Immolation was a commonly reported execution method among [[Imperial Japanese Army|Imperial Japanese troops]] during [[World War II]]. During the [[Nanjing Massacre]] after Japanese forces [[Battle of Nanking|captured the city of Nanjing in 1937]], immolation was a commonly used method of execution and brutality towards the Chinese people in Nanjing during the Imperial Japanese Army's occupation of the city.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/12/world/at-the-rape-of-nanking-a-nazi-who-saved-lives.html At the Rape of Nanking: A Nazi Who Saved Lives]</ref>
The most infamous case of the Imperial Japanese military utilizing this method of execution on allied AmericanAllied [[Prisonerprisoners of war]] was the [[Palawan massacre]] in the [[Commonwealth of the Philippines|Philippines]] in the midst of the [[Philippines campaign (1944–1945)|United States military's campaign to retake the Philippines]]. To prevent the rescue of the POW's by liberating American forces, the 150 American POW's in the Palawan prison camp; Camp 10-A<ref>[https://arsof-history.org/articles/v14n1_palawan_massacre_page_1.html Catalyst For Action: The Palawan Massacre]</ref> were herded into air raid shelters via [[Civil defense siren|air raid sirens]]. The Japanese guards, taking advantage of the POW's being confined in the shelters, then doused the shelter entrances with gasoline before lighting them on fire. They then fired a few shots into the entrances to hit the POWs standing near the entrances in order to use their bodies to trap the other POWs that were deeper inside the shelter and engulf them all in the inferno. Any POW's who did manage to dig themselves out of the trench and escape the flames were subsequently hunted down. At the end of the ordeal, only 11 POWs managed to escape to friendly lines.
