This series contains five separate card indexes concerning war crimes in South East Asia during the Second World War. Each of the five indexes contains references corresponding with those of Deputy Judge Advocate General's files dealing with Japanese war crimes in WO 311
The indexes contain, with few exceptions, one or more of the following references; J (Japanese); JC (Japanese Camps); JM (Japanese; significance of M not established, but possibly Massacres/Murders); and JT (Japanese Transports). The value otherwise of each index is as follows.
1). The first index (pieces 1-8), of Prisoners (P), Witnesses (W) and those Accused (A), includes non-Japanese as well as Japanese suspects. Apart from the J/JC/JM/JT references which are common to all indexes in this series, there are occasional references to 'Serial' Number. This number refers to the forthcoming trials and summary of trials cards in WO 357/2 (Prisoners for trial P cards). The P cards in this series are distinct from the P cards in WO 357, and similarly these W cards are distinct from the W cards in pieces 10-21 of this series. The last abbreviation used on the card shows the status revealed by the investigation of war crime complicity. The status could change during the course of the investigation.
2). The second index (piece 9), of dead victims (DV cards), refers mainly to servicemen.
3). The third index (pieces 10-21), of witnesses (W cards) contains the names of servicemen in camps, etc, where war crimes were committed. These W cards are not to be confused with those in pieces 1-8 of this series, which refer to Japanese who were designated witnesses in the course of war crimes investigation.
4). The fourth index (piece 22), of camps and location, identifies camps known only by their number.
5). The fifth index (pieces 23-24), of nicknames is useful for identifying Japanese, etc, in contexts where only their nickname is given. Cross-references in this index are to actual names which appear in the index cards in pieces 1-8 of this series.
Records within this series are available to download as digital microfilm .
The National Archives
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