Former Japanese suicide attack base exposed: The Shimbu Special Attack Unit once hid in Penghu

Written/Compiled and Reported by Li Xinyi, MOOK Scenic Spots Family Travel Network

Today, Penghu boasts picturesque scenery and is a renowned tourist destination both domestically and internationally, yet few know that this idyllic island was once the base of the Japanese "Shimbu Special Attack Unit" during World War II — a unit of kamikaze-style naval attackers. A group of young Japanese soldiers, who had come to this foreign land with a mindset of certain death, left Penghu without ever undertaking a single official mission. The dozens of trenches they painstakingly dug remain a mystery to the local residents as to their true purpose. The absurdity of war and the helplessness of individuals trying to survive in turbulent times were vividly played out over sixty years ago on Wang'an Island in Penghu. The first tourism documentary themed around the ruins of the WWII-era "Shimbu Special Attack Unit" stationed in Penghu — "Island Flames" — will take viewers on a journey to uncover this nearly forgotten chapter of history. It is now screened daily at 11:30 AM and 4:30 PM at the Penghu Visitor Center.

In the final stages of World War II, the Japanese military called upon young soldiers willing to sacrifice their lives to form the "Shimbu Special Attack Unit." Modeled after the kamikaze tactics of the Shinpu Special Attack Unit, their mission was to ram enemy ships with explosive-laden speedboats, destroying both boat and crew upon impact as enemy vessels approached their base. At the time, Taiwan and Penghu — under Japanese colonial rule — became bases for Japan’s militarization efforts in its southern advance. Soldiers recruited into the "Shimbu Special Attack Unit" were dispatched in batches to places such as Tamsui, Kaohsiung, and Penghu for training. The local residents of Penghu, under Japanese rule, were also mobilized to dig "storage tunnels" for housing the suicide boats — locally referred to as "Yuanyang Caves." However, Japan soon surrendered, and none of the Shimbu Special Attack Units or their attack boats stationed in Taiwan ever participated in actual combat before the end of the war.

During the making of this documentary, the team successfully interviewed elderly residents of Penghu who had been involved in digging the "Yuanyang Caves" and even entered the tunnels themselves. To obtain firsthand information, the crew also traveled to Japan to seek out surviving members of the "Shimbu Special Attack Unit." Most of the unit members have since passed away, but the team was fortunate enough to locate former Shimbu Special Attack Unit Battalion Commander Wakamatsu Rokuro and former unit member Hosoya Yoshiaki, who had published a memoir titled "Winter’s Last Red — Memoirs of a Crewman of the 24th Shimbu Unit." The film also follows Hosoya Yoshiaki as he returns to Wang’an Island more than 60 years later, paying tribute on-site to that bygone era.

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