A rarely known WWII Allied POW camp in Manchuria, China. Built by the Japanese army during ww2

Shenyang WWII Allied Prisoners Camp Site Museum: A number tag of prisoner of war reveals Japanese atrocities - Global Times.

Above is a link to a Chinese online newspaper showing A hardly known POW camp in Northeast, China (Manchuria). It was used to hold POWs from US, UK, ... They were subject to hard labor and poor living conditions by the Japanese troops(The Japanese annexed the whole Manchuria region of China in 1931. )

 

CNCPlayer,

Welcome. This camp has not appeared here before. There is a brief WIKI entry: Hoten Camp - Wikipedia and a fuller article: Between Survival and Suffering: Life in the Mukden POW Camp During WWII

A 2025 Chinese news report noted:

From: 'Auschwitz of the East' uncovers lesser-known history of Japan's wartime atrocities

There are many more online articles and tourist visits.

 

Yeah. Something like an Oriental Allied Forces perspective on World war 2.
I live in the city where this POW camp is. It's called Shenyang.
On September 18th, 1931. The Japanese ambushed this whole city( which is my hometown) and annexed it in one single night.

My grandparents generations eyewitnessed the Japanese troops and told me lots of war time stories. I can still see many relics from the 1931-1945 period. They (Japanese soldiers) plundered my great-grandfather's 14,000 hectares of farm land, and gave it to Japanese citizens to provide crops and food for the Japanese army on the frontline against Allied forces.
The Shenyang government sound the "air raid siren" at 9:18 AM on September 18 each year for 3 minutes, to remember the day when China entered the WW2 and trapped in Japan's aggression.

 

As you can see from the photo. The Americans, the British, the French, Canadians, Australians and the Dutch POWs were held in this camp. They were obliged to do hard labor to fuel the Japanese forces.
The living conditions was like
1. Very poor heating during cold winter (temperature drops to below -8 Fahrenheit/-23 Celsius From Dec to Jan each year in Shenyang) means NO Christmas of anything
2. 12 men(forgot the exact number) in one big bed and 100 men in one barracks; no bathroom

3. Terrible chow
4. Hafta work for the Japanese against your own people daily

These terrible conditions were even considered "extremely cruel" by my Chinese grandparents who were born during that era.


These living

 

CNCPlayer,

As our focus is the British & Commonwealth participation in WW2 events in China can and do appear. We do have members from other countries, notably Canada.

 

CNCplayer,

There are a number of threads here on the liberation of POWs @ Mukden (nowt for Shenyang) which can be id'd using the forum's simple one word search option top right. I have not looked at them.

As our focus is the British and Commonwealth role in WW2 events in China can and do appear, not in large numbers. We do have members from other countries, such as Holland, Italy, Germany, Canada and the USA. As an example there are over a hundred posts that refer to Nanking.

 

If you have walk through pictures of any WWII museums or historic sites I'd enjoy seeing them.

Thanks

Dave

 

I'm not sure I would call this POW Camp 'rarely known'. Among those confined in the Camp were most of the British senior officers involved in the Far East. They included:
Lt Gen Arthur Percival (GOC Singapore)
Sir Thomas Shelton (Governor of Singapore)
Sir Mark Young (Governor of Hong Kong)

More info and links at: Hoten POW Camp - Mukden, China
Sounds like a great museum.

Tim

 

An aside that China has not been forgotten, from a book review:

From: Collapse

 

Yes Tim, quality information there.

Further to Hoten. This is gathered from William Craig's account of the end of the Pacific war entitled The Fall of Japan and gives extensive coverage of the OSS in Manchuria in their operation to safeguard Allied POWs in their camps. Their captors sneering and refusing to believe that hostilities had ended.

A good account of OSS operatives is given arriving by B 24 and parachute at the Hoten camp on 16 August 1945 with the task of locating and safeguarding POWs and General Wainwright, the commander of US forces in the Philippines who was reported to be incarcerated there and whose health was questioned. Wainwright proved not to be at Hoten but was being held at Mukden Camp No 2 at Sian over 100 miles to the northeast.

There was some doubt if the Japanese would accept their presence during the dynamics in the fall of the Japanese regime even though the Japanese had been defeated by the Soviet Union on invading Manchuria and Red Army elements were there. It took some negotiation with the Japanese menacing the OSS group, treating them as prisoners, forcing them to kneel down with bayonets at the ready. A Japanese sergeant questioned the group "Who are you" The group's Sergeant American born Japanese Funio Kido, a Nisei interpreter was told by Major Hennessy the commander. "Tell him we are Americans here to bring aid to the prisoners at Hoten. Tell him that the war is over". Kido was conscious of his status from overhearing an officer on the telephone, "We have an American born Japanese here. What do we do with him." Tension eased but with the group still subject to detention, Kido was allowed to interpret and treated courteously. The OSS were allowed into the camp after prolonged discussions with Japanese senior officers aided by flowing Scotch but confusion among the Japanese was a feature from reporting OSS presence to higher authorities.



As for the POWs, they had witnessed an aircraft make two passes over the area, the first one dropping the OSS team, the second with equipment. The POWs became very interested in the developments noting the parachutes were coloured with one stating "I remember back at Fort Benning they used to use those coloured chutes". At this point they knew something was on and the prisoners compound became alive. After getting over Japanese detention, the OSS group were allowed into the camp to see the senior Allied officers then went on to circulate among the joyous ORs. One voice shouted clearly, "Hiya fellas, it's all over. We're here to bring you home." Pandemonium broke out and the OSS were bombarded with questions..... Who is this guy, Truman?.... What about this new bomb?.....Where the hell did you guys come from?...... What happened at Midway?....... How does penicillin work, and so the questions went on.

It could have ended differently for in the background there was always the risk that there might be problem in releasing prisoners from captivity.

 

If you search the IWM collections for Manchuria camp and filter for WW2 you will find lots of oral histories and some photos of POW camps there. I suspect there may have been more than one camp.
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...ia&filters[periodString][Second+World+War]=on

The one by Major Stonor of the Argylls is particularly interesting:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80011929