Many people attribute Japan's submission to the United States after World War II to the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but in reality, both in terms of the actual damage caused and the deterrent effect on the Japanese people, the impact of the atomic bombs was far less than that of the Japanese people.
[Li Mei's paintings related to the bombing of Tokyo]
This massive air raid was a nightmare for the Japanese people at that time, and every Japanese shudder when they talk about it.
Bombing genius Li Mei
Born in Columbus, Ohio, Curtis Lemay had a high ambition to serve his country from a young age, and he always wanted to attend the prestigious West Point Military Academy.
But West Point is not a military palace that ordinary families can step into, and Li Mei's family background is very ordinary, so he finally chose to major in civil engineering and make a living in the construction industry.
【General Li Mei】
Although Li Mei has been considered a successful career, he has never let go of his military dream.
In 1928, Li Mei made a decision that changed his life and the entire military history of the world by signing up for the then Army Air Corps as a cadet pilot.
The Army Air Corps is the predecessor of the U.S. Air Force, and after joining the U.S. Air Force, Li Mei cherished this opportunity, and he put in more effort than others to complete the training mission, and after graduating from the flight academy, Li Mei was awarded the rank of second lieutenant and became a reserve pilot of the U.S. Army Air Force.
【General Li Mei】
In 1937, Li Mei was transferred to the Second Bomber Brigade of the Army Aviation to fly bombers.
It is precisely because of her professional mastery that Li Mei quickly became famous within the Army Airlines, and was actually promoted to major general in just three years, creating a miracle of the promotion of the Army Aviation General.
After the United States officially announced its entry into the war, Li Mei was first transferred to the European theater to be responsible for the strategic bombing of Nazi Germany.
【Bombing of Germany】
Li Mei demanded that the bomber formation not make evasive actions when it was intercepted by enemy anti-aircraft fire and fighter planes, and took the lead in personally piloting the plane to implement this principle.
The efficiency of strategic bombing has skyrocketed, and what is even more amazing is that the battle losses of bomber units have decreased.
At the same time, Li Mei also changed the formation tactics of the bomber unit.
The box-shaped formation he pioneered allowed the self-defense firepower of the bombers to cover and support each other, turning the air fortress into a veritable fire hedgehog, and the battle losses of the German fighter units skyrocketed.
【Box formation】
Under the command of Li May, the strategic bombing of Germany drained the last bit of Nazi Germany's war potential and laid the foundation for victory in the European theater.
A nightmare for the Japanese
After the end of the war in Europe, the United States hoped to end the Pacific War as soon as possible, but compared with the German Nazis, Japan's attitude was much tougher, and the militarists even clamored for a decisive battle with the US mainland.
Although the United States had already launched a strategic bombing campaign against the Japanese mainland, the effect was not as significant as that of the European battlefield, and the US Army Aviation thought of Li Mei, a bombing genius, and decided to hand over the task of bombing Japan to him.
【General Li Mei】
When Li Mei arrived in the Pacific theater, she quickly realized that Japan did not have well-planned industrial zones like Germany, and that its war capabilities were largely distributed among the civilian population.
And because Japan is home to a large number of wooden buildings, Li Mei chose napalm that had just been successfully developed according to local conditions.
This new weapon will have a more violent and long-lasting burning effect than traditional incendiary bombs, and Li Mei immediately ordered all B-29 bombers bombing Japan to be equipped with such bombs and fly over Tokyo in a huge formation of hundreds of planes.
【Bombing of Japan】
The whole of Tokyo was set ablaze by the massive bombardment, and the streets were littered with charred corpses, with traditional Japanese wooden buildings becoming the best fuel for combustion.
Some tried to jump into the nearby river to avoid the scorching flames, but the napalm scorched the water in the river, and the sight was horrific when several inland rivers in Tokyo were piled up with hot, red-skinned human corpses.
According to the memories of those who witnessed it, the smell of barbecued meat wafted throughout Tokyo, but everyone felt sick to their stomachs because the smell came from the burnt citizens of Tokyo.
This massive bombing incident was dubbed the Great Fire of Tokyo by the Japanese, while the Americans preferred to jokingly refer to it as the Li Mei Barbecue.
【Bombing of Japan】
According to post-war surveys, 41 square kilometers of Tokyo were completely destroyed by fire, 8 million people lost their homes, and 500,000 people died directly and indirectly.
In contrast, nuclear strikes on Nagasaki and Hiroshima were indeed considered benevolent.
And Li Mei's barbecue happened more than this time, Li Mei originally planned to raze all the major cities of Japan with napalm, but before he could complete this task, Japan announced its unconditional surrender.
[Japan surrender]
Interestingly, it stands to reason that Japan should hate Li Mei, an enemy who has inflicted huge casualties on Japan, but the lowly Japanese have done a ridiculous thing.
After the war, the Japanese government not only did not criticize Li Mei, but took the initiative to award Li Mei a medal in recognition of his great achievements in World War II.
But Li Mei did not give the Japanese government any face, he not only refused the Japanese government's flattery, but also joked:
"I still think that the Order of the Great Patriotic War of the USSR is more valuable. ”
【General Li Mei】
In the face of Li Mei's face-to-face ridicule, the Japanese government could only grit its teeth and swallow it.
In fact, after World War II, some media interviewed Li Mei whether he felt uneasy about his conscience because of the strategic bombing of Japan, and Li Mei expressed his denial very simply, in his opinion, "innocent Japanese" is a false proposition.
Every bomb Li Mei dropped on Japan was Japan's own fault.
Sources:
[1] Kuang Ji. The Beginning and End of the Great Bombing of Tokyo: A Chronicle of the U.S. Strategic Bombing of Japan during World War II.VIP, 2017