There is no exact estimate of the number of prisoners because of the massacre of captives on March 9th 1945 and on the following days and also because people had disappeared in the jungle to try and escape.

Prisoners were, for the most part, soldiers of all ranks, policemen, customs officers or civil servants. Most were from mainland France or Eurasians and were the victims of Japanese racism and hatred.

It should be remembered that many soldiers were helped by their Indochinese wives who took all kinds of risks to find them and provide them with supplies despite Japanese close supervision.

Many families were put under house arrest or jailed and among them many women, from mainland France, Eurasian or natives were treated violently and were tortured morally. The tortures were extremely vicious.

In September 1945 after the Japanese defeat many prisoners liberated themselves and took up arms again. Others, who were jailed in the jungle, had to wait for allied forces’ representatives to put an end to their imprisonment. The detention of families stopped immediately after the Japanese surrender but some families and soldiers who were jailed in ANNAM were passed on to the Vietminh by the Japanese and were only liberated in the first six months of 1946.