Life on a Japanese Transport Ship was Worse than Hell

90% of all Japanese transport ships were sunk before the war ended. 800 soldiers packed into a cargo hold with no weapons, no information, and no way out — moving at 12 knots through waters where American submarines were ordered to sink everything that floated. When the torpedo hit, the lights went out. The men in the hold had one piece of information that mattered: which direction was up. The ones nearest the hatch came out. The ones who weren't didn't. The Army's bunk assignment process had not weighted proximity to exits as a factor. A survivor from Nagano Prefecture — a man who had never seen the sea before the Army sent him to it — spent the rest of his life only sitting beside lakes he could see the bottom of from the shore. He never explained why. His granddaughter did. 🔔 Subscribe — every story, exactly as it happened. 🎙️ Steel & Salt — Every story, exactly as it happened. #WW2 #PacificWar #IJA