Kofu Air Raid (Tanabata Air Raid)
甲府空襲（たなばた空襲）
On the night of 6-7 July 1945, 131 B-29s firebombed Kofu, the capital of Yamanashi Prefecture, burning about three-quarters of the city. A 1974 city survey put the death toll at 1,127.
History
The raid on Kofu is known locally as the 'Tanabata Air Raid' because it fell on the eve of the Tanabata festival. According to statistics of the US Twentieth Air Force quoted by the MIC, 139 B-29s were dispatched and 131 bombed the city; Japanese Wikipedia attributes the mission to the 314th Bombardment Wing and gives 970.4 tons of incendiaries. Contemporary Japanese announcements spoke of about 120 aircraft.
The bombers entered over Suruga Bay and reached the Kofu basin late on 6 July; the air-raid alarm was sounded at 23:54, as flares fell over Mount Atago, and bombing continued until about 01:45 on 7 July. Some 18,094 buildings were destroyed and about 74% of the urban area burned (some sources say 79%).
Initial records listed 740 dead out of 86,913 people affected, but later investigation raised the number, and a city survey of July 1974 established a total of 1,127 dead (499 male, 628 female). The dead are commemorated at a memorial for unidentified victims at Tsutsujigasaki cemetery, and the raid is documented in the city's 'Record of the Kofu Air Raid'.
Related sites
Sources
- 甲府市における戦災の状況（山梨県）Government総務省
- 甲府空襲WebsiteWikipedia日本語版