The Event

On September 18 1944 during WW11 the 5,065 ton Japanese cargo ship Junyo Maru in position west of Sumatra  Lat 02 degs S Long 101 degs E was hit by two torpedoes from the British Triton class submarine Tradewind.   There was no way the submarine Commander could have known what cargo this Japanese ship was carrying. On board, apart from crew and guards were cramped 6500 prisoners of the Japanese: 2300 Dutch, British, American and Australian prisoners of war and 4200 Javanese slave labourers. Over 5600 perished in the waters off southwest Sumatra, making this the largest maritime disaster of the war if not of all time.

Junyo Maru was en route from Java to Sumatra when she was sunk.  Among the over 5.000 Allied prisoners were some 200 Australian, British and American Merchant Seamen, whose ships had been sunk by German Surface Raiders operating in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, they being handed over to the Japanese at Batavia Dutch East Indies (now Jakarta, Indonesia), and Penang Malaya (now Malaysia). They were all bound for work on the 220km long Sumatra Railway Line between Pakan Baru and Muaro, through steaming jungle. From May to September 1944 the Japanese threw into this inhospitable corner of the earth over 5,000 Allied prisoners who had been captured on Java two and half years earlier. The survivors of the Junyo Maru ended up there.

A Reflection on the (Mis)fortunes of War

No blame attached to the  Commander of "Tradewind". The real blame lay with the Japanese, not only for their callous and brutal treatment of prisoners and slave laborers but also for neglecting to display the Red Cross as a warning that the "Hell Ships" carried their prisoners.Displaying that respected talisman would have cost next to nothing, and would have saved many thousands of lives. Some things are hard to forgive.

A number of  the Japanese "hell ships"  with their human cargoes bound for slave labor camps were sunk by Allied forces' submarine and air action.  Those lost number in the many thousands, and included hundreds of allied merchant seamen.   Losses included: Oryoku Maru, 300 died, Enoura Maru, 316 died, Brazil Maru, 450 died, Montevideo Maru, 1,053 died (all Australian), Junyo Maru, 5,620 died, Tomahaiko Maru, 560 died,  Arisan Maru, 1,792died, Hofuku Maru, 1,047 died, Marcos Maru, 325 died, Shinyo Maru, 667 died, Rakuyo Maru, 1,159 died, Kachidoko Maru, 400 died, Koshu Maru, 1,239 died, Tago Maru, 3,000 died, Ikoma Maru, 418 died, Suez Maru, 546 died, Lisbon Maru, 842 died - a total approaching 20,000. 

However, a few of these sinkings were carried out in the full knowledge that the ships carried prisoners-of-war. The Japanese naval code had been broken and was being deciphered and read by the Allies. Coded messages reported the sailing times, destinations and cargo of all convoys so the Allies knew which convoys were carrying prisoners. But the Submarine Commanders were ordered to attack the convoys, not any specific vessel and there was no way of distinguishing the prisoner-carriers.

 "Until The Sea Shall Free Them"

The foregoing information acknowledges the contents of:

The website: http://members.iinet.net.au, Robert Barr Smith's writings for the World War II Magazine of March 2002 and other sources

and is indebted to them for its use.