 Over a period of several months, the prisoners were executed, and allegedly by the order of Tachibana, who known to his staff as a sadistic, alcoholic commander, their bodies were butchered by the division's medical orderlies and the livers and other organs consumed by the senior staff.At the end of the war, Tachibana and his staff were arrested by the American occupation authorities and were deported to Guam, where they stood trial for war crimes in connection with the Chichijima Incident in August 1946.However, as cannibalism was not covered under international law at the time, Tachibana was charged with "prevention of honorable burial" in addition to his execution of prisoners, and along with four other defendants, was sentenced to death by hanging.