東大和は「軍事空都」だった
てっきり最寄駅は東大和駅だと思い込んで下車した。徒歩７分で着くはずが、「戦争遺跡」のある公園になかなかつかない。30分ほど探して歩いた場所にはマンション群、中小企業大学校、警視庁訓練施設、東大和南高校、看護専門学校、都立公園などのおおきな建物・敷地が並んでいる。みな新しい。ここ10年、20年間にできた施設だ。もう一度スマホで調べると、「玉川上水駅から７分」だった。
やっと着いた「旧日立航空機変電所」で展示を見ると、歩いてきた一帯は戦争中、旧日立航空機の広大な敷地で「空都」と呼ばれていた。東大和駅からとなりの玉川上水駅まですべて軍事工場の敷地だった。戦後、一般の工場となり93年まで操業し、再開発され、今の建物群ができた。
変電所の外壁には空襲で受けた弾痕の跡が無数に残っている。旧日立航空機は軍用機のエンジンを製造、1941(昭和16)年から終戦までに発動機延べ数13,571基，機体延べ数1,783機を生産し、戦地に送りだした。昭和19年には従業員13,000人がいた大工場だった。その一帯は昭和20年2月～4月にかけ米軍の空襲の目標となり、8割が壊滅し、111人が死亡した。内部の階段や変電機に銃撃痕が残っている。市の指定文化財となっている。
Higashiyamato was a "military sky city"
I thought that the nearest station was Higashiyamato station and got off. It should be a 7-minute walk, but it's hard to find a park with "war ruins". There are many large buildings and sites such as condominiums, small and medium-sized enterprise colleges, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department training facilities, Higashiyamato Minami High School, Nursing vocational school, and metropolitan parks in the place where I searched for about 30 minutes. Everyone is new. It is a facility that has been built in the last 10 or 20 years. When I checked it with my smartphone again, it was "7 minutes from Tamagawajosui Station".
When I saw the exhibition at the "Old Hitachi Aircraft Substation" that I finally arrived at, the area I was walking around was called the "military sky city" on the vast site of the former Hitachi Aircraft during the war. From Higashiyamato station to the neighboring Tamagawajosui station, it was the site of a military factory. After the war, it became a general factory and operated until 1993, and was redeveloped to form the current buildings.
There are countless traces of bullet holes received from air raids on the outer wall of the substation. Former Hitachi Aircraft manufactured engines for military aircraft, and from 1941 (Showa 16) to the end of the war, it produced a total of 13,571 engines and 1,783 aircraft, and sent them to the battlefield. In 1945, it was a large factory with 13,000 employees. The area was targeted by the US military air raid from February to April 1945, 80% of which was destroyed and 111 people died. Shooting marks remain on the internal stairs and transformers. It is a designated cultural property of the city