Yangchow, China. August 1945. A group of internees at Yangchow Internment Camp, sitting in one ...

Yangchow, China. August 1945. A group of internees at Yangchow Internment Camp, sitting in one corner of the women's dormitory Camp C. Identified are left to right: Margaret Silver, Ruby Taylor, Peggy Taylor, Ada Moyhing, Ann Silver and Ethel Moyhing. Japan seized Manchuria in 1931 and then in July 1937 the China Incident, or Sino-Japanese War, began with a minor skirmish near Peking, followed by an attack on Shanghai and Nanking. Between 1937 and 1941 the International Concession area was a zone free of direct Japanese control because it was administered by the UK and other treaty powers. However, when the Japanese declared war on the west, this free zone was occupied by Japan. Although under restrictions the Allied civilians were not interned in camps until March 1943. Most of those holding British passports were removed from Shanghai to three former China Inland Mission compounds on the Grand Canal, north of Chinkiang. The Yangchow Internment Camp C was also known as Yangchow Civilian Internment Centre (CIC55) and housed about 750 people including children over five years of age from Yangchow, Nanking and Shanghai. They remained in camp from 14 March 1943 to August 1945 when the internees were liberated. (Donor P. Hillhouse)