Industrial Collapse
Japan’s industrial heart had stopped beating by mid-1945. Steel production fell to a mere 25% of pre-war levels. Coal mines produced little without skilled workers, who had been drafted. Precision bombing targeted aircraft and tank assembly lines in Nagoya and other manufacturing centers. Factories often received orders for parts they couldn’t produce for lack of materials. Without replacement equipment, Japan’s military grew weaker each day. Workers sometimes reported to partially destroyed factories with nothing to do but clear rubble.
