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Bombing of Fukui during World War II

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TheBombing of Fukui in World War II(Phúc tỉnh không tập,Fukui kūshū)on July 19, 1945, was part of thestrategic bombingcampaign waged by theUnited Statesagainst military and civilian targets and population centers during theJapan home islands campaignin the closing stages ofWorld War II.[1]

Background[edit]

The city ofFukuilacked major targets of military significance, but was a prefectural capital and regional commercial centre on theHokuriku Main Linerailway. It also housed many small industries which supplied to the Japanese war effort.

Air raid[edit]

During early 1945, theUSAAFconcentrated on bombing targets along the Pacific coastal regions of mainland Japan. The cities in this area were more populous and were more industrialised, and were closer to the American bases in theMariana Islands.The city ofTsurugabecame the first city of theSea of Japancoast to be targeted by air raids on the night of July 12, 1945. Defences were light to non-existent, and in the bombing, over 70 percent of the city area was razed by incendiary bombs.[2]

Thefirebombingof Fukui occurred a week later. On July 19, 1945, 133Boeing B-29Superfortress bombers launched fromTinianin the Marianas, arriving over Fukui at 2324 PM on a clear, cloudless night.[3]More than 865 tons of incendiary bombs were dropped in a spiral pattern with a radius of 1.2 kilometers around the northwest of theFukui Castleruins. The resultantfirestormdestroyed most of the city.[4]Fukuicivil defensemeasures were crude at best.Air raid sheltersconsisted of a hole in the ground next to wooden houses with a wooden roof covered with a thin layer of soil and clay. Many people were burned alive in the firestorm. The estimated civilian casualties in the July 19 raid were 1,576 people killed (915 women and 661 men) with 6,527 injured of whom 107 subsequently died of their wounds. Of the city itself out of 25,691 structures before the bombing, 21,992 were destroyed, rendering most of the surviving populace homeless. A year after the war, theUnited States Army Air Forces'sStrategic Bombing Survey (Pacific War)reported that 84.8 percent of the city had been totally destroyed.[5]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  • Werrell, Kenneth P. (1996).Blankets of Fire.Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press.ISBN978-1-56098-665-2.
  • Bradley, F. J. (1999).No Strategic Targets Left. Contribution of Major Fire Raids Toward Ending WWII.Turner Publishing.ISBN978-1-56311-483-0.
  • Carter, Kit C. (1975).The Army Air Forces in World War II: Combat Chronology, 1941-1945.DIANE Publishing.ISBN978-1-4289-1543-5.
  • Crane, Conrad C. (1994).The Cigar that brought the Fire Wind: Curtis LeMay and the Strategic Bombing of Japan.JGSDF-U.S. Army Military History Exchange. ASIN B0006PGEIQ.
  • Frank, Richard B.(2001).Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire.Penguin.ISBN978-0-14-100146-3.
  • Grayling, A. C.(2007).Among the Dead Cities: The History and Moral Legacy of the WWII Bombing of Civilians in Germany and Japan.New York: Walker Publishing Company Inc.ISBN978-0-8027-1565-4.
  • Hoyt, Edwin P. (2000).Inferno: The Fire Bombing of Japan, March 9 – August 15, 1945.Madison Books.ISBN978-1-56833-149-2.
  • Shannon, Donald H. (1976).United States air strategy and doctrine as employed in the strategic bombing of Japan.U.S. Air University, Air War College. ASIN B0006WCQ86.
  • Wainstock, Dennis (1996).The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb.Greenwood Publishing Group.ISBN978-0-275-95475-8.

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Hoyt.Inferno: The Fire Bombing of Japan, March 9 – August 15, 1945
  2. ^United States Strategic Bombing Survey.Summary Report(Pacific War)July 1, 1946
  3. ^Carter.The Army Air Forces in World War II: Combat Chronology, 1941–1945
  4. ^Bradley.No Strategic Targets Left.
  5. ^Wainstock. The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb. Page 9

External links[edit]

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