Cowra breakout

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Cowra Breakout

Cowra POW Camp, 1 July 1944. Japanese POWs practising baseball near their quarters, several weeks before the Cowra Breakout. The photograph was taken for the Allied Far Eastern Liaison Office, with the intention of using it in propaganda leaflets, to be dropped over Japanese held islands and Japan itself.
Date	5 August 1944
Location	Near Cowra, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates	33°48′41″S 148°42′14″E / 33.81139°S 148.70389°E / -33.81139; 148.70389
Outcome	~359 Japanese POWs escape
Deaths	235

The Cowra Breakout occurred on 5 August 1944, when 1,104 Japanese prisoners of war escaped from a POW camp near Cowra, in New South Wales, Australia. It was the largest prison escape of World War II, as well as one of the bloodiest. During the escape and ensuing manhunt, four Australian soldiers were killed and 231 Japanese soldiers were killed or committed suicide. The remaining escapees were re-captured and imprisoned.