The Japanese Imperial Army occupied car Nicobar island in the Bay of Bengal. They butchered the menfolk and incorporated the tribal girls as comfort women.
Rape and Butchery of the Imperial Japanese Army
Recently while going through some old notes of mine, I came across some jottings I had made while I made my visits to Car Nicobar island nearly two and half decades back. These make interesting reading and one can realize that perhaps Subhas Bose was a very naive man who could not distinguish between bad and good and bad and evil. After all, there is a subtle difference between these traits.
Car Nicobar and Japanese Occupation
The Car Nicobar Island houses an Air Force base and my purpose were basically to evaluate the Security aspects of this base. The Island itself is beautiful with lovely beaches. It has a perimeter road about 50 km in length, that circumferences the island. I have driven on this road and swim on all the beaches. During my visits, I had also interacted with the local village headman. The meetings brought out some startling facts that need to be highlighted.
The Japanese occupied the island in 1942, but they did not hand over the administration to the Indian nationalists. The occupation was itself without a shot being fired. After the island was taken over they continued to pay lip service to the cause of Indian independence and fooled Subhas Bose, who turned out to be naive or stupid.
Imperial Army and the Local Girls
As per the accounts related to me by the Village Headman, the soldiers of the Imperial army greatly desired the local tribal girls who were good-looking. They wished to incorporate the young girls as comfort women for their troops with the more beautiful ones being reserved for the officers. This was resisted by the locals.
The Japanese then did the unthinkable and started a massacre of the male population. In particular, they targeted the educated elite who spoke English and just either beheaded them or shot them. This was done in full view of the local populace. And just after their men had been butchered, the tribal girls were led to their beds by the Japanese soldiers. Such barbarity is hard to condone.
The Japanese claimed the women for their pleasure and after repeated rapes and sex, hundreds were impregnated. The Japanese gloated on their power over the women as they repeatedly raped and impregnated them. The head man shuddered at the thought and I also felt a revulsion of the Japanese. They thus to an extent changed the race of the Island.
Last Word
This aspect of the Japanese occupation of the Car Nicobar Island needs further study. Historians have somehow ignored this area which was occupied by the Japanese. Though the aspect of comfort women is well documented, the aspect of the Imperial Army and butchery, rape, and impregnation of the Car Nicobar island girls is not so well studied. The Japanese account of the occupation makes me sad, worse I feel sadder that Subhas Bose sided with the Japanese. That is an irony of History, Bose if had been alive would have had to do a lot of explaining. I wonder what was in his mind.
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