After Behar's survivors had been taken aboard Tone, the senior admiral reprimanded the cruiser's captain for keeping nonessential prisoners and ordered that they be killed. The captain and executive officer asked to put the prisoners ashore, but the admiral repeated his order. A group that included senior officers and both women aboard Behar was landed near Java, while the remaining captives were beheaded by Tone's officers during the voyage to Singapore. The captain watched from the bridge, whereas the executive officer refused to participate. In the postwar proceedings, the admiral was sentenced to death and the captain received seven years, with his documented appeals for the prisoners' lives weighing in mitigation. The admiral claimed both retaliation for alleged Allied mistreatment of Japanese prisoners and that the executions occurred after the operation had left his command. In this reading, the latter defense evaded responsibility and weakened the credibility of the former, making the case a study in command responsibility and the limits of partial resistance.
Chapter · 1:22:14-1:27:37
SS Behar: killing orders, officer resistance, and postwar trials
The order to kill Behar's survivors met repeated objections, but most captives were executed; the later trials tested how far requests for clemency altered individual responsibility.