So I've collected two photos of the aftermath left in the wake of the United States island hopping campaign during WW2 where certain islands were crippled and left to whither on the vine. These come from the Japanese main port island of Truk which was heavily bombed and is now a massive ship graveyard.
(Both of these are from my personal collection and are original photos so please don't go reposting them around without first talking to me. :P )
Skeleton soldiers of Truk: http://imgur.com/HL3JDTR
Surrender on Truk: http://imgur.com/KWT5Uhp
Now my question is about what happened between the bombings that left the island crippled and alone and the point where these pictures were taken (the point in which American ships finally captured the island at the end of the war). I've had trouble finding any information on that time period and I was wondering if anyone knew anything. I've done a bit of research myself and read somewhere about the torture and execution of their American prisoners due to the frustration of being abandoned to slowly die, but I haven't been able to find that article to double check its authenticity. I've also read (I believe in the same article) that there were cases of cannibalism carried out on the small native population which although believable due to the circumstances I also cannot confirm without a source. So I guess I'm wondering if anyone can confirm these tales as well if they find anything about it.
Sorry the question is a bit open, but thank you to anyone who takes the time to look into this at all.
I'm not "as" familiar with regards to the activities on Truk after the air raid in 1944, but I can comment on a few details, especially in comparison with Rabaul, another Japanese forward base that was bypassed and suppressed by the Americans.
After the air raid, most remaining Japanese shipping was withdrawn to the Home Islands. Its defenses lay primarily in the hands of land-based aircraft from the atoll as well as the 52nd Division and other elements of the 31st Army responsible for the defense of the Caroline Islands. However, the US had no real strategic interest in the Carolines aside from using it as a base to invade the Mariana Islands, which they could use as air bases for a bombing campaign of Japan.
As such, Truk was bypassed by the US landings in order to invade the relatively undefended Eniwetok instead. That isn't to say that the US could afford to ignore it-the island's airfields and other facilities were repeatedly bombed and bombarded from air and sea, in order to prevent its use as an air base to defend or interfere with US operations.
As a result, during this time the Japanese defenders turned towards achieving some degree of self-sufficiency. Prisoners were executed or forced into slave labor, as were many of the native Chuukenese. The Japanese troops were primarily conscripts from the rural areas, so many of them had some level of farming experience that they used to attempt to grow crops. However, the arable land-especially areas that weren't being shelled or bombed-was not enough to adequately sustain the entire population, and the defenders were rapidly reaching starvation levels until the end of the war.
I cannot comment on cases of cannibalism, but I can say that there have been numerous documented instances of cannibalism by Japanese forces, although sometimes it was intentional and malicious (i.e. a Japanese colonel killing a prisoner and eating his liver) rather than out of survival. In the case of Rabaul, their farming operations were relatively successful and there wasn't much (if any) cannibalism, although they also had to deal with less air raids and bombardments due to their relative isolation from Allied lines of communication/the front line.
I'm not sure if this is what you were looking for, but I hope this helps.