On March 9, 1945, 334 U.S. B29 strategic bombers attacked Tokyo. According to statistics afterwards, the CARPET BOMBING OF DOWNTOWN TOKYO BY THE US MILITARY LEVELED 2,000 SQUARE KILOMETERS OF CENTRAL TOKYO, BURNED 267,000 HOUSES, KILLED 83,793 JAPANESE PEOPLE, SERIOUSLY INJURED 100,000 JAPANESE PEOPLE IN AIR RAIDS, AND LEFT 1 MILLION PEOPLE HOMELESS. The air raid on the night of March 9 took more casualties than the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
What are the deep reasons behind the huge casualties caused by the US air strikes on Japan?
Above_ Tokyo Bombing Old photo
First of all, the U.S. air raids were carried out at night, and the Japanese air defense system at that time posed little threat to the U.S. military at night.
In 1945, the Asian theater of World War II entered the final decisive stage. 70% of Japan's army was crushed on the Chinese battlefield, and most of the navy's mobile forces had been wiped out by the U.S. military in the Pacific theater. In order to prevent the Allies from landing on the mainland, the Japanese authorities urgently expanded their forces, the total strength of the army defending the homeland reached 2.4 million, and the Japanese army and naval air force invested more than 10,000 aircraft to defend the mainland. In addition to the Kamikaze Strike Force aircraft that rammed U.S. warships, the Japanese had thousands of aircraft to undertake home air defense operations.
In 1945, Japan served as a home air defense fighter with a Type 1 "Falcon" fighter, a Type 2 two-seat "Dragon Slayer" fighter, a Type 3 "Feiyan" fighter, a Type 4 "Swift" fighter and other models, of which the Type 4 "Swift" fighter, its performance is comparable to the P51 fighter of the US Military in the late World War II. In the view of the Japanese military, as long as the Japanese army can put the above-mentioned types of aircraft into the local air defense operations, the US air raid on the Japanese mainland will pay a greater price.
Above_ Falcon fighter
Above_ Storm Fighter
However, although Japan's homeland air defense system is relatively strict, and the performance of Japanese fighters is not backward, the Japanese homeland air defense system still has great defects: poor air defense capabilities at night. Due to technical limitations and other reasons, Japan's ally Germany developed a number of night fighters, while Japan developed only one dedicated night fighter during World War II, the Japanese Navy's Moonlight Fighter.
After 1943, Japan faced the threat of heavy bombers from the U.S. military. In order to deal with the air raids of us heavy bombers, Yasumei Koen, commander of the Japanese 251st Air Force, proposed countermeasures against US heavy bombers, and the Japanese Navy and military industry departments urgently developed moonlight fighters into actual combat. In order to cope with the strong self-defense firepower of the US bombers, the Japanese military industry department installed an advanced inclined cannon for the Moonlight fighter. During the night and night of May 21, 1943, Japanese pilots shot down two American B17 bombers in a Moonlight fighter. In the nights that followed, Moonlight fighters shot down American B17 bombers over Rabaul.
Although the Moonlight fighters were highly capable of night combat, the Moonlight Night Fighters did not participate in the nighttime interception of B29 bombers during the U.S. air raid on the Japanese mainland in 1945. Most likely, Japan did not bring the Naval Air Force equipped with the Moonlight fighter back to its home country for the war.
Above_ Tokyo after the Bombing
The "night combat professional" moonlight fighter did not participate in the war, and the Japanese army had to temporarily hold on to the buddha's feet and develop a night version of the "Dragon Slayer" on the basis of the Type 2 two-seat "Dragon Slayer" fighter. However, the night version of the "Dragon Slayer" fighter has a fatal flaw: it does not have a special radar for nighttime air defense operations, and Japanese pilots can only pilot the "Dragon Slayer" to fight at night under the guidance of searchlights. However, this kind of night fighter developed by "temporary clinging to the Buddha's feet" is obviously inferior to the Japanese Navy's "night combat professional household" moonlight fighter.
Because the "night combat professional" moonlight fighter did not participate in night air defense operations, the night version of the "dragon slayer" fighter that "temporarily clung to the Buddha's feet" lacked special radar, and the temporarily modified night fighters of other types of aircraft had poor combat effectiveness, coupled with the fact that the Japanese anti-aircraft guns could not reach the 10,000-meter altitude of the US B29 flight, the B29 bombers were able to enter the skies over Tokyo at night and launch a fierce carpet bombing of Tokyo, causing huge casualties to the Japanese civilians. The losses of U.S. bombers were naturally minimal.
Above_ B29 waiting to be reloaded
Secondly, in view of the characteristics of Tokyo's architecture, the US military dropped more than 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs and napalm bombs on the downtown area of Tokyo. Japanese civilians slept soundly at night, unable to escape or too late to escape.
U.S. air strikes on the Japanese mainland have a long history. Before the Battle of Midway in 1942, the U.S. military flew 16 B25 bombers from the Hornet carrier to attack Tokyo. In 1944, the U.S. military in the Pacific Theater turned to a full-line counterattack, and the bomber units of the U.S. Army Bomber Air Force applied the tried-and-true daytime precision bombing tactics of air raids on Germany to Japan.
On June 15, 1944, the U.S. Army Air Force dispatched 88 B29s to bomb the Hachiman Steel Works, but the bombing effect was not obvious. On November 24, 1944, the U.S. Army Air Force dispatched 88 B29 bombers to bomb Tokyo, and the B29 dropped bombs at an altitude of more than 10,000 meters, but the bombing effect was still not significant, and only 10% of the bombers hit the intended target.
Above_ B-29 bombers dropping incendiary bombs
The U.S. military also used daytime precision bombing tactics against Germany and Japan, so why was this tactic useful for Germany and not obvious to Japan?
The reason for this is that German industry and Japanese industry are completely different, and the industrial areas of German cities are centralized and planned, and they are clearly distinguished from residential areas. The production of its components and precast parts is carried out in specialized factories. The US bombers concentrated on bombing German factories, and it was relatively easy to find targets, and the bombing effect was remarkable. Japan produces industrial parts and prefabricated parts in small workshops in residential areas, and only after the production of small workshops is completed is sent to industrial areas for centralized assembly. In this way, the planning and construction of Japan's industrial zones are not as concentrated as Germany's industrial zones, and the residential areas are clearly distinguished, and the US bombers cannot destroy the small workshops scattered in the Japanese residential areas during the day, and they cannot destroy Japan's military industrial potential.
Above: Curtis Emerson Limei (November 15, 1906 – October 1, 1990)
In order to quickly achieve the effect of air strikes on Japan and weaken Japan's war potential, Major General Li Mei, the newly appointed commander of the US bomber force, carefully studied the industrial distribution and architectural characteristics of the Japanese mainland and formulated targeted air raid tactics.
After research, Li Mei concluded that although much of the production of Japanese industry is carried out in small workshops, the US military's precision bombing tactics during the day are difficult to destroy these overly scattered small workshops. However, the buildings in Japan's large cities are mostly made of wooden buildings for earthquake prevention, and wooden buildings have poor fire resistance. If the US military changes its precision bombing tactics during the day, concentrates its bomber forces on dropping incendiary bombs on Japanese cities at night, and carries out carpet bombing, the US military will be able to weaken Japan's war potential to the greatest extent possible and shake the determination of the Japanese authorities to carry out the war.
Li Mei quickly put her idea into practice. On the night of February 24 and 25, 1945, the U.S. military dropped incendiary and napalm bombs on 174 B29 bombers, and the 2.56 square kilometers of construction in downtown Tokyo were reduced to scorched earth.
Above: A dense crater on the ground of the Tokyo Bombing Campaign
Li Mei's test was successful, and the NIGHT carpet bombing of Tokyo by the US military was in full swing. In order to improve the bombing effect, Li Mei also improved tactics: Due to the lack of night capabilities of most Japanese fighters, the US bombers removed most of the self-defense fire of the entire fuselage and retained only the machine gunners. In this way, the B29 could carry more incendiary bombs to attack Tokyo.
Japan is a country prone to earthquakes, and its buildings are made of wood, which is understandable for achieving the purpose of earthquake resistance. However, the Japanese people could not imagine that the US military would target Japanese wooden buildings and drop incendiary bombs to cause unprecedented casualties to the Japanese people.
Late on the night of March 9, 1945, the U.S. military took off 334 B29 bombers and launched a 120-minute carpet bombing campaign into downtown Tokyo. Each B29 carries 6 to 8 tons of incendiary bombs. At 00:15 on March 10, two B29s dropped flares and incendiary bombs over Tokyo to guide the air raids on the targets for the aircraft behind them. Immediately afterward, the remaining B29 bombers entered the air raid area in turn and dropped incendiary bombs on downtown Tokyo.
When 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs fell, they hit wooden buildings and quickly ignited a fire, turning Tokyo's 41-square-kilometer urban area into a sea of fire. The U.S. military destroyed 22 industrial targets, and 83,793 Japanese civilians died on the spot, 100,000 were seriously injured, and more than 1 million were left homeless. It took the Japanese government more than 20 days to clear the "burning area" of Tokyo.
Above_ U.S. troops bomb Osaka
Soon after the air raids on Tokyo, U.S. bombers bombed Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, and other major cities. Japan's aviation factories and shipbuilding bases were devastated. From April to June 1945, U.S. bombers attacked Japan for more than three months, and Japan's wartime economy almost collapsed, and Tokyo almost became a "ruined city".
For the above two reasons, the casualties of the US air raid on Tokyo exceeded the Hiroshima atomic bomb. The US air raids severely damaged the morale and economic strength of the Japanese people, and became one of the important reasons for Japan's surrender in August 1945.
Author: Military Handsome Guy Correction/Editor: Lilith
Resources:
[1] "Nuclear Strike in Japan", Wang Honglin, Petroleum Industry Press
[2] "Heroes of Air Combat world war, world warplanes of world war", iron-blooded pictures and texts, People's Posts and Telecommunications Publishing House
[3] "Heavenly Fire And Fire, The Complete History of the US Military's Strategic Bombing of Japan", Ding Xue, Meng Chuangbo, Wuhan University Press
The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the picture originated from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author