The Bombing of Nagoya in World War II by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

took place as part of the

air raids on Japan Air raids conducted by Allied forces on Japan during World War II caused extensive destruction to the country's cities and killed between 241,000 and 900,000 people. During the first years of the Pacific War these attacks were limited to the ...

during the closing months of the war.

History

The first

strategic bombing Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systematica ...

attack on Nagoya was on April 18, 1942, as part of the

Doolittle Raid The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II. It was the first American air operation to strike the Japa ...

. A

B-25 The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...

bomber targeted the

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

Aircraft Works, the Matsuhigecho oil warehouse, the

Nagoya Castle is a Japanese castle located in Nagoya, Japan. Nagoya Castle was constructed by the Owari Domain in 1612 during the Edo period on the site of an earlier castle of the Oda clan in the Sengoku period. Nagoya Castle was the heart of one of the ...

military barracks, and the

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...

war industries plant. However, it was not until the aerial attacks of 1944 and 1945 that Nagoya would suffer serious bomb damage. According to the

United States Strategic Bombing Survey The United States Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS) was a written report created by a board of experts assembled to produce an impartial assessment of the effects of the Anglo-American strategic bombing of Nazi Germany during the European theatre o ...

, during the last 9 months of the Pacific War 14,054 tons of bombs were dropped in precision and area air attacks on the factories and urban areas of Nagoya. No other Japanese city other than Tokyo received as many attacks. The city was attacked 21 times between December 13, 1944 and July 24, 1945. The aim of the attacks was stated as ''"(1) mainly by precision attacks, to wipe out Nagoya's aircraft production and, later on, its ordnance production, and (2) mainly by area attacks, to knock out the city's remaining industries and to destroy the people's will to resist."'' The second phase began with

precision bombing Precision bombing refers to the attempted aerial bombing of a target with some degree of accuracy, with the aim of maximising target damage or limiting collateral damage. An example would be destroying a single building in a built up area causing ...

on December 13, 1944, targeting a

military factory. Four bombers were badly damaged during the mission and had to be abandoned. On December 18, another bombing raid took place, although there was such heavy cloud that the bombers needed to bomb by radar. Japanese fighter aircraft intercepted the attacking bombers and shot down one.Dorr, Robert F: ''B-29 Superfortress Units of World War 2'' On January 3, 1945, there was a general

firebombing Firebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire, caused by incendiary devices, rather than from the blast effect of large bombs. In popular usage, any act in which an incendiary d ...

of the city. On January 14, 1945, Mitsubishi plants were attacked again. On March 11 or 12 (sources vary) and March 19, 1945, there were large air raids and widespread firebombing. On April 7, 1945, another precision bombing attack hit and destroyed most of the Mitsubishi Aircraft Engine Works. On May 14 and 16, 1945, there were large air raids and widespread firebombing that targeted the Mitsubishi factories and other war industries, the arsenal, railroad freight yards, and the seaport. Nagoya Castle, a national treasure which was being used as a military command post, was also hit during the May 14 raid and burned down. Also during the winter of 1944 and spring of 1945 there were random single-bomber attacks that were used as

psychological warfare Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PsyOp), have been known by many other names or terms, including Military Information Support Operations (MISO), Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and M ...

to disrupt the city and damage the morale of the citizens. It is estimated that 113,460 buildings were destroyed during the raids, with 3,866 people killed and 471,701 driven from their homes. On July 26, 1945 the ''

Enola Gay The ''Enola Gay'' () is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, piloted by Tibbets and Robert A. Lewis during the final stages of World War II, it ...

'' also dropped a conventional " pumpkin bomb" in the

Yagoto is a neighbourhood that straddles Mizuho ward, Shōwa ward, and Tempaku ward in eastern Nagoya, central Japan. History The area is also known as Yagotoyama. During the Edo period, the area thrived as a pilgrimage area with various temp ...

area of Nagoya as part of a bombing raid to train for the upcoming nuclear bombing mission to Hiroshima. Nagoya was targeted for incendiary bombing because it was the center of the Japanese aircraft industry at the time. The city produced between forty and fifty percent of Japan's combat aircraft and engines, including the

Mitsubishi A6M Zero The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range carrier-based fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. The A6M w ...

. Nagoya housed a port capable of holding 38 ships of up to 10,000 tons and produced equipment for the war effort including railway equipment, ball bearings and processed food. File:Nagoya after the 1945 air raid.JPG, Nagoya, after the 1945 bombing File:Burning Nagoya Station 19450319.jpg,

Nagoya Station is a major railway station in Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, Japan. It is one of the world's largest train stations by floor area (410,000 m2), and houses the headquarters of the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). Much of this space is located in ...

in flames, March 19. File:Nagoya, Japan during attack, seen from an American aircraft 14 May 1945 ww2dbase.jpg, Nagoya, Japan during attack, seen from an American aircraft - 14 May 1945 File:Air Objective Folders by Target Area Japan Nagoya area.jpg, Air Objective Folders by Target Area: Japan: Nagoya area (July 6, 1944) File:Damage to Nagoya City XXI BOM COM MISSION 174 176 14 17 May 1945.jpg, Damage Survey of Nagoya City by the XXI Bomber Command

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bombing Of Nagoya In World War Ii History of Nagoya

1945 in Japan

History

See also

References