Dutch POW are listed on pages 23 to 25 see also: Hofuku Maru (dead 140) Hofuku Maru (survivors 29) EDIT Japanese vessel Toyofuko Maru sunk by carrier-based aircraft from USN Task Force 38 mentioned in: US Army/Japanese Monograph No. 12 Philippines Air Operations Record, Phase III, August 1944 - February 1945 http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japan/Monos/pdfs/JM-12/JM-12.pdf
Thanks again. I have not see the Klein book but I am not certain his lists online are complete. I worked on them a long time ago. I am not a huge fan of the spreadsheet but I think I am close to a complete list. There is a long story to what the Swiss Red Cross received and what the Japanese PWIB work after the war found, and Australian investigations into shipping war crimes also reference the Japanese Prisoner of War Investigation Bureau and its failure to produce contemporary lists. An Australian Flight Lieutenant knew more about British lost on "hell ships" than anyone, but only in terms of investigating war crimes. When the Americans released some of the prisoners in the Philippines in the famous "raid" the press got hold of the story. That, in turn, woke up the British Cas. PW who had completely neglected to press the Swiss to ask the JPWIB for a list of Hofuku casualties. The Swiss messages about lost and saved arrived very late on in the course of the war. As for the Dutch, I have got the book " De Gele Hel" by "H.Porte" ( a nom de plume ) which I have "translated" using Google translate but there no lists in the book. It is rather a good book but I have not completed the early chapters. I'll post a further contemporary statement shortly.
Note the dates and places of HM survivors from the Philippines returned to England by April 1945: {P1320468} WO361/1775 SS/330/82/1/Cas PW 0103/4347 SECRET PRISONERS OF WAR RECOVERED FROM JAPANESE HANDS IN THE PHILIPPINES INTERROGATION OF CAPTAIN J. GIBSON AND 79 O.Rs. Dropmore Camp - 3/4 April, 1945. Curzon Street House - 17 April, 1945. Bower Wood Camp - 20 April, 1945. All of the party was captured at Singapore and confined at CHANGI. They were sent to BANPONG, SIAM, in June 1942 in No.2 Group. Here they were employedon road-making and camp building. In October 1942 the party moved to CHONGKWAI. In November they were joined by the prisoners from No.4 Group. During the construction of the railway they occupied various camps in the neighbour of THA KHANUN, their stretch of the railway was to the North-West of No.4 Group's stretch. No.1 Group occupied HNONG PLA DUK and THA MAKAN. No.3, 5 and 6 Groups were on the BURMA end of the line. Conditions in No.2 Group during the construction of the railway were generally similar to those in other groups. Collective punishments were common and discipline was normally enforced by beatings, at least one of which was fatal. Officers were made to work by a threat that their men would be given no rations. Their work was bridge-making and cable-laying. The cholera epidemic commenced in May, 1943. The disease spread down the river through bodies being thrown into the water. The lack of sanitary precautions on the part of NEI prisoners was criticised. The casualty rate among "F" and "H" Forces, sent from Malaya to the railway in the summer of 1943, was exceptionally high, (possibly 50%). Captain Gibson estimated total white casualties in SIAM at 17,000. Higher estimates were made by other members of the party. Names of the dead were carefully recorded by officers. In the larger cemeteries, plans of the graves are buried under the main crosses, for identification purposes in case the marked crosses on individual graves are destroyed. The sick were evacuated to THA MAKAN in the latter part of May, 1943. The Senior British Officer of this Hospital Camp was Lieut.-Colonel TOOSEY, R.A. In October, the prisoners were moved to CHONGKWAI, to make room for Australians. There were about 9,000 prisoners in this camp, and 1,000 graves in the cemetery. Sick men continued to arrive by barge and train, many dying on the way. The death rate in CHONGKWAI was 20 per day during November and December 1943. The railway was completed in November 1943, and the evacuation was carried out between December and February. Conditions at CHONGKWAI, steadily improved. The Camp was reconstructed under the direction of Major OUTRAM, R.A., who acted as Senior British Officer. In January 1944 a party of 400 fit men were sent to build a hospital camp at NAKHON PATHOM. This is a well laid out camp with wooden huts. Shelter trenches in these camps were provided for the Japanese guards only. The prisoners were ordered to stay in the huts during air-raids. It was believed that casualties had occurred among P.W. during an air-raid on PRANG KAZI. There were frequent air-raid alerts. Sometimes a Red Cross Flag was displayed at CHONGKWAI. Quinine was given regularly in the Hospital camps, but there was a continuing shortage of other medical supplies. About 2,000 Prisoners of War were selected from CHONGKWAI for transfer to Japan. In this party the ratio of officers to men was 1 to 150. No officer above the rank of Captain was chosen. The party entrained for SINGAPORE on1st June; the journey lasted four days. They saw no other prisoners of war on the way. / In { P1320469 } In SINGAPORE, the party was accommodated in RIVER VALLEY ROAD Camp. They made contact with some Indian P.W., who were delighted to see British officers again. There were some British prisoners at CHANGHI, including a number of sick, but no contact could be made with them. Captain GIBSON and 1,250 men embarked on the HOFOKO MARU on 26th June. After much discussion, a certain number of prisoners were allowed to stay on deck after the ship left SINGAPORE, but most of the men were confined in two holds, already partly filled with cargo. The mens health, which had been undermined by bad feeding in SINGAPORE, suffered from the bad accommodation and lack of sufficient food and water. The ship was delayed at MIRI, ( BORNEO ) by a broken engine. She made MANILA Harbour on 23rd July, and remained here until 20th September. While in harbour, 96 men died. The British doctors did everything possible to save lives, but their only medical supplies were two cases of American Red Cross material, most of which was taken by the Japanese. After many appeals, the Japanese allowed 50 of the worst cases, only, to be taken to a camp in MANILA. Conditions on board the ship were appalling. The HOFOKU MARU finally sailed on 20th March.(sic) She was bombed and sunk by American aircraft on 21st September. 71 prisoners of war got ashore on rafts and driftwood. Of these, 63 were recaptured and taken to BILIBID and CABANATUAN and 8 ( including Captain GIBSON and three Dutch P.W. ) made contact with the guerrilla forces. 161 prisoners of war were picked up by Japanese boats, and were taken to BILIBID. The remaining prisoners died in the holds or in the water. ( NOTE: There are slight discrepancies between the figures given above, obtained from interrogations, and those given in Colour-Serjeant BEACH's Diary ). The remainder of the party from SIAM, consisting of 750 men under Captain R. HALL, R.A. left SINGAPORE on the ARSARKA (?) MARU on 4th July, ( having embarked on 18th June). Conditions were similar to those on the HOFOKU MAKU. She made MANILA on 16th July, and remained in harbour for some time. As far as is known, only 3 men died on board this ship. Colour Sergeant BEACH and 20 other sick men, were taken on shore to BILIBID. 31 sick were similarly landed on 25th June. The remaining prisoners on board this ship are known to have reached JAPAN, cards having been received from OSAKA Camp. Conditions in BILIBID and CABANATUAN were much better than in the camps in SIAM. Red Cross supplies were comparitively abundant. Drafts were taken from the camps to JAPAN at intervals, as mentioned in the appended diary. It is thought that 40 British prisoners of war were on board the transport which was sunk in December. The Japanese do not appear to have made any effort to remove the prisoners at BILIBID or CABANATUAN when the American forces landed. Orders were issued that the prisoners must remain in the camps; if found outside, they would be treated as combatants. Captain GIBSON and the other members of this party spoke highly of the excellent treatment which they had received at the hands of all American and Australian authorities concerned in their repatriation. P.W.2.(c) James Leigh Curzon St. House, W.1. Major D.A.A.G. MAYfair 9400/Ext.... 4 May, 1945 DISTRIBUTION: A.G. M.I.9 ( 4 copies) H.C. for Canada D.A.G.(A) P.W.2. (b) & (c) ( A. Bell, Esq.) D.P.W. P.W.3. 5. H.C. for Australia D.D.P.W. F.4. (PW) ( Maj. J.L. Lenehan) (3 copies) D.D.M.I./PW Cas.(PW) (3 copies) India Office ( A.R. Swinnerton) D.F.(d) PW Liaison Officer Colonial Office ( Lt. Col. Cole) M.O.12. B.A.S. Washington Air Ministry ( Group Capt. Burgess) M.I.2
I have the complete roster of Hofuku Maru compiled from numerous sources. I've attached a pdf that summarizes what happened to the 1287 men who were put aboard. The biggest remaining mystery is how many died aboard ship before the sinking. I was able to confirm 27 names, but the real total is likely much larger.
Good evening, Professor ! You are very welcome here to guide me in my attempts to find out as much as I can about the vessel upon which my uncle died, almost certainly on the 21st September 1944. The real total of those who died on board is much larger than twenty-seven, unfortunately, and I can tell you how I computed my total but that will take some time. I will send you a conversation, if the email does not function.
Agree. You will have the actual figures. I would only add that Captain Gibson in his later report says 'By the time we sailed from Manila Bay on September 20 over one hundred had died'. Tim
There is a phrase in a note on a War Office file, M926, now WO361/758: which says: " Cas. PW have eliminated 64 showing dead; released Report. Doms{?} Com{?} Admiralty. 1 no trace = Missing now 692 ( as per SBs ). Total BM rec'd in Missing Section up to or including 16/10/43 = 496." { See photo attached.} I interpret that as saying 64 were already dead before the sinking. The true figure is higher than 64, but very hard to find, and I always try to find the source of the information. This could be in files from local archives or WO 361 at Kew, etc. ( I let the Prof know where I am with my research: we share information. ) After October 1945 the Japanese Prisoner of War Information Bureau continued working on the lists in Tokyo under US supervision. SBs are telegrams or cables from the Swiss Red Cross who had received cables from the Japanese PWIB listing men as missing, alive, etc.. These cables were dated many months after the sinking.The Swiss then sent cables either to the British or Dutch authorities under their own Swiss references. The British then gave SB numbers to the cables. So a cable would have three references, Japanese, Swiss, and British. The Japanese had several files on the subject. A BM is a Branch Memorandum or a file on an individual man. As at October 16th 1945 there were no BMs for 196 individuals. That does not necessarily mean that they had died, just that the authorities had not exhausted all sources of information: e.g, interviews or statements from returning POWs, statements taken by other allies or Japanese records, etc.
Thank you. Found a relative that died when Hofoku maru was sunk Dennis Adey, REME, Hofuku Maru, 21/9/1944 | WW2Talk
Gordon, Thank you for bumping the thread. I have collected a lot of information about the Hofuku Maru over the years and can probably help you if you are seeking information concerning your relative. All are welcome, John
Never forgotten. Random pieces of information come to my notice about the ship from time to time. A recent thesis published by SOAS refers to Japanese recollections of the war, amongst other things. This new source ( to me ) confirms what I already knew, that Sgt Jotani, the accused in the war crimes case as transcribed above, was one of the first to the site of Chungkai camp, Thailand, in 1942. My previous information had come from the testimony of Yanagida ( the "Little Colonel", who was commanding Group II at the time, as appears in his war crimes trial ( Kew ref WO235/963.) "Tarumoto" was tried for his crimes: see here https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/3405f0/pdf The Kew Reference is WO235/857. Tarumoto went on to publish his recollections. The thesis states ( I am allowed to quote from it ): "Besides, Tarumoto states that, on 10 September 1942, his platoon reached Chungkai, where their mission was to remove a rock formation. At this point, there were no living facilities there. On 15 September, from the No.2 POW Camp stationed at Ban Pong, 60 POWs arrived at Chungkai led by Sergeant Jotani, a Japanese camp staff. They were the first POW party that arrived at Chungkai, and their mission was to build camp houses. Here, a conflict occurred between Tarumoto and Jotani: the former wanted to use the POWs for the rock-removing work, but the latter insisted that they had to build their camp facilities first as Chungkai would be the base of the No.2 Camp.337 After a talk, it was decided that Tarumoto could use half of them for his work. Tarumoto recollects that in late September or early October, the No.2 Camp moved its base to Chungkai, and 500 POWs became available for the railway work." The thesis is here: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/37061/1/Hashimoto_2022.pdf ( It would be interesting to chat with the author, Kazunori Hashimoto. I haven't finished reading his work. ) Strangely, enough, very few Japanese surnames begin with the letter "J", when rendered into English, and this is definitely the same man. Jotani did not spend all his time in Thailand at Chungkai. After the war he went back to Japan but was arrested and sent back to Singapore for his trial, and subsequent execution. Changing the subject, a well-known female impersonator who appeared in many theatrical productions, died on 21st September 1944. He could have stayed in Thailand but a friend of his was picked for the Japan party, so volunteered for the party and left with his friend. This was Pte "Bobby" Spong. He was very well known to the men in Thailand. Information from the excellent "Captive Audiences, Captive Performers" by Sears Eldredge. The text is downloadable here: Captive Audiences / Captive Performers - Complete Text CWGC information for Bobby Spong: "PRIVATE ROBERT ALBERT SPONG Service Number: 7655196 Regiment & Unit/Ship Royal Army Ordnance Corps 4 Ordnance Stores Coy. Date of Death Died 21 September 1944 Buried or commemorated at SINGAPORE MEMORIAL Column 110. Singapore" His father was landlord of the Two Brewers, Monmouth Street, London WC2 according to Spong's IJA card. ( The "Six Bells" referred to below, no longer exists, but the "Two Brewers" is a Greene King pub, according to the internet.) On 31st October 1952 this article was published in the "West London Press": " Pledge Renewed Soldier son of a Chelsea licensee, killed in the China Sea when his troopship was torpedoed during the war, was among those remembered at the annual re-union of former Far Eastern Prisoners-of-war at Chelsea Town Hall, on Saturday. Private Robert ("Bobby") Spong, R.A.O.C., son of Albert W. Spong, licensee of the Six Bells, King's Road, Chelsea, was drowned when the ship taking him and many other prisoners was torpedoed. So Mr. Spong booked and paid for the hall for the ex-P.O.W.s, the re-union was told. Mr. Ronald Hastain, chairman of the London association said, " We observe on this occasion the memory of Bobby Spong and all our other comrades and friends left behind in the far East or who died when they returned from captivity." "We renew a sacred pledge to remember them." The 650 ex-P.O.W.s and their relatives and friends stood in homage. During the evening they heard Brig. J.G. Smyth, V.C., Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions, announce that the £15 compensation to be paid to ex P.O.W.s by Christmas, will be followed, it is hoped, by a further £10 to £12 in the New Year."
On the anniversary of the sinking of the Hofuku Maru I have found that I did not post above one of the affidavits. Captain James Forbes Lawrence made a number of affidavits about his experiences during the war. This affidavit was first read in Tokyo to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East on the 19th of December 1946, whereas the trial of Jotani in Singapore commenced before a military tribunal in March 1947. At the IMTFE the transcript of the proceedings held on 19th December 1946 can be accessed here ( 29.7 MB download ) from Legal Tools. https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/e6ab04/pdf The affidavit of Captain Lawrence filed at the IMTFE is here: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/516fab/pdf Page 13,279: transcription: " Lieut. Colonel Mornane { prosecution counsel }: IPS document No. 5158 is an affidavit by Captain James Forbes Lawrence of the Gordon Highlanders. I tender the original for identification and the marked excerpts in evidence . THE PRESIDENT: Admitted on the usual terms. CLERK OF THE COURT : Prosecution's document No. 5158 will receive Exhibit No. 1645 for identification only, and the marked excerpts will receive exhibit No.1645-A. (Whereupon, document No. 5158 13,280 was marked prosecution's exhibit No. 1645 for identification, and the excerpts therefrom were marked prosecution's exhibit No.1645-A and received in evidence.) This is the affidavit as it was annexed to the later proceedings and signed for identification by the President of the tribunal. " S 197 573/7 "M" 6 H.E.R Smith Lt. Col President MD/JAG/FS/JT/13 IN THE MATTER OF JAPANESE WAR CRIMES AND IN THE MATTER OF THE VOYAGE FROM SINGAPORE TO MANILA 4TH JULY TO 21ST SEPTEMBER 1944 ______________________________________________ A F F I D A V I T ________________ I, No. 153398 Capt. James Forbes LAWRENCE of the Gordon Highlanders, with permanent home address at Arngask Old Manse, Glenfarg, Perthshire, make oath and say as follows:- 1. I was taken prisoner in Singapore on the 15 February 1942 when the British forces capitulated to the Japanese. Until June 1942 I was in Changi. I was then moved up to the Siam/Burma railway till December 1943. I was then moved to Chungkai till the 6 June 1944. Then down to Havelock Road Camp on Singapore Island previous to being embarked on the 27 June 44 on board the Hofuku Maru. 2. The Japanese organised the embarkation and their method was to put one British officer in charge of 150 men. The Senior British Officer was a Capt. GIBSON. There were 1300 men on board the ship, 1100 British and 200 Dutch. There were 13 officers, 10 of these were British and made up of 6 Line officers and 3 MOs and a Padre. Of the 3 Dutch officers, 2 were Line officers and one MO. 3. The Japanese in charge of the PsW on the ship were Sjt. JOTANI and Sjt. NORO. There were 2 interpreters, a 3rd class Korean Pte. called ARAI and a 1st class Japanese Pte. called MATSUMOTO. The Japanese officer in charge of the two PW ships which were going tp form part of the convoy leaving Singapore was Lt. ENO. He, however, travelled in the other ship. 4. The ship itself, the Hofuku Maru was a cargo ship of 7000 tons. It was Clyde built in 1902 and given to the Japanese in 1918. They reconditioned it and it had been in service ever since. The cargo on this occasion consisted of PsW and rubber. Each PW had to carry aboard when he went a large bit of rubber. All the PsW were quartered in the 2 holds, one forward and one aft. Officers and men had exactly the same quarters and we were divided between the two holds, about 650 in each. We left on the 4 July 1944 in a convoy of altogether about 12 ships. 5. During the voyage the PsW were kept below decks in the holds, but the hatches were left open and at odd times parties of men were allowed on deck. Even so this provision was only granted after many requests to Sjt. JOTANI. These groups of men when they were on deck were always the target for JOTANI and the other members of the guard who considered it a sport to wade in amongst the PsW with bars of iron and staves and anything else they could get hold of. They used to beat up the PsW unmercifully. Conditions generally in the holds were indes- cribeable. The overcrowding was such that the men could not all lie down at once and groups took it in turns to huddle up in one corner in /order - 2 - order to allow some men to stretch out. When a party of men was allowed on deck this eased the pressure below decks and a few men were able to get some sleep. The health of the PsW when they got on board was bad since they had all done about 18 months on the Burma/Siam railway. They were thin, emaciated, half-starved and riddled with diseases such as dysentery, malaria and beri-beri. They were naked except for G-strings, and a few of them had still some tattered tropical uniforms. The atmosphere inside these holds was stifling since the ship was made of iron and was sailing in the tropics. The hygienic arrangements were almost nil. There were no latrine facilities provided in the holds and those who were to (sic) weak to move or were half-paralysed with beri-beri excreted where they lay. There were a good many in that condition and the remainder of the people to sleep and live and eat in these holds. The Japanese had provided 6 box-latrines which were roped to the out-side of the ship, 3 for the aft-hold and three for the forward one, but ob- viously only those men strong enough to climb out of the holds could use these latrines. 6. At the end of July the ship arrived in Manila Bay. We anchored 1/2 mile from the wharf-side and stayed there for 6 weeks. During this time nobody was allowed on shore. It was only after days of agitation that JOTANI eventually permitted 50 of the worst cases to be taken ashore to the prison hospital in Manila. Of these, I heard later, that 12 had died but so far as I know the remainder are still alive. The rest of us had to stay in the Hofuku Maru. Our meals consisted of watery rice twice a fay and any leavings from the Japanese galley. By this time, after the long voyage and due to the lack of food and medical supplies men were beginning to die. In Manila Bay alone 104 people died. The doctors and the British officers on board were constantly going at the Japanese to get them to allow some medical supplies on board even if they refused to allow the PsW off the ship. They refused however. However the American authorities in the prison hospital in Manila heard of our plight and got the Japanese to send over to our ship 3 cases of B1 capsules for injection. JOTANI took these capsules and issued them to the guards on board the ship. Each Japanese had a box of 250 given to him. Then they forced our medical officers to give them the injections. Exactly the same thing happended (sic) when some milti-vitamin (sic) tablets were sent over to us. The PsW got none of these or any other medical supplies whatever. Not content with beating us and starving us JOTANI and NORO and the guards even broke up funeral services which ( might try and hold) we tried to hold. JOTANI had given permission for us to hold these, but as soon as they started he and the other Japanese would wade in with marlin-spikes and anything they could lay their hands on. 7. It would be impossible to exaggerate the effect of JOTANI and NORO on the PsW on board the ship. They and the other guards ruled us by fear. Their savage beatings and assaults on the men who had struggled up on deck, their complete disregard of all these sick and their general attitude and sadistic brutality towards us made life on the Hofuku Maru and (sic) absolute hell. It was a miracle to me that only 104 people died. 8. The ship sailed from Manila on the 20 September. The same people were still on board, that is Sjt. JOTANI and the others. We were in a convoy of 10 ships, escorted by two destroyers and two corvettes. /There - 3 - There were no distinguishing signs on our ship to show that it contained PsW. It must have appeared from the air or from a submarine as just an ordinary cargo-carrying vessel. We were now kept definitely below decks and only so many at a time were allowed out to go to the latrines. 9. On 21 September at about 1030 we heard machine-gun fire and planes overhead. Everybody was below decks at the time. A few seconds later an aerial torpedo hit the ship forward followed by another between the stern and the bridge and by a third directly below the bridge. Then the American planes began machine-gunning the vessel and there was complete chaos. The Japanese captain and his crew made an instant get-away (in) by jumping overboard immediately ( what few life-boats there were.) Sjt. JOTANI and Sjt. NORO and the guards did likewise, leaving the PsW to drown. The ship broke in two and sank in 5 minutes. More than half of the PsW were semi-starved and half- paralysed and had no chance. For the rest, they were all below decks and there was no method of exit and altogether not far short of 1000 PsW went down with the vessel. I succeeded by a miracle in finding myself in the sea clear of the sinking ship. I hung on to a broken-down bamboo raft and was in the water till 6 that night before being picked up by a lugger. There were quite a number of other British PsW who had also succeeded in escaping from the Hofuku Maru. Our only consolation while we were in the water was watching the American planes sinking every ship in the convoy except one. The survivors, numbering 217 were taken back to Manila on the 22 September. 10. I do not know what happened to JOTANI and NORO but I consider them directly responsible for conditions on board that ship before she went down. SWORN BY the above-named James Forbes LAWRENCE ) J. Forbes Lawrence at 6 Spring Gardens in the City of Westminster ) this 19 th day of February 1946. ) (signed) J.F. LAWRENCE BEFORE ME (signed) A.M. Bell-Macdonald Major Legal Staff, Judge Advocate General's Office, LONDON. "