The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was the most tragic war that our country had ever endured, and the Chinese people summed up a central idea that ran through The founding of New China from its founding to the present: To be backward was to be beaten. Because China's productive forces and scientific and technological level were very low at that time, under the repeated bombardment of Japan's advanced bombers, the troops and the people suffered blows to varying degrees, and friends who understand history know that the focus of the Japanese military's bombing of our country was in Chongqing, so why did they not choose to bomb the revolutionary base area in Yan'an, northern Shaanxi? Because in the eyes of the Japanese army, bombing Yan'an was not cost-effective.
Why did Japan choose to bomb Chongqing? In the middle of the War of Resistance Against Japan, China had formed the main anti-Japanese forces, and the war with the Japanese army gradually entered a stalemate stage. In the state of north China, northeast China and other regions have fallen, Sichuan has become one of the most important anti-war bases in China.
According to statistics, from 1938 to 1944, Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, suffered a total of 31 bombings from the Japanese army, causing a total of more than 4,500 casualties, and other parts of Sichuan were also affected.
From 1938 to 1943, Japanese bombers carried out more than 200 bombing operations against Chongqing, an average of 10 days, a total of 9,000 aircraft sorties, and Chongqing lost a total of 24,000 soldiers and civilians. Chongqing was the seat of the Nationalist government at the time, and factories relocated from the occupied areas were located in this location. The long-term bombardment of Chongqing could demoralize the Nationalist government, cause panic on both the military and civilian sides, and reduce China's productivity at the time. And Chongqing belongs to the mountain city, the floating population is relatively large. For the Japanese, every bomb dropped can be used to the fullest. This is why the Japanese army chose to bomb Chongqing mainly.
So why didn't the Japanese army choose Yan'an in northern Shaanxi for targeted bombing? According to the "Liberation Daily", the Japanese army only conducted 17 reconnaissances of different sizes and sizes in Yan'an at that time, blowing up 20,000 people's houses, causing a total of 398 casualties and losing 340,000 catties of grain. Compared with Chongqing, where artillery fire is intensive, the bombardment of Yan'an can be said to be perfunctory.
In fact, this is all because of the terrain problem. Yan'an is located on the high slopes of the loess soil, the population distribution is not as dense as the mountain city of Chongqing, and it is almost all a rural area inhabited by cave dwellings, with no factories. On average, each bomb dropped in Chongqing can cause 5.5 casualties. In Yan'an, a bomb is most likely useless. The Japanese army was not as rich as the U.S. army, and the cost of bombs was very high at that time, and Japan, which had poor national conditions, could not afford military waste. Therefore, compared with Yan'an, the Japanese bombers would cause a more serious blow to Chongqing, and bombing Yan'an was not cost-effective.
The war is often so cruel, the bombing of Chongqing is only a balance of interests for the Japanese army, but for the Chinese people, it brings life and death, family destruction. Fortunately, the final outcome is a victory for our country, otherwise with Japan's usual attitude, this tragic event will be permanently buried in history by them and will not be known to the world.