On the early morning of Aug. 22, 1945 — a week after the Pacific War ended on Aug.15 — three Japanese ships carrying Japanese evacuees from Soviet-invaded Sakhalin to Hokkaido were attacked and sunk by Soviet submarines near the port city of Rumoi, with a loss of over 1,700 lives.
Each year, the city commemorates the tragedy with a memorial ceremony at a cenotaph erected in 1962 dedicated to the victims of what became known as the Three Ships Incident. It was one of the final brutal acts of what remains the most devastating war in human history.
On the 80th anniversary of the tragedy, Rumoi officials are unsure how many survivors are still alive. But they said this year’s message will be to remind the world that those who were killed were largely women, children and noncombatants, and that the attacks were completely unjustified.
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