Showa Steel Works (Anshan Iron & Steel Works)

Showa Steel Works (昭和製鋼所) in Anshan, Liaoning Province, was the largest integrated iron and steel complex in Manchuria and one of the most strategically important industrial facilities in the Japanese empire. Its origins date to 1918 when the South Manchuria Railway Company (Mantetsu) established the Anshan Iron & Steel Works to exploit the nearby Takushan iron ore deposits.

Initially limited to pig iron production, the facility was reorganized and expanded in June 1933, when the Showa Steel Works company — founded by Mantetsu in 1929 for a planned mill in Korea — moved its head office to Anshan and absorbed the ironworks; in 1938 control passed from Mantetsu to the Manchurian Industrial Development Company. The company licensed the Krupp-Renn process from German steelmakers and sent technicians to Nazi Germany for training from September 1937; Krupp equipment was installed by 1939, dramatically improving production efficiency. By 1941 the works had a capacity of 1,750,000 tonnes of iron and 1,000,000 tonnes of steel. Total capacity reached 3,600,000 tonnes by 1942, making it one of the world's major iron and steel centers.

In May 1939, Showa Steel became a special corporation of Manchukuo with strong state-policy characteristics. By 1944, the works accounted for approximately 15% of pig iron and 6% of rolled steel production across all Japanese-held territory. The facility employed over 4,000 Chinese forced laborers by early 1942.

The works were of critical strategic importance during the Pacific War. From mid-1944, they were subjected to repeated bombing raids by B-29 Superfortresses of the USAAF's XX Bomber Command operating from bases in China. On July 29, 1944, a major daylight raid struck the facility. The Imperial Japanese Army deployed the 1st Chutai of the 104th Sentai equipped with Nakajima Ki-84 "Hayate" fighters for air defense. Despite these measures, output was cut back: some accounts put the loss at up to 30% of production capacity, while Japanese accounts note that the raids aimed to disable operations (for example by hitting fuel systems) and that direct damage to equipment was comparatively limited.

After Japan's surrender in August 1945, Soviet Red Army forces systematically dismantled the remaining equipment and shipped it to the Soviet Union. The ruins were occupied by Chinese Communist forces and the facility was gradually rebuilt, reopening on July 9, 1949 as the Anshan Iron & Steel Company. It continues to operate today as the Ansteel Group (鞍鋼集團), one of China's largest steelmakers.