Sikh POWs used as target practice by Japanese soldiers, 1942

Blindfolded Indian prisoners of war, part of the Sikh Regiment of the British Indian Army, are used as target practice by Japanese troops.

British troops discovered these photographs among Japanese records when they entered Singapore in 1945.

Each prisoner has a target across his heart and is holding a plaque with a number, as it can be seen in the second image. This was probably so each executioner would know which prisoner to shoot. The bestial treatment of these POWs did not stop here, as the survivors were then stabbed with bayonets. The Japanese also seem to have used the Indian’s own rifles.

The Sikh Regiment is an infantry regiment recruited from the Sikh community, and is in fact the most decorated regiment of the Indian Army.

Book suggestions ⤵️

📖 Sikh Regiment in the Second World War (Colonel F.T. Birdwood, 2014)

📖 India’s War: World War II and the Making of Modern South Asia (Srinath Raghavan, 2016)