Raid on Taipei

Taihoku Air Raid
	Part of World War II, Pacific theater
	; An aerial photograph by U.S. Air Force
Date	May 31, 1945
Location	Taihoku, Japanese Taiwan (modern-day Taipei, Taiwan)
Result	Allied victory
Belligerents
Japan	United States
Strength
Virtually nonexistent	117 B-24
Casualties and losses
Civilians killed: 3,000+; Wounded/Displaced: tens of thousands	none

The Taihoku Air Raid^[1] was the largest Allied air raid on the city of Taihoku (modern-day Taipei), then under Japanese colonial rule, during World War II. Many residents were killed in the raid and tens of thousands wounded or displaced.

Background

As early as 1943,

Kobi, and Port of Takao, and fighter production facility in the outskirt of Takao

. Also, Taihoku, the capital and political and financial center of Taiwan, had been under constant aerial assaults by the Allies since that time.

Air raid

On 31 May 1945, units of the

Aerial Battle of Taiwan-Okinawa, which completely exhausted Japan's fighter units in Taiwan. The Allies dropped approximately 3,800 bombs on military units and governmental facilities in Taihoku^{[citation needed}

]; many other buildings within the downtown area and Japanese quarter also suffered various damages.

Buildings hit

Lungshan Temple

was extensively damaged by the raid and ensuing fire

The Office of the Governor-General of Taiwan suffered a direct hit, in spite of the building being heavily camouflaged to avoid being targeted. The building suffered extensive damage from fire caused by the bombs and almost collapsed on itself; it was rendered unoccupiable and was not repaired until the Nationalist Chinese takeover. Other facilities hit during the bombing included the residence of the Assistant Governor-General, Taiwan Railway Hotel, Office of Governor-General Library, Army Headquarters, Taihoku Imperial University, Taihoku Station, Bank of Taiwan, Taihoku High Court, Taihoku New Park, and many other facilities.

Civilian casualties

Many civilian installations were bombed, including

Lungshan Temple of Manka, which was hit in the main building and the left corridor; many precious artifacts and art works in the temple were lost in the ensuing fire.^[2]

Aftermath

The number of deaths totaled more than 3,000, which exceeded the total number of deaths resulting from all the previous air raids on Taiwan by the Allies. Tens of thousands of people were displaced or became homeless, and many buildings were destroyed either by the attacks or by the fire caused by the attacks. The air raid showed that the city was defenseless against Allied aerial assaults, and the Governor-General ordered schools and other installations to be evacuated, and that more air raid drills be held.

On 15 July 2009, two

ROC Armed Forces

removed them.

References

^ (traditional Chinese and Japanese: 臺北大空襲; simplified Chinese: 台北大空袭; pinyin: Táiběi Dà Kōngxí; rōmaji: Taihoku Daikūshū; pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-pak Tōa Khong-si̍p)
^ "THE INTRODUCTION OF LUNGSHAN TEMPLE". 艋舺龍山寺網站. Retrieved 1 June 2019. It is well known that the statue of Kuan-in in this temple survived the bombing from the allied aircrafts [sic] on 8 June 1945. Lungshan Temple was bombed on that day. The whole main hall and a part of the right annex were burned out during the air raid, but the statue of Kuan-in in the center of the main hall left intact. This is the most famous manifestation of efficacy of Lungshan Temple.