American victory Luzon Mindanao Naval operations The Shin'yō Maru incident occurred in the Philippines on September 7, 1944, in the Pacific theater of World War II.

[3] Following the conquest of the Philippines in 1942 and the surrender of the United States Army, thousands of Allied prisoners of war, mostly American, were being held on the islands which by 1944 were soon to be invaded by General Douglas MacArthur.

The soldiers manned the ship's machine gun and guarded 750 Allied prisoners in the holds, almost 300 of whom were survivors of the Bataan Death March.

[1][4] On September 7, Shinyō Maru was sailing for Manila in convoy C-076 with seven other vessels, including two torpedo boats, two tankers, and four other medium and small cargo ships.

A few days previously, American intelligence had reported Shinyō Maru to be carrying Japanese soldiers, so they assigned Paddle to search for it.

Just after Shinyō Maru was hit, the guards opened fire on the prisoners with captured Thompson submachine guns, though several of the men fought their way out of the hold, with their fists and improvised weapons, and abandoned ship.

[4] The Japanese dropped 45 depth charges and other explosives on the American submarine over the course of two hours, and the ship sustained some light damage, but nobody was hurt.

[6] 83 Americans made it to the shores of Sindangan Bay, and they received aid from friendly Filipino guerrillas under the command of Brigadier General Wendell Fertig, who radioed headquarters about the situation.

[1] A memorial shrine was also erected in Sindangan on September 7, 2014, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the incident, honoring the victims, survivors, as well as locals for their hospitality and help.