Text/Editor: Liuyun
Preface
During World War II, the Japanese established a prisoner of war camp in Shenyang specifically for prisoners of war from the United States and Britain who were taken prisoner by the Japanese army from the Pacific Theater, called the Mukden Prisoner of War Camp, which the Japanese called the "Mukden Prisoner of War Internment Camp".
Prisoners of war who were imprisoned in the camps had to undergo forced labor, where they were subjected to beatings, corporal punishment and other inhumane abuses, and according to incomplete statistics, more than 250 prisoners of war died in the Shenyang prisoner of war camps for various reasons.
There were also a large number of forcibly recruited Chinese laborers in the camps. Let's see how they fought wits and courage with the Japanese army in this dark prisoner of war camp.
Darkness of hell
After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese army swept through Southeast Asia in just five months, capturing nearly 200,000 Allied troops. In order to house these prisoners of war. Japan established 115 concentration camps in the 12 countries and territories it occupied, including Allied and Allied nationals. The Mukden POW camp was the highest-ranking POW camp for the Allied forces.
At the end of 1941, the Japanese army imprisoned more than 1,500 Allied prisoners of war in Southeast Asia in this prisoner of war camp.
Here, they don't have a name, just a numerical code for their identity. Anyone who saw a Japanese soldier had to bend down and salute. If you bend at the wrong angle, if you have something in your hand when you salute, or if you don't speak Japanese well when greeting, you will be beaten by the Japanese guards for no reason.
The prisoners of war had only a thin single coat, and the barracks were nothing more than houses nailed out of dilapidated wooden planks, and in winter in Shenyang, the temperature outside could be as low as minus twenty or thirty degrees. These wooden walls with a lot of voids are not able to withstand the cold at all.
At first, the POWs thought that if they could get enough heat, they might be able to cope with the cold. But their expectations were soon dashed. The food given to them by the Japanese army was nothing more than some soup, and there was only some corn, water and cabbage in the soup, and one person had less than a spoonful.
Tormented by hard labor, hunger, and cold, disease began to strike the prisoners of war. Many people suffered from typhoid fever, pneumonia and other diseases, and the prisoner-of-war camps were full of all kinds of sick prisoners of war, and the number of prisoners of war at one time reached 800.
Later, the Japanese Kwantung Army began to send a medical team to treat the prisoners of war. However, the doctors sent by the Japanese Kwantung Army did not see a doctor, only gave injections, and only gave injections to white people. After many of the prisoners of war were injected, their condition did not improve, but within 72 hours, many fell ill with dysentery, and many of them died.
In fact, these so-called doctors are all from the notorious "Japanese Army Unit 731". They came to the POW camp for experiments on the white people in the camp. Prepare for an attack on bacteriological weapons used by the Allies.
Silent defiance
In such dark conditions, the POWs spent their first Christmas.
In July 1943, the Shenyang prisoner of war camp suddenly announced to the prisoners of war over the radio that the camp was about to move. The new POW camp is located on the eastern outskirts of Shenyang, and 3 barracks have been built side by side. The new barracks were made of bricks, no longer dilapidated wooden houses. Not only that, but their diet has also improved a lot, at least they are able to eat soybeans and corn.
What is even more strange is that the Japanese suddenly announced one day that prisoners of war would be paid 10 cents a day when they went to work in the factory, and it would be paid on the 15th of every month.
A series of changes took place in the POW camp, leaving the POWs at a loss. What kind of medicine do Japanese people buy in gourds?
The moment the POWs walked into the factory and got the drawings, someone noticed the sloppiness.
They discovered that the gear that the Japanese had asked them to produce was actually the gear used in the landing gear of the Japanese Zero. At this time, the prisoners of war finally understood what was the cause of a series of foreshadowing by the Japanese in front. It is for them to produce weapons of murder and then use them to slaughter their fellow citizens.
When the POWs understood the intentions of the Japanese, they decided to start a counterattack. But they are unarmed, and it is definitely not possible to fight hard. It was necessary to find a way to prevent Japan from finding evidence and to frustrate the plans of the Japanese.
In the first batch of work tasks, the Japanese army asked to make 64 sets of fighter landing gear gears on the left and right, and they threw the set of drawings on the left side into the furnace and burned it, only the one on the right. The gears that come out of this way can't be used at all, and in the end they all have to be invalidated.
The initial success of the counterattack gave them great encouragement. So more protests unfolded silently. The prisoners of war began to pay attention to the Japanese lathes. After that, the products they produce are always not up to the mark. Either the screws cannot be screwed, or the size is unqualified.
The POWs resisted silently with their own strength. The Japanese were not unaware of the actions of the prisoners of war, and although there was no evidence to prove that the prisoners of war were deliberate, it did not affect the Japanese army's mistreatment of the prisoners of war to become even more severe.
A glimmer of light
In the factories, a large number of Chinese laborers were forcibly recruited, and they were oppressed and beaten by the Japanese just like prisoners of war. The only difference from the POWs was that the Chinese laborers were allowed to go home at night.
The Chinese who were forcibly recruited by the Japanese were very friendly to the prisoners of war. They risked their lives to secretly bring eggs and peanuts to the POWs. You must know that the life of these Chinese at that time was not good, and it was the friendship of Chinese workers that made these Allied prisoners of war who were far away in a foreign land feel a trace of human warmth.
In November 1944, Chinese workers brought in the good news that "100 American bombers bombed an aircraft engine factory 16 kilometers away from the Imperial Palace of Japan." For a while, every prisoner of war in the prisoner of war camp was secretly excited. After 2 years of darkness, we finally saw a little light. They believe that the day of freedom is not far off.
Slowly, the POWs discovered the anomaly of the POW camp, that is, the POW camp successively brought many high-ranking Allied officers and prisoners of war. These high-ranking officers and prisoners of war were transferred from various concentration camps in Southeast Asia. The news that the prisoners of war were being held in the Shenyang prisoner of war camp was also intercepted by the US military. They decided to prepare a rescue plan in case something happened to the prisoners of war.
On August 16, 1945, at 4:30 a.m. on the day after the Japanese emperor announced his surrender, a B-24 transport plane departed from the ancient Chinese city of Xi'an, and after a five-and-a-half-hour flight, the rescue team arrived over Shenyang.
At this time, there was chaos in the prisoner of war camp, and the Japanese, who had received the news in advance, were preparing to seize the last time to transfer the prisoners of war and carry out the extermination plan in advance. At this critical moment, Li Qi and the rescue team arrived at the prisoner of war camp in time to announce the emperor's surrender order, ending the impending massacre.
When Richie had finished announcing the Japanese emperor's surrender order, he went outside to the courtyard, which was crowded with prisoners of war who had heard the news. Li Qi told them: "You are going home, the war is over, and Japan has surrendered to us." When the prisoners of war heard the news that they were free, the people in the camp hugged each other and blessed each other.
At this time, although the prisoners of war were like arrows, they still had to wait for the arrival of the Soviet Red Army before they could officially embark on the journey home. After three years of captivity, the prisoners of war were subjected to disease, cold, hunger, and beatings, but now they finally smell the breath of freedom.
Home
On February 11, 1945, the heads of state of the Soviet Union, the United States, and Britain signed the Yalta Agreement. The agreement stipulated that the recovery of Northeast China would be completed by the Soviet Union, which meant that the Japanese troops here would surrender to the Soviet Red Army before they could be considered a formal surrender.
On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Red Army sent troops to northeast China. On August 20, the Soviet Red Army liberated Shenyang. It took over the Japanese puppet organs and occupied and controlled important targets such as airports and railways, including the "Shenyang Prisoner of War Camp".
Once again, the prisoners of war were assembled, but this time the difference was that the prisoners of war had guns in their hands, and the former Japanese guards were taken prisoner.
Conclusion
Since 2007, the city of Shenyang has renovated the prisoner of war camp. In the middle of the Shenyang Prisoner of War Memorial Hall, there is a memorial wall with the names of prisoners of war who died in the prisoner of war camp. After many years, many Allied prisoners of war came to Shenyang, China, to visit the prisoner of war camp.
The purpose of rebuilding the prisoner of war camps is to tell people that Japan's war of aggression has brought great disasters to the people of the world. And warn the world to learn from history. To be able to understand that period of history and face that period of history.