The Biggest POW Escape of World War II: The Cowra Breakout

POWs in Cowra, Australia

In August 1944, World War II's largest POW escape occurred near the town of Cowra in Australia. The uprising involved more than a thousand Japanese prisoners of war, resulting in 359 of them escaping into the countryside. When it was all over, 231 Japanese soldiers died, and 108 were wounded. Four Australian soldiers died, and seven were wounded.

The Japanese looked upon the Allies as soft barbarians without honor, and the Allied nations viewed the Japanese soldiers as murderous savages without regard for life. Relatively few Japanese soldiers were taken prisoner, choosing to fight to the death or commit suicide rather than, in their view, submit to the disgrace of being captives of inferior races.

By August of 1944, the No. 12 POW Camp near Cowra in the middle of New South Wales, Australia, held four groups of prisoners in four separate compounds. There were Italians, Koreans who had served in the Japanese military, Indonesians who were being held at the request of the Dutch East Indies government, and 1,104 Japanese soldiers.

Breakout Imminent

The Australians strictly observed the Geneva Convention regarding POWs. The Japanese were well-fed and lived in relatively comfortable quarters. They viewed the good rations, quarters, and sporting activities as proof that the Australians were trying to placate them because the Aussies were secretly afraid of them. The Japanese leaders in the camp started planning a breakout.

The Australians got wind of this and prepared to separate the enlisted men from their commanders. As per Geneva rules, any movement of prisoners had to be communicated with them at least 24 hours in advance. The Aussies informed the Japanese camp leader on August 4 that on August 7, all Japanese privates would be moved to another camp. The camp guards were put on full alert.

Breakout

At 2:00 AM on the morning of August 5, a bugle sounded and hundreds of Japanese prisoners surged out of their barracks in three directions shouting “Banzai!” and began breaking through and climbing over the barbed wire fences. They were armed with baseball bats, knives, clubs studded with nails and other home-made weapons. Some had baseball gloves and blankets to protect them from the barbed wire. At the same time, fires were started in the barracks and some Japanese committed suicide or were killed by their own comrades, presumably as punishment for not participating in the breakout.

As the prisoners climbed the wire or broke through it the camp guards started shooting. Privates Ben Hardy and Ralph Jones manned a Vickers machine-gun and tried to stop the mob breaking through. Vastly outnumbered, they continued holding them off until they were completely overpowered by sheer numbers. Both were killed, but before he died, Jones pulled the gun's bolt and hid it. When the Japanese tried to turn the machine-gun on other camp guards, they discovered it was useless. Regardless, 359 POWs managed to escape into the countryside before order was restored.

For their action, Private Hardy and Private Jones were posthumously awarded the George Cross. Then Australian Prime Minister John Curtin later remarked that the Japanese soldiers' frontal attack against the machine-guns, armed only with improvised weapons, demonstrated a “suicidal disregard of life". How he regarded Australian soldiers' frontal attacks against German machine-guns in World War I is not recorded.

Recapture

For the next few days, Australian troops and police scoured the area for the escaped POWs. Some surrendered peacefully, others fought back and were killed or wounded and some committed suicide rather than be recaptured.

When it was all over, 10 days later, all the escapees had been either recaptured or were dead. During the breakout and after, a total of 231 POWs died, including suicides and those who were killed by their own men. Four Australians died, one of them while trying to recapture a group of POWs. No civilian casualties occurred. The Japanese leaders of the breakout had commanded that no civilians were to be attacked.

Respect

The Japanese dead were buried in a specially created cemetery in Cowra, which was tended to by volunteers from the town. Later, after the war, the citizens of Cowra, in reaction to the Cowra Breakout tragedy, reached out to Japan and a friendship developed. The Japanese Cemetery was ceded to Japan in 1963.

In 1971, Cowra, with the support of the Japanese government, started developing the Cowra Japanese Garden, a 12-acre strolling garden designed to show all of the landscapes of Japan. The Japanese expressed their thanks for the respectful treatment of their war dead.

Recommended

Emily Dickinson's "There is a morn by men unseen"

Sources and Suggested Reading

1. Cowra Breakout
2. Cowras Two-Day Commemoration
3. Cowra
4. Australian War Memorial: Cowra Breakout
5. The Most Notorious Japanese Prisoner Camp in History

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

© 2012 David Hunt

Comments

David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on November 27, 2012:

Sorry about that, Keith! But I'm glad you're enjoying them. Thanks for the encouragement.

Keith Sutherland Author from Brixham, Devon on November 27, 2012:

I am supposed to be working on my next manuscript but am being prevented from doing so because of your intriguing Hubs. You have got yourself a follower with the material that you are coming up with.

Congratulations and thank you for the education.

David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on August 08, 2012:

Hi Judi Bee. Thanks for commenting and sharing. I suppose like most people, I also thought that the biggest escape was the "Great Escape" of movie fame. Interesting what we don't know-- but it keeps history even more interesting.

Judi Brown from UK on August 08, 2012:

Didn't know a thing about this, very interesting (as usual!). Voted up and shared.

David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on August 07, 2012:

Good to hear from you, Gypsy. Many thanks for sharing.

Gypsy Rose Lee on August 07, 2012:

Voted up and awesome. Had no idea POW camps were also in Australia. Fascinating read. Passing this on.

David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on August 06, 2012:

Hi NateB11. I agree completely about the different attitudes and prejudices. Funny also is how, when one's own soldiers sacrifice themselves they are heroes, but when your enemies sacrifice themselves they are somehow inhuman. But I guess, in war, the enemy has to be dehumanized so it's "easier" pschologically to kill them. War is a nasty business.

Nathan Bernardo from California, United States of America on August 06, 2012:

Very fascinating story. Especially fascinating is this sort of psychological aspect about the attitude of the two sides towards each other. Interesting too, the observation of the Geneva Convention and the ultimate outcome of reconciliation and respect.

David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on August 06, 2012:

Thanks, RichardPac. Re the guard: it's especially poignant that one of his last conscious thoughts before being mobbed and killed was to disable the machine-gun so the prisoners couldn't turn it on his fellow guards. Thank you for commenting.

RichardPac from Sunny Florida! on August 06, 2012:

Wow, I had no idea! Here in the US, as children we are taught very little about the WWII Japanese interment camps. This is a part of our history that toe books tend to skip over. The conditions were nowhere near as bad as Nazi camps, but still being forcefully removed from your home with or without your family can be rough. I understand this was a POW camp, but neither is good I suppose. Thank you for sharing this little piece of history. It's amazing that the guard had the forethought to hide the bolt!

David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on August 06, 2012:

Goosegreen-- what a great comment. I didn't know where the Japanese prisoners were originally captured so I thank you for this information. I'll have to look into that miniseries.

David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on August 06, 2012:

Hi Steve. I believe La Grande Évasion in 1943 was the largest Allied escape, where 132 actually broke out. In the Great Escape, 250 tried to escape but "only" 76 actually got out. Thanks for commenting!

goosegreen on August 06, 2012:

Harald. The footage you have shown is from the 1980s Kennedy Miller mini series "The Cowra Breakout" In the mini series the ringleaders of the escape were captured in New Guinea. This doesn't necessarily mean its true but it stands to reason. Given the Japanese reluctance to surrender I would guess that Australia would have received the bulk of Japanese prisoners taken in nearby campaigns such as New Guinea, Guadalcanal and Bougainville. It is well documented that the Japanese used Korean Labourers during the Kokoda campaign and throughout the pacific. Some of the "Jungle" scenes from "The Cowra Breakout" were filmed in Warriewood near where I live at a place locals call "Back Beach". I have been to Cowra. The site of the camp is now just concrete slabs on a field. There is a small museum dedicated to the breakout and the Japanese cemetry is very well tended and beautiful. Exactly what you expect of a Japanese Garden.

Steve Lensman from Manchester, England on August 06, 2012:

So "The Great Escape" wasn't the biggest POW escape after all. The biggest Allied POW escape?

Excellent work Harald the Unnamed, a few more of these articles and you can start printing. :)

Voted Up and Interesting.

David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on August 06, 2012:

Sorry, xstatic, that's Dr "Lazowski", not "Labowski". In any case, I'm not surprised-- he was extremely low key.

Jim Higgins from Eugene, Oregon on August 06, 2012:

No, unfortunately I did not ever hear about him locally. I have been here close to forty years too.

David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on August 06, 2012:

Thank you, xstatic. It is quite a story. Thanks for the compliment. I notice you're in Eugene, Oregon and I'm curious if you've ever heard of Dr. Labowski who died there in 2006. He was one of the Polish doctors who saved thousands from the labor and death camps in Poland during the war.

Jim Higgins from Eugene, Oregon on August 06, 2012:

What an amazing tale this is, and well told too. The Austrailians showed a lot of humanity it seems to me, considering the savagery of the war that still raged. It is unfortunate that abiding by the Geneva Convention rules was seen as weakness. I am glad that the Japanese escapees were ordered not to attack civilians.