Table of Contents
Where is Kempeitai?
The Kempeitai East District Branch was the headquarters of the Kempeitai, the Japanese military police, during the Japanese occupation of Singapore from 1942 to 1945. It was located at the old YMCA building, at the present site of Singapore’s YMCA Building on Stamford Road.
How were people tortured during the Japanese occupation?
Torture which included being staked out in the midday sun with a glass of water just out of reach, to routine beatings and operations without anaesthetic. Some prisoners even told stories of being forced to drink pints of water, being tied to the ground and then having gleeful guards jump on their stomachs.
How do you pronounce kempeitai?
Phonetic spelling of kempeitai
- kem-peitai.
- kem-peitai.
- kem-pei-tai. Lura Bosco.
What happened to the Kempeitai in Japan?
A civilian is questioned by Kempeitai officers. Many others who fell into the hands of the military police in Japanese-occupied territory were not granted reprieves. Some were beheaded by sword-wielding Kempeitai officers, who were among the fiercest exponents of Bushido.
Why did the Kempeitai often take precedence over the regular police force?
In other cases, the Kempeitai often took precedence over the Tokyo and the regular police force because Japan was so militarized by the time World War Two began that many breaches of law and order came under the jurisdiction of the military police.
How many people died at the Kempeitai massacre?
At later war crimes trials, the Japanese claimed that there were around 5,000 victims, while local estimates range from 20,000 to 50,000. Following the massacre, the Kempeitai maintained a rule of terror and torture, including a form of punishment in which a victim was forced to ingest water by fire hose and then kicked in the stomach.
What happened when Japan surrendered in the Java War?
When Japan surrendered, many documents were deliberately destroyed by the Kempeitai, so the true scale of their atrocities may never be known. After the Japanese occupied the Dutch East Indies, a group of about 200 British servicemen found themselves stuck in Java during the invasion.