Oita Air Raids

Oita, home to a naval air base and a naval air arsenal, was first attacked by US carrier aircraft on 18 March 1945. From April B-29s from the Marianas struck repeatedly; on 21 April a single high-altitude attack killed more than 70 people at the air arsenal, including 18 mobilised students, and on 8 May a carpet bombing hit the streets from Nagahama to Kasawa.

The great raid came on the night of 16-17 July 1945. Sources differ on its scale: Japanese Wikipedia, citing US records, gives 127 B-29s (10 pathfinders bombing from 00:12 and a main force of 117 from 00:22 to 01:32) dropping 22,922 M47A2 incendiaries, while the MIC page, based on local records, describes about 30 B-29s dropping some 6,000 incendiaries from shortly after 23:00.

Both agree on the damage: 2,358 houses totally and 130 partly burned, 10,730 people burned out, 49 dead and 122 injured. The last incendiary attack came on 10 August. Over the 22 raids 177 people were killed and 270 injured. The Mutchan Peace Statue, erected in 1983, is the focus of an annual peace festival held each August.