POW survival rates

[Blitzpuppy]

Marines survived the ordeal of Japanese prison camps at twice the rate of army GIs. What were the factors that accounted for this? Read full article.

[The Doctor]

Originally Posted by Blitzpuppy

Marines survived the ordeal of Japanese prison camps at twice the rate of army GIs. What were the factors that accounted for this?

Not many Marines were taken prisoner. Very few of those were captured in the Philippines. Marine POWs mostly came from three groups: 1) The Wake Island defense battalion; 2) China and 3) pilots captured in the Central Pacific and Solomons.

The Marines captured on Wake Island and in China, although horribly mistreated, did not have to endure anything like the Bataan Death March or the POW camps in the Philippines. The pilots who were captured and actually lived long enough to reach POW camps, were mostly sent to camps in Japan; where survival rates were higher than in the Philippines.

[Mountain Man]

So now the victims of the Death March are responsible?

How very PC to avoid discussing the sheer barbarism of the Japanese.

[The Doctor]

Originally Posted by MountainMan

So now the victims of the Death March are responsible?

Where in the heck did anyone say that?

Originally Posted by MountainMan

How very PC to avoid discussing the sheer barbarism of the Japanese.

In case you missed it...The question posed by Blitzpuppy was...

"Marines survived the ordeal of Japanese prison camps at twice the rate of army GIs. What were the factors that accounted for this?"

The "sheer barbarism of the Japanese" didn't contribute to the higher survival rate of USMC POWS.

[Mountain Man]

One of my father's closest friends was a former survivor of the Death March.

According to that fellow, no move was made to prepare units for the possibility of surrender or capture, and a lot of strategy was based on the MacArthur doctrine of invincibility and reinforcement right up to final moments when it became apparent that American forces could not hold. Again, according to him, his won unit was demoralized by forces they had been led to believe were inferior, the failure of promised aid to appear, and the news that MacArthur had left the theater of operations, effectively abandoning the troops in the field.

There was also a training factor, in that many of the Army units were often support units such as artillery and so forth, comprising troops who never expected to fight "on the line", as opposed to the Marines, trained as heavy assault forces from the beginning.

However, none of this excuses the barbarism of the Japanese, who went out of their way to torment, torture and butcher their captives at every opportunity.

[pmririshman]

It's not surprising that no marines died during the Bataan Death March since the vast majority of marines were made prisoners of war after the march ended. The march started 10 April, but the majority of marines in the Philippines were stationed on Corregidor Island which did not surrender until 6 May. The article states that the marines on Corregidor took part in the Death March, but even a quick search on the web disproves this. (http://www.nps.gov/archive/wapa/inde...0-00/sec22.htm). Elementary errors such as this does not inspire confidence in the editorial and fact checking process in the office of World War II magazine.

[exarmydoc]

One reason why Marines taken in the Philippines did better as POWs is this: the Marines mostly did not do any of the bitter fighting on Bataan.

Thousands of Soldiers fought a bitter battle against the Japanese. They lacked everything needed for an army in the field, ammunition, food, medicine. When the Soldiers surrendered on Bataan, they had literally fought to exhaustion and were no longer combat capable(1st Marine Division on was withdrawn drom combat on Guadalcanal in December of 1942 because it was exhausted).

The only Marine unit in the Philippines, the 4th Marine Regiment, remained on Corregidor during the Defense of Bataan. They were better able to survive the Japanese Prison camps because THEY DID NOT FIGHT.

It is abominable to suggest they survived simply because they were better troops.

[exarmydoc]

Originally Posted by The Doctor

Where in the heck did anyone say that?

In case you missed it...The question posed by Blitzpuppy was...

"Marines survived the ordeal of Japanese prison camps at twice the rate of army GIs. What were the factors that accounted for this?"

The "sheer barbarism of the Japanese" didn't contribute to the higher survival rate of USMC POWS.

The sheer barbarism of the Japanese was a factor in why no Marines died on the Bataan Death March.

There were fewer than 50 Marines on the Death March. There were between 10,000 and 15,000 soldiers. If a Japanese guard assaulted an American serviceman, the odds were 200 to 300 to 1 his victim would be a Soldier, not a Marine.

[101combatvet]

Ridiculous article in my opinion.