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Abstract
Around 13,500 Allied civilians were interned by Japan throughout China during the Second World War. This article explores how these Allied internees were rescued after the war. It finds that the Allied and Japanese governments made painstaking efforts to make the rescue mission a success. The complex military, diplomatic, and political context in China around the end of the war caused numerous difficulties for the rescue mission. This context also facilitated the mission to a certain degree by creating the conditions for the Allied internees to become increasingly valuable, which, in turn motivated the Allied and Japanese governments to work actively towards their relief.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Draft International Convention on the Condition and Protection of Civilians of enemy nationality who are on territory belonging to or occupied by a Belligerent, Tokyo, 1934. ICRC, Report of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Its Activities during the Second World War, Volume 1 (Stockholm: XVIIth International Red Cross Conference, 1948), 573.
2 Issues concerning CIs were discussed by academics during the war and during the immediate postwar period: E.J. Cohn, ‘Legal Aspects of Internment’, The Modern Law Review 4, no. 3 (1941), 200–9; Li Liang, ‘Haifanglu qiaomin jizhongyingan panjueshu’, Zhendan falvjingji zazhi 4, no. 7 (1948), 211–30. Topics concerning CIs have become popular among scholars again, since the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Recent academic works concerning Allied internees in the Japanese-controlled areas of China: Kent Fedorowich, ‘Doomed from the Outset? Internment and Civilian Exchange in the Far East: the British Failure over Hong Kong, 1941–45’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 25, no. 1 (1997), 113–40; Bernice Archer, The Internment of Western Civilians Under the Japanese 1941–1945 (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004); Sun Anshi, ‘Beikokujin senkyoushi to Nicchuusensou, Shanhai no tekikokunin shuudanseikatsusho’, jinbungaku kenkyuusho, 38 (2005), 78–89; He Tianyi et al., eds, Riben qinlve huabei zuixing dangan (Shijiazhuang: Hebei renmin chubanshe, 2005); Greg Leck, Captives of Empire: The Japanese Internment of Allied Civilians in China 1941–1945 (Bangor PA: Shandy Press, 2006); Christina Twomey, ‘Internment and Citizenship Entitlements in the Second World War’, Australian Journal of Politics and History 53, no. 2 (2007), 194–206; Geoffrey Emerson, Hong Kong Internment, 1942–1945 (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2008); Karl Hack and Kevin Blackburn, eds, Forgotten captives in Japanese-occupied Asia (London: Routledge, 2008); Harold Mytum, ed., Archaeology, Memory, and Heritage of 19th and 20th Century Mass Internment (New York: Springer, 2013); Felicia Yap, ‘International Laws of War and Civilian Internees of the Japanese in British Asia’, War in History 23, no. 4 (2016), 416–38; Sarah Kovner, Prisoners of the Empire: Inside Japanese POW Camps (MA: Harvard University Press, 2020); Robert Bickers, ‘The British in China and the aftermath of empire’, in The Break-up of Greater Britain, ed. by Stuard Ward and Christian Pedersen (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2021); Anoma Pieris and Lynne Horiuchi, The Architecture of Confinement: Incarceration Camps of the Pacific War (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2022).
3 Leck, Captives, 26.
4 John Fairbank et al., eds, The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 128.
5 Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (JMOFA), ‘bassui kokunainiokeru tekikokunin no toriatsukai nitsuite’, December 1943, in Nihon gaikou bunsho, Taiheiyousensou, Daisansatsu.
6 Table, 2 December 1942, JMOFA Archives (JMOFAA)-B05014035200; Taiwan POW Camps, June 1944, JMOFAA B02032518100; Leck, Captives; Li Jian and Su Zhiliang, ‘Qinhuarijun zaihujizhongying kaolun’, Shanghai shifandaxue xuebao 3, (2017).
7 Rana Mitter, ‘British Diplomacy and Changing Views of Chinese Governmental Capability across the Sino-Japanese War, 1937–1945’, in Negotiating China’s Destiny in World War II, ed. by Hans van de Ven, Diana Lary and Stephen R. Mackinnon (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2015), 35.
8 David French, ‘British Military Strategy’, in The Cambridge History of the Second World War, Volume 1, ed. by John Ferris and Evan Mawdsley (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015).
9 Kent Fedorowich, ‘Decolonization Deferred? The Re-establishment of Colonial Rule in Hong Kong 1942–45’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 28, no. 3 (2000), 35.
10 Rana Mitter, ‘Nationalism, decolonization, geopolitics and the Asian post-war’ in The Cambridge History of the Second World War, Volume 3, ed. by Michael Geyer and Adam Tooze (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 599; Fedorowich, ‘Decolonization’, 44; Albert C. Wedemeyer, Wedemeyer Reports! (Auckland: Pickle Partners Publishing, 2015), 392–413.
11 Fedorowich, ‘Decolonization’, 44.
12 Hans van de Ven, China at War: Triumph and Tragedy in the Emergence of the New China (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2018), 205; Wedemeyer, 444.
13 Wedemeyer, 441, 455.
14 Tsuchida to Shigemitsu, 21 August 1945, JMOFAA-B18090015900.
15 Wedemeyer, 462, 573, 584.
16 Inaba Masao, Okamura Yasuji taishou shiryou – senjyou kaisouroku (Tokyo: Hara shobou, 1970).
17 Minutes and correspondence, 18 March 1944, The National Archives UK (TNA) CO 980/168; Plan for the recovery and evacuation of Allied POWs and CIs in the Far East, 25 April 1945, TNA CO 980/174.
18 Mitter, ‘Nationalism’, 602.
19 Supplies to Liberated Territories in the Far East, 8 November 1944, TNA FO 371/46124.
20 Van de Ven, China at War, 196.
21 Seymour to Foreign Office (FO) No.804, 10 August 1945, TNA FO 371/46495.
22 Wallinger to FO, 14 August 1945, TNA FO 371/46495.
23 Leck, 393.
24 Office of the Historian, The Historian of the U.S. Department of State (OH-HUSDS), ‘Memorandum, 6 February 1945, The Foreign Relations of the US (FRUS) series 124.936/2-1545’,
<https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945v07/d21#fn:1.5.4.4.56.10.6> [accessed 26 November 2023].
25 WO (War Office) to FO, 18 September 1945, TNA FO 916/1333.
26 Chungking to FO, No. 804, 10 August 1945, TNA FO 371/46495.
27 Seymour to FO, No. 805, 10 August 1945, TNA FO 371/46495.
28 Administrative Arrangements, 22 June 1945, TNA CO 980/174.
29 Chungking to A.M.S.S.O, 13 August 1945, TNA FO 371/46252.
30 FO to Chungking, No. 859, 11 August 1945, TNA FO 371/46251.
31 FO to Chungking, 13 August 1945, TNA FO 371/46251.
32 Edwin Ride, BAAG, Hong Kong Resistance 1942–1945 (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1981). Anonymous, ‘Badge, unit, British, British Army Aid Group’, <https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30076590> [accessed 19 August 2023].
33 Chungking to FO No. 836, 14 August 1945, TNA FO 371/46495.
34 Wallinger to FO; Chungking to FO No. 836, 14 August 1945; SACSEA to FO, 15 August 1945, TNA FO 371/46495.
35 Tougou to Japanese embassies and legations in China, Thailand, Vietnam, No. 715 and No. 716, 14 August 1945, JMOFAA B18090012100; US government’s reply to Japanese government, 11 August 1945, JMOFAA B18090012100.
36 Okamura to Army Minister, 14 August 1945, JMOFAA B18090015300; Masao, 3–6.
37 Chungking to SACSEA, 15 August 1945, TNA FO 371/46495.
38 OH-HUSDS, ‘Secretary of State to Switzerland, 20 August 1945, FRUS 711.94114A/8–2045’,
<https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945v06/d257#fn:1.5.4.10.14.8.172.14.2> [accessed 26 November 2023]; Conditions in China, 19 August 1945, JMOFAA B18090012500.
39 Chungking to FO, 19 August 1945, TNA FO 371/46125; Chungking to FO, 27 August 1945, TNA FO916/1332.
40 Emperor’s instruction, 16 August 1945, JMOFAA B18090012400; Conditions in China, JMOFAA B18090012500; Van de Ven, China at War, 208.
41 OH-HUSDS, ‘Telegram by Hurley, 19 August 1945, FRUS 740.00115PW/8–1945’.
<https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945v06/d256#fn:1.5.4.10.14.8.170.14.2> [accessed 26 November 2023; J.S.M. Washington to A.M.S.S.O, 29 August 1945, TNA FO 916/1332.
42 Shanghai to Great East Asia Minister, 21 August 1945, JMOFAA B18090015900.
43 William G. Norwood, ‘Chronological Report on Duck Mission’, 7 September 1945, <http://weihsien-paintings.org/KimSmith/DuckMission/p_ChronologicalReport.htm> [accessed 13 August 2023]; HQ British Troops in China to WO, 23 August 1945, TNA FO 916/1332.
44 BAAG to HQBTC, 15 August 1945, FO 371/46252; MACHIN to A.M.S.S.O, 16 August 1945, FO 371/46125.
45 Ride to GOC, 21 August 1945, TNA FO 371/46253.
46 Ibid.
47 Ibid.
48 HQBTC to WO, 30 August1945, TNA FO 916/1332.
49 Internees’ diaries, and other documents (e.g., Maurice Fredrick Key, ‘Hong Kong before, during and after the Pacific War’, <https://gwulo.com/node/11097> [accessed on 13 August 2023]; Brian Edgar, ‘A Chronology of Events’, <https://gwulo.com/node/9857> [accessed on 13 August 2023]) uploaded to the website of Gwulo: Old Hong Kong; Chungking to FO, 29 August 1945, TNA FO 371/46251; Geoffrey Emerson, ‘Behind Japanese Barbed Wire: Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong 1942–1945’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch 17, (1977), 30–42.
50 AMSSO to JSM Washington, 15 August 1945, TNA FO 371/46252; extract from COS(45) 200, 19 August 1945, FO 371/46495.
51 Shi Yuanhua, ed., Zhonghuaminguo waijiaoshi shinzhu (Beijing: Shehuikexue wenxian chubanshe, 2013), 982–3; FO to Chungking, 23 August 1945, TNA FO 371/46251; HQ China Army Memorandum, 31 August 1945, JMOFAA B18090015000; Wedemeyer, 449; Fedorowich, ‘Decolonization’, 41.
52 Key.
53 C.in C.B.P.F to Admiralty, 28 August 1945; Admiralty to CTF, 30 August 1945; Chief of Staff to C. in C.Hong Kong, 3 September 1945, TNA FO 371/46254; Edgar.
54 Seymour to Consulate-General Kunming, 12 September 1945, TNA FO 916/1333.
55 Seymour to Consulate-General Kunming, 12 September 1945, TNA FO 916/1333.
56 General Condition of Army, 7 September 1945, JMOFAA B18090012600.
57 Van de Ven, China at War, 209–14.
58 General Conditions in Peking and Tianjin Area, 13 October 1945, JMOFAA B18090016800; Emergency Telegraph, 16 October 1945, JMOFAA B18090015000; Chungking to FO, 26 October 1945, TNA FO 916/1333.
59 Shanghai to Shigemitsu, 20 August 1945; Shanghai to Shigemitsu, 27 August 1945; Army situation, 1 September 1945, JMOFAA B18090015900.
60 Lyttle to British Red Cross, 18 October 1945, TNA FO 916/1333.
61 Berne to FO, 21 August 1945; FO to Berne, 23 August 1945; Chungking to FO, 25 August 1945: TNA FO 916/1331.
62 Shanghai to Shigemitsu, 29 August 1945, JMOFAA B18090015900; Berne to FO, 5 September 1945, TNA FO 916/1332.
63 British Chamber of Commerce and British Residents Association of China to Seymour, 7 September 1945, TNA FO 916/1333.
64 Shanghai to Shigemitsu, 17 September 1945, JMOFAA B18090015900.
65 OH-HUSDS, ‘Secretary of State to Hurley,14 September 1945, FRUS 393.115/9–1445’, <https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945v07/d1035#fnref:1.5.4.64.18.16.2> [accessed 26 November 2023]; OH-HUSDS, ‘Shanghai to Secretary of State, 26 September 1945, FRUS 740.00119PW/9–2645’, <https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945v07/d1041#fn:1.5.4.64.32.14.2> [accessed 26 November 2023].
66 Chungking to FO, 26 October 1945, TNA FO 916/1333.
67 Norwood.
68 Jinan to Shigemitsu, 21 August 1945; Qingdao to Shigemitsu,29 August 1945; Qingdao to Shigemitsu, 13 September 1945: JMOFAA B18090017100.
69 Chungking to FO, 26 October 1945, TNA FO 916/1333.
70 Chungking to FO, 20 September 1945, TNA FO 916/1333.
71 HQ Chinese Army to Okamura, 15 September 1945, JMOFAA B18090015000; Qingdao to Foreign Minister, 21 September 1945, JMOFAA B18090017000; Chungking to FO, 26 October 1945, TNA FO 916/1333.
72 Leck, 405.
73 He to Okamura,26 September 1945; He to Okamura, 28 September 1945: JMOFAA B18090015000.
74 Chungking to FO, 27 October 1945, TNA FO 916/1333. The mission started on 12, and was completed by 20 October: Leck, 405.
75 Excerpts of Isabel Duck’s personal papers and Tulita King’s family letter: Leck, 409–10.
76 Memorandum, 30 March 1945, TNA CO 980/167.
77 Task Force 112 to FOWABPF, 29 October 1945, TNA FO 916/1333.
78 Chungking to FO, 17 October 1945, TNA FO 916/1333.
79 OH-HUSDS, ‘Secretary of State to Hurley, 15 August 1945, FRUS 300.1115/8–1545’, <https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945v07/d1034#fn:1.5.4.64.16.14.2> [accessed 26 November 1945; OH-HUSDS, ‘Shanghai to Secretary of State, 1 October 1945, FRUS 390.1115/10–145’, <https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945v07/d1045#fn:1.5.4.64.40.14.2> [accessed 26 November 2023].
80 OH-HUSDS, ‘Secretary of State to Hurley, 19 September 1945, FRUS 390.1115/9–1945’, <https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945v07/d1037#fn:1.5.4.64.22.14.2> [accessed 26 November 2023]; OH-HUSDS, ‘Robertson to Secretary of State, 26 September 1945, FRUS 390.1115/9–2645’, <https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945v07/d1042#fn:1.5.4.64.34.14.2> [accessed 26 November 2023]. The plans to move the liberated Allied internees to a central processing point were worked out between Wedemeyer and SCAP.
81 HQBTC to SACSEA, 18 August 1945, TNA FO 371/46125; Chungking to FO, 19 August 1945; Chungking to FO, 13 September 1945; FO to Chungking, 21 September 1945: TNA FO 916/1332; Wang to Seymour, 6 November 1945, TNA FO 916/1334.
82 Leck, 411.
83 OH-HUSDS, ‘Robertson to Secretary of State, 26 September 1945, FRUS 390.1115/9–2645’, <https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945v07/d1042#fn:1.5.4.64.34.14.2> [accessed 26 November 2023]; CTG 112.3 to C. in C. H. K, 18 October 1945; SO 2nd C. S. to FOWA BPF, 14 November 1945: TNA FO 916/1333; Ash Camp, 19 November 1946, TNA FO 369/3449; Leck, Captives, 407–17.
84 CTG to FOWABPF, 9 November 1945, TNA FO 916/1333.
85 Ash Camp, 19 November 1946; Shanghai to FO, 3 December 1946, TNA FO 369/3449.
86 Ash Camp, 19 November 1946; Shanghai to FO, 3 December 1946, TNA FO 369/3449.
87 FO to India Office,10 January 1947, TNA FO 369/3449.
88 FO to Shanghai, 10 January 1947, TNA FO 369/3449.
89 FO to Shanghai, 10 January 1947, TNA FO 369/3449.
90 Chungking to FO, 26 October 1945, TNA FO 916/1333.
91 Wedemeyer, 573–4.
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Chan Yang
Chan Yang received her PhD from the University of Bristol and is now an Associate Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Her research interests include the Second World War and its legacies. She is the author of World War Two Legacies in East Asia: China Remembers the War (London, New York: Routledge, 2017); and her articles have appeared in many journals including Journal of Contemporary History and Modern Asian Studies.