Kōfu is a medium-sized population center and the capital of ruralYamanashi Prefecture. Many residents had the illusion that its surrounding mountains would provide some protection, and that without any targets of significant military importance,[2] Kōfu would be overlooked by the Americans. Numerous residents of Tokyo had relocated to Kōfu for safety. These included the noted authorsOsamu Dazai andMasuji Ibuse.[3] However, as Kōfu was located nearMount Fuji, which was a prominent landmark, onceair raids on Japan became more frequent during the final stages of thePacific War, Kōfu residents became accustomed to the sight of American aircraft passing over the city at high altitude en route to targets in Tokyo and inNagano Prefecture, and Kōfu occasionally became a secondary target for aircraft which missed their primary targets.[4] Such bombings caused little damage, andcivil defense efforts did not begin until around March 1945; however, the construction ofair raid shelters was largely impossible due to the high groundwater level, and efforts were largely limited to training civiliantonarigumi associations on using bucket brigades for firefighting.
A year after the war, theUnited States Army Air Forces'sStrategic Bombing Survey (Pacific War) reported approximately 79% of the city’s urban area had been totally destroyed, with 740 civilians killed, and 1,248 seriously wounded; with 35 people missing and 18,094 residences destroyed.[7]
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Carter, Kit C (1975).The Army Air Forces in World War II: Combat Chronology, 1941–1945. DIANE Publishing.ISBN1-4289-1543-5.
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.ASINB0006PGEIQ.
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.
Lyons, Phyliss (1985).The Saga of Dazai Osamu: A Critical Study With Translations. Stamford University Press.ISBN0804711976.
Nalty, Bernard C (1999).War in the Pacific: Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay. University of Oklahoma Press.ISBN0806131993.
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.ISBN0-275-95475-7.
