Oita Air Raid Site

The Oita Air Raids (大分空襲) were a series of devastating aerial bombardments carried out by the United States Army Air Forces against the city of Oita, the capital of Oita Prefecture on the northeastern coast of Kyushu, during the final months of World War II. Between March 18 and August 14, 1945, the city endured 22 separate air raids that progressively reduced its urban center to ruins.

Oita was strategically significant because it hosted the Imperial Japanese Navy's Oita Air Base and the 12th Naval Air Arsenal (第十二海軍航空廠), which served as a major maintenance and repair facility for naval aircraft. These installations made the city a priority target for American strategic bombing operations aimed at neutralizing Japan's remaining air capability, particularly during the lead-up to the planned invasion of Okinawa.

The first attack came on March 18, 1945, when carrier-based aircraft struck the naval facilities. Subsequent raids on April 21 targeted railway infrastructure and industrial sites, while the May 8 raid carpet-bombed the commercial district. The most devastating attack occurred on the night of July 16–17, 1945, when 127 B-29 Superfortress bombers from the XXI Bomber Command dropped 22,922 M47A2 incendiary bombs on the city center between 00:22 and 01:32. The resulting firestorm destroyed 2,358 buildings completely and 130 partially, displaced 10,730 residents, killed 49 people, and injured 122.

Across all 22 raids, a total of 749 high-explosive bombs and approximately 9,500 incendiary bombs were dropped on Oita, killing 177 civilians, wounding 270, and leaving much of the city center in ashes. Air raids continued until August 10, 1945, when B-24 Liberator bombers struck the western areas of the city, just five days before Japan's surrender.

Today, the rebuilt city of Oita commemorates the wartime suffering through the Peace Citizens Park (平和市民公園), which features the Muchan Peace Statue (ムッちゃん平和像), erected in 1983 to honor a young evacuee girl known as Muchan who, having lost her father to the war and been separated from her mother and brother in the Yokohama air raid, fell ill after evacuating to Oita and died alone in an air-raid shelter. The park and its monuments serve as enduring reminders of the civilian toll of strategic bombing.