475 B-29s Firebomb Cities

MON 9 JUL 1945
Pacific
USAAF B-29s (475 strong) firebomb Sendai, Sakai, Gifu, and Wakayama, concluding the raid early the following morning; 61 B-29s bomb the oil refinery at Yokkaichi.

Phase V of Operation STARVATION, aimed at the total blockade of the Japanese home islands, begins as 30 USAAF B-29s mine Shimonoseki Straits and the waters off Niigata and Nanao. Mines sink cargo ship Nippu Maru outside Wakamatsu harbor, damage cargo ship Kamishima Maru off Wakamatsu, and damage army cargo ship Gakujo Maru at 33°57'N, 130°43'E, merchant cargo ships Shinto Maru outside Wakamatsu harbor, and Sanzen Maru, five kilometers southeast of Genkai Jima light, and merchant tanker Mitsu Maru in Kobe harbor.

Motor minesweeper YMS-84 is sunk by mine off Balikpapan, Borneo, 01°19'S, 116°48'E.

Submarine Bluefish (SS-222) sinks Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 50 off east coast of Malaya, 02°13'N, 105°03'E.

Japanese gunboat Choun Maru is damaged by aircraft, 36°13'N, 140°42'E.

Japanese merchant tanker Tenwa Maru is damaged by marine casualty in Kobe harbor, Japan.