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Kumamoto (130.70E
32.80N) was a city and rail junction on Kyushu and the capital of Kumamoto Prefecture. The population was about 194,100 in 1940. The city was also the headquarters of 6 Divisional District. 44 Independent Mixed Brigade was also raised here for service on Okinawa. Both units were renowned for their fighting power (quoted by Garand and Strowbridge 1971):
At one time, Company G of 2~24 was astride the top, but still there was no quarter. The attackers fought with rifles and grenades, with flamethrowers and satchel charges. Still the defenders would not give up, even though their own fire fell on them from the ridges further east. These were the men from Kumamoto in Kyushu, a historic battlefield of the 1877 Civil War, and they would not give up. Not even when Major Kenro Anso died, burned from head to foot by a flamethrower. He led the 3d Battalion, 145th Regiment, in defense of the hill. So great was his inspiration that at his death he was promoted two full ranks to colonel.
The city was bombed by B-29s on 1 July 1945. The Army depot in the city was bombed by 500 aircraft on 10 August 1945. The city was occupied by 8 Marine Regiment following the Japanese surrender.
References
CINCPAC (1945-12; accessed 2014-6-13)
Frank and Shaw (1968; accessed 2014-6-13)
Garand and Strowbridge (1971; accessed 2014-6-13)
"Handbook on Japanese Military Forces" (1944-9-15; accessed 2014-6-13)
"Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II" (accessed 2014-6-13)
Populstat.info (accessed 2014-6-13)
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