Shinyo Maru Incident

The Shinyo Maru Incident occurred in the Philippines on September 7, 1944 during the Pacific theater of World War II. In an attack on a Japanese convoy by the American submarine USS Paddle, 687 Allied prisoners of war were massacred by the Japanese or killed when their ship, the SS Shinyo Maru was sunk. Only eighty-two Americans survived the ordeal and were later rescued.

Background
Following the conquest of the Philippines in 1942 and the surrender of the United States Army, thousands of Allied prisoners of war, mostly American, were being held on the islands which by 1944 was soon to be invaded by General Douglas MacArthur. In order to prevent the liberation of the prisoners in the Philippines, the Japanese established a system of transportation called "Hell Ships" by those being transported. These Hell Ships were ordinary merchant vessels used to transport the Allied prisoners from the Philippines to elsewhere in the Japanese empire. These vessels were so called because several of them were destroyed in friendly fire incidents. SS Shinyo Maru was one of these vessels, displacing 2,634 gross registered tons, she was a tramp cargo steamer in impounded by the Japanese in 1941 and crewed by both merchant sailors as well as Imperial Japanese Army soldiers. The soldiers manned the ship's machine gun and guarded 750 to 800 Allied prisoners in the holds, many of whom were survivors of the Bataan Death March. The Japanese commander is said to have been extremely ruthless. Expecting an attack by the Allies, he told the prisoners that if the ship was fired on he would order the guards to begin killing them.

Incident
On September 7, the Shinyo Maru was sailing for Manila in convoy C-076 with seven other vessels, including two torpedo boats, two tankers, and four other medium and small cargo ships. They were sailing two or three miles off the Lanboyan Point of Zamboanga Peninsula on the island of Mindanao, when the USS Paddle found them. A few days previously, American intelligence had reported that the Shinyo Maru was carrying Japanese soldiers so they assigned Paddle to search for it. The Paddle, under the command of Captain Byron Nowell, was ten miles away when the Japanese were first spotted so Nowell maneuvered forward to attack with torpedoes. A spread of four were then released in the direction of the Shinyo Maru, which was the leading ship in the convoy. Two of the torpedoes struck, both in the hold and a few moments later the Paddle was lined up against one of the cargo ships. It too was struck by two torpedoes so her commander grounded her on the nearby shore to prevent the ship from sinking. Just after the Shinyo Maru was hit the guards opened fire on the prisoners with captured Thompson submachine guns though several of the men fought their way out of the hold, with their fists and improvised weapons, and abandoned ship.

The men of the convoy then began launching boats to pick up Japanese survivors and kill all of the remaining prisoners. A machine gun mounted on the grounded cargo ship and a second on the Shinyo Maru were also opened up on the Allied personnel. Marine Corps Sergeant Onnie Clem later reported the following; "Up on the bridge there was a machine gun spraying the hatch. A burst of machine-gun fire caught all three of us and knocked us back down in the hold. We'd all been hit. I got plowed in the skull. Another bullet chipped out my chin. Nevertheless, I was able to work myself back up on deck, and I was eyeing that bridge when I came out that time. The gun was still there, but the gunner was laying out on deck. Somebody had apparently got up there and killed him. At this time I found out that we were out in the ocean about two or three miles from shore. All I had was a loincloth." Fifteen or twenty others were recaptured and taken aboard one of the torpedo boats where they were executed by firing squad as punishment for trying to escape. One of those men was able to free his hands which had been tied behind his back and he successfully escaped by jumping over board again. The Japanese dropped forty-five depth charges and other explosives on the American submarine over the course of two hours and the ship sustained some light damage but nobody was hurt. After that she surfaced and began patrolling the area again.

Aftermath
Of almost 800 Allied prisoners of war, 687 were killed, most of whom were American, Filipino, and Dutch servicemen. At least forty-seven Japanese personnel were killed as well, only three men of the Shinyo Maru's crew survived. Eighty-three Americans made it to the shores of Sindangan Bay and they received aid from friendly Filipino guerrillas under the command of Brigadier General Wendell Fertig who radioed headquarters about the situation. One man died the following day on September 8, the remaining survivors were eventually rescued by the submarine USS Narwhal save First Sergeant Joseph P. Coe Jr who remained on Mindanao to continue fighting, for which he later received a Bronze Star. The crew of USS Paddle were not informed of the deaths of hundreds of Allied POWs until 1946.