The purpose of this site is to provide a primary source of documentation for all of the Allied prisoners of the Japanese during WWII. Our goal is to determine what each man's unit was at capture then record what camps he was taken to and where he was rescued. Where possible, we will provide rosters of the hell ships, and, if a man perished, where, when and how. Allied POWS Under the Japanese, WWII - Main Page
Very useful American-centric site for my earlier research into the Hofuku Maru because it provided a link to a list of both American and British PoW's who embarked from the Philippines, and a link to Jim Erickson's Hell Ship roster site, and others, and has an engaging format. It also still has a tribute to the late Rod Suddaby of the IWM on its front page, which is gracious. Very good links to Japanese material. Contrast the style of Cofepow, which had an old-fashioned style site and a way of chatting to question-raisers which was vital for me, but which has since lost the string and sealing wax charm. The war in the "Pacific" or "Far East" ( to use the British National Archives phrase ) covered such a large area and there is now a very good recent resource of maps and charts and statistics. It is there to promote a huge book and because the publisher could not fit the maps into the book, but free to use. Not very good map of the Burma/Thai railway but lots of others. Francis Pike - author of Hirohito's War and Empires At War
Both the site originator, Roger Mansell and Rod Suddaby were really knowledgeable and kind personalities. Both helped me along my way in regards Rangoon Jail.
A very useful site for researching. Also recommend Home and its associated sites. For the Thai/Burma Railway I would recommend Death Railway Tim
I am glad that Ron Taylor is still devoted to the cause because I found his old site very helpful when first starting on research and his blog is amusing ( problems with software, people that annoy him, etc.) as well as informative. The book he has on his site "Hell In Five", by a survivor of the Hofuku Maru, Jack Symons, is well worth a look. Easy to read, down to earth, and a straightforward telling of carrying on in the face of adversity.
were any pow's caught/transported in burma 1944? a lot of men missing in that time were obviously captured, were they all murdered?
I can only speak in terms of Chindit 2 (Operation Thursday). Some men in the first wave of gliders (March 5th 1944), that did not make their destination were captured and taken to Rangoon Jail, possibly as many as 35 soldiers in all. After this, generally speaking any Chindit captured thereafter was dealt with in the field.
