The 2nd World War of the 1940's saw major devastation like never before. Japan was on the offensive and attacked several allied bases. The attack of Pearl Harbour was probably the most pivotal point in world history. However, it is known widely known to many that a similar Kamikaze style attack was planned on our very own Vishakapatnam too.
Why Vizag? Vizag has always been an important location on the defense map of the country, right from the ancient times, especially during the British rule. Thanks to its strategic importance during World War II, it was only the second region in South Asia to have been attacked by Japanese fighter planes. Even Pakistan is said to have targeted this city during the second Indo-Pak war to try and deal a blow to the national defence network. The Govenrment of India then decided to setup a major naval headquarter on the eastern fron in Vizag. Vizag's importance in terms of strategic defense and trade cannot be ignored.
How it Happened? The Japanese forces were fully aware that Vizag was the supply and transit point for the Burma front so they commissioned a Japanese carrier group comprising six aircraft and 2 boats that were on their way back home from pearl harbor.
The Japanese fleet present in the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal stalked the ships en route to Chittagong. To evade the enemy, the vessels took shelter in Vizag's inner harbour. The Japanese during their stay in the Bay, sunk a number of merchant and British Navy ships like Indora, Harpasa, Atoalycus, Malda, Dardanus, and Gandara.
Later, Japan sent an aircraft-carrier and two of its fighter planes around 8 AM on April 6th. Sensing danger, the sirens blew and the people of the town who were already given a drill in case of eventualities ran for shelter. The planes after a few rounds of scouting disappeared, Vizagites were relieved.
But the planes returned back again around 1 AM, and this time they came in two plus three attack formation and started pounding the coast. But the moment they tried to enter the port area, the American ships stationed there opened up their famous `Bofors' anti-aircraft guns in staccato. The retaliatory fire, combined with the natural protection of the hills on all three sides, did not allow the planes to have a peep at the inner harbour, and had to abort their mission.
In the course of strafing, they dropped three bombs near the port area. One of them hit a concrete pipe of five feet diameter, in which five workers had taken shelter and all of them were killed.The second one fell on a cement storage and the third hit the thermal power station that was maintained by the Government of Madras. There were no further casualties and no other buildings were damaged in the raid.
They made a final attempt around 6 p.m. and had to return almost empty handed except for a bomb, which fell on one of the targeted ships Marine Maller, which mercifully did not explode. If it had exploded, that would have set up a chain reaction as the ship was laden with, 2000 tonnes of explosives and Vizag would have gone into the annals of World War II history, as the second Pearl Harbour.
The unexploded bomb `UXD HE' weighing 350 kg., was retrieved by the missionaries of the St. Aloysius High School, which adorned their parlour until 1991, when it was handed over to the Visakha Museum.
If April 6 was an action replay then, the next day was a curtain-raiser to the partition time. Vizagites made a beeline to Vizianagaram in all possible modes of transport available including bullockcarts and many on foot, with their bare essentials, fearing one more raid. Vizag missed becoming another pearl harbor by a hairs breadth.
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