The first POWs to arrive in Taiwan Camp # 6 in Taihoku came on November 14th 1942 from Singapore on the hellship England Maru. After disembarking at the port of Keelung, the men were taken by train to Taihoku (Taipei) the capital, and made to march through the streets of the city to their new camp about five kms northeast of the downtown area. Lining the route was the local population, including hundreds of school children, turned out by the Japanese to show off their conquests.
The Number 6 Camp at Taihoku was the main POW camp in the capital area, and one of the principal camps on Taiwan. At first it was comprised mainly of men from the 5th Field Reg’t., R.A. and the 9/11th Indian Division Signals. However, over the next three years men from other regiments were moved in from other camps. The population of the camp averaged around 500 men for most of the time it was in existence and 74 POWs died there.
Camp #6 contained almost entirely British POWs. The men slaved at building a memorial park and a man-made lake for the Japanese. They were also engaged in farming, and some later worked in the Taihoku railway and bus repair shops.
This camp was the main transit camp for the movement of POWs to and from Kinkaseki, and it was also the camp that the POWs from other camps passed through on their way to Japan and Manchuria in late 1944 and early 1945. In the last months of the war a few American and Dutch POWs were also interned there.
It was from this camp in July 1945 that 150 men were sent to build another 'satellite camp' - called the Oka Camp in the mountains southwest of the city near the town of Sanxia, and where the Japanese intended to kill all the POWs from Camp # 6 if the Allies landed on Taiwan. Conditions there were so bad that ten men died while building the camp and nine more died within days after returning to the main camp following the Japanese surrender. Taihoku Camp # 6 was finally evacuated on September 6th 1945.
The site of the Taihoku # 6 Camp was located and confirmed in 2000, and for many years the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society had desired to erect a POW memorial there. However the site was just an empty field until 2009 when the ROC Ministry of Defense started to build their new headquarters complex in that location.
Early in 2011 the Society approached the Ministry with a request to erect a memorial near the former camp site and this was approved by the minister and wonderful co-operation was received from the MND who took great interest in the project. The memorial was dedicated on Remembrance Day - November 11, 2011. We are grateful to the ministry and the minister for taking such an interest and giving support to this project so that the men of Taihoku Camp # 6 will always be remembered.
The Taihoku Camp #6 Memorial - erected by the Taiwan POW Society and the ROC Ministry of National Defense
For those living in Taiwan or visiting from overseas who may want to visit the memorial, it is located east of the Grand Hotel and the Martyrs' Shrine on Pei-an Road and just west of the Dachih Bridge. It is located about 150 meters up Tong-Bei Street from the corner on the right hand side. The memorial is located inside the grounds of the Ministry of Defense Headquarters and thus direct access is available only with special permission through the POW Society, but it can be viewed from the sidewalk and photos can be obtained by simply zooming your camera in. Please see the drawing below for directions.
Access to the memorial site is available by public transit - Taipei City buses # 21, 42, 208, 247, 267, 287, 556, 646, 902, Brown #1, Red #2 and Red #3 - all stop at the Dachih High School across the road from MND Headquarters. From there it is a short walk up Tong-Bei Street to the site.