Omine, Hiroshima #6-B - Japan

Omine, Hiroshima POW Camp #6-B & 5B Sanyo Camp, Omine-machi, Honshu

1 Mar 43 – renamed 5-B

1 Dec 1943- renamed 8-D

Aug 1945 – Renamed 5 -B

22 Jan 1943: Established as OMINE Branch Camp
1 Mar1943: Renamed 5-B
1 Dec 1943: Renamed 8-D
Aug 1945: Renamed 5-B
Sep 1945: rescue effected

Fukuoka #5 is not Hiroshima #6.

Though both were called “Omine camp”, Fukuoka #5 was in Fukuoka Pref. and Hiroshima #6 was in Omine-machi, Yamaguchi Pref., Honshu (near UBE). It’s very easy to confuse the two camps. In Fukuoka #5, 8 British died by drinking methyl alcohol (45.09.07), 1 Australian and 12 Canadians died.

We acknowledge and thank Mansell website for all information.

Camp was located on a hillside in the Onoda Coal Mine area, NE of Ube. POW housed in two-storied wooden buildings.

This camp was a slave labour camp for Sanyo Corporation using a coal mine declared unsafe before the war.

Entrance to Omine Coal Mine

Reference http://mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/hiroshima/hiro-6-omine-yamaguchi/hiro_6_sanyo.html

POWs are this camp include 2/4th Clarrie Henderson WX78642 and  WX17997 Hubert Holland, 2/3rd Machine Gunners WX 5300 Johnston Gervase ‘Bill’ and WX9911 McDonald Gordon.

Johnston and McDonald with 2/3rd MGB arrived with Java Party 20 on board Tamahoko Maru, which was sunk by American submarine 40 km from Nagasaki 24 June 1944.

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