Who were Comfort Battalion women?

 

A young Comfort Battalion girl interviewed by a British officer, 1945, Yangon, Myanmar

During World Wár II, Comfort Battalions was the name given to Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese and outcasted Japanese women who were forced to work in military brothels ("comfort stations") to satisfy Japanese soldiers.

Estimates of the number of "comfort women" range from 20,000 (Japanese data) to 410,000 (Chinese data). One-fourth of them survived to the end of the war because the living conditions were appalling; they served 20 to 30 soldiers a day.