Allied Air Raids on Kaohsiung Port Station (1945)

Kaohsiung Port Station began as Takao Station (打狗停車場), opened on 29 November 1900. In 1908 it moved to land reclaimed in the Hamasen district during the harbour works, and in 1920 it was renamed Kaohsiung (Takao) Station. When a new Kaohsiung Station opened at Dagangpu on 22 June 1941, the old station became Kaohsiung Port Station (高雄港驛), handling freight as the key interchange point between Taiwan's railway network and the harbor. The city was a prime target due to its role as a major industrial center and military logistics node for Japan's southern operations, with the port, railways, Okayama airfield and the Zuoying naval base all close together.

American raids on Kaohsiung did not begin in 1945. Carrier aircraft of US Navy Task Force 38 first struck the city on 12 October 1944 at the start of the Formosa Air Battle, and in mid-October B-29s flying from Chengdu bombed Okayama airfield and the 61st Naval Air Arsenal (130 aircraft and 859.75 tons of bombs according to Chinese Wikipedia). As part of the broader campaign to neutralize Taiwan's strategic value to Japan's war effort, devastating raids followed from January 1945: aircraft from USS Ticonderoga attacked Kaohsiung and Zuoying on 15 January, and on 21 January the US Navy bombed Kaohsiung with nine carriers. After the 90th Bombardment Group first bombed Kaohsiung harbour on 27 February, the Philippines-based Fifth Air Force of the US Army Air Forces took over with B-24s and B-25s; on 30 May, 115 B-24s bombed the city centre around the prefectural office.

Kaohsiung Port Station was among the primary targets. The station and its surrounding rail yard, signal infrastructure, and warehouses were left in ruins. The destruction effectively severed the rail-to-port supply chain that had been vital to Japan's wartime logistics in the region. According to figures cited by Chinese Wikipedia, the Fifth Air Force dropped 2,559.2 tons of bombs on Kaohsiung, the most on any city in Taiwan, and the raids on the city killed 1,662 people, left 15 missing, 1,031 seriously and 1,385 slightly injured, and destroyed 10,241 buildings and half-destroyed 17,972. The sources consulted date the destruction of the station only to 1945.

After the war a new station building was erected beside the old site and opened in 1947 as Kaohsiung Port Station (高雄港站). Freight operations continued until 16 December 2008, ending 108 years of service. The building reopened in October 2010 as the Takao Railway Museum, renamed the Old Takao Station Story House in 2017, and together with the preserved tracks and steam locomotives forms the Hamasen Railway Cultural Park.