Taiwan POW Camp #1A - Kukutsu
Camp Opened: 05/16/45 - Camp Closed: 08/24/45
In early March 1945 the Kinkaseki copper mine was closed and the POWs languished there until early May when it was decided to move them away from the coast in case the Allies should land on Taiwan. In mid-May the first group of 100 men were taken to Taihoku and then marched about six miles up into the hills south of Hsinten to a camp which had no huts or proper facilities. This was to be basically an extermination camp for the remaining Kinkaseki POWs. Later at the end of June the remaining POWs from Kinkaseki were moved to this new camp.
There were no buildings for the POWs to stay in so they had to build huts made from trees, bamboo and grass. There was little food so they were put to work on the nearby mountainside, planting sweet potatoes and peanuts on an old tea plantation. They first had to hack out and dig up the old tea bushes before planting the crops which they never did get to eat.
They were starved and beaten and ate whatever they could find - mice, rats, snails, snakes and local vegetation. Many of the POWs have said that it was the worst time they had as POWs - even moreso than the copper mine, and that if the war had not ended when it did,they likely would all have died there.
The Japanese treated the men very badly and forced them to work hard with many beatings and provided little food or medicine for the sick men. Two men died and were buried in the camp before the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan which brought the war to an end on August 15, 1945. After the Japanese surrendered, the men were sent back to Taipei and temporarily housed in a makeshift evacuation camp called Churon. On August 28th the Americans dropped food from B-29's on the camp and accidentally killed three men and injured several others. On September 5th the former Kinkaseki / Kukutsu POWs were evacuated by American and British ships and taken to Manila before their return home again.
In 1999 the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society erected a memorial to the former Kukutsu prisoners of war and three of the men who were former POWs in the camp returned to Taiwan for the dedication.
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Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society
and/or those people or organizations who have contributed such material. We are happy for material on the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society site to be used for schools or research purposes, provided reference is made to its source and/or the owner.
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Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society.
