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Order authorizing Japanese guards to flee to avoid prosecution for war crimes

The following is an exact re-type of a faded copy of Document 2697, located at the United States National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD. Copy was found in File #2011 of the War Crimes Records. Note that while it is Doc #2697, it is certified as Exhibit “J” in Doc. No. 2687 and referred to as Exhibit “J” in the affidavit of James Thomas Nehemiah Cross.
[Record Group 238 Box 2011]

22-1-9 13 [penciled in]
E2011 [penciled in]
Document No. 2697
(Certified as Exhibit “J” in Doc. No. 2687)
TO: Chief of Staff, Taiwan Army

FROM: Chief Prisoner of War Camps Tokyo
POW Camps Radio #9 Top Military Secret.
20 August 1945

Personnel who mistreated prisoners of war and internees or who are held in extremely bad sentiment by them are permitted to take care of it by immediately transferring or by fleeing without trace. Moreover, documents which would be unfavorable for us in the hands of the enemy are to be treated in the same way as secret documents and destroyed when finished with.

Addressees: Korean Army, Taiwan Army, Kwantung (Manchuria) Army, North China Area Army, Hong Kong. (YOSHIOKA, Nadaji) [penciled in] Reference [penciled in] Chiefs of Staff -- Korea, Taiwan, Mukden, Borneo, North China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaya, Java.
Each POW Camp Commanding Officer.

I hereby certify that this is a true translation from Taiwan Army H.Q. Staff Files concerning POW’s. Vol. 7.
Signed: Stephen H. Green

This is Exhibit marked “J”, referred to in the Affidavit of JAMES THOMAS NEHEMIAH CROSS.

Sworn before me this 19th day of September, 1946.
/s/ P. A. L. Vine
Major R. M.

“to annihilate them all, and not to leave any traces”

The following translation was found in File 2015, designated as Document No. 2710, certified as Exhibit “O” in Doc. No.2687. NARA, RG 238 Box 2015
Special Note: In RG 238 Box 2012 is a request “for suggestions on how to dispose of all internees.”
22-1-9 17 [penciled in] — E2015 [penciled in] — Document No. 2701 — (Certified as Exhibit “O” in Doc. No. 2687)
From the Journal of the Taiwan POW Camp H.Q. in Taihoku,
entry 1 August 1944
(entries about money, promotions of Formosans at Branch camps, including promotion of Yo Yu-toku to 1st Cl Keibiin - 5 entries)

The following answer about the extreme measures for POW’s was sent to the Chief of Staff of the 11th Unit (Formosa POW Security No. 10).

“Under the present situation if there were a mere explosion or fire a shelter for the time being could be had in nearby buildings such as the school, a warehouse, or the like. However, at such time as the situation became urgent and it be extremely important, the POW’s will be concentrated and confined in their present location and under heavy guard the preparation for the final disposition will be made.

The time and method of the disposition are as follows:

The Time.
Although the basic aim is to act under superior orders, Individual disposition may be made in the following circumstances:
When an uprising of large numbers cannot be suppressed without the use of firearms.
When escapees from the camp may turn into a hostile Fighting force.

The Methods.
Whether they are destroyed individually or in groups, or however it is done, with mass bombing, poisonous smoke, poisons, drowning, decapitation, or what, dispose of them as the situation dictates.

In any case it is the aim not to allow the escape of a single one, to annihilate them all, and not to leave any traces.

To: The Commanding General
The Commanding General of Military Police
Reported matters conferred on with the 11th Unit, the Kiirun Fortified Area H.Q., and each prefecture concerning the extreme security in Taiwan POW Camps.”

(The next entry concerns the will of a deceased POW).

I hereby certify that this is a true translation from the Journal of the Taiwan POW H.Q. in Taiwan, entry 1 August 1944.
Signed: Stephen H. Green

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