#2: Oh thank heavens, for a while I thought I was reading ..
of firebombing raids on the east coast of Honshu
One has to visit the cities from Tokyo to Okayama to understand the meaning of firebombing. What happened along this coast was horific and long before the atom bombs were unleashed. This area was Japan's industrial coastline of densely populated wooden cities which were devestated by 'firestorms' and 100s of 1000s died horrible deaths by burning there - more died in the firestorms than from the later Nuke blasts. Until I had vsited these cities and visited the museums and 'castles', I had no idea how serious the US raids had been. Read on ...
[link|http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_in_World_War_II|http://www.wikipedia...o_in_World_War_II]
>>
The first "fire bomb" raid was on Kobe on February 3 and following relative success the AAF continued the tactic. Much of the armor and the defensive weapons of the bombers were also removed to allowed increased bomb loads, Japanese air defence in terms of night-fighters and anti-aircraft guns was so feeble it was hardly a risk. The first such raid on Tokyo was on the night of February 23-24 when 174 B-29s destroyed around one square mile of the city. Following on that success 334 B-29s raided on the night of March 9-10, dropping around 1,700 tons of bombs around 16 square miles of the city were destroyed and over 100,000 people are estimated to have died in the "fire storm". It was the most destructive conventional raid of the war against Japan. In the following two weeks there were almost 1,600 further sorties against the four cities, destroying 31 square miles in total at a cost of only 22 aircraft. There was a third raid on Tokyo on May 26.
<<
Definition of 'fire-bombing' [link|http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_bomb|http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_bomb]
In reading local accounts of these fire-storms I came across one telling account describing the horror: It described what it was like going into an air raid shelter & finding it had become a big vat of melted humans where skins had become bags for the bones & all lying in a vast vat of jellified human fat, juices, skins & bones.
Doug M
Edited by
dmarker
June 7, 2003, 08:49:21 AM EDT
Edited by
dmarker
June 7, 2003, 09:02:35 AM EDT
Oh thank heavens, for a while I thought I was reading ..
of Doolittles fire bombing raids on the east coast of Honshu
>>
[link|http://history1900s.about.com/library/prm/bltrialbyfire1.htm|http://history1900s....ltrialbyfire1.htm]
On April 12, 1942, a group of raiders led by Lt. Col. James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle became the first Americans to drop bombs on Japan. Doolittle's North American B-25 Mitchells inflicted little damage on Tokyo and other targets, but the daring raid did wonders for American morale.
<<
DSM: One has to visit the cities from Tokyo to Hiroshima to understand the meaning of Doolittles 'little damage' as claimed above. In fact it was horific, long before the atom bombs were unleashed. Until I had vsited these cities and their museams, I had no idea how serious the Doolittle raids had been. Read on ...
[link|http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_in_World_War_II|http://www.wikipedia...o_in_World_War_II]
>>
The first "fire bomb" raid was on Kobe on February 3 and following relative success the AAF continued the tactic. Much of the armor and the defensive weapons of the bombers were also removed to allowed increased bomb loads, Japanese air defence in terms of night-fighters and anti-aircraft guns was so feeble it was hardly a risk. The first such raid on Tokyo was on the night of February 23-24 when 174 B-29s destroyed around one square mile of the city. Following on that success 334 B-29s raided on the night of March 9-10, dropping around 1,700 tons of bombs around 16 square miles of the city were destroyed and over 100,000 people are estimated to have died in the "fire storm". It was the most destructive conventional raid of the war against Japan. In the following two weeks there were almost 1,600 further sorties against the four cities, destroying 31 square miles in total at a cost of only 22 aircraft. There was a third raid on Tokyo on May 26.
<<
One needs to read local accounts of these fire-storms. One: What it was like going into an air raid shelter & finding a mass vat of melted humans where skins had become bags for the bones & all lying in a vast vat of jellified human fat & juice.
Hmmmm
Edited by
dmarker
June 8, 2003, 01:16:58 AM EDT
