Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-06-18
laps Admit Fires Rage
As $50 B-29s Pound
Smaller War Centers
BY the Associated Press.


GUAM, June 18.-Four of ia
pans smaller war industrial
cities were set afire today in pre-
dawn raids by $50 American
Super Fortresses which caught
the enemy by surprise, but met
extremely accurate antiaircraft
gunfire over one target.
zone plane was missing after
the attack, the Goth Air Force
reported at Washington. The an
nouncement said results ranged
from good to excellent'D
The cities hit, each of less than
200 900 population. were Kagoshima
and Omuta on Kyushu Island and
Hamamatsu and Yokkaichi on
Honshu Island.
japanese communicates, saying the
raids lasted from one to more than
five hours, claimed fires started in
Hamamatsu and Yokkaichi were
brought under control nearly four
hours after the bombers left and
those on Omuta and Kagoshima
we're mostly extinguished" a little
more than an hour after the all
clear signal.
Domei, admitting some damage,
said additional raiders flying either
singly or in small formations roared
over the four cities after the main
body of the bonbers left.
Attacks Were Low Level.
Total tonnage of the incendiary
bombs dropped in the lowlevel at
tacks was not announced. The raids
were part of the 2lst Bomber Com
mand's new program of going after
smaller Japanese cities that harbor
many small but important factories
and thousands of backyard" shops
Flyers said they found all of
Kagoshima brightly lighted, includ-
ing its naval anchorage. and ran
into strong fax. The fire bombs
set blazeS that sent smoke boiling
up more than 10000 feet and burned
a hole" in the overcast at $500
feet through which bright flames
could be seen.
Il think we can write off Kago-
shima, for the city was blazing right
to the waterproof" said 1t. George
Mott, East Tallassee, Ala, who
piloted the last B-29 over the target.
Crews who bombed Omuta said
results were good to excellent" with
several large explosions. no fighter
opposition and meager antiaircraft
fire.
Conditions Excellent
Those who hit Hamamatsu de-
scribed bombing conditions as "ex-
cellent" and results good, with fine
fires set, smoke rising to $4,000 feet,
and broken overcast that kept inter-
ceptors and antiaircraft fire down
Ito the vanishing point"
The story was the same over
Yokkaichi, where the raiders count
ed three large CONGREGATIONS and
80 scattered fires, saw smoke $4,000
feet high, and encountered only in
accurate flax
Fires from all targets were visible
100 to $50 miles distant.
Light raids had been made before
on Hamamatsu and Kagoshima, but
today's attacks were the first on
Omuta and Yokkaichi
Hamamatsu, population - 165 900
and Yokkaichi, population lO3, 600
are both in the Nagoya region of
Honshu. Hamamatsu is the site of
the third largest railway shops in
Japan and also has aircraft parts
factories. Yokkaichi is a port city
with textile mills, a steel plant
sn1elter and refinery.
Kagoshima, largest of the days
targets, has a population of about
10000 and is the major port for
Southern Kyushu. 1t has numerous
small factories.
Omuta, population about 1000, is
a chemical center and shipping point
for nearby coal fields.