Nagoya

Nagoya (136.915E 35.089N), founded October 1, 1889, was by 1941 the second port of Japan, after Yokohama, and Japan's third most populous city (1.5 million persons.) There were several aircraft plants here, mostly clustered around Kagamigahara airfield.  Mitsubishi established the largest aircraft assembly works in Japan here, and an aircraft engine works that was producing 1600 engines per month by 1944. About a quarter of the city's workers were employed in the various aircraft plants. The total population in October 1940 was 1,328,084 persons.

Rice production in the Nagoya region was approximately 800,000 tons per year in 1941. The city was also noted for its fine ceramics, which were popular in the United States in the 1920s.

The city was attacked by 310 B-29 Superfortresses laden with incendiary bombs on 11-12 March 1945. Two square miles (520 hectares) of the city were burned out, a result that was considered disappointing compared with the devastation caused by the Tokyo raid two nights earlier. This was attributed to the decision to spread the incendiaries from each aircraft over a larger area. A daylight raid on 14 May 1945 by 542 B-29s dropping 2515 tons of incendiaries destroyed 3.15 square miles (819 hectares) of the city, while a low-level night raid on 17-18 May 1945 by 516 B-29s, which dropped over 3609 tons of bombs, destroyed another 3.87 square miles (1006 hectares) of the city. American operational analysts later concluded that Nagoya was "one of the most difficult cities in Japan to burn because of the difficulties of the approach, the shape and size of the city, the relatively small fire divisions in the urban sections, the numerous fire breaks and the high percentage of fire resistant structures" (Frank 1999).

Mitsubishi Nagoya was the second largest airframe plant in the world in 1941, with a floor area of over 1.6 million square feet and a workforce of some 30,000 persons.   The approximate production schedule was:

Unfortunately for the Japanese, Mitsubishi-Nagoya was poorly sited, so that aircraft subassemblies had to be transported thirty miles from the factory to an airfield large enough for final assemblyl and testing. According to Gamble (2010), lack of rail lines and the narrow, congested streets of the city forced Mitsubishi to transport subassemblies by oxcart, which required a full day for each round trip.

Aichi Nagoya also was a major airframe producer, with the approximate production schedule

Aichi also had an aircraft engine factory in Nagoya, producing 1600 engines per month.

Shipyards

Rail connections

Gifu

Nobi

Ogaki

Toyohashi

Yokkaichi

References

Francillon (1979)
Frank (1999)

Gamble (2010)

Hastings (2007)

Miller (2007)

Parillo (1993)
Peattie (2001)

The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007-2009, 2012-2013 by Kent G. Budge.  Index

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