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. This was followed on 23 November by a midnight fly-over by a lone camera-equipped
B-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 the
USAAF 20th Air Force,
58th 73rd,
313th, and
314th Bombardment Wings launched from
Guam,
Saipan and
Tinian. They were joined by 48
P-51 Mustang escort fighters deployed from
Iwo 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 strafed
targets 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. 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 of
Hamamatsu, Shizuoka). After the war, a memorial monument was erected within the grounds of
Toyokawa Inari temple. Several other memorials exist at various locations around Toyokawa City. ==See also==