Bombardment of Kamaishi

Kamaishi was home to one of Japan's principal ironworks, supplied by ore from the nearby Ohashi mine. On 14 July 1945, after reconnaissance and strafing by carrier aircraft from about 11:00, Task Unit 34.8.1 under Rear Admiral John F. Shafroth, with the battleships South Dakota, Indiana and Massachusetts, the heavy cruisers Quincy and Chicago and nine destroyers, bombarded the works and the town for about two hours. US records list 802 16-inch, 728 8-inch and 825 5-inch shells; the Japanese record counts about 2,600 shells. More than 100 steelworks employees were killed, and fires burned about 1,460 houses.

The second bombardment came on 9 August, the day of the Nagasaki atomic bombing. The same three battleships, now with four heavy cruisers, the British light cruiser Newfoundland, the New Zealand light cruiser Gambia and ten destroyers, fired about 2,800 shells over roughly two hours from about 12:50 at the whole city, the steelworks and its company housing. The works ceased to function and the central district was reduced to ashes. Allied prisoners of war held in camps at Kamaishi were among the dead; the Japanese-language account gives 32.

Counts of the dead differ. The government summary, following the city's bombardment history, gives more than 750 dead among 16,992 people in 4,543 affected households; other accounts give 431 (or 424) civilians for the first bombardment and 283 for the second. A municipal war-damage museum opened on 9 August 2010 was destroyed by the tsunami of March 2011; shell fragments are displayed at the city's local history museum.