readytorunbook Chapter 785 The power of incendiary bombs
Chapter 785 The power of incendiary bombs
Therefore, the B-29 heavy bombers of the United States Air Force's high-altitude precision bombing of the Japanese mainland during the day could not destroy Japan's numerous small workshops, nor could they effectively attack Japan's military industry. Therefore, the United States military decided to carry out carpet-style incendiary bombing at night and planned to send B-29 heavy bombers to bomb Japan's major cities at altitudes of to meters.
In January 1945, Major General Curtis LeMay was appointed commander of the 21st Bomber Force of the United States. On February 19, the headquarters of the 20th Air Force of the United States issued an order to give priority to the air raids on the Japanese mainland with "experimental" incendiary bombs.
Therefore, from February 29 to February , , the U.S. Air Force launched a large-scale incendiary bombing on Tokyo, Japan for the first time. That night, B- bombers of the U.S. Air Force dropped a large number of napalm bombs on Tokyo, Japan.
This large-scale incendiary bombing by the U.S. Air Force directly burned down all the buildings within about 2.56 square kilometers of Tokyo, Japan. This made Major General Curtis LeMay, commander of the 21st Bomber Group of the United States, more determined to launch a large-scale night fire attack on the Japanese mainland.
After reassessing the air defense situation of the Japanese mainland, Major General Curtis LeMay, commander of the 29st Bomber Group of the United States, also made a major change in the tactics of the United States Air Force B- bombers in performing bombing missions.
Major General Curtis LeMay, commander of the 29st Bomber Group of the United States, decided that in future bombing missions, the B-29 bombers of the United States Air Force needed to remove all the gun turrets and ammunition from the B-29 bombers, leaving only the machine gunner at the tail of the aircraft. This would reduce the weight of the B- bombers themselves and allow them to carry more incendiary bombs to bomb the Japanese mainland.
At the same time, Major General Curtis LeMay, commander of the 29st Bomber Group of the United States, ordered all B- bombers of the United States Air Force to carry out night bombing of the Japanese mainland at a low altitude of to feet, using the fires caused by incendiary bombs to shock the Japanese people and destroy the small workshops producing parts and prefabricated parts scattered in residential areas, thereby completely paralyzing Japan's military industry.
To avoid unnecessary casualties, the B-29 bombers of the United States Air Force carried out bombing operations individually rather than in formation during air raids. The B-29 bomber guide aircraft in front would be responsible for dropping bombs first and marking the target area, and the B-29 bombers behind would follow suit and drop bombs.
The reason why Major General Curtis LeMay, commander of the 21st Bomber Group of the United States, made these changes in bombing tactics was mainly because he discovered that the Japanese army's air defense equipment at night was obviously insufficient. Moreover, Major General Curtis LeMay, commander of the 21st Bomber Group of the United States, decided to postpone the time of submitting the plan to the United States government and take full responsibility for this combat mission himself.
The first bombing
On the night of March 29, 29, B- bombers of the U.S. Air Force took off from Guam in the Mariana Islands, heading directly for Tokyo, Japan. This time, each B- bomber carried six to eight tons of incendiary bombs, which meant that the burning area of this bombing could reach square meters.
At 29:29 on March , two B- bombers responsible for navigation of the United States Air Force arrived over Tokyo, Japan, and dropped flares in the downtown area of Tokyo, the designated bombing target area, and then dropped incendiary bombs, which clearly indicated the bombing area targets for subsequent B- bombers of the United States Air Force.
Subsequently, a large number of B-29 bombers of the United States Air Force flew individually and entered the bombing target area one after another to drop incendiary bombs, which caused the fire caused by the incendiary bombs to spread rapidly in the target area.
This large-scale incendiary bombing by the U.S. Air Force lasted for a total of two hours. The B-29 bombers of the U.S. Air Force dropped more than 29 tons of incendiary bombs. However, nine B-29 bombers of the U.S. Air Force were shot down by the Japanese air defense forces during the bombing, five B-29 bombers were seriously damaged and forced to land on the sea, and another 29 B- bombers were damaged, but in the end they successfully returned to the base safely with the rest of the B- bombers.
The fire caused by the large-scale incendiary bombing by the United States Air Force formed a strong convection wind formed by the hot air wave and the cold air, causing a fire tornado. The high temperature generated by this fire tornado was enough to burn all combustible materials in the bombed urban area, including human bodies.
Moreover, this large-scale incendiary bombing by the United States Air Force caused nearly 41 square kilometers of buildings to be burned down in the area east of the Japanese Imperial Palace, which is about a quarter of the area of Tokyo, Japan, of which 18% is Tokyo's industrial area, 63% is Tokyo's commercial area, and the rest is Tokyo's residential area.
All 22 industrial targets in the bombing plan formulated by the U.S. Air Force before the bombing were destroyed, more than 267,000 buildings were burned down, 83,793 people were burned to death by incendiary bombs, 100,000 people were seriously injured, and one million people were left homeless.
The massive incendiary bombing of Tokyo, Japan, by the U.S. Air Force from March 9 to March 10, 1945, was probably the most destructive non-nuclear air raid in human history, and its destructive power could even be compared to the later atomic bomb explosion.
After the fire caused by the incendiary bombing by the American Air Force, it took the Japanese government 25 days to clean up the charred bodies.
Less than thirty hours after the United States Air Force's B-29 bombers carried out a firebombing attack on Tokyo, Japan, 29 B- bombers of the United States Air Force attacked Nagoya, Japan at night. The firebombing attack by the United States Air Force turned the aircraft manufacturing center in Nagoya, Japan into a sea of fire.
Immediately afterwards, on March 29, the United States Air Force continued to dispatch 29 B- bombers to carry out incendiary bombing on Osaka, Japan's second largest city. As the United States Air Force B- bomber group poured down tons of incendiary bombs, about square kilometers of urban buildings in Osaka, Japan's second largest city, were burned down by the fire caused by the incendiary bombs within three hours.
On March 29, the B- bomber group of the United States Air Force bombed Kobe, Japan, and destroyed Japan's shipbuilding center in Kobe. Afterwards, the United States Air Force launched large-scale air strikes on other large, medium and small cities in Japan in April, May and June.
On April 29, , part of the Japanese Imperial Palace was burned by incendiary bombs dropped by a group of B- bombers of the U.S. Air Force, and the Meiji Shrine was destroyed by fire.