There are people saying "don't start wars you can't finish" etc. Wikipedia. This excessive U.S. military presence and consequent sufferings derived from it is the proof of it, with Okinawa taking the brunt of it mostly. I rearranged words in the relevant sentence in it as follows: "Leaflets warning Japanese were also dropped, which terrorized 8 million civilians into fleeing from cities.". And let's not fool ourselves: the atomic weapons were necessary. Thanks for referring me to the document. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_over_the_atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki#International_law. It is "WWII firebombings of Japanese cities largely ignored". As explained in the history of the bombings, the United States created a set of nuclear bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki only 6 months after severe firebombing of Japan's largest and most populated cities. [258] These were the last attacks conducted against Japan by heavy bombers, as at noon on 15 August Hirohito made a radio broadcast announcing his country's intention to surrender. The planners estimated that incendiary bomb attacks on Japan's six largest cities could cause physical damage to almost 40 percent of industrial facilities and result in the loss of 7.6 million man-months of labor. Japanese revisionists who are wont to extoll the virtues of their military frequently make the claim that it was disinclined to target civilians. Japan bombed civilian populations in the Philippines, China, Australia, Malaysia etc... in China even bombing with Unit 731 biological weapons, plague infected fleas for one, so, those putting Japan firmly, resolutely, in the 'victim Box', stop, because you are wrong. I think they hanged some Japanese for doing it. The past is indeed a very hard lesson. The use of air power in attacking Japan's cities is discussed. Following the first B-29 raids on Tokyo, the number of IJN aircraft assigned to air defense duties was greatly increased and all 12-centimeter (4.7 in) guns were allocated to protect the capital. This policy evolved from the relationship between the USAAF commander, General Henry Arnold, and his subordinates in the field. This volume explores the way in which the bomb has shaped the self-image of both peoples. [147] Precision bombing raids were also conducted on 22 June, when 382 B-29s attacked six targets at Kure, Kakamigahara, Himeji, Mizushima and Akashi in southern Honshu. US veterans who firebombed Japan in WWII meet survivor [1] This attack caused some damage to the aircraft plant and further reduced Japanese civilians' confidence in the country's air defenses. We'll never have a hippie style utopia where everyone gets along. But the IJA killed many times more civilians during their conquest, as many as 100,000 prisoners of war and civilians died building the Thailand-Burma railroad, it is said by those that survived the construction that each railroad tie which held up the rails cost one human life. The A bombs were as much shock and awe exercise as it was destructive. BACK TO THE FIREBOMBING: LeMay, back on the top priority of demolishing Japan, on May 14 sent 472 B-29s loaded with incendiaries bombed Nagoya. The Japanese Army defended Okinawa. Tue, Mar 1, 2005, 00:00. The usual "but others did it too" argument of revisionists doesn't wash here. This stuff didn't make it into the history books. While plans for attacks on Japan had been prepared prior to the Pacific War, these could not begin until the long-range B-29 Superfortress bomber was ready for combat. My question is if the Americans can indiscriminately kill civilians, why is it wrong for the other nations to do the same? [222], Of the approximately 545 Allied airmen who were captured in the Japanese home islands (excluding the Kuril and Bonin Islands), 132 were executed and 29 were killed by civilians. Did the US forces push your fellow Okinawans off the Itoman cliffs? The 313th Bombardment Wing lost only 16 B-29s during mine-laying operations. Over a million killed between March and August and then the atom bombs on top of that. An exploration of how technology and best intentions collide in the heat of war A New York Times Book Review Editorsâ Choice In The Bomber Mafia, Malcolm Gladwell weaves together the stories of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a ... Kumamoto, Kure, Shimonoseki and Ube were bombed on 1 July. [47], The Japanese government also sought to improve the country's civil defenses in response to the Doolittle Raid and the threat of further attacks. The US gave Japan three days to think about it. In response to repeated requests from the Navy, Arnold decided in November 1944 to begin mine-laying operations once sufficient aircraft were available. Firebombing of Japan William W. Ralph The area firebombing campaign waged against the cities of Japan in the waning months of the Second World War represented a stunning departure from early-war American bombing strategy. [303] The financial cost of the campaign to the United States was $4 billion; this expenditure was much lower than the $30 billion spent on bomber operations in Europe, and a small proportion of the $330 billion the US Government spent on the war. In theory napalm could have been used against Kuribayashi and the entrenched defenders. The US Firebombing of Wuhan, Part 1 - China in WW2 The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest ... For the people of the city, they experienced the horror of the firebombing only to discover that the Emperor surrendered the very next day and the war was done. The Eighth Air Force was led by James Doolittle (who had been promoted to general) and was being reequipped with B-29s. You're all stating the Japanese civilians deserved to be killed because their government decided to go to commit an act of war. Strangely enough, LeMay was awarded Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun on December 7, 1964 by the Japanese government (the then PM was Eisaku Sato, Shinzo Abe's grand-uncle). By the end of the war, more than 60 Japanese cities had been laid waste by firebombing. Written by world-renowned scientists, this volume portrays the possible direct and indirect devastation of human health from a nuclear attack. At least the American's don't deny they happened. American firebombing of Tokyo during World War II, which killed estimated 100,000 people and devastated 16 square miles of city, has left surprisingly few traces in popular memory of Japanese, or . The Japanese, facing the same fate, refused to accept the Allies' demands for unconditional surrender and the Pacific War continued. The firebombing campaign, coupled with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are believed to have killed more than 1 million Japanese civilians between March and August of 1945. By this time 9,000 balloons had been dispatched but only 285 were reported to have reached the contiguous United States. LeMay decidedto have the planes carry heavier bombs and fly at a lower altitude.The testing of the new tactics began with the bombing of Tokyo on March 9. It's also crazy that people are still talking about who should apologize to who. [221] In addition to these killings, most captured B-29 crewmen were brutally interrogated by the Kempeitai. The small number of Second Air Volunteer Group personnel who were dispatched from the United States in November 1941 were diverted to Australia upon the outbreak of war. [261] From 17 August the Twentieth Air Force was made responsible for supplying Allied prisoner of war camps in Japan, Korea and China until the prisoners were evacuated. The resulting firestorm destroyed 7 square miles (18 km2) of the city (equivalent to half its area), killed 8,000 people and rendered 650,000 homeless. 387,000 deaths confirmed in WWII air raids in Japan; toll ... The second raid took place on 7 July when 17 B-29s attacked Sasebo, Åmura and Tobata, causing little damage, and on the night of 10/11 August 24 Superfortresses attacked Nagasaki. That is not to say the firebombings weren't an awful act, voiceofokinawa: doesn't justify the U.S. can resort to illegal tactics including use of atomic bombs. I only hope that as a society we will never repeat these atrocities. I get tired of japan playing the victim as if they were somehow the most severely done by during the WW2, here are some facts, Soviets lost around 20million people fighting the Germans, Germany lost over 6 millon people, 2/3 of all deaths were civilian. TF 58's ships were not attacked during this period in Japanese waters, and on 18 February sailed south to provide direct support to the landings on Iwo Jima. [127] On 11 May a small force of B-29s destroyed an airframe factory at Konan. [246] All the American aircraft involved in the operation returned safely. Remember the battle of Okinawa? [20], The Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) conducted a single attack on the Japanese home islands during the Second Sino-Japanese War. I have since been told a little bit about the bombings from elderly Japanese, but mostly in the context of 'I hope Japan is never again involved in a war'. Air raids on Japan - Wikipedia [16][17] Despite this vulnerability, few cities had full-time professional firefighters and most relied on volunteers. If that is what you want to say, then you are in agreement with me in that the retaliation is still going on seventy years after the end of WW II. Or to not waste planes and ordnance? But the order came down: "Well, that's your opinion, but . MacArthur alone, was also responsible for sparing the imperial family from any sanction - and in a way perpetuating the shifting of blame that has gone on in Japan ever since. Those saying Japan deserved it, I can only disagree --but that's now from a different moral framework-- but as stated earlier, we all lose in war. It's true that the Japanese people at the time were determined to fight to the last man, but that doesn't justify the U.S. can resort to illegal tactics including use of atomic bombs. [82], In late January 1945 the Imperial General Headquarters belatedly adopted a civil defense plan to counter the American air raids. In China and other parts of the world, the Japanese military brutally ran roughshod over a vast area. [119] Small forces of B-29s also struck Tokyo and nearby Kawasaki on 4 April. It seems that Japan would neither make war nor join war as long as people remember atomic bombs, firebombings,,,such war killed so many people. This is what Gen. Curtis LeMay and his subordinate Robert McNamara planned and carried out. It has been estimated that B-29s dropped 10 million propaganda leaflets in May, 20 million in June and 30 million in July. Let us not forget, but let us forgive and move on. "The United States went too far with the firebombing, but I don't quite understand why the Japanese government and the rest of the Japanese don't talk about this very much," he said. Kyoto was spared for the simple reason that the man in the U.S. Army Air Force designating the targets for bombing happened to like Kyoto and its antiquities. The Allies Won; the Axis Lost. It was Japan which started the war, and in war blood lust leads to terrible actions. In December 2009 the Tokyo District Court dismissed one of the suits, stating that it was not possible to identify individuals who deserve compensation as almost all Japanese suffered as a result of the war. Paratroopers dropping and going door-to-door? These attacks initially attempted to target industrial facilities using high-altitude daylight "precision" bombing, which was also largely ineffective. Students then watch a report on Emperor Hirohito's announcement of surrender on August 15, 1945 and consider the impact it had on the Japanese people and the future of Japan. When I think of documentaries I've seen about the Burma Railway where Japanese soldiers talk about the suffering of POWS I know that not all Japanese deny their piece in the war. This finding is explored in this volume about the children of atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasakiââ¬"the population that can provide the greatest insight into this critical issue. Force little girls into combat in their war of attrition? Nuclear secrets were given their own unique legal designation in American law ("restricted data"), one that operates differently than all other forms of national security classification and exists to this day. The Allied bombing campaign was one of the main factors which influenced the Japanese government's decision to surrender in mid-August 1945. During the last weeks of the war, B-29s continued to drop large numbers of mines off Japan and the campaign was expanded into Korean waters.
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