In addition, during the final days of World War II, the Headquarters of the Second General Army, established to command troops in western Japan, was stationed in Hiroshima in preparation for decisive battles on the mainland.
It was not generally known that a major poison gas production facility had been constructed (in April, 1929) on the Okunoshima Island in the Seto Inland Sea, located in the prefecture. With the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War started in July 1894, Hiroshima became a major base for troop dispatchand military logistics. As described above, Hiroshima was one of the most important military cities in Japan.
