Bombing of Okazaki in World War II

The bombing of Okazaki (岡崎空襲, Okazaki kūshū) was part of the strategic bombing air raids on Japan campaign waged by the United States against military and civilian targets and population centers during the Japan home islands campaign in the closing stages of the Pacific War.

The Tōkaidō Main Line railway connecting Tokyo with Osaka also ran through the city, and it became one of the 57 regional population centers added to the list of targets by General Curtis LeMay in June 1945 following the destruction of Japan's main cites.

[2] On July 19, 1945, 126 B-29 Superfortress bombers of the USAAF 20th Air Force, 314th Bombardment Wing departed from Guam in the Mariana Islands.

The Okazaki city hall survived the attack; however at 1230 hours, a flight of P-38 Lightning fighters strafed civilians lined up at the city hall awaiting emergency medical treatment.

The Imperial Japanese Navy’s Okazaki Air Field and a large textile plant owned by Nisshinbo Industries were undamaged in the attack, which was aimed solely at the destruction of the city's civilian population.