About 31 prisoners of war were led out of their cells in Rabaul, New Britain and they were never to be seen again. After the war, the Japanese claimed that they were led to the Talili Bay area where a direct hit by a US bomber killed them all on 5 Mar 1944. A later study of US records showed that no missions were conducted in that region during the campaign, however. No conclusion had ever been reached on the fates of these prisoners of war, although many historians would venture that they were executed by their guards.
