echigonagaoka >How severe was the damage compared to other cities attacked on the same day?
Nagaoka Air Raid, August 1st, 1945
This web site shows you what happened in a local city NAGAOKA, Niigata, just two weeks before the Japan's surrender to World War II.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]
How severe was the damage compared to other cities attacked on the same day?(15 of 21)
Maps to show the locations of four Cities Burned in August 1st, 1945
Fig. 15.1 Four Cities Attacked in August 1, 1945
__ Four cities in Japan got indiscriminative Incediary Bomb attack on August 1st, 1945. The Air-raid of the day was the maximum scale bombing in the history until that time. 820 B-29 bombers dropped 6632 tons of bombs and mines onto four cities, oil industry in Kawasaki, and some straits.


Table 15.1 Damages of Four Cities Bombed on August 1st, 1945
Name of City Popilation Death Toll Burnt Houses Deaths per 1000 capita Deaths per 1000 Burnt Houses % of City Damaged(US evaluation)
NAGAOKA 74,508
(Jul.1945)
1,457 11,986 19.5 121.5 64.9
TOYAMA 168,739
(Dec.1944)
2,149 22,149 12.7 93.9 98.6
MITO 66,983
(Oct.1944)
242 10,104 3.6 24.0 68.9
HACHIOHJI 77,478
(Feb.1944)
398 13,338 5.1 29.4 65.0

__ Numbers of Deaths in Nagaoka and Toyama are more than Mito and Hachiohji. Many people in Mito and Hachiohji probably have known that shelter was dangerous and the best way to survive was to get out of city. Because those two cities are near Tokyo, where incendiary bombings had been started in March, 1945.

__ People in Toyama once got a warning of air raid in the night of August 1st. Actually B-29 bombers flew on the city, but B-29s did not drop bombs because they were heading to Nagaoka. So people in Toyama went home and fell asleep. But after that, all of a sudden, Toyama was bombed in early morning of August 2nd by other B-29s. It could be said to be a "tactically well planned attack" in terms of effective killings of civilians.

[BACK] [NEXT] [Page Top] [Top of "Nagaoka Air Raid"] [Site Map]
Copyright;Turbot in Kobe. All rights reserved. Last Updated on December 26, 2011.

email address using image file in order to avoid spam mails