The first
strategic bombing attack on
Nagoya was on April 18, 1942, as part of the
Doolittle Raid. A
B-25 bomber targeted the
Mitsubishi Aircraft Works, the Matsuhigecho oil warehouse, the
Nagoya Castle military barracks, and the Nagoya 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, 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 Japanese city other than Tokyo received as many attacks. Nagoya 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 on December 13, 1944, targeting a
Mitsubishi 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. On January 3, 1945, there was a general
firebombing 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 hit during the May 14 raid and burned down. On July 26, 1945 the
Enola Gay also dropped a conventional "
pumpkin bomb" in the
Yagoto 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. Nagoya produced between forty and fifty percent of Japan's combat aircraft and engines, including the
Mitsubishi A6M Zero. 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 in flames, March 19. File:Nagoya, Japan during attack, seen from an American aircraft 14 May 1945 ww2dbase.jpg|Nagoya, Japan during an air 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 ==See also==