Western Pacific Camps

This is the start of a page that will discuss and map all of the POW, internment, and concentration camps in Japan and the western Pacific during WWII. There were several hundred places in Japan where civilians and POWs were interned. We don't expect to find all of their locations.

Many or most of the camps in Australia were both POW and internment camps.

Help using Google Maps

The Full Screen control in the upper righthand corner of the Google Maps display expands the display to cover the entire computer screen. This full-screen feature is not available on Apple IOS devices like the iPad.

You can exit out of full screen by pressing the Escape key or clicking the control in the upper righthand corner of the display.

Map Satellite Labels

The Map/Satellite control in the upper lefthand corner of the screen lets you choose either the normal map view or the satellite view. The satellite view allows you to see the actual military facility when you zoom in. You can choose to turn Labels on or off. The labels are the names of places, businesses, cities, etc. that appear on the map. You can turn off the labels if they obstruct your view.

Map Satellite Terrain

When you select the Map view, you can turn on terrain features by clicking or touching the Terrain box. This will show things like mountain ranges, similar to looking at a relief map.

+ -

You can zoom in and out in a few ways. The lower righthand corner of the Google Maps display has a plus sign and a minus sign that controls zooming. If you're using a mouse with a scroll wheel, the wheel controls zooming. If you're using an IOS device like an iPhone or iPad, double-tapping the display zooms in but tapping does not zoom out.

Most touch screen devices will zoom by pinching the display with two fingers.

Number of camps:

Sources

The Wartime Memories Project - Prisioner of War Camps during The Second World War 1939-1945

General location of the Japanese POW Laborers’ camps in the Soviet Union and in Outer Mongolia around 1946

POW Camps in Japan Proper

Prisoners of War of the Japanese 1939-1945

East Indies Camp Archives

Wake Island Massacre

The Montevideo Maru

Allied POWS Under the Japanese