P
PoorOldSpike
Guest
Ash, debris and charred bodies on the streets of Tokyo.
After conventional bombing raids against Japan in 1944, U.S. General Curtis Lemay decided to apply new tactics, which was to conduct massive night bombings of Japanese cities with incendiary bombs from lower altitudes.
The use of this tactic began in March 1945 and lasted until the end of the war.
66 Japanese cities were victims of this method of attack and were severely disrupted.
General Curtis Lemay said later: "I think if we lost the war, then I would be judged as a war criminal."
Bill Royster, B-29 Veteran:- "I think that most people think the most destuctive air raid in history was the Atomic Bomb. NOT SO. The Japanese empire was almost totally destroyed by summer 1945. The B-29s had run out of targets and you look at our targets in the summer of 45 you will see that most of them are smaller cities. The Atomic Bomb was needed to bring them to their senses."
General Earl Johnson, 9th Bomb Group, Tinian:- "When we got to the entrance to Tokyo Bay, I could see the lights of Tokyo plainly and it looked to me like we were coming across Lake Michigan and heading into the lights of Chicago at 5,500 feet, as I recall.
The city of Tokyo was all lit up but, of course, by the time we got to "bombs away" most of the lights had been turned off and one could see flashes of anti-aircraft guns on the ground. But the funny thing was they were so "surprised" they weren't hitting anything. Later in the raid when they figured out what was going on, the anti-aircraft batteries and night-fighters did began to cause a little damage. Nonetheless, I think the raging fires and updrafts caused about as much damage to B-29s toward the tail-end of the raid as did the Japanese defenses.
Of course, this was the first of five raids in 9-days which hit Nagoya, Kobe, Osaka and, again to Nagoya (which didn't burn too well).
Those 5 raids spelled defeat for Japan but it took four more months plus the atomic bombs to "convince" the Japanese Generals that they had better quit. I think many Japanese citizens wanted to quit back in March or April but they were never listened to.
I have a very good Japanese friend, Mitsuya Goto, who was 18-years old at the time, and rode his bicycle down from his grandfather's farm north of Nagoya after that fire raid only to find the family house burned to the ground. He has told me many times that he "felt" or "knew" the war was lost but, of course, the Japanese Generals would listen to no one especially an 18-year old boy.
As terrible as atomic bombs are, their damage cannot match that damage to Tokyo on that first raid and I would guess the damage on Kobe or Osaka probably "outdid" the damage to the atomic bomb on Nagasaki but, of course, Nagasaki had 'weather problems.'
Almost all losses of B-29's were due to updrafts from the fires or from having two B-29's run together in the smoke and updrafts. The defense against Japanese night fighters turned out to be a minor problem.
Crews did not use the Norden Bombsight except 0n rare occasions but they bombed by radar for there was really no reason the firebombs had to land on a specific area since the fires would soon spread which is what happened depending upon the ground wind. I think on that first Tokyo raid of March 9-10, 1945, over 13 square miles was leveled by something over 300 B-29's."
After conventional bombing raids against Japan in 1944, U.S. General Curtis Lemay decided to apply new tactics, which was to conduct massive night bombings of Japanese cities with incendiary bombs from lower altitudes.
The use of this tactic began in March 1945 and lasted until the end of the war.
66 Japanese cities were victims of this method of attack and were severely disrupted.
General Curtis Lemay said later: "I think if we lost the war, then I would be judged as a war criminal."
Bill Royster, B-29 Veteran:- "I think that most people think the most destuctive air raid in history was the Atomic Bomb. NOT SO. The Japanese empire was almost totally destroyed by summer 1945. The B-29s had run out of targets and you look at our targets in the summer of 45 you will see that most of them are smaller cities. The Atomic Bomb was needed to bring them to their senses."
General Earl Johnson, 9th Bomb Group, Tinian:- "When we got to the entrance to Tokyo Bay, I could see the lights of Tokyo plainly and it looked to me like we were coming across Lake Michigan and heading into the lights of Chicago at 5,500 feet, as I recall.
The city of Tokyo was all lit up but, of course, by the time we got to "bombs away" most of the lights had been turned off and one could see flashes of anti-aircraft guns on the ground. But the funny thing was they were so "surprised" they weren't hitting anything. Later in the raid when they figured out what was going on, the anti-aircraft batteries and night-fighters did began to cause a little damage. Nonetheless, I think the raging fires and updrafts caused about as much damage to B-29s toward the tail-end of the raid as did the Japanese defenses.
Of course, this was the first of five raids in 9-days which hit Nagoya, Kobe, Osaka and, again to Nagoya (which didn't burn too well).
Those 5 raids spelled defeat for Japan but it took four more months plus the atomic bombs to "convince" the Japanese Generals that they had better quit. I think many Japanese citizens wanted to quit back in March or April but they were never listened to.
I have a very good Japanese friend, Mitsuya Goto, who was 18-years old at the time, and rode his bicycle down from his grandfather's farm north of Nagoya after that fire raid only to find the family house burned to the ground. He has told me many times that he "felt" or "knew" the war was lost but, of course, the Japanese Generals would listen to no one especially an 18-year old boy.
As terrible as atomic bombs are, their damage cannot match that damage to Tokyo on that first raid and I would guess the damage on Kobe or Osaka probably "outdid" the damage to the atomic bomb on Nagasaki but, of course, Nagasaki had 'weather problems.'
Almost all losses of B-29's were due to updrafts from the fires or from having two B-29's run together in the smoke and updrafts. The defense against Japanese night fighters turned out to be a minor problem.
Crews did not use the Norden Bombsight except 0n rare occasions but they bombed by radar for there was really no reason the firebombs had to land on a specific area since the fires would soon spread which is what happened depending upon the ground wind. I think on that first Tokyo raid of March 9-10, 1945, over 13 square miles was leveled by something over 300 B-29's."