Australian War Crimes Trials: Atrocities against captured airmen of the RAAF

Accession Number MSS2074
Collection type Manuscript
Measurement 1 wallet: 1cm
Object type Manuscript
Maker Moss, Tristan
Date made 2009
Access Open
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Description

50 page manuscript. The manuscript examines the outcomes of the Australian War Crimes Trials from 1945-1951 with focus on those relating to captured RAAF airmen. Section one examines two specific war crimes trials and the attempts to cover up the events in question. Section two examines some of the possible reasons for why the airmen were killed after capture, including an assessment of the changing attitudes of the Japanese towards prisoners of war from before the First World War through to the Second World War. Section three examines the issue of 'superior orders' and the role that orders played in the committing of the war crimes. Section four examines the Japanese experience around the events, to provide insight into why they occurred. Appendix A examines the approach taken for the study, Appendix B lists the defendants in the various war-crimes trials, Appendix C lists the victims sorted by the crimes and trials, Appendix D contains copies of the last letters written by the executed Japanese soldiers.