Location
Paita is located in North Province (Province Nord) in New Caledonia. To the south is Gomen Bay.
Camp Paita New Zealand War Cemetery
Japanese Prisoner Of War (POW) camp that detained Japanese Army and Japanese Navy personel captured in the Solomon Islands. During early 1944, tensions over work conditions in the camp led to the death of a prisoner at the hands of a young American military policeman. While the regulations supported the actions of the American, ill feeling increased and led to a series of demands by the prisoners designed to gain face-saving concessions from the camp authorities. A plan to overthrow the guards during the evening of January 9, 1944 was developed after the arrival of particularly hard-line senior petty officer, Sato Mitsue. Though the attack was thwarted, mostly owing to intelligence from a Japanese informant, 22 of the prisoners committed suicide in the days and weeks following.
References
Blankets on the wire by Steven Bullard translated by Keiko Tamura [PDF], page 48
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Last Updated
October 23, 2019
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