Inside Japan's WW2 POW camps

Shocking photographs have emerged showing the skeletal state of prisoners in Japan at the end of the Second World War. Hundreds of emaciated servicemen who had been starved and brutally beaten by their captors were found by Allied troops following the fall of Japan in 1945

Many of the camp guards, including the 'Black Prince' and the 'Mad Mongrel', were later hanged for their crimes

These shocking photographs show the skeletal state of British prisoners in Japan at the end of the Second World War.

Hundreds of emaciated servicemen who had been starved and brutally beaten by their captors were found by Allied troops following the fall of Japan in 1945.

Photographers were brought in to take pictures of the prisoners for use as evidence in any future war crimes trial.

The images show gaunt and haggard men whose bodies were reduced to skin and bone and some of their sadistic guards, including one known as the Black Prince and another dubbed the Mad Mongrel. They were both later hanged for their crimes.

Other horrific pictures show men being tortured at the camps.

The rare images show this emaciated British prisoner of war on his back being tortured at an unnamed prisoner of war camp in Japan. The prisoners were starved and faced shocking abuse at the hands of their sadistic guards

Sadistic: A prisoner of war receives brutal treatment as he is held in a torture chair at one of the Japanese camps. During the war, Japan failed to follow the Geneva Convention rules of war governing prisoner treatment which led to tens of thousands of Allied POWs enduring barbaric conditions in which they were starved, brutalised and used as forced labour

Brutal: The images show some of the sadistic guards, including Lieutenant Usuki - known as the Black Prince (left) - and a Korean dubbed the Mad Mongrel (right). Usuki was known to hand out beatings to men who worked on the Death Railway in Burma and beheaded one British POW in full view of his colleagues for trying to escape. Both men were later convicted and executed for their crimes

Starving prisoners were pictured wearing false legs having undergone amputations, brought about either from being tortured or through contracting tropical diseases.

There are images showing some of the most brutal Japanese guards including the notorious camp commandment Lieutenant Usuki, who was known as the Black Prince.

He handed out beatings to men who worked on the Death Railway in Burma and beheaded one British PoW in full view of his colleagues for trying to escape.

Another depicted is Sergeant Seiichi Okada, who was dubbed Dr Death. He carried out water torture on the detainees which included pumping gallons of water into their mouths through a hose and then jumping on their swollen stomachs.

The collection also shows a notorious Korean guard called the Mad Mongrel. They were all later convicted of war crimes and were hanged.

The images show gaunt and haggard men whose bodies were reduced to skin and bone. Photographers were brought in to take pictures of the prisoners to be used as evidence for any potential war crimes trial at the end of the war

There were more than 140,000 white prisoners in Japanese prisoner of war camps. Of these, one in three died from starvation, work, punishments or from diseases for which there were no medicines to treat

A Japanese guard is pictured keeping a close eye on British prisoners. The Japanese Armed Forces captured Allied military personnel from Australia, Canada, Great Britain, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United States in the Southeast Asia and Pacific areas

The ramshackle huts where skeletal British prisoners were forced to sleep in cramped conditions while they were held captive in Japan 

About 36,000 POWs were transported to the Japanese Mainland to supplement the shortage of the work force, and were compelled to work at the coal mines, mines, shipyards and munitions factories

The POWs used the clothes that they had with them upon their arrival in Japan, and the camps provided some work clothes. Towards the end of the war, most POWs were dressed in rags

After final warnings of dire consequences the United States unleashed an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6. Still Japan refused to accept unconditional surrender. 

Three days later, on August 9, the second atomic bomb fell on Nagasaki. Only then did the Emperor intercede to bring the war in the Far East to an end on August 15, 1945, celebrated as VJ (victory over Japan) Day. Japan signed an unconditional surrender on September 2.