Sandakan camp

The Sandakan camp, also known as Sandakan POW Camp (Malay: Kem Tawanan Perang Sandakan), was a prisoner-of-war camp established during World War II by the Japanese in Sandakan in the Malaysian state of Sabah. This site has gained notoriety as the Sandakan Death Marches started from here. Now, part of the former site houses the Sandakan Memorial Park.

After a large-scale military success during the Second World War, the Japanese had captured large numbers of Allied soldiers as a prisoners of war and distributed them to various lock-up facilities. In July 1942, the Japanese POW camps in Sandakan received about 1,500 Australians, most of them been captured from Singapore and brought here for the purpose of building a military airfield for the Japanese; this date is considered to be the beginning of the camp. In 1943, another 770 British and 500 Australian soldiers were sent to the camp. At the height of 1943, about 2,500 prisoners of war were located in the camp.

In October 1944, when the Japanese increasingly became defensive towards the end of the war, the airfield in Sandakan came under constant heavy bombing by the Allied forces. By January 1945, the damage was so great, and the Japanese no longer able to repair the runway, that on 10 January 1945 work on the airstrip was completely stopped. Also in the same month, a group of about 455 prisoners were sent on forced marches by the Japanese.

In May 1945, the Japanese finally decided to close the POW camp. Takakuwa Takuo took over command of the camp on 17 May. On 29 May, he ordered the 536 prisoners to march to Ranau and then set the camp area on fire. Almost all records about the site were destroyed by fire. Other prisoners were marched into the jungle where they perished or were shot by the Japanese guards.

On 10 June 1945 – 30 prisoners had died in the meantime – a final group march of 75 prisoners towards Ranau was set in motion. The remaining prisoners who were stranded on the burned area either died of malnutrition and disease or were killed by the Japanese guards. By 15 August 1945, none of them remained alive.

The camp was located about 1.5 kilometres southwest of the present-day Sandakan Airport.

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Wikipedia