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The Asia-Pacific War and the Failed Second Anglo-Japanese Civilian Exchange, 1942-45
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2025
Extract
The proposed 2nd Anglo-Japanese civilian exchange, originally planned for October 1942, never eventuated partly due to differences in the interpretations of what constitutes a merchant seaman and views on whether the Hague Convention should apply. The failure of the exchange meant that over 3,000 Japanese and British civilian internees as well as another 2,000 or so Japanese and American civilian internees remained in internment camps until at least August 1945. At the heart of the negotiations were 331 Japanese pilots and pearl divers who had been employed in the pearling industry until the outbreak of war. The impasse would impact attempts at civilian exchange involving multiple powers throughout the Asia-Pacific War.
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References
Notes
1 For details on the internment camps in Hong Kong see Geoffrey Charles Emerson, Hong Kong Internment, 1942-1945 (Hong Kong, 2011), Bernice Archer, The Internment of Western Civilians under the Japanese 1941-45, (Hong Kong, 2008).
2 See Margaret Bevege, Behind Barbed Wire: Internment in Australia during World War II (St Lucia QLD, 1993); Yuriko Nagata, Unwanted Aliens: Japanese Internment in Australia (St Lucia QLD, 1996); Kay Saunders, “The Stranger in our gates': Internment policies in the United Kingdom and Australia during the two world wars, 1914-1939', Immigrants & Minorities, Vol. 22 No. 1 pp. 22-43; Cate Elkner, I. O'Brien, G. Rando & A. Cappello (eds) Enemy Aliens: The internment of Italian migrants in Australia during the Second World War, (Bacchus Marsh, Vic, 2005). Christina Twomey, Australia's Forgotten Prisoners: Civilians Interned by the Japanese in World War Two (Cambridge, 2007) Christine Winter ”The Long Arm of the Third Reich“, Journal of Pacific History Vol 38, No 1 2003 (pp 85-108).
3 Kent Fedorowich, “Doomed from the Outset? Internment and Civilian Exchange in the Far East: The British Failure over Hong Kong, 1941-45”, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol. 25 No 1 January 1997, pp. 113-140.
4 Jonathan F. Vance “The Trouble with Allies: Canada and the Negotiation of Prisoner of War Exchanges' in Bob Moore and Kent Fedorowich (eds), Prisoners of War and Their Captors in World War II (Oxford and Washington DC, 1996), pp. 69-85.
5 P. Scott Corbett, Quiet Passages: The Exchange of Civilians between the United States and Japan during the Second World War (Kent, Ohio, 1987).
6 Bruce Elleman, Japanese-American Civilian Prisoner Exchanges and Detention Camps, 1941-45 (London and New York, 2006).
7 Fedorowich, “Doomed from the Outset?”, pp. 123-124.
8 Corbett, “Quiet Passages”, pp. 99-102. Corbett mistakenly alleges that the names of the divers were on the Japanese priority list for the third Japanese-American exchange rather than the second Anglo-Japanese exchange.
9 Section 20 of the National Security (Aliens Control) Act of 1939 established the terms for the treatment of enemy aliens in the event of war. Internment was allowed in the most extreme cases and women were to be interned only if they were considered to be a security risk. Statutory Rules 1939 in Peter Hasluck Government and the People 1939-1941 Vol. 1 Appendix 4: The Wartime Treatment of Aliens, (Australian War Memorial, 1952).
10 National Archives of Australia (hereafter NAA), MP729/6 65/401/135, War Cabinet Minute No. 1639, 9 May 1941
11 NAA, MP729/6 65/401/135, Department of the Army Minute Papers for 17 February 1941 and 14 October 1941. See also Nagata, Unwanted Aliens, p. 228.
12 NAA, MP729/6 65/401/135 Department of the Army Minute Paper, 14 October 1941.
13 For discussions of some of the families who were interned see Pam Oliver “A matter of perspective: two Australian-Japanese families' encounters with white Australia, 1888-1946” in Michael Ackland and Pam Oliver, Unexpected Encounters: Neglected histories behind the Australia-Japan relationship (Monash Asia Institute, Clayton, 2007) pp. 113-134; Graham Eccles “The Hirodo story: A three generational family case study of bi-cultural living” in Michael Ackland and Pam Oliver, Unexpected Encounters: Neglected histories behind the Australia-Japan relationship (Monash Asia Institute, Clayton, 2007) pp. 135-154.
14 “Chapter 6: Security Service – Functions”, Report on the Directorate of Prisoners of War and Internees at Army Headquarters Melbourne 1939-1951 available online (accessed 26 August 2014).
15 Prisoner of war camps held Japanese soldiers captured by the United States and Australian forces in New Guinea and other locations across the Pacific.
16 The full text of the Geneva Convention of 1929 is available online (accessed8 January 2015). The Draft International Convention on the Condition and Protection of Civilians of enemy national who are on territory belong to or occupied by a belligerent. Tokyo, 1934 (available online; accessed 8 January 2015) included provisions for the exchange of civilians but was not ratified.
17 Elleman, Japanese-American Civilian Prisoner Exchanges and Detention Camps, p. 14.
18 Elleman, Japanese-American Civilian Prisoner Exchanges and Detention Camps, p. 5.
19 NAA, A1608 L20/1/1 Part 2, Circular G.100, Office of Dominion Affairs (hereafter DO) to Prime Minister of Australia, 27 December 1941.
20 In addition to members of the British Empire, the Free French, Polish, Greek, Dutch, Czech, Belgian and Norwegian governments participated in the Anglo-Japanese exchange.
21 NAA, MP508/1 255/702/2102, Cable No. 405 to DO, 25 August 1942.
22 Elleman, Japanese-American Civilian Prisoner Exchanges and Detention Camps, p. 11.
23 Elleman, Japanese-American Civilian Exchanges, pp. 75-78 discusses the complicated choices faced by the Japanese in America and the interview process undertaken to ensure that their repatriation was voluntary.
24 Many of the Japanese residents of Malaya were transferred to India for internment prior to the Japanese take over.
25 NAA, MP508/1 255/2/282, letter from FO to Charles Corbin, French Embassy, 11 May 1940 and Extract from War Office Memo (summary No 3 of 9 September 19/41) relating to Prisoner of War taken by Intergovernmental Committee of Prisoner of War in August 1941.
26 A full copy of the Hague Convention XI from 1907 is included in FO916/723.
27 National Archives, Kew (hereafter NA), WO32/10718, Cable No. 354, 20 November 1943.
28 NAA, MP742/1 255/2/282, letter from FO to Charles Corbin, French Embassy, 11 May 1940. This decision was justified on the basis of a combination of the treatment of the crew of the British trawler “Caldew”, which was sunk by the Germans on 24 September 1939 and who were held as prisoners of war, and a belief that the German government had “no right to expect for their merchant seamen special privileges when German submarines consistently sunk British and French merchant vessels without warning”.
29 Bob Moore, “Turning Liabilities into assets: British Government Policy towards German and Italian prisoners of war during the Second World War” Journal of Contemporary History Vol. 32 No 1 (Jan 1997) pp. 117-136, 122.
30 NAA, MP508/1 255/702/2155, Department of Prisoners of War to Security Service, CBR, 22 December 1942.
31 NAA, MP508/1 255/702/2155, Department of Prisoners of War to Security Service, CBR, 22 December 1942.
32 The ‘Intergovernmental Committee on Prisoners of War’ was comprised of representatives of the Allied governments.
33 Extract of War Office Memo (summary No. 3 of 9 September 1941) referring to Intergovernmental Committee of Prisoners of War of August 1941 in MP508/1 255/2/282.
34 Regina Ganter discusses the use of ‘dummying’ or the ownership of boats ‘on behalf of Japanese for a fixed rent or share in the profits’ (p.130) in Chapter 4 of her book, The Pearl-Shellers of Torres Strait (Carlton, VIC, 1994).
35 NAA, A1608 L20/1/1 Part 2, Circular G 75 Secretary of State, DO to Prime Minister's Department, 5 December 1941.
36 NAA, A1608 L20/1/1 Part 2, Circular G 100 Secretary of State, DO to Prime Minister's Department, 27 December 1941.
37 NAA, A1608 L20/1/1 Part 2, Cable No. 72 High Commissioner to Prime Minister's Department, 2 January 1942.
38 NAA, A1608 L20/1/1 Part 2, Cable No. 1232 High Commissioner, London to Prime Minister's Department, 11 February 1942.
39 NAA, A1608 L20/1/1 Part 2, Cable No. 1232 High Commissioner, London to Prime Minister's Department, 11 February 1942.
40 NAA, MP742/1 255/2/282, High Commissioner, London to Prime Minister's Department, 31 May 1942.
41 NAA, A1608 L20/1/1 Part 2, Cable No. 72 High Commissioner to Prime Minister's Department, 2 January 1942.
42 NA, WO32/10718, Telegram No. 354 DO to Australian Government dated 20 November 1943.
43 NAA, A1608 L20/1/1 Part 2, Cable No. 524 Prime Minister to High Commissioner in London, 15 January 1943.
44 NAA, A1608 L20/1/1 Part 2, Cable No. 1911 High Commissioner, London to Prime Minister's Department, 1 March 1943.
45 NAA, A1608 L20/1/1 Part 2, Cable No. 1911 High Commissioner, London to Prime Minister's Department, 1 March 1943.
46 Fedorowich, “Doomed from the Outset”, p. 124.
47 NAA, MP742/1 255/2/283, Memo from Sinclair, Department of the Army to Department of General Security, 23 March 1943.
48 NAA, MT885/1 255/18/308, Cable No. 5316, High Commissioner, London to Prime Minister's Department, 2 June 1943.
49 A report on the interrogations is in MT885/1 255/18/308, 26 September 1943.
50 NAA, MP742/1 255/2/283, Shiwoda, sometimes written as Shimoda. Letter to Director of General Security, 4 March 1944. The report of the interrogations held at Hay Camp dated 26 September 1943 is included in NAA, MT885/1 255/18/308.
51 See NAA, MP742/1 255/2/283, Letter to Director of General Security, 4 March 1944.
52 NA, FO 916/439, handwritten memo initialled by KW (Wheeler), 18 September 1942.
53 NA, War Office (hereafter WO) 32/10718, Telegram No. 393 DO to Australian Government, 19 September 1942.
54 NA, WO32/10718, Telegram No. 429 Australian Government to DO, 23 September 1942.
55 There was no separate Australian citizenship at the time. Australian citizenship came into effect with the enactment of the ‘Australian Citizenship Act’ in 1948.
56 NA, FO916/439. In a Letter from Eden to Lord Cranborne dated 6 October 1942, Eden states that the Japanese held in Australia are probably the most valuable to the Japanese government of any Japanese held in the Empire. He also suggests that Australia could probably use the value of the men to organise its own separate exchange. Eden does not elaborate further.
57 Hong Kong was expressly excluded from the first exchange.
58 In late 1943, the British and American Red Cross organisations agreed to pool their transport of supplies. This agreement is referred to in the British War Cabinet Minutes for 29 February 1944, see CAB66/47/37.
59 NAA, A518 EQ16/2/1, Cable No. 162 Prime Minister's Department to DO, 30 June 1943. John Paul Quinn was Bowden's Political Secretary in Singapore. A. Norman Wootton was the Australian Trade Commissioner in Malaya. According to NAA, MT885/1 255/18/308 Cable No. 12237 from Bruce to the Prime Minister, 2 December 1943, Quinn and Wootton had been found in Sumatra and would be included in the second exchange.
60 NAA, MT885/1 255/18/308, Cable Nos. 161 and 162 DO to Prime Minister's Department, 30 June 1943 (copy of cables to the Berne Legation).
61 No specific reason for this change has been found. It is possible that it was either a misprint or a miscalculation in numbers.
62 NA, WO32/10718 Cable No. 108 Prime Minister to High Commissioner, London, 31 July 1943.
63 NA, Foreign Office (hereafter FO) 916/718, Cable No 217 DO to New Zealand and No 81 to South Africa, 2 September 1943.
64 NAA, MT885/1 255/18/308, Cable No. 354 from DO to Prime Minister's Department, 20 November 1943.
65 NA, WO32/10718, Telegram No.354 DO to Australia, 20 November 1943.
66 NAA, MT885/1 255/18/308, Cable No. 305 from Department of the Army to Dominion Affairs, 1 December, 1943. Underline in the original. Australian policy restricted ownership of ships to Australian or British subjects. For details on how this policy applied to the pearling industry see Ganter, The Pearl-Shellers of Torres Strait, pp. 105-107 and 130-133.
67 NAA, MT885/1 255/18/308, Telegram No. 305 from Australia to DO, 1 December 1943.
68 A full copy of the Hague Convention is included in FO916/723.
69 NA, WO32/10718, Cable No. 156 from Prime Minister to High Commissioner, London, 29 October 1943.
70 NA, WO32/10718 Cable No. 180A High Commissioner, London to the Prime Minister, 8 October 1943.
71 NA, WO31/10718, Telegram No. 180S High Commissioner London to Prime Minister Australia, 8 October 1943.
72 NAA, MT885/1 255/18/308, Cable No. 9563 Prime Minister Australia to Bruce 12 October 1943.
73 NA, WO32/10718, Cable No. 156 Prime Minister to High Commissioner, London, 29 October 1943.
74 NAA, MT885/1 255/18/308, Cable No. 10101, High Commissioner, London to Curtin, 12 October 1943.
75 NA, FO916/723, Telegram No. 5552 from Berne to FO, 19 November 1943.
76 NA, WO32/10718, letter from Roberts to Gepp, 2 December 1943.
77 NAA, MP1049/5 1951/2/61, Cable No. 485, Australian Accredited Representative to Curtin, dated 13 January 1944, refers to Cable No. 368 having been sent on 7 December 1943.
78 NAA, MP1049/5 1951/2/61, Cable No. 393, Secretary of State, Dominion Affairs to Australian Government, 24 December, 1943.
79 NA, CAB65/41/29 War Cabinet Minute WM (44) 29, 6 March 1944. In NAA, MT Cablegram DO to the Department of External Affairs, 17 April 1944, the number is given as 1,269 (1,600 minus 331). The change to 330 is presumably due to Tabata Naoyomu's change in status from prisoner of war to civilian internee.
80 NAA, A816 19/304/340 ATTACHMENT, The Japanese Government's response was relayed to the Australian Government in DO Cable No. 135 of 12 June 1944.
81 Corbett, “Quiet Passages”, p. 99.
82 Corbett, “Quiet Passages”, p. 100.
83 NA, FO916/1012, Cable No. 6342 FO to WO, 14 July 1944. The problem was that the British representatives in Argentina were inspecting Japanese officials' luggage. Corbett (p. 101) states that the British deliberately started inspecting the luggage in order to prevent the United States using the Japanese officials in Argentina to organise a third American-Japanese exchange.
84 Cable No. 222 Churchill to Curtin, 14 July 1944 is available online (accessed 26 August 2014).
85 NAA, A2671, 373/1944, War Cabinet Agenda No. 373/1944.
86 NAA, A2671 373/1944 War Cabinet Minute No. 3656 of 22 July 1944.
87 NA, WO32/10718, Washington to FO No. 1811, 23 March 1945 and Washington to FO No. 3621, 25 May 1945.
88 Nagata, Unwanted Aliens, pp. 193-212.
89 NA, WO32/10718, Cable No. 156, Prime Minister to High Commissioner, London, 29 October 1943.