The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
|
| Previous: Takano Naomitsu | Table of Contents | Next: Takao Class, Japanese Heavy Cruisers |
The port of Takao (Kaohsiung; 120.280E
22.612N) on Formosa (Taiwan)
was developed by the Japanese into a
major base against the Philippines
to the south. It was the leading city in Formosa in 1941. It had repair facilities sufficient to handle
battle damage to heavy cruisers.
There were vast numbers of small craft and naval construction units
based
here. Most of the construction units were labor units conscripted
from among
the Taiwanese. The city also
boasted an aluminum works and the large Okayama airfield and aircraft repair center.
On 7 December 1941, the harbor was packed with small warships and merchantmen. The port based Toko Air Group with 6 H6K Mavis flying boats, and the nearby airfield based 3 Air Group with 53 A6M Zero, 7 A5M Claude, and 9 C5M Babs and Takao Air Group with 72 G4M Betty and 2 LO Thelma. The garrison included a heavy artillery fortress regiment.
The port came under heavy strategic bombardment beginning in late January 1945.
References
Craven and Cate (1952; accessed 2011-8-11)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2006-2008, 2011 by Kent G. Budge. Index
