en route from Durban to Colombo, sunk by the I-165 on March 18, 1944. Thirty two of the crew were killed by pistol and machine-gun fire. The SS Ascot sank on February 29, 1944, after being torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Indian Ocean. Survivors were machine-gunned on the rafts and in the water. Of the 52 crew who had abandoned ship, only eight survived.
The American Liberty ship Jean Nicolet, was torpedoed on July 2, 1944, while en route from Fremantle to Colombo. Her complement of 100 were taken on board the foredeck of the Japanese submarine I-8 and one by one led to the stern of the vessel where they had to run a gauntlet of Japanese sailors who beat them with clubs, iron bars and bayonets before being kicked or pushed into the sea. While squatting on the forward deck waiting their turn, the remaining survivors were washed overboard when the submarine submerged. Of the 100 passengers and crew of the Jean Nicolet only 23 survived to tell the tale. Similar atrocities were perpetrated on the survivors of the tanker British Chivalry (February 22, 1944) sunk by the I-37. Survivors in two lifeboats were machine-gunned, killing 20 crewmembers, the rest drifted for thirty-seven days before being rescued.
The Dutch ship Tjisalak (March 26, 1944) torpedoed in the Indian ocean by the Japanese submarine I-8. A total of 98 crew and passengers (including some British subjects) were massacred by sword and spanners used as clubs by the submarine's crew. Only five survived the massacre. The MV Sutley (February 26, 1944) and the SS John A Johnson (October 29, 1944) both of whose survivors were fired upon while clinging to rafts. The SS Mellore, a British ship en route from Australia to Bombay with general cargo, torpedoed by the I-8 on June 29, 1944. Of the 209 passengers and crew, 79 were killed. During an operation in the Indian Ocean, ships of the Japanese South-West Area Fleet sunk the British motor vessel Behar on 18th March, 1944. Seventy-two of her survivors, including twenty-seven Europeans and forty-five Indians, were taken on board the Japanese cruiser Tone whose captain had received orders to 'dispose of all prisoners'. The prisoners were hit in the stomach with rifle butts or kicked in the testicles and as they lay squirming on the deck, were then beheaded. The American freighter David H. Atwater, sunk by the U-552 (Kptlt. Erich Topp) off the coast of Virginia on April 2, 1942, the crew were machined-gunned as they took to the lifeboats. Only three of the 27 crew survived the massacre. The crew of the German destroyer Erich Giese, sunk during the Battle for Narvik, swimming desperately in the water, were fired upon by British destroyers trying to prevent them reaching shore and joining up with German troops already there. The British cargo ship Kwantung sunk by the I-156 south of Java was carrying 96 crew and some 40 military personnel. Machine-gunned while in the lifeboats, only 35 survived to be rescued.
Savage deeds were committed by all armies and navies during World War II but only when committed by Germans or Japanese were they classed as war crimes by the Allies.
DEATH ON RAMREE ISLAND (February 19, 1945)
Twelve miles off the coast of Burma (Myanmar) lies the fifty by twenty mile wide island of Ramree. In the capture of the island by the British 4th, 26th, 36th and 71st Indian Brigades, RAF and Navy Task Force units, the Japanese occupiers were driven into the sweltering and fetid central area of mangrove swamps. In the thick impenetrable forest of the swamp, the 900 or so Japanese soldiers, many suffering from tropical diseases, were trapped in deep black mud, infested with scorpions, millions of mosquitoes and worst of all, salt water crocodiles. Those trying to escape the swamps were shot down by Royal Navy marines. In spite of calls to give themselves up, they refused. With no food or drinking water hundreds died within days. Many were taken by the crocodiles. The capture of Ramree Island officially ended on February 22, 1945. In the end only about twenty Japanese survived, all too badly wounded even to 