Historical Study: Air Bombings of Japan

As I wrap up my summer of Japanese appreciation, I wanted to revisit the Pacific War theater of WWII. Quite often when we think of WWII, we quickly associate he Nazis and the European theater and perhaps overlook the Japanese aspect. I made a deep dive study on this aspect in 2020, focusing on the Second Sino-Japanese War as well as the Pacific theater of WWII (see Sino-Japanese War and Pacific War). While I focused on the sea battles and ground assaults, I think I may have overlooked the vicious campaign of air raids against Japan. While the US was eager to end the war by this point, there's no question that they committed some atrocious crimes against humanity during this period. I think this was especially made clear to me after watching the very sad film, Graves of the Fireflies. 

Japan suffered the worse aerial bombardment during WWII by far, with a civilian death toll of approximately 800,000 nearly double that of Germany. No doubt some of this was pay back for the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, however by this point WWII had achieved a scale of Total War. This meant that the fighting was not just directed at the soldiers, but also their infrastructure which included the civilians who helped supply the war effort. Another reason the US decided to ramp up it's aerial bombardments against Japan was to bring a swift end to the conflict and avoid a full land invasion. Thus the firebombing and atomic bombs were used as a shock-and-awe campaign to brutally end Japanese moral and force them to quickly surrender. 

While it still remains a heated debate today, I think the dropping of the atomic bombs was one of the worse atrocities against mankind. It was total genocide on par with the Holocaust or Chinese massacres. The firebombing against Tokyo and other Japanese cities were almost worse by death toll. This was an utter attack against innocent civilians, which in some cases brought them instant death before they could even realize it. I think the United States should have faced a tribunal of war crimes, just the same as the Nazis and Japan did. In this post I want to create a timeline of the air raids against Japan during WWII. The bombing of Japan can be broke into three main campaigns; the Matterhorn Campaign consisted of ineffective precision bombing, which led to the devastating firebombing and atomic campaigns.

Aircraft Carrier Raids

Doolittle Raid

Date: April 18, 1942

 

Target City: Tokyo, Japan 

Aircraft/Bomb Total: 16 B-25 Bombers; 64 bombs dropped

Death Toll: 50 civilians killed

Significance: This was the first American response to the attacks on Pearl Harbor of December 7th, 1941. The Doolittle Raid was actually one of seven aerial attacks coordinated from navy ships in 1942. Aside from the main attack on Tokyo, there were also various bombings of the Marshall Islands, Gilbert Islands, Rabaul, Wake, Marcus, Salamaua and Lae. While the raids caused minimal damage they still were used to boost American morale. In response to these attacks the Japanese launched a major offensive into China, known as the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign, to punish them for aiding the American bombers. This resulted in the death of approximately 250,000 Chinese civilians. 

Precision Bombing Raids

Operation Matterhorn

Date: June 1944 to January 1945

Target City: Yawata, Japan; Anshan Manchuria; Bangkok, Thailand; Hankou, China; Singapore; Omura, Japan.

Aircraft/Bomb Total: 405 B-29 Superfortress bombers

Death Toll: 300-700 civilians

Significance: The Americans launched this precision bombing campaign from bases in India, Sri Lanka, and China. The goal was to take out Japanese industrial facilities while also testing their new massive B-29 aircrafts. The first mission occurred on June 5, 1944, with a bombing of the Japanese railyards in Bangkok, Thailand. This was followed by a raid on the steel factories of Yawata, Japan and Anshan, Manchuria. During this operation the Americans also conducted their first firebombing mission in Hankou, China. The operation was deemed mostly ineffective due to strong winds and costly logistics out of China. 

Firebombing Campaign

Operating Meetinghouse

Date: March 9-10, 1945

Target City: Tokyo, Japan

Aircraft/Bomb Total: 279 B-29 Bombers; 1665 tons of incendiary bombs

Death Toll: 90,000-100,000 civilians

Significance: General Curtis LeMay changed tactics after the failures of Operation Matterhorn. After several successful military campaigns the Americans were able to capture the Marshall Islands and make that their new air force base (much closer than their previous bases in India and China). They also shifted from the use of high altitude precision bombs to low altitude incendiary bombs. This method was far more devastating to the urban populations due to their wooden buildings, which erupted into wildfires throughout the night. This bombing resulted in the death of nearly 100,000 civilians and to this day remains the most deadly air raid in history (even more so then the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). 

Nagoya Firebombing

Date: March 12, 1945

Aircraft/Bomb Total: 300 B-29s, 1000 tons of incendiary bombs 

Death Toll: 3,866

Significance: This was a prime target of Japanese military production particularly their aircraft industry. The firebombing had a devastating impact on their ability to produce aircraft, while also taking a heavy death toll on civilians.

Osaka Firebombing

Date: March 13-14, 1945

Aircraft/Bomb Total: 274 B-29s, 1733 tons of incendiary bombs

Death Toll: 10,000

Significance: This was Japan's 2nd largest city after Tokyo, and thus also a key target for military operations particularly in the industries of steel and machinery. The intention was not only to destroy these factories but also the work force, by burning their cottage homes. The attacks left more then 500,000 homeless. 

Kobe Firebombing

Date: March 16-17, 1945

Aircraft/Bomb Total: 331 B-29s, 1700 tons of incendiary bombs

Death Toll: 8,841

Significance: It was the largest port in Japan, and thus another key target for their shipping operations and manufacturing. Although the Americans did meet heavy resistance at this bombing, they still achieved their main goal thru various raids. The film Graves of the Fireflies (my inspiration for this post) took place in Kobe. By the end of the war 55% of the city was destroyed. 

2nd Tokyo Firebombing

Date: May 25-26

Aircraft/Bomb Total: 470 B-29 Bombers, 3623 tons of incendiary bombs

Death Toll: 7000

Significance: After the first devastating attack of Operation Meetinghouse, Tokyo was hit several more times. The 2nd most devastating attack occurred on May 25th targeting the residential neighborhoods. The goal was once again to destroy the work-force while also breaking the Japanese moral to surrender. By the end of the war, nearly 50% of Tokyo was completely destroyed. 

Yokohama Firebombing

Date: May 29, 1945

Aircraft/Bomb Total: 517 B-29s, 3200 tons of incendiary bombs

Death Toll: 14,000

Significance: It was also an important industrial/port city producing ships, automobiles, aircrafts, and machinery. It was the largest air raid by air fleet and amount of bombs dropped on a city, surpassing Operation Meetinghouse (although the death toll was nowhere in comparison). 58% of the city was completely destroyed. 

Toyama Firebombing

Date: August 1-2, 1945

Aircraft/Bomb Total: 182 B-29s, 1400 tons of incendiary bombs  

Death Toll: 2,149 

Significance: Toyama was the most devastated by the firebombing, in which 99% of the city was completely destroyed. However it was a smaller city and many of the civilians were able to escape due to prior warnings. 

Other Heavily Damaged Cities by Firebomb

• Fukui: July 19, 1945 (1,576 killed). 86% city destroyed. 
• Hitachi: July 19, 1945 (1,275 killed). 72% city destroyed. 
• Fukuoka: June 19, 1945 (953 killed). 24% city destroyed. 
• Kure: July 1, 1945 (2,152 killed). 42% city destroyed. 
• Mito: August 2, 1945 (499 killed). 69% city destroyed. 
• Nagaoka: August 1-2, 1945 (1500 killed). 65% city destroyed. 
• Sakai: July 9-10, 1945 (1863 killed). 48% city destroyed. 
• Shizuoka: June 19-20, 1945 (2,000 killed). 66% city destroyed. 
• Toyohashi: June 19-20, 1945 (624 killed). 61% city destroyed. 
• Tsu: July 24, 1945 (1239 killed). 69% city destroyed
• Maebashi: August 5, 1945 (1048 killed). 64% city destroyed.
• Okazaki: July 19, 1945 (280 killed). 32% city destroyed.
• Himeji: July 3, 1945 (787 killed). 49% city destroyed. 
• Kofu: July 6, 1945 (1,127 killed). 78% city destroyed. 
• Gifu: July 9, 1945 (863 killed). 63% city destroyed. 
• Kochi: July 3-4, 1945 (1,667 killed). 55% city destroyed.
• Kawasaki: April 15, 1945 (846 killed). 36% city destroyed. 

Atomic Bomb Campaign

Hiroshima Atomic Bomb

Date: August 6th, 1945

Aircraft/Bomb B-29 bomber (Enola Gay) with a uranium-235 bomb (Little Boy). 

Death Toll: 80,000 instantly (146,000 by end of 1945). 

Significance: This was the first dropping of an atomic bomb with the force of 15 kilotons of TNT. The bomb was a breakthrough in nuclear engineering, designed by Robert Oppenheimer during the Manhattan Project. The controversial use of this bomb was intended as a shock-and-awe campaign to bring a swift end to the war thru psychological impact. It's destruction was devastating and instantaneous with a blast radius of 1 mile. The bomb exploded slightly above ground with a blinding white light that could be seen from 15 miles. This was quickly followed by the blast impact, that was destructive within a mile radius, but could be felt within a 12 mile radius. This was then followed by a firestorm that spread throughout the city. Many who survived the initial blast later died from burns and radiation sickness.     

Nagasaki Atomic Bomb

Date: August 9, 1945

Aircraft/Bomb: B-29 bomber (Bockscar) with a plutonium-239 bomb (Fat Man) 

Death Toll: 40,000 instantly (80,000 by end of 1945).

Significance: Just 3 days after the first atomic bombing this one followed, once again to cause shock-and-awe, but also to demonstrate the sheer power of this weapon. This bomb was more powerful then Hiroshima with 21 kilotons of TNT, however less devastating due to the geographical valley it was dropped in. Nonetheless it still caused instantaneous death and destruction with a mushroom cloud that could be seen 250 miles away. A few days later, accepting the power of this weapon, Japan announced it's formal surrender on August 15th. While these bombs helped bring a swift end to the war, it almost seemed unnecessary at this point for a nation that was already practically defeated. One could even make the case that poor Japan was used more as a guinea pig of this new powerful weapon (primarily as a threat to the Soviet Union). To put it simply these two atomic bombings as well as the atrocious firebombing raids were unethical crimes against humanity.