiroshima/Nagasaki.” She was sent to Pearl Harbor the day after the attack and the carnage she described will forever haunt me.

[@ErwinSmith001]

The Americans really didn't handle the trials that well. Those who are involved in the Rape of Nanking, Using Comfort Women, Bataan Death March, Unit 731, Torturing Soldiers who have already surrendered, those Japanese War Criminals deserved death. I pity all of those people they've killed and yet they still have not achieved justice even in death.

[@1981menso]

And every year the Japanese cry about the A-bomb. I have zero f@cks to give.

[@conlawmeateater8792]

This was total war by then. The Geneva convention was irrelevant at this time

[@John-rw9bv]

It's awful and brutal, but I think it's so awful and brutal that you have to take a step back and rethink everything. You don't hold these people to your standard because they don't hold you to their standard. They see you as, potentially, food. So what do you do to someone or something like that? Well I think America has done a pretty good job of helping the typical Japanese person see the morality of these actions from America's (and the rest of the western intelligencia's) perspective through culture, TV, music, games, personalities, etc. Japanese culture is still very inwards looking, and fluency in any second language is low, but that is also the same for the English haha.

[@user-pn3im5sm7k]

On that topic, Nanjng was first mentioned as a massacre in 1946, even Chiang-Kai-Shek who made weekly broadcasts during the war never mentioned such a thing. The US army intelligence dismissed Comfort Women in 1945 as nothing more than well paid prostitutes. So the latter had zero relevancy in the trial, and was not mentioned until a few decades later in S. Korea. The former was an event with little documentation (all photos provided by the CCP are unrelated to the event/forged.) The CCP pretty much closed their eyes and threw a dart at a board for victim numbers. 300,000. In a city with a recorded and verified population of only 200,000 in dec 37. Bataan and Torturing POW's happened, again though, every relevant army in the war did this. Not defending this but it's expected with the worst offenders being the USSR. The US pretty much dismissed Unit 731 altogether

[@user-pn3im5sm7k]

On that topic, the Chinese city you mentioned was first mentioned as a massacre in 1946, even Chiang-Kai-Shek who made weekly broadcasts during the war never mentioned such a thing. The US army intelligence dismissed Comfort Women in 1945 as nothing more than well paid prostitutes. So the latter had zero relevancy in the trial, and was not mentioned until a few decades later in S. Korea. The former was an event with little documentation (all photos provided by the CCP are unrelated to the event/forged.) The CCP pretty much closed their eyes and threw a dart at a board for victim numbers. 300,000. In a city with a recorded and verified population of only 200,000 in dec 37. Bataan and Torturing POW's happened, again though, every relevant army in the war did this. Not defending this but it's expected with the worst offenders being the USSR. The US pretty much dismissed Unit 731 altogether

[@robertgiles9124]

The main reason the Japanese did not want to surrender was they thought that the USA would act the way THEY acted in Victory.... where people were tortured and murdered freely. They really had no idea how lenient the Allies would be because the Allies were not insane and barbaric fanatics. Imagine the horror had Japan won.

[@Free-Bodge79]

You only need look to there occupational conduct in China for evidence of that! It certainly didn't work out well for the civilian population there, or anywhere else they invaded and held on to for any length of time..! I don't think they discriminated between different races either. Unlike the German's. The Japanese were brutal butchers to everyone.! Truly horrendous. 💔😔😳

[@jamisojo]

Good point.

[@aquariumdude7829]

At least the German people openly admit their guilt now. The Japanese continue to deny theirs.

[@matthewnikitas8905]

@@aquariumdude7829It’s just a shame because in all honesty many of the barbaric acts committed by the Japanese army are even worse than those committed by the Germans.

[@Lazendra]

​@@aquariumdude7829In contrast to the Japanese but also the Americans, Russians, Brits, French,...Germans have committed their guilt long ago showing a forward and open mindset while the others named have never been responsible for their crimes which is simply despicable.

[@cbarclay99]

This is only one side of the argument. MacArthur's motive was to stabilise Japan and to prevent a civil war such as that which occurred in China after the WWII and which led to the tyrannical communist government that has led to so much suffering amongst the Chinese people. In this, he was remarkably successful despite the continuing presence of a minority of ultra-nationalists amongst the Japanese population. It is significant that today China is threatening to invade Taiwan while Japan is threatening to invade no one.

[@randomguy1928]

I get what you mean, but that doesn't excuse what the Japanese did, especially to American troops. The victims didn't get justice

[@toledochristianmatthew9919]

@@randomguy1928 Not only to the Americans but everyone in Southeast Asia, China, India, Korea, Dutch, Australians all suffered greatly under the Japanese. What made it so bad was how deliberate it was and when the Japanese were about to lose, they resorted to massacring large parts of the population and destroyed large sections of cities. Heck they even desecrated the corpses of brave soldiers who made last stands and defended their people and were absolute hypocrites in their so called sense of honor. I am from the Philippines and even though most of us have already forgiven Japan, there are still people especially veterans and victims of the war who will never forgive the Japanese. I hear a lot of them said when they heard that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuked, nobody had sympathy for the Japanese and said they deserved it.

[@louisfriend7388]

The way the Japanese treated Canadians captured at Hong Kong made my grandparents blood boil. They knew the fate of some of the veterans who returned and how their lives were ruined by the starvation and torture. To make it even worse these men received almost zero compensation from the Japanese Government. Canada was spineless in demanding reparations. Never forget.

[@alw3203]

now canada is still spineless and a puppet of the usa

[@williamsmith7340]

The atrocious Japanese treatment of Canadian POWs captured at Hong Kong, and Chichibu’s participation in Operation Golden Lily is portrayed in a fascinating way in the historical novel “Shokuzai (Atonement)” by William Myers. Japanese war criminals got off lightly, and after the San Francisco treaty of 1951 they were virtually impossible to prosecute.

[@jagdpanther2224]

The Canadian garrison in Hong Kong fought fiercely and inflicted heavy casualties on Japanese army. Some western women were raped and murdered in a hospital in Stanley Bay, Hong Kong.

[@thomasklimchuk441]

This is how the Canadian government repaired its veterans from Hong Kong In 1950 the government paid a small financial compensation The government did not consult or give the veterans a vote on this The Canadian government have refused to support the 1987 compensation claim of $13,952,600 againot Japan by the Hong Kong survior On the other hand the government have paid out 357 million dollars to Japanese Canadians for their treatment during the war A widow of a Hong Kong veteran seeking $13,300 from Japan or Canada if Japan refuses to pay On the other hand Japanese Canadians who were expEllen fom the west coast were given $21,000 from the Canadian government But what do you expect from these Canadian government anyways when they give Omar 10 million dollars?

[@azurecliff8709]

★★★ Japan will never forgive the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ❢❢❢ It was a clear war crime ❢❢❢

[@SiVlog1989]

This is only the second video I have seen that mentions the Tokyo Trial. It seems like it has been far overshadowed by the trials that occurred in Nuremburg

[@lupusdeum3894]

Trial?

[@juansantos-lq2kz]

The entire Pacific Theater has been overshadowed by events in Europe.

[@CM-ve1bz]

@@juansantos-lq2kz Despite the fact more people died in the Pacific war than in the European war. Politics

[@europaprimum7050]

Nuremberg was a sham trial too from a legal standpoint.

[@karlheinzvonkroemann2217]

I wonder why!~ Those old testament hatreds weren't there against the Japanese.

[@211212112]

The lesson I learned from this is: If you are treated bad as a POW soon as you are set free make and carry out a plot to kill as many as possible.

[@johnreed8336]

Just as the American GI's did on the Liberation of Dachau . This should have been replicated in all of the liberated concentration camps so there would not have trials 40 or 50 years later that were very difficult to prove guilt .

[@chamuuemura5314]

Greetings from Japan. I had relatives (since passed) on both sides of the war. Sadly, history’s not a core subject in Japan. The best Japanese sources I’ve seen were those I learned while studying in the US. My research completely agrees with the claims made from 16 minutes onward. SCAP justice was not only incomplete but also inconsistent. Political allies of SCAP got rewarded while a number of those actually executed were possibly innocent but executed to save face. The only critique is that 70 years onward, pretty much everyone I’ve ever spoken with here accepts that Japanese lost the war both militarily and morally. While a handful of nutcases may have celebrated the liberation of war criminals, for most of the country it was a gesture of pan-Japanese guilt. If the criminals can’t be blamed individually, then the whole country has to accept blame instead. So releasing criminals prematurely has caused not hubris and pride, but embarrassment and shame. Maybe it was different back then this is how it is now.

[@CatnamedMittens]

Yamashita was innocent. Interesting critique you laid out, never heard that perspective before.

[@saeedvazirian]

This is some Stockholm Syndrome bullshit. Honour your nation and your people. The war crimes by POW camps, individuals and generals don't justify racism against your civilisation. Americans and Brits are infinitely worse than Japan.

[@ScipioAfricanus_Chris]

@@saeedvazirian how so?

[@kevinkoepke8311]

My father, army air forces, was the engineer on the C-46 which flew to Korea to return Governor-General Nobuyuki Abe to Japan following the end of the war. He was Prime Minister of Japan for a short period, and because he was not in support of the war in China, removed. Because of this, he was released from the crimes trials. On board the C-46 he gave out to all Americans on board, a boxed pint of Grand Old-Parr Scotch Whiskey. My dad didn't drink so gave the bottle to someone else, but kept, and still has, the box. General Abe said he liked American Whiskey best. My Dad will celebrate his 98th birthday September 23, 2022.

[@zeviono4562]

And this Nobuyuki Abe was related to the recently assassinated Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister??

[@CodytheHun123]

@@zeviono4562 different man. But Shinzo Abe’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, was a war criminal in his own right in Manchukuo. He later became prime minister in 1957 but resigned after massive protests in 1960.

[@zeviono4562]

@@CodytheHun123 Thanks for the info..

[@honeybadgerwarrior7990]

I would like to thank your father for his service.

[@rachelar]

@@CodytheHun123 Nobusukebe was also a sex addict who "demanded sex from the waitresses as part of his dining experience". He thought Chinese were sub human and used slave labor in Manchuria. Never forget

[@josephlohe5442]

So happy to hear of Kohima being mentioned in your video. The battle of Kohima is lesser known in history as the allies were more focused on the war in Europe and the Pacific. Hence, the battle of Kohima was also known as the forgotten battle. Historians has also called Kohima as the Stalingrad of the east as it was the last point where the Japanese advance towards mainland India was checked resulting in the defeat of the Japanese and they were driven out. The Kohima war cemetery still stands today which is dedicated to the fallen soldiers of the allies in the battle of Kohima. A similar cemetery was constructed at Imphal and maintained by the Commonwealth War Grave's Commission. Interestingly one such memorial replica was made in UK to commemorate and remember the fallen soldiers of the battle of Kohima while the Japanese undertook a project in Constructing the Kohima Cathedral which is the largest in Asia as a sign of repentance. A small prayer chamber has been exclusively constructed in honour of an allied army division (either British or American) while some allied army relics can also be seen in the cathedral. I'd love it if a video can be made on this Mark as this battle has been less known to the world and in this way the contribution of the people of Nagaland towards both the Japanese and Allied forces can also be acknowledged. I would definitely like to help out with the story if you could kindly undertake such project.

[@WarStorieswithMarkFelton]

Thanks. My paternal grandfather fought at Kohima.

[@josephlohe5442]

@@WarStorieswithMarkFelton so amazing to hear of that. If a video could be made it would certainly keep them alive in our memories. I particularly like your channel as it explores and explains in details on historical events with precision. Hence, you could very well make more people aware of the battle of Kohima.

[@josephlohe5442]

@@WarStorieswithMarkFelton as a young man from Kohima, I'd want people to know of such events. Not to act against anyone but rather to make the young generation more aware of such historical events and the world in general.

[@steveperreira5850]

Excellent suggestion and thanks for informing me. I will look up more information on this battle as I have often wondered why the Japanese didn’t make it to India

[@sandyj342]

Never knew about the battle in Kohima. Thanks to Mark for highlighting this.

[@tutts999]

My Grandfather spent 3 years on the Burma Railway, he past away 2001. As a child, he often told me how evil the "bastards" where

[@MrRobster1234]

My friend's Father too. The old man went nuts when my friend wore a "Speedo" T shirt. Apparently, that's what the Japanese yelled as they beat the railway workers.

[@vre7474]

Ironic for a people who celebrate genocide in Australia

[@MrRobster1234]

@@vre7474 Don't know where you dredged that up from. My friend's father was a Dutch civilian.

[@user-dd9ek8sj5m]

Uncle survived fall of Singapore & 2 Korean POW camps. Said it was terrible watching the young diggers die & get beaten up by guards. He was a big man who worked as a railway ganger pre war. He described beatings & how he had been locked in a cage in the hot sun for 2 days without water or food. Post war he made a statement re behaviour of some of his guards, had nightmares and often tried to strangle his wife when asleep. The wives of relatives who had also served in WW2 always told their husbands not to talk about the war because he would be attending the family event. Showed me 2 samurai swords he souvenired from Japanese officers. He was one of the gentlest men I’ve ever met & I remember him fondly. In the 1970’s I was with his wife at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra & on display was a Japanese flag with his signature and those of his POW comrades. It took his wife by surprise and I watched her go through a range of emotions I doubt even she could describe. RIP Lawence Freeman. Gone to God.

[@russellcharles7839]

My ww2 vet grandfather hated everything Japanese until the day he died. Never saw him more angry than when my parents bought an Isuzu pickup in 83. I think some wounds just don't heal.

[@djholliday5132]

It was the absolute same in my family.

[@bobtaylor170]

I'm 70, so when I was growing up, almost every adult male had been in the war. I knew no one who fought in Europe who hated the Germans. I knew no one who fought in the Pacific who didn't hate the Japanese.

[@landtuna8061]

The Japanese who built that Isuzu truck in '83 were not the same ones who fought in WWII.

[@MagicButterz]

@@landtuna8061 no shit bud

[@davidearea242]

@@landtuna8061 -Captain Obvious...

[@jackhowland3737]

My neighbor growing up won a Bronze Star with a designation for valor on Okinawa. I asked him what he thought about the use of the atom bomb. He was of the opinion that the US should have dropped several more.

[@joschmoyo4532]

Nobody is excusing the atrocities that occurred on the battle front but nuking civilians does not make two wrongs a right.

[@WeMustResist]

Perhaps if a few more had been dropped then the Japanese today would not be so dishonest. Perhaps they would have asked themselves "Did we deserve this?" and 'Why are they so angry with us?" and that could have led to a more honest look at the facts. Too late now. They are stuck in denial.

[@landtuna8061]

The USA did not have any additional nukes once Little Man and Fat Boy had been dropped. It would have taken weeks, if not months, for the US to produce more and position them to be used on the Japanese mainland.

[@landtuna8061]

@@joschmoyo4532 The Japanese cities of WWII did not have dedicated military and civilian districts. Their military manufacturing facilities were interspersed within residential neighborhoods. The bombing technology of those days was not accurate enough to spare civilian from military areas. In addition, the Japanese military had gained a reputation of brutality that did not warrant any pity from their enemies. Credit Bushido.

[@joschmoyo4532]

@@landtuna8061 Well thank heaven for small mercies because Truman showed none to all those civilians.

[@Seraphus87]

Wow, I know the Tokyo trials were a joke, but I had no idea how badly compromised the trials and the punishments really were. I may be going soft as the years pass, but hearing all this made me almost nauseous. Thank you for covering these topics and helping us remember history.

[@johnmaddenforsmash8993]

ikr! especially compared to the nuremberg trials and their outcomes. as well as germany STILL HAS war criminals are STILL getting put on trial and sentenced!

[@TioDeive]

That was an incredible video. Dr Felton thank you again for this priceless piece of knowledge you shared with us.

[@joelex7966]

It's a shame that this never received the same notoriety that the tribunals in Nuremberg received. Thank you for covering this.

[@optimusprinceps3526]

Herman Goering was very upset about it as well

[@comradekenobi6908]

Even though they arguably did worse than the Germans and Soviets

[@joelex7966]

@@comradekenobi6908 the Japanese were even more ethnocentric than the Germans. They just directed their genocidal impulses toward their fellow Asians.

[@arstotzka9088]

@@comradekenobi6908 The Germans crimes pale in comparison to the Croatians and Japanese who's acts of butchery and brutality horrified the Nazis.

[@orbitalpotato9940]

Because the Americans covered it up. The US government don't want you to know.

[@redblaze8700]

Many of those criminals had high-ranking careers after their release, including one who became Minister of Justice. How crazy is that?

[@None-zc5vg]

It's not unusual: look at how many German killers and slave-labour exploiters got off scot-free (see "Flick", "Martin Sandberger", for example).

[@asinimali]

Many also made a fortune in the pharmaceutical industry.

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

Minister of Justice? That's a rookie movie. Somebody rose to the ranks "being Prime Minister", "founder of Japan's dominant political party", and "maternal grandfather to another infamous PM". Oh, and he is also an alleged A-class criminal that came by the sobriquet "The Butcher of Manchuria" whose slave-based economic model became the basis of the entire Japanese wartime empire and inspired South Korea's economic policy back in the 1970's...

[@ciello___8307]

@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 Kishi. . . Who was Abe's grandfather lol. Its insane the amount of links there are

[@tucolalo8251]

Why you take your own revenge and not leave it to the government

[@andrewtham8093]

Thank you for making this video. My late grandmother, who lived through the Sook Ching killings in Singapore, was haunted by the barbarism of IJA occupation soldiers. She would always have stories about the atrocities they committed, especially when she saw the made-in-Japan consumer products that became popular in the 80s.

[@emeraldbreeze5204]

Trash 😄😄😄

[@brentsrx7]

Thank you for covering this difficult topic.

[@Nomad111.]

That was fantastic Mark. Passionate and very respectful to fallen prisoners of war.

[@maxhill9254]

+1

[@mnbv990]

agreed.

[@matpk]

@@mnbv990 Compare 1930s Imperial Japan Vs 2020s Communist Chinazi In your next video

[@azurecliff8709]

★★★ Japan will never forgive the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ❢❢❢ It was a clear war crime ❢❢❢

[@azurecliff8709]

It is hard for me to believe that there is such a vicious historian like him, who makes money by blaming, demeaning, and insulting other countries.

[@stephenbridges2791]

My father was a Pacific veteran. He told me that MacArthur was the most arrogant SOB he ever met. He said MacArthur didn't want to be God because he would have viewed that as a demotion. It was this particular type of arrogance that got Harry Truman's boot prints on the backside of his ass.

[@RMSTitanicWSL]

MacArthur's arrogance likely prolonged WW2, and increased casualties on both sides, in addition to setting the stage for more atrocities to happen. It created a lot of problems with other commanders who felt the war could be ended much quicker by bypassing the Philippines and driving straight for Japan.

[@brucevaughn2886]

President Truman had to get MacArthur out of the way. Otherwise the General would have beaten President Truman in the next election cycle.

[@jyy9624]

​@@brucevaughn2886you think like a child. Getting fired by an incompetent president would have been electoral gold. He was fired for disrespecting the constitution

[@mikechevreaux7607]

Yes, But MacArthur Was Very Brilliant In Korea.

[@frozenbbfan]

Amazing story, I had no idea this happened. Thanks for everything you do on your channel.

[@Proditae]

Thank you for this Mark, deeply.

[@wilsonlaidlaw]

Doesn't surprise me one bit. Politics and pragmatism trump justice every time. I shared an office with Harold Payne, the vice-president of the Burma Railroad Prisoners Association. He organised the reconciliation visit to the Kwai River Bridge. When I asked him how it had gone, he said in one way very well, as it had enabled a number of ex-prisoners to face and conquer their memories. However Harold said it was very disappointing that the Japanese who attended, could not accept that they had done anything wrong, felt any blame attached to them or showed any contrition.

[@kurtiseschofield]

@@optimusprinceps3526 Inappropriate and incorrect comment.

[@optimusprinceps3526]

@@kurtiseschofield Truth

[@longiusaescius2537]

@Wilson Laidlaw yes and it would've been no different had it been the opposite

[@02Tony]

Keep your american politics out of these videos.

[@comradekenobi6908]

@@optimusprinceps3526 you American Reps and Dems are going to tear each other apart faster than WW3 will ever do

[@DardanellesBy108]

Thank you for another great video Doctor Felton. My mom is Japanese, born in 1947. I was born and raised in the US. The perspective my mom has about WW2 is a highly revised one and I’ve found it best to not even bring up the subject. When I was a kid we watched “Tora, Tora, Tora!” together and she smiled and laughed through quite a bit of it. It was quite disturbing to me even as a kid. All that to say the Japanese have a completely different view of WW2 that goes against clear evidence to the contrary.

[@ispartacus1337]

Right?! And it makes it next to impossible to even punish those that are guilty of war crimes because it just reinforces what the average Japanese citizen believes. That the west is brutal and killed them for being good patriotic Japanese soldiers that were still a threat. A truly damned if you do damned if you dont situation.

[@raymondtonns2521]

thank you Theres

[@CodytheHun123]

My grandmother was born in 1933 in Japan. She has a complete opposite view to your mother, that she does not like the military and hates Tojo with a passion. (“Goddamn Tojo” in her words.) I can’t blame her, the army controlled most aspects of her life as a girl and teenager. I remember watching a Japanese drama about the olympics for Japan and they showed military officers shooting an olympics official in the 30s. I asked her something about it and she said something along the lines of them being bastards.

[@DardanellesBy108]

@@CodytheHun123 Interesting. Thanks for sharing that.

[@asinimali]

@@CodytheHun123 Thank you for this example. Many, sadly not a majority or a large minority, Japanese people opposed their regime on political, cultural, and ethical grounds. They did keep somewhere around 60,000-100,000 citizens interred during the war for their dissent.

[@gusplaer]

Jeez Mark....this is one of the most: I'm going to tell it like it is videos you've done. Very bold indeed.

[@philipsteer1115]

That was very hard hitting. A difficult and potentially high risk subject. However, as always, presented in a very professional manner backed by extremely well researched facts.

[@thomasnewton8997]

It is despicable that these war criminals got away so lightly with war crimes and crimes against humanity

[@azurecliff8709]

★★★ Japan will never forgive the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ❢❢❢ It was a clear war crime ❢❢❢

[@xyan819]

It is despicable how European colonial powers were never convicted and punished for their crimes in their colonies around the world.

[@jamisojo]

@@xyan819 yeah, also those darn bell beaker people moving into Europe... They got off Scott free also. 😉

[@dblezi]

@@xyan819 You don't understand how the world works. The victors write the rules. Has been this way since the beginning.

[@user-jn7jf3kv6k]

@@xyan819 don't worry the Islamic spem will conquer their women.

[@magr7424]

My grandfather was a Luftwaffe technician from 1940-1945. He was captured by the Americans in 1945 and was on a train that halted for a pause on the town of Mannheim. My grandfather told the guards on the train that he lived before the war in Heidelberg about 10 miles away and his parents live there.. The guards opened the door and said to him" good luck, buddy".. He never forgot that his whole life... Not to mention this US ad hoc justice by common soldiers would have never been possible with Russians..

[@azkrouzreimertz9784]

Its probably a little bit harder to be lenient on some one whose nation literally tried to exterminate your people. Im not defending soviet war crimes.

[@klebleonard]

Russians wanted to punish every single nazi and nazi collaborators for their war crimes

[@brucekaraus7330]

Perhaps if the Americans had been treated with the same venal hatred that the Germans treated the Russians, they may have felt differently.

[@optimusprinceps3526]

That's really cool

[@skwalka6372]

With the Russians you don't get away with being a war criminal, my friend. Americans have a cultural sympathy towards war criminals which reflects their own history of war crimes - from genocidal wars to Mai Lai and more.

[@dev-pj9vi]

A heavy episode and a great one. A fascinating insight into the human experience is the difference in the way every nation which was involved in this same horrible event remembers it differently. How and why that is will always be great to explore.

[@aroyle686]

Great video Mark, best one yet. For the viewers David Bergamini wrote an amazing thesis on the role of the Emperor during the war and the topic you cover here in the early 1970s. Its title was "Japan's Imperial Conspiracy".

[@richardbaranzini8805]

The detail provided here is nothing short of awesome. Your videos are both informative and professionally produced. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us and the obvious research work you have done to prepare each.

[@azurecliff8709]

★★★ Japan will never forgive the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ❢❢❢ It was a clear war crime ❢❢❢

[@lynnwood7205]

Almost entire units of British Army were punished for refusing to load refugees and displaced persons onto trains bound for return to Soviet Territory. Some even opening already sealed boxcars to release the people inside. Many of the individual soldiers served prison time. Most of them were of the working classes, often of labor party persuasion. Many were contacted years later by press and historians and stated they even knowing the punishment they suffered would do so again.

[@comradekenobi6908]

Are you talking about the Cossack raperations?

[@raymondtonns2521]

the British Army units ought o have been praised for what they did

[@philmckenna5709]

@Lynn Wood Yeah. It's a shame that the British Labour party has so comprehensively betrayed the (white) working class. Don't compare the party of Attlee with the current iteration of self-hating, bourgeois, treasonous, careerist rats. Remember Rotherham! (And all the other places.)

[@lynnwood7205]

@@philmckenna5709 You have given me a reference that I must look up to understand. I am American

[@lynnwood7205]

@@philmckenna5709 I referenced Rotherham and now wishing I had not. Yes, fellow humans were betrayed and left to be preyed upon as the state had ample notification and resources to stop and prevent.

[@adambaker8689]

One of your most interesting and disturbing videos, especially as I'd just listed to Dan Carlin's anthology of the war in the Pacific, from its roots, to Japanese invasion, to island hopping, to the peace, but it didn't cover this. Knowing more now about the war crimes and cold brutality of the Japanese soldiers to POWs and natives, this is truly shocking. Thank you for informing.

[@brianivey73]

Thank you for another superbly done video

[@williamlloyd3769]

My high school wrestling coach was a survivor of the Bataan Death March. He never spoke of it. Just heard things from my dad, a fellow veteran of WW2. RIP

[@genghiskhan5701]

America: We will punish you for your crimes Japan: I hate communism America: Understandable, have a nice day

[@Newramsin]

Russia: We will punish you for war crimes Germany: I hate capitalism. Russia: What a coincidence, so do we. Your point?

[@tonnyblake21]

@@Newramsin not really. Germany had communists that did not commit war crimes, while US insisted on cooperating with those who commited (both Bundesrepublik Deutschland and Japan). It was safer because war criminals with ropes around their necks are more trustworthy than ordinary politicians.

[@MitzvosGolem1]

@@Newramsin Nazi Germany hated communism 🤔 And we love Ccp China slave labor trade ...

[@navyreviewer]

Short, and to the point. 👍

[@MitzvosGolem1]

@@navyreviewer except America loves communist ccp PLa China cheap slave labor trade and does 90% of business mfg there . Hmmm 🤔

[@philipargo]

Thank you for covering this. It is the first time I've heard of it and your video blew my mind at how little I know about a war I've studied so much. This is just another blow to my perception of what America does; and it is easy to armchair quarterback...but this was pretty egregious. I have much appreciation for your work.

[@jamisojo]

With what we know now it looks like we did the right thing. Japan has been a great ally in the world wouldn't be better than any meaningful way had those people been punished.

[@daeseongkim93]

​@@jamisojoehhhhhhhhh that's a shit take

[@sophrapsune]

Brilliant précis of this complex and important topic, thank you.

[@thespudcat]

Thank you so much for making this video Dr Felton. My Uncle Russell suffered nightmares until the end of his life following his time as a POW after being captured following the sinking of his ship HMS Prince of Wales. He only really spoke about his experiences in Changi, and on the railway and subsequent death ships before he passed away. It saddens and angers me in equal measures that the perpetrators of this treatment toward him, and that of all the other brave men and women, did not just get away with it, but were lauded as heroes.

[@azurecliff8709]

★★★ Japan will never forgive the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ❢❢❢ It was a clear war crime ❢❢❢

[@azurecliff8709]

During World War II, 146,597 people were burnt to death in Tokyo by US military incendiary bombs. The US military also killed 142,572 people in Hiroshima and 75,520 people in Nagasaki by dropping atomic bombs. Do you understand? These indiscriminate mass murders against Japan were the cause of the Allied victory.

[@MiroNyholm-mj7hd]

Thats how war comes to an end.

[@jano-ir1cg]

Us has never been attacked by anybody, but killed hundreds of millions of people. Time comes, when they will collapse

[@Dracalis]

5:33 My great-grandfather was one of those 1691 Canadian prisoners in Hong Kong. Thank goodness he made it back home. Occasionally, POWs held by the Japanese were allowed to send messages back home via shortwave radio. I actually have two recordings of my great-grandfather: one from 1943, and one from 1945. The audio is really scratchy and distorted, but I can hear him talk to my great-grandmother, my grandmother, and my great-aunt, assuring them not to worry about him. It's such a surreal thing to have. I'm grateful that someone back then recorded these radio transmissions and archived them.

[@JustMe00257]

A very clear and important video. Thank you.

[@friedasorber1653]

So good to see this. I traveled in Sumatra met Dutch in Holland who had lost relatives in the Japanese camps in Indonesia and on the Burma railway. They never got recognition in the Netherlands. It was expedient to forget this section of history. Thank you for your documentary.

[@damascus21]

A truly scathing critique but a deserved one. Commendable work, Mr Felton

[@jamisojo]

Doesn't seem that scathing. Stopping the spread of communism was a legitimate concern at the time.

[@4T3hM4kr0n]

@@jamisojo at the expense of punishing war criminals and historical revisionism? You really are quite stupid

[@user-jc2we4sn1i]

Racist lies.

[@chrish9698]

An excellent video of an excruciatingly frustrating chapter in history.

[@KRW628]

very interesting and informative. Thank you.

[@misinformation_spreader777]

I have some relatives who lived in the Philippines when the Japanese invaded and I can tell for sure it was brutal. They witnessed their neighbors get beheaded in the streets, they confiscated their property, they took their food and sent them to camps.

[@1982rrose]

This still bothers me. . We had a relative who was a guest of the Japanese. He never mentioned it till he was on his deathbed.. Disgusting.

[@MZeki-gw2xg]

A guest? You mean a prisoner?

[@user-gp5wu6hk2c]

@@MZeki-gw2xg duh

[@thespudcat]

My uncle used to refer to his time as a POW as being a ‘working holiday building a railway’.

[@MZeki-gw2xg]

@@thespudcat 🤣😅

[@joeobyrne3189]

Thanks for posting this. It needs to be recognised for what it is, a shameful injustice.

[@raylake6611]

Thank you for sharing this piece of history, too easy to overlook in this age of mass media and Hollywood. Lest we forget.

[@MoonBurn13]

Bravo for this Dr Felton. My father was in the invasion of Saipan, and in his subsequent life watched as his own country grew less and less interested in pursuing justice in Japan in favor of putting increasing energies into the Cold War. I don’t think you could have covered this facet of history better Dr Felton. We are forgetting. Thanks again.

[@jamesengland7461]

The percentage of Japanese war criminals tried, convicted, and executed was half that of those Australians who died in Japanese captivity. What a grave injustice.

[@jackhowland3737]

I blame Mountbatten for that.

[@ispartacus1337]

I mean if you look at it that way there was only a fraction of war criminals executed in Europe compared to the deaths... not that it's a competition but it doesn't take very many people in administrative roles to orchestrate war crimes. Sadly the ones who executed them were "just following orders."

[@allangibson2408]

@@jackhowland3737 Try Joseph McCarthy who had all the war crimes evidence collected by American forces globally classified “Top Secret” so it couldn’t be presented in court.

[@MASSspec1990]

The problem with just following orders is, as explained to me by a former army lawyer, is you have no real right to refuse an order. To refuse is to be court marshalled, as did happen in Afghanistan several times. The officers who gave the illegal orders were never tried, but the NCO’s and private’s who refused and those who carried out the trials were convicted either of refusing order, or carrying out unlawful orders, often at the same time. Nürnburg trials were the legal precedents cited.

[@jamesengland7461]

@@MASSspec1990 the opposite is true.

[@golden_smaug]

I hardly knew any of this :0 Thanks for sharing, subscribed

[@desiduarte969]

I've always wondered what the story was here. Thank you for the information.

[@MadMax-et7um]

Absolutely appalling. I remember hearing somewhere in my lifetime that the Japanese military paid very little for their war crime atrocities, but you definitely shed light on how little they paid and how so much was dismissed. What people do not really understand is how many civilians suffered and were out right murdered by the Japanese army. Mark you should shed light on the civilians like those of the Philippines. You did a great job on the POW’s, but there were far more war crimes committed against the innocent civilians by the Japanese military.

[@azurecliff8709]

★★★ Japan will never forgive the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ❢❢❢ It was a clear war crime ❢❢❢

[@lordgarion514]

They got lucky. We had already realized that the USSR was going to be a serious problem in the near future. It was far better for the allies if Japan was more on our side in that. Killing a lot of people, especially their God, isn't going to help with that.

[@jamisojo]

If it's any consequence, we did bomb their civilians by thousands.

[@4T3hM4kr0n]

This also included pleasure women abducted from korea. Korean women are still fighting the japanese government for reparations and acknowledgement of what transpired.

[@Marshmobilise]

Slightly more difficult I imagine for a historian to do that. Allied POWs will have records and many witnesses who recorded what they saw in English and it was archived. I imagine alot of civilian massacres took place in isolated villages in countries with poor centralised record keeping (usually because of legacy of colonialism) in languages other than English. I imagine many true details of rural massacres of Filipinos Malayans and Chinese etc are known only to the descendants of the victims 😢

[@GugsGunny]

Granted, they were second/third hand accounts, but I've heard stories of private Japanese citizens being horrified when learning for the first time about the brutality of Japanese occupation in the Philippines. Shows how much history lessons are controlled in Japanese schools.

[@ispartacus1337]

Its important to understand how much the Japanese people were closed off from the rest of the world before the war. They legitimately thought if the allies made onto mainland Japan every woman would be r***d, children would be tortured and the elderly would just be disposed of. It makes it extremely difficult to blame the Japanese people for anything or even the Japanese soldiers when it was very well known by each of them that they were just as likely to be killed by their own government if they refused to fight as they were if they went to war. It's not a simple predicament.

[@mikloridden8276]

I went to a university with exchange students and it’s true. Many of them were upset about it, its because the way they were taught was that they were minding their business and we nuked them for no reason.

[@raymondtonns2521]

as i understand it tha there is in a major Japanese city a "shrine" to the kamikaze pilots

[@scottcharney1091]

Yeah, and some of the veterans have "come clean" and been very clear, documented on video, about what they did. They want to make sure that people, especially young Japanese, can learn the truth.

[@iatsd]

And you think that schools in the US or Australia teach their students about war crimes by their own forces?

[@NigelDeForrest-Pearce-cv6ek]

Excellent and Outstanding Video!!!

[@MrMojoSuper]

Great content. Thanks.

[@scottcharney1091]

I watched a video once of elderly Japanese veterans talking candidly (and not proudly!) of what they had done in China. They were very contrite. At least their statements are preserved now. I also read about an event that brought British and Japanese students together, to learn about the Burma Death Railway, including a talk from a Japanese veteran. There was an awkward moment when he tried to get one of the Japanese students to apologize to one of the Brits. Obviously, the young Japanese boy had no responsibility, and the British boy wasn't a victim, but the old man was trying to make a point.

[@johnmcmickle5685]

Having had three uncles that fought the Japanese during World War II I find it atrocious that more of these people were not put on trial and hanged. I can understand the difficulties in putting them on trial and many were killed in battle.

[@antykomunist1918]

Great lecture, Thank You dr Felton

[@ribsi85]

I like this, a little of the politics of the situation explained with the war story. It's a good expansion from your normal stories that just follow the military events.

[@jamesdellaneve9005]

Victor Davis Hanson covers Japanese cruelty and cowardice/brutality against civilians in his videos at Hillsdale. It is too bad that the US didn’t pursue more justice.

[@jayplay8869]

We actively prevented it

[@Graysonn1]

To be fair the US had just nuked two cities filled with civilians. And the UK had firebombed German cities. None of the people responsible for that were tried.

[@jamesdellaneve9005]

@@Graysonn1 Nor should they have been. And that’s why they weren’t.

[@michaeltischuk7972]

Funny how the Japanese Militants talked about liberating the Asians from the white folk and then committing all those atrocities throughout Southeast Asia on their supposed Asian brothers, a lot like Putin bombing all those Cities in Ukraine where all those ethnic Russians lived.

[@elseascotty9346]

The fire bombing on Tokyo is version of justice

[@martinlubbe4685]

love these longer videos of Mark Felton, such facinating history we did not know existed ! many thanks for the awesome content. it always feels like Mark's videos are too short, i love listening to this man talk, facts , truth , history! much respect!

[@feltwedge]

Great analysis.

[@nibiruresearch]

This is an impressive video Dr Felton. I hope that some young japanese people will see it as well. Your work should belong to the world heritage protected by the UN. Thank you for all the work you have done and the high quality pictures and your narration.

[@ahall1459]

Thank you for the clarity...I knew there was more to this but could never put it together. My uncle's father died in Changi and his mother died not long afterwards, both him & his sister were put into care at Morelands Brisbane until they were old enough to get out...no family no future...they had to make their own.

[@nordicson2835]

I never knew this , thank you for bringing history back.

[@josephcottenii8463]

In memory of Ted D. Easton, USAAC, one of 500 POWs rescued from Cabanatuan by US Army Rangers, Scouts and hundreds of Philippine guerrillas. Ted did not harbor any hatred of the Japanese after the war even after the horror he experienced. He grew up in California, and had Japanese friends growing up before the war. One Japanese American friend was too embarrassed by Ted’s treatment in Cabanatuan to ever speak to him afterwards. The biggest gripe Ted had was the health treatment provided by the US government Veterans Administration; his disability was revoked with all pay because he would not agree to radical surgery for his injuries. This government misstep was corrected later. RIP.

[@mdog111]

I think that your work on aspects of the war with Japan is some of the best on your channel and the best on YT too. Whilst I can find endless videos on German weapons, tactics, army etc, few people cover the much harder to research subjects related to Japan's involvement in the war. You have done a great job of educating me in that sphere. I have nothing against the Japanese people but it has always amazed me that ordinary Japanese are literally unaware of their ancestors' involvement in the most hideous of war crimes in WW2. Whether they like it or not, ALL Germans know more or less what their grandfathers were guilty of. Not so, almost all Japanese.

[@gustavalexander8676]

I agree. His stuff on Japan during WW2 is some of his best stuff. Imo this is where academic History really shines; it enables historians to look past the lies and the ideology and to judge the past without succumbing to the biases of the past - and, ideally, the present. This is how the US felt about atrocities in the aftermath of ww2 ... I wonder if they're any less disingenuous today when war crimes against ukrainians are lambasted by our ally across the atlantic, while war crimes against palestinians are accepted or ignored.

[@mdog111]

@@gustavalexander8676 I'm in total agreement with your second paragraph.

[@TrueGamingVault]

Mark you're an absolute legend. The history community thanks you for your informative and enjoyable story telling videos. Every video from you is a gift. ❤️

[@AviViljoen]

The history community? Who made you their spokesperson?

[@TrueGamingVault]

@@AviViljoen Joe

[@azurecliff8709]

★★★ Japan will never forgive the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ❢❢❢ It was a clear war crime ❢❢❢

[@johnphillips519]

I have always thought this but its great to see someone like Mark prove it with facts in this format👍

[@JJMHigner]

I agree. it always struck be as odd that so many of those who were tried were not given harsher sentences and that others were never tried at all. A severe and unthinkable miscarriage of justice especially when I think of those I knew personally or have met and their fellows / brothers that went through such Hell.

[@marieravening927]

My uncle was on the first boat load of prisoners of war (by the Japanese) returned to Australia and although a big man, weighed only five and a half stone on arrival and spent months in hospital. He was not a soldier as such, but he was an army cook. I remember as a child he would fly into a rage if food was wasted.

[@oldesertguy9616]

I wonder what MacArthur's take on everything would be had he experienced the same Japanese hospitality his troops at Bataan experienced.

[@davidb2206]

As he should have, rather than running.

[@BC-op7rj]

MacArthur only cared about MacArthur. His conduct from the Philippines to Australia, and back, then in Japan, then in Korea should have seen him stripped of rank and jailed. He was the pillar of salt only recently matched by Donald Trump in character deficiencies. Just try to imagine an alternate timeline where his US Naval equal Nimitz had been given the command of postwar Japan instead. General Stilwell should have at least been there and superior to MacArthur as he spoke Chinese to better coordinate trials. At very least Generals from Europe should have been shipped in to check MacArthurs ego and adjudicate without bias to ensure the same processes used on rebuilding Germany were applied to Japan.

[@davidb2206]

@@BC-op7rj Hitler would have left him on Corregidor.

[@BC-op7rj]

@@davidb2206 My belief is MacArthur abandoned his post. Roosevelt then retrospectively gave him the order to escape. The difference may have only been a matter of hours, but the alternative was to fire him Instead Rooservelt panicked. Why, because if MacArthur was fired he would return home in the USA where he would politically overshadow Roosevelt come the next election. This situation persisted until Truman got sick of his insubordination in Korea.

[@davidb2206]

@@BC-op7rj He only went across from Corregidor to visit the troops in Bataan ONCE. Even then it was only to a command post and briefly. Inexcusable. No wonder the troops came up with "Dugout Doug."

[@motorTranz]

This was very well done! Thank you Dr. Felton!

[@knockitdown20]

After listening to this I have a new found respect for Mountbatten. He wisely foresaw the consequences.

[@Bitchslapper316]

What did he foresee though? Is Japan not a strong ally today?

[@victorypolka7449]

@@Bitchslapper316could be a dangerous ally when the situation or power dynamics changes.

[@rodrigofonseca6241]

he liked young boys a lot

[@onepackaday552]

More people needs to see this. Thank you very much. Complete Justice was never served in the Tokyo Trials.. How unfortunate that the Japanese government even today denies the atrocities that its military committed today. I only hope this history will not be forgotten with time... I hope...

[@tango6nf477]

Well done well done I am so pleased that you chose to resurrect this long forgotten piece of history. It is perhaps one of the most shameful episodes in post war American history and as the History Guy would say "it is history that deserves to be remembered".

[@bobcosmic]

Once again more revelations from Dr Mark Felton !

[@henryrodgers1752]

Thank you for bringing this truth to light.

[@samsungtap4183]

Mark one of your best !

[@marshaldillon4387]

Sir Mark it just goes to show you can’t trust a politician !!! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧🇺🇸

[@j0nnyism]

Especially ones that wear silly hats

[@mattblom3990]

After reading Mark Felton's own "Slaughter at Sea" about Japanese naval atrocities, this video is even more infuriating. "American justice" yeah right, and this encourages Japanese war crime denials to this day.

[@joshcruzat3112]

Thank you! This is like the first comment that actually mentions that war crime denialism in Japan happens to this day.

[@natowaveenjoyer9862]

Does the Cold War not register as a thing that happened?

[@jamisojo]

@@joshcruzat3112 on the internet, you can find any opinion you could possibly imagine. I can tell by the loyalty of Japan as our ally... we did the right thing, and the Japanese people know what they did wrong.

[@scottsanders5821]

Good job as always. Now do a big series of programs about the postwar show trials of the zaibatsu (wealth klans) and the monopolstellung (I.G. Farbenindustrie, e.g.) and how they both went even deeper into the ditch due to politics. Tell us how this encouraged not only history deniers but post-war profiteering from militarism, Eisenhower's MIC speech, and the growth of better protected and richer "wealth klans" today.

[@Sir_Maximus_Hardwood]

I thought this was on main when I saw the pictures. Very nice

[@mattmack222]

Thank you, Mark for your unflinching critique of MacArthur’s actions in post-war Japan. The portrayal of MacArthur as a hero in the war (“I have returned”), while galling to most military commanders, was thought at the time to be a necessary fiction for the folks back home. Self-aggrandizement seems to have been MacArthur’s favorite pastime.

[@sopwithmod2598]

from everything ive ever read about the guy he has ranged from comically narcissistic to outright derranged

[@natowaveenjoyer9862]

Should’ve listened to him about nuking China.

[@azurecliff8709]

★★★ Japan will never forgive the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ❢❢❢ It was a clear war crime ❢❢❢

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

Doesn't change the fact that to any Filipino, he's a hero. Say what you want about him and all of it is true but the liberation of the Philippines under his command is what critically cements pro-US sentiments to the Philippine psyche. Yes, its entire purpose was to serve one man's ego but became a far-reaching political windfall for the US in the end; had the US not do that, the Philippines may well have been Commie...

[@mattmack222]

@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 Good point, I hear you. I know the re-created MacArthur Suite has pride of place at the Manila Hotel. It still gags me to think he got the Medal of Honor for bugging out, not to mention the millions in gold President Quezon gave him - which he didn’t report to the American government, BTW.