The Battle of Guam ended on August 10,1944, with the Mariana Islands under American control. This put the Japanese home islands in range of America’s B-29 bombers. The Battle of Okinawa concluded on June 22, 1945, giving America more, closer airfields. With that done, American strategists began planning for the invasion of Japan’s main islands, dubbed Operation Downfall. (Wikipedia it). The idea was that Allied forces would storm the beaches in eastern Miyazaki and western Kagoshima, meet up at a central point, and thus cut the island in half.
To facilitate this, massive bombing campaigns were undertaken to eliminate facilities across Kyushu, including in Kumamoto. Not many know that Kumamoto was home to several important military bases during the war, some of which still exist (in particular, the 北駐屯地 in Tatsuda and 健軍 - in Kengun, of course - both of which I used to teach at; the latter is still headquarters of Japan’s Western Army). A very large base was located in Oe machi, where I live, and its destruction explains the current presence of the library, theater, and Gakuen University: all open space following the war.
Several bombing runs on Kumamoto occurred in July and August of 1945 which destroyed some 11,000 houses, injured 552 people, and killed 469. That this happened during the Obon season is perhaps poetic.That atomic thingy obviated need for the invasion, but older people here will remember the bombings; talk with them. There is a monument erected by the Lion’s Club on Shirakawa near Suidocho which commemorates this; have a look if you’re nearby. The link below contains a transcript of what is inscribed.
A favorite jogging course took me by a small graveyard in Shimonabe, where I’d often stop for a drink from a garden hose. One day, I noticed two tomb stones belonging to brothers who had died just days apart - one in the Philippines, the other in the Kumamoto bombings. Numquam iterum. - William
