The first of the long-range bombing raids on the Japanese home islands took place as early as 28 Nov 1944, mainly from the newly constructed air fields in the Mariana Islands. In Jan 1945, American General Curtis LeMay took over the 20th and 21st Bomber Commands, merging them into the XX Air Force. The XX Air Force immediately took on the task of bombing Japanese naval and air bases from high altitude, though most of the early attacks achieved relatively little. In the spring of 1945, the B-29 Superfortress bombers were transferred to the XXI Bomber Command based at Guam, Mariana Islands. With increased scale, intensity, and frequency, the bombing campaign began to rain considerable destruction on Japanese cities. Tokyo, being the Japanese capital, received a greater share of attention from American bombers. The XXI Bomber Command missions on Tokyo and surrounding areas in 1945 were as follows. 19 Feb: 119 B-29 bombers hit the port and Tokyo urban areas. Night of 24-25 Feb: 174 B-29 bombers dropped incendiary bombs and destroyed about 3 square kilometer of the city, or about 28,000 buildings. 4 Mar: 159 B-29 bombers attacked Tokyo urban areas. Night of 9-10 Mar, Operation Meetinghouse: 279 B-29 bombers dropped incendiary bombs and destroyed 267,000 buildings and homes or 41 square kilometers of Tokyo. Americans estimated 88,000 killed, 41,000 injured, and 1,000,000 displaced. Tokyo Fire Department estimated 97,000 killed and 125,000 wounded. Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department estimated 124,711 casualties and 286,358 destroyed buildings and homes. 2 Apr: More than 100 B-29 bombers attacked the Nakajima aircraft factory. 3 Apr: 68 B-29 bombers attacked the Koizuimi aircraft factory and Tokyo urban areas. 7 Apr: 101 B-29 bombers attacked the Nakajima aircraft factory. 13 Apr: More than 300 B-29 bombers attacked military targets in and near Tokyo. 15 Apr: 109 B-29 bombers attacked Tokyo urban areas. 26 Apr: 464 B-29 bombers attacked Tokyo urban areas south of the Imperial Palace. 24 May: 520 B-29 bombers attacked urban and industrial areas south of the Imperial Palace. 20 Jul: A B-29 bomber failed to attack the Imperial Palace with a large Pumpkin bomb. 8 Aug: About 60 B-29 bombers attacked aircraft factories and arsenals near Tokyo. 10 Aug: 70 B-29 bombers attacked the arsenal complex near Tokyo. Yutaka Akabane, a senior level civil servant, observed that It was the raids on the medium and smaller cities which had the worst effect and really brought home to the people the experience of bombing and a demoralization of faith in the outcome of the war.... It was bad enough in so large a city as Tokyo, but much worse in the smaller cities, where most of the city would be wiped out. Through May and June the spirit of the people was crushed. (When B-29s dropped propaganda pamphlets) the morale of the people sank terrifically, reaching a low point in July, at which time there was no longer hope of victory or draw but merely desire for ending the war. >>>ww2db/battle_spec.php?battle_id=217 ww2db/
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 02:02:54 +0000
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