The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-07-02
| Bombs Shower On japan

Now that Japan's five big shot
cities-each with population Of
more than a million-have been
heavily damaged by B-29 raids, U.
S Army flyers have started work
on the island empires second.
string towns which turn out war
materials. The four city targets
which were the first to get pre-.
view of General Arnold's bombing
program for the destruction of les.
ser manufacturing centers We're
Kagoshima and Omuta on the south
crn home island of Kyushu, and
Hamamatsu and Yokkaichi on the
big central island Of Honshu. They
ere roughly comparable in size,
says the National Geographic So.
ciety. to San Diego, California:
Portland, Maine; Grand Rapids,
Michigan; and Galveston, Texas.
respec lively.
Kagcshima (the name means bas.
ket island), city Of nearly 200.
900 people is the capital of agri.
cultural Satsuma province on
southern Kyushu. Its sheltered port
lies on the northwest shore of Kago.
shima Bay IS air miles south OF
Nagasaki, $50 miles east at Shans.
hal. and 400 miles northeast of Am.
e-ican-held Naha, Okinawa.
Cotton and silk textiles, glass
end pottery were prewa- products
Of Kagoshima, which was one of
the best laid out cities OF Japan.
The famous cracked Satsuma ware
was made in its bayshore suburb,
Tanour. Large peacetime export,
of rice, tea, canphor, and cedar.
wood reflec ed the productiveness
of its hinderland.
Seat Of the once powerful Shi.
madzu family of feudal lords, Kago.
shima felt the wrath of the Western
World in 1868, when it was largely
destroyed by British naval BON.
bardment. The action followed
the failure of the city's lords 10
punish subject soldiers who had
murdered an Englishman. In 1877
the city was the site Of a bloody
rebellion.
Nature brough disaster to Kago.
shima in January, 1914, when
Sakurijima, 4,0oo-foot volcano on
an island in the bay facing the
city, broke into its most destruc-
tive eruption of modern times after
100 years of inactivity. The city had
to be vacated, and 10O,000 people
were made homeless, but loss of
life was small because Of scientific
prediction of the event.
Omuta, city of 100000 on the
northeast shore of Shimabara Bay,
lies 80 miles northeast of Nagasaki.
south of the empires PRINCIPAL coal
fields. 1t served as coal ship.
ment port and had important chem
ical plants among its many, small
war industries.
Hamamatsu, on the southern
coast of Honshu almost midway
along the 250-mile-long, Tokyo-to-
Kobe belt of greatest industry, was
a prewar city of $4,000, best known
for its production of pianos and or
gans. 1t was heavily bombed as one
Of the first targets of the U. S.
Army Air Forces in 1915 because
OF the large production of airplane
parts in the factories once devot-
ed to musical instrument manu-
facture. The Japanese fondness for
kite flying was expressed in an
nual competitions held during May
at Hamamatsu.
Yokkaichi, smallest of the four
cities showered with incendiary
bombs in pre-daWn, loW-level at
tack, lies on the western shore Of
Ise Bay, only 20 miles southwest
of Nagoya. 1t has a population Of
$4,000. The ports good deepwater
harbor has the same relative posi-
ton on its bay to Nagoya that
Yokohama on Tokyo Bay holds to
Tokyo. More modern than most
japanese cities, it had plants built
to make paper, striped cotton cloth
and Banko porcelainware. In the
mountains directly inland. west Of
Yokkaichi, are the hot springs of
Yunoyama, among the best known