The Cowra breakout occurred on 5 August 1944, when 1,104 Japanese prisoners of war attempted to escape from a prisoner of war 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 and 231 Japanese soldiers were killed. The remaining escapees were re-captured and imprisoned.



The Japanese people (Japanese: 日本人, Hepburn: nihonjin) are an ethnic group that is native to the Japanese archipelago and modern country of Japan, where they constitute 98.1% of the country’s population. Worldwide, approximately 129 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 122 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live outside Japan are referred to as nikkeijin (日系人), the Japanese diaspora. Depending on the context, the term ethnic Japanese may be limited or not to mainland Japanese people, specifically the Yamato (as opposed to Ryukyuan people). Japanese people are one of the largest ethnic groups in the world.