Dongning Fortress Complex

Dongning Fortress Complex

The Dongning Fortress Complex is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction and a patriotic education base.

Dongning Fortress Complex

During World War II, after the Japanese imperialists invaded China, they built 17 large secret military fortresses in strategic locations along the Sino-Soviet border in China's three northeastern provinces, with 10 of them located in Dongning. Their goal was to permanently occupy the Northeast and realize their dream of invading the Soviet Union.

The Dongning Fortress is the largest military fortress complex in Asia. First, it is the largest in scale and longest in length. The Dongning Fortress stretches 110 kilometers from north to south, starting from Ganhezigou in Dabuchuan Town in the south to Yanwangdian in Suiyang Town in the north, and extends over 50 kilometers from east to west, from Madashan in Sanchakou Town in the east to Laoheishan and Guangcun in the west. Hidden deep in dense forests and in an extremely secretive state, it includes 45 field positions, over 400 permanent fortifications, 84 underground field ammunition depots, and multiple anti-tank ditches. Third, it housed the largest number of troops. The Japanese invaders stationed as many as 130,000 troops in Dongning County, including two lieutenant generals and 11 major generals. The county hosted three divisions and one “border” garrison unit.

The Dongning Fortress was the last battlefield of World War II. During the war, as Germany’s defeat on the European front became certain in 1945, on August 7, Stalin signed an order for the Soviet army to launch an offensive against the Japanese forces along the Chinese border starting on August 9. After nearly 18 days of fierce fighting, on August 15, 1945, the Japanese Emperor announced unconditional surrender, marking the end of World War II. At that time, the surrounded Japanese forces had not yet received the surrender order. Later, General Yamada Kizo of the Kwantung Army, who had already surrendered, traveled to the Dongning Fortress to convey the Emperor’s “Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War” and the orders to lay down arms and cease resistance. On August 30, 1945, 901 Japanese soldiers in the Dongning Fortress surrendered to the Soviet army, carrying out 105 bodies. This marked the end of the final battle of World War II at Dongning Fortress, on Shōgō Mountain.

The Dongning Fortress is the site where the largest number of Chinese laborers were collectively buried during wartime. During World War II, while constructing the Dongning Fortress, the Japanese Kwantung Army forcibly recruited 170,000 laborers from China. Only a very small number of these laborers survived, with the vast majority being tortured to death and collectively buried. The Laborers’ Tomb site is located on a hill 1.5 kilometers north of Laochengzigou Village, Dabuchuan Town, Dongning, covering an area of over 20,000 square meters. The remains of more than 8,000 Chinese laborers are buried here, and there are over 10 such laborers' tombs in Dongning.

Given these remarkable characteristics, the Dongning Fortress has been approved by the National Tourism Administration as a AA-level scenic spot, a provincial-level patriotic and national defense education base, and a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit. It serves as the most authentic and vivid educational resource to remind the Chinese people not to forget national humiliation, to inspire patriotism, to motivate the nation, and to forever remember this tragic history—never forgetting the shame, understanding the disgraceful past and the heinous crimes committed by Japanese militarism in China, recognizing the aggressive nature and ugly face of Japanese militarism. The Dongning Fortress is irrefutable evidence of Japanese militarism’s expansionist ambitions, a living lesson exposing the current political expansion schemes of Japan, and a powerful rebuttal to Japanese right-wing forces.

The Dongning Fortress is located 9 kilometers south of Sanchakou Town, Dongning County, spanning approximately 119 kilometers in width and extending 50 kilometers in length. It is the largest military fortress built by the Japanese invaders in Asia, known as the “Maginot Line of the East” and the foremost “Permanent Fortress of Northern Manchuria,” as well as the last battlefield of World War II. The Dongning Fortress is a military defensive facility constructed by the Japanese invaders in China and stands as a historical testament to their crimes. In recent years, the Dongning County Party Committee and County Government have placed high importance on the site, continuously increasing investment to protectively develop and restore the Dongning Fortress, which had lain dormant for nearly 60 years. They actively promote its role as a model educational base. Currently, the Dongning Fortress has been approved as a national AA-level scenic spot, a provincial-level patriotic, national defense, and youth education base, and a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level