| Bombing of Toyokawa | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofPacific War,World War II | |||||
 Memorial to the Toyokawa Air Raid, atToyokawa Inari | |||||
| |||||
| Belligerents | |||||
 United States |  Japan | ||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||
| none | 2,544 to 2,677 killed | ||||
Thebombing ofToyokawa (豊川空襲,Toyokawa dai-kūshū) was part of thestrategic bombing campaign waged by theUnited States of America against military and civilian targets and population centers during theJapan home islands campaign in the closing stages of thePacific War in 1945.[1]
Although the city of Toyokawa was not a major population center, it had a major target of military significance: theToyokawa Naval Arsenal (豊川海軍工廠) one of the largest in theEmpire of Japan, which produced 7.7 mm machine guns, 13 mm and 20 mm aircraft cannon and 25 mm anti-aircraft cannon and associated munitions for theImperial Japanese Navy. By February 1945, the facility had 56,400 workers and covered an area of 330hectares. TheTōkaidō Main Line railway connectingTokyo withOsaka also ran through the city.[2]
Despite its obvious military significance, Toyokawa was not bombed until the very late stages of the war. On 1 November 1944, a small scale air raid occurred.[3] This was followed on 23 November by a midnight fly-over by a lone camera-equippedB-29 Superfortress on a reconnaissance mission.
However, a major air raid did not occur until the morning of 7 August 1945. During this attack, 135 B-29 Superfortress bombers of theUSAAF20th Air Force,58th73rd,313th, and314th Bombardment Wings launched fromGuam,Saipan andTinian. They were joined by 48P-51 Mustang escort fighters deployed fromIwo Jima. Arriving over the target area at 10:13 AM, twelve B-29s bombed the Toyokawa Naval Arsenal, while the remaining bombers concentrated on Toyokawa's civilian population center, and the P-51s strafedtargets of opportunity. A total of 3,256 500-lb bombs (813 tons) was dropped on the city from an altitude of 15,000–17,000 feet.[4] Civilian casualty estimates range from 2,544 to 2,677 people killed. Victims included 452 schoolchildren and teenaged girls, some of whom had been conscripted and many of whom had volunteered to work at the Naval Arsenal.
Japanese anti-aircraft fire damaged 21 B-29s during the raid, one of which crashed into the ocean near Iwo Jima. There were no American fatalities. Another B-29 lost course and dropped its bombs on the rural village of Futamata (now part ofHamamatsu, Shizuoka).
After the war, a memorial monument was erected within the grounds ofToyokawa Inari temple. Several other memorials exist at various locations around Toyokawa City.