



Bombing of Shanghai, Chongqing, and other Cities

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseBombing of Nanjing

15 Aug 1937-31 Dec 1937

ww2dbaseBombing of Nanjing, the capital of China, began in late Aug 1937. On 21 Sep, the Japanese Army Air Service under Prince Naruhiko ordered a renewed aerial campaign against the city. The residential districts in southern Nanjing suffered heavy damage in late Sep, with the greatest loss on 25 Sep when Japanese bombers made 95 sorties between 0930 and 1630 hours, dropping 500 bombs and causing 600 civilian casualties. During this aerial campaign, power plants, water works, the radio station, and the Central Hospital were also targeted. Air raids on Nanjing began to cease as the Battle of Nanjing began in Dec 1937.

ww2dbaseBombing of Shanghai

23 Aug 1937-31 Oct 1937

ww2dbaseDuring the First Battle of Shanghai, Chinese civilians had the first taste of terror bombing on 29 Jan 1932 when the eight square mile suburb of Chapei suffered 1,000 deaths. When WW2 began in 1937, however, significantly larger casualty numbers would be observed.

ww2dbaseBombing of Guangzhou

22 Sep 1937-31 Oct 1938

ww2dbaseBombing on the provincial capital of Guangzhou began early in the Second Sino-Japanese War, and ended in Oct 1938 as Japanese troops began the occupation of the city.

ww2dbaseBombing of Chongqing

18 Feb 1938-23 Aug 1943

ww2dbaseThe temporary Chinese capital Chongqing was the target of a long series of aerial attacks by both Japanese Army and Japanese Navy aircraft beginning in early 1938. These attacks were meant to serve two purposes: to destroy Chinese civilian morale, and to soften defenses for the planned offensive of Sichuan province. Of the many raids of various sizes, the larger ones were generally came in the spring of 1941, some of which killed thousands of civilians in single days. An estimated 11,000 bombs were dropped by the Japanese, most of which were incendiary bombs. Over 10,000 Chinese were killed, most of whom were civilians.

ww2dbaseSources: New York Times, Wikipedia.

Last Major Update: Oct 2011

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