Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Bombing of Tokyo in World War II
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
|
|---|
| Air raids – Volcano & Ryukyu Is – Tokyo – Starvation – Tokyo Bay – Downfall – Hiroshima & Nagasaki – Kurils |
The bombing of Tokyo by the United States Army Air Forces took place at several times during the Pacific campaigns of World War II and included the most destructive conventional bombing raid in all of history.
Contents |
The first raid on Tokyo was the Doolittle Raid of April 18, 1942, when sixteen B-25 Mitchells were launched from the USS Hornet to attack targets including Yokohama and Tokyo and then fly on to airfields in China. The raid did no damage to Japan's war capability but was a significant propaganda victory for the United States. Launched prematurely, none of the attacking aircraft reached the designated airfields, either crashing or ditching (except for one aircraft which landed in the Soviet Union, where the crew was interned). Two crews were captured by the Japanese.
The key development for the bombing of Japan was the B-29, which had an operational range of 3,250 nautical miles (6,019 km); almost 90% of the bombs dropped on the home islands of Japan were delivered by this type of bomber. The initial raids were carried out by the Twentieth Air Force operating out of mainland China in Operation Matterhorn under XX Bomber Command but was supplemented in November 1944 by the activation of XXI Bomber Command based in the Northern Mariana Islands. The B-29s of XX Bomber Command were transferred to XXI Bomber Command in the spring of 1945 and based on Guam.
The first raid using low-flying B-29s carrying incendiaries to drop on Tokyo was on the night of February 24-25 1945 when 174 B-29s destroyed around one square mile (3 km²) of the city. Changing their tactics to expand the coverage and increase the damage, 279 B-29s raided on the night of March 9–10, dropping around 1,700 tons of bombs. Approximately 16 square miles (41 km²) of the city was destroyed and over 100,000 people are estimated to have died in the resulting firestorm. The destruction and damage was at its worst in the city sections east of the Imperial Palace.
- February 19, 1945 119 B-29s hit port and urban area
- February 25, 1945 174 B-29s dropping incendiaries destroy ~28,000 buildings
- March 4, 1945 159 B-29s hit urban area
- March 10, 1945 279 B-29s dropping incendiaries destroy ~267,000 buildings; ~25% of city
- April 2, 1945 >100 B-29s bomb the Nakajima aircraft factory
- April 3, 1945 68 B-29s bomb the Koizumi aircraft factory and urban areas in Tokyo
- April 7, 1945 101 B-29s bomb the Nakajima aircraft factory.
- April 13, 1945 <330 B-29s bomb the arsenal area
- April 15, 1945 109 B-29s hit urban area
- May 24, 1945 520 B-29s bomb urban-industrial area south of the Imperial Palace
- April 26, 1945 464 B-29s bomb urban area immediately south of the Imperial Palace
- July 20, 1945 1 B-29 drops a Pumpkin bomb through overcast aiming at but missing the Imperial Palace[1]
- August 8, 1945 ~60 B-29s bomb the aircraft factory and arsenal
- August 10, 1945 70 B-29s bomb the arsenal complex
Additional missions against Tokyo targets were carried out by twin-engine bombers and by fighter-bombers.[2]
Damage to Tokyo's heavy industry was slight until firebombing destroyed much of the light industry that was used as an integral source for small machine parts and time-intensive processes. Firebombing also killed and made homeless many workers who had been taking part in war industry. Over 50% of Tokyo's industry was spread out among residential and commercial neighborhoods; firebombing cut their output in half.
Emperor Hirohito's viewing of the destroyed areas of Tokyo in March, 1945, is said to have been the beginning of his personal involvement in the peace process, culminating in Japan's surrender five months later.[3]
After the war, Tokyo would struggle to rebuild, seeing slow improvement until American involvement in the Korean War brought an influx of foreign investment.[citation needed]
- ^ Norman Polmar. The Enola Gay: The B-29 That Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, pp 24. Potomac Books (2004) ISBN 1574888366
- ^ Air Force Historical Studies Office. U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II: Combat Chronology 1941-1945
- ^ Bradley, F. J. No Strategic Targets Left. "Contribution of Major Fire Raids Toward Ending WWII" p. 38. Turner Publishing Company, limited edition. ISBN 1563114836
- Coffey, Thomas M. (1987). Iron Eagle: The Turbulent Life of General Curtis LeMay. Random House Value Publishing. ISBN 0-517-55188-8.
- Crane, Conrad C. (1994). The cigar that brought the fire wind: Curtis LeMay and the strategic bombing of Japan. JGSDF-U.S. Army Military History Exchange. ASIN B0006PGEIQ.
- Frank, Richard B. (2001). Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire. Penguin. ISBN 0141001461.
- Grayling, A. C. (2006). Among the Dead Cities. New York: Walker Publishing Company Inc.. ISBN 0-8027-1471-4.
- Greer, Ron (2005). Fire from the Sky: A Diary Over Japan. Jacksonville, Arkansas, U.S.A.: Greer Publishing. ISBN 0-9768712-0-3.
- Guillian, Robert (1982). I Saw Tokyo Burning: An Eyewitness Narrative from Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima. Jove Pubns. ISBN 0-86721-223-3.
- Lemay, Curtis E.; Bill Yenne (1988). Superfortress: The Story of the B-29 and American Air Power. McGraw-Hill Companies. ISBN 0-07-037164-4.
- McGowen, Tom (2001). Air Raid!:The Bombing Campaign. Brookfield, Connecticut, U.S.A.: Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 0-7613-1810-0.
- Shannon, Donald H. (1976). United States air strategy and doctrine as employed in the strategic bombing of Japan. U.S. Air University, Air War College. ASIN B0006WCQ86.
- Smith, Jim; Malcolm Mcconnell (2002). The Last Mission: The Secret History of World War II's Final Battle. Broadway. ISBN 0767907787.
- Werrell, Kenneth P. (1998). Blankets of Fire. Smithsonian. ISBN 1560988711.
- 67 Japanese cities firebombed in World War II
- B29 Air Raid on Japanese Cities, with photo gallery
- Army Air Forces in World War II
- Barrell, Tony (1997). Tokyo's Burning. ABC Online. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved on 2006-11-03.- Transcript of a radio documentary/commentary on the Tokyo firebombing with excerpts from interviews with participants and witnesses.
- Craven, Wesley Frank; James Lea Cate. Vol. V: The Pacific: MATTERHORN to Nagasaki, June 1944 to August 1945. The Army Air Forces in World War II. U.S. Office of Air Force History. Retrieved on December 12, 2006.
- Hansell, Jr., Haywood S. (1986). The Strategic Air War Against Germany and Japan: A Memoir. Project Warrior Studies. U.S. Office of Air Force History. Retrieved on December 12, 2006.
