Air raids on Japan
Encyclopedia
During World War II
the Allied
forces conducted many air raids on Japan which caused extensive destruction to the country's cities and killed over 300,000 people. These attacks began with the Doolittle Raid
in mid-April 1942, but did not resume until June 1944 when United States Army Air Forces
(USAAF) B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers began a series of attacks from bases in China. From November 1944 the USAAF conducted a major strategic bombing
offensive against Japan which continued until the end of the war. Allied naval and land-based tactical air units also raided Japan during the war's last months.
While the US military had developed plans for an air campaign against Japan prior to the Pacific War
, the capture of Allied bases in the western Pacific in the first weeks of the war meant that this offensive did not begin until mid-1944 when the long-ranged B-29 Superfortress was ready for use in combat. The early attacks staged via China proved unsuccessful, however. The strategic bombing campaign against Japan was greatly expanded from November 1944 when bases in the Mariana Islands
became available. These attacks initially targeted key industrial facilities, but from March 1945 were frequently directed against urban areas. Aircraft flying from Allied aircraft carrier
s and the Ryukyu Islands
frequently attacked targets in Japan during 1945; most of these raids were made in preparation for the planned Allied invasion
which was scheduled for October 1945. The Japanese military was unable to stop the Allied attacks, and the country's civil defense
preparations proved inadequate. During early August 1945 the cities of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki
were attacked with atomic bombs
. Along with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, the Allied bombing campaign was one of the main factors which influenced the Japanese Government's decision to surrender
in mid-August 1945.
Estimates of the number of Japanese killed during the air attacks range from 300,000 to 900,000. In addition to the loss of life, the raids caused extensive damage to Japan's cities and contributed to a large decline in industrial production. There has been long-running debate over the morality of the attacks on Japan, with the use of atomic weapons being particularly controversial.
(which was re-designated the USAAF in June 1941) began contingency planning for an air campaign against Japan during 1940. During that year the naval attaché to the Embassy of the United States in Tokyo
reported on Japan's weak civil defense
s, and proposals were developed for US volunteer aircrew to assist the Chinese forces in the Second Sino-Japanese War
. The first American Volunteer Group
(the 'Flying Tigers
') began operations as part of the Chinese Air Force in late 1941 using fighter aircraft. A second American Volunteer Group was subsequently formed to attack Japan from bases in China using Hudson
and A-20 Havoc medium bombers, but was diverted elsewhere in Asia following the Attack on Pearl Harbor
on 7 December 1941 which led to open hostilities between the US and Japan.
Japanese successes during the opening months of the Pacific War
nullified pre-war US plans for attacks against the Japanese homeland. Before the outbreak of war the USAAF planned operations against Japan from Wake Island
, Guam
, the Philippines
and coastal areas in China. These areas were rapidly captured by Japan, however, and the USAAF heavy bomber force in the Philippines was largely destroyed when Clark Air Base
was attacked on 8 December 1941. The USAAF attempted to send 13 heavy bombers to China in March and April 1942 to attack the Japanese home islands. These aircraft reached India, but remained there when the Japanese conquest of Burma caused logistics problems and Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek
proved reluctant to allow the aircraft to operate from territory under his control. A further 13 B-24 Liberator heavy bombers were dispatched from the United States to China in May 1942 as the HALPRO force, but were instead re-tasked to support Allied operations in the Mediterranean when they reached Egypt
. In July 1942 the commander of the American Volunteer Group, Colonel Claire Lee Chennault
, sought a force of 100 P-47 Thunderbolt fighters and 30 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers which he believed would be sufficient to "destroy" the Japanese aircraft industry. Three months later Chennault told President Franklin D. Roosevelt
that a force of 105 modern fighters and 40 bombers (including 12 heavy bombers) would be able to "accomplish the downfall of Japan" within six to twelve months. These claims were not considered credible by the USAAF's headquarters, and Chennault's requests for reinforcements were not granted.
based in the country's far east
posed the greatest threat. The Japanese military plans for dealing with this threat called for the destruction of Soviet air bases within reach of the Home Islands at the outset of war. As a result of this offensive doctrine, few resources were allocated to build up a defensive force of fighter aircraft to protect Japan. When the Pacific War began, the Japanese government believed that the best way to prevent American air raids was to capture and hold the areas in China and the Pacific from which attacks could be launched. It was anticipated that Allies might attack the home islands using naval aircraft flying from aircraft carrier
s, but any such raids were expected to be conducted on a small scale and made mainly to boost morale in the United States and Britain. In addition to an expectation that the Allies would not re-capture air bases within range of Japan, the Japanese government chose to not develop strong air defenses as the country's industrial resources were insufficient to maintain both an offensive air force in China and the Pacific as well as a defensive air force in the Home Islands.
As a result of Japan's offensive doctrine, the country's air defenses were weak at the start of the Pacific War. In early 1942 forces allocated to the defense of Japan comprised 100 Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF) and 200 Imperial Japanese Navy
(IJN) fighter aircraft (many of which were obsolete) as well as 500 Army-manned and 200 IJN-manned anti-aircraft guns. Most of the IJAAF and IJN formations stationed in the home islands were training units which had only a limited ability to counter Allied attacks. The Army also operated a network of military and civilian-manned observation posts to provide warning of air attack and was in the process of building radar stations. Command and control of the air defenses was fragmented, and the IJAAF and IJN did not coordinate their activities or communicate with each other. As a result, the forces were unable to react to a sudden air attack.
Japan's civil defense
organization was also inadequate to cope with large-scale air attacks. Air raid drills had been held in Tokyo and Osaka since 1928, and from 1937 local governments were required to provide civilians with manuals which explained how to respond to air attacks. Few cities had full-time professional firefighter
s, and most relied on volunteers. Such firefighting forces that did exist lacked modern equipment and used outdated tactics. In addition, few measures were undertaken to provide air defense facilities for civilians or industry such as the construction of air-raid shelter
s.
, Yokosuka, Nagoya and Kobe
. The few Japanese air defense units were taken by surprise, and all the B-25s escaped without serious damage. The aircraft then continued to China and the Soviet Union, though several crashed in Japanese-held territory after running out of fuel. Japanese casualties were 50 killed, and over 400 wounded with about 200 houses destroyed.
Although the Doolittle Raid caused little damage, it had important ramifications. The attack raised morale in the United States and made a hero out of its commander, Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle. The weak state of Japan's air defenses greatly embarrassed the Japanese military leadership, and four fighter groups were transferred from the Pacific to defend the home islands. In an attempt to prevent further attacks, the Imperial Japanese Navy also launched an offensive in the Pacific Ocean which ended in defeat during the Battle of Midway
. The Japanese Army also conducted the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign to capture the air bases in central China at which the Doolittle Raiders had intended to land. This offensive achieved its objectives and resulted in the deaths of 250,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians, including many civilians killed in war crime
s. In an attempt to retaliate against the Doolittle Raid, the IJA also began developing fire balloons capable of carrying incendiary and anti-personnel bombs from Japan to the continental United States.
in mid-1943. The liberation of Attu Island
in May 1943 during the Aleutian Islands Campaign provided the USAAF with bases within range of the Kurils. As part of the preparations for the liberation of Kiska Island the Eleventh Air Force
planned a series of raids against the Kurils to suppress Japanese air units stationed there. The first of these attacks was made against southern Shumshu
and northern Paramushir
u by eight B-25s on 10 July. A second raid was staged against the Kurils on 18 July by six B-24 Liberator heavy bombers, and the unopposed liberation of Kiska (Operation Cottage
) took place on 15 August.
The Eleventh Air Force and US Navy units continued to make small-scale raids on the Kuril Islands until the closing months of the war. The USAAF attacks were broken off for five months following a raid on 11 September when nine of the 20 B-24s and B-25s dispatched were lost, but U.S. Navy PBY Catalinas continued to bomb Japanese positions in the Kurils. In response to the American attacks, the IJN established the North-East Area Fleet in August 1943 and in November that year Japanese fighter strength in the Kurils and Hokkaidō
peaked at 260 aircraft. The Eleventh Air Force resumed its offensive in February 1944 after it had been reinforced with two squadrons of P-38 Lightning escort fighters, and continued to attack targets in the Kurils until June 1945. While these raids caused little damage, they forced the Japanese to divert large numbers of soldiers to defend their northern islands against a potential United States invasion.
approved a proposal to begin the strategic air campaign
against the Japanese home islands and East Asia by basing B-29 Superfortress
heavy bombers in India and establishing forward airfields in areas of China. This strategy, which was designated Operation Matterhorn
, required the construction of large airstrips beside Chengtu
in inland China which would be used to refuel B-29s traveling from bases in Bengal
en-route to targets in Japan. XX Bomber Command
was assigned responsibility for this effort, and its ground crew began to leave the United States for India during December 1943. The Twentieth Air Force
was formed in April 1944 to oversee all B-29 operations. In an unprecedented move, the commander of the USAAF, General Henry H. Arnold
, took personal command of this unit and ran it from the Pentagon
. The 58th Bombardment Wing
was XX Bomber Command's main combat unit, and its movement from Kansas to India took place between April and mid-May 1944.
The Japanese military began transferring fighter aircraft from China and the Pacific to the home islands in early 1944 in anticipation of B-29 raids. The IJAAF established three air divisions to defend Honshū
and Kyūshū
, and the IJN also contributed air units to support the Army. Further anti-aircraft gun batteries and searchlight units were also formed to protect major cities and military bases. These defenses remained inadequate, however, as Japan had few aircraft and anti-aircraft guns capable of effectively engaging B-29s at their cruising altitude of 30000 feet (9,144 m) and only a small number of radar stations were established to provide early warning of raids.
In response to the Doolittle Raid and the threat of further attacks, the Japanese Government also sought to improve the country's civil defenses. The national government placed the burden of constructing civilian air-raid shelters on the prefecture governments
. These governments built few shelters, however, as construction work was hindered by shortages of concrete and steel. In October 1943 the Ministry of Home Affairs
directed households in the major cities to build their own shelters, though these were normally only trench
es. Tunnels and natural caves were later used to shelter civilians from B-29 raids, and less than two percent of civilians had access to bombproof air-raid shelters. A small number of sophisticated shelters were constructed for air defense headquarters and to protect key telephone facilities, however. Following the outbreak of war, the Ministry of Home Affairs expanded the number of firefighters, though these generally remained amateur volunteers who lacked adequate training and equipment. Civilians were also trained to fight fires and encouraged to swear an 'air defense oath' to respond to attacks from incendiary or high explosive bombs.
The Japanese Government took steps to prepare the country's major cities for air attacks from the autumn of 1943. In November that year, an air defense general headquarters was established and a program of demolishing large numbers of buildings in major cities to create firebreak
s began the next month. By the end of the war 614,000 housing units had been destroyed to clear firebreaks; these accounted for a fifth of all housing losses and displaced 3.5 million people. The Japanese Government also encouraged old people, children and women in cities which were believed likely to be attacked to evacuate to the countryside
from December 1943, and a program of evacuating entire classes of schoolchildren was implemented. By August 1944 330,000 schoolchildren had been evacuated in school groups and another 459,000 had moved to the countryside with their family. Little was done to disperse industrial facilities so they were less vulnerable to attack, however, as this was logistically difficult.
at Yawata in northern Kyūshū. This attack caused little damage and cost seven B-29s, but received positive media coverage in the United States and indicated to Japanese civilians that the war was not going well. Shortly after this raid Arnold relieved XX Bomber Command's commander, Brigadier General Kenneth Wolfe, when he was unable to make follow-up attacks on Japan due to insufficient fuel stockpiles at the bases in China. Wolfe's replacement was Major General Curtis LeMay
, a veteran of Eighth Air Force
bombing attacks against Germany.
Subsequent B-29 raids staging through China were generally not successful. The second raid took place on 7 July when 17 B-29s attacked Sasebo
, Ōmura
and Tobata
, causing little damage, and on the night of 10/11 August 24 Superfortresses attacked Nagasaki
. Another unsuccessful raid was conducted against Yawata on 20 August during which 12 out of the 75 B-29s dispatched were shot down. Japanese Government propaganda claimed that 100 bombers had been downed during this attack, and one of the crashed B-29s was placed on display in Tokyo. XX Bomber Command's performance improved after LeMay instituted a training program and improved the organization of the B-29's maintenance units during August and September. A successful attack was mounted against Ōmura on 25 October which destroyed the city's small aircraft factory, though a follow-up raid on 11 November was not successful. The city was attacked again by 61 B-29s on 21 November and by 17 bombers on 19 December. XX Bomber Command made its ninth and final raid on Japan on 6 January 1945 when 28 B-29s once again bombed Ōmura. During the same period the command conducted a number of attacks on targets in Manchuria
, China and Formosa
from its bases in China as well as striking targets in South East Asia from India. The command flew its final mission from India, a raid on Singapore
, on 29 March and its constituent units were then transferred to the Mariana Islands.
Operation Matterhorn was not successful. The nine raids conducted against Japan via bases in China succeeded only in destroying Ōmura's aircraft factory. XX Bomber Command lost 125 B-29s during all of its operations from bases in India and China, though only 29 were destroyed by Japanese forces. The attacks had a limited impact on Japanese civilian morale and forced the Japanese military to reinforce the home islands' air defenses at the expense of other areas. These limited successes did not justify the large allocation of Allied resources to the operation, however.
and United States Army
forces captured the Japanese-held islands of Guam
, Saipan
and Tinian
in the Mariana Islands
between June and August 1944. During the subsequent months, USAAF and U.S. Navy engineers constructed six massive airfields on the islands capable of accommodating hundreds of B-29s. These bases were much better suited to supporting an intensive air campaign against Japan than those in China as they could be easily supplied by sea and lay just 1500 miles (2,414 km) south of Japan, allowing B-29s to strike most of the home islands.
The Twentieth Air Force's XXI Bomber Command
began to arrive in the Mariana Islands during October 1944. The Command was led by Brigadier General Haywood S. Hansell
who had also participated in Eighth Air Force operations against Germany. XXI Bomber Command B-29s flew six practice missions against targets in the Central Pacific during October and November in preparation for their first attack on Japan. On 1 November a F-13 photo reconnaissance variant of the B-29 from the 3d Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron
overflew Tokyo; this was the first American aircraft over the city since the Doolittle Raid. Further F-13 sorties were conducted during early November to gather intelligence on aircraft plants and port facilities in the Tokyo–Yokosuka
area. As these aircraft flew at both a high speed and high altitude, the F-13s were generally able to evade the large numbers of Japanese fighters which were scrambled to intercept them as well as the heavy anti-aircraft fire they attracted.
XXI Bomber Command's initial attacks on Japan were focused on the country's aircraft industry. The first attack, codenamed Operation San Antonio I, was made against the Musashino aircraft plant in the outskirts of Tokyo on 24 November 1944. Only 24 of the 111 B-29s dispatched attacked the raid's primary target, and the others bombed port facilities and industrial and urban areas. The Americans were intercepted by 125 Japanese fighters but only one B-29 was shot down. This attack caused some damage to the aircraft plant and further reduced Japanese civilians' confidence in the country's air defenses. In response to this raid, the Japanese military stepped-up its air attacks
on B-29 bases in the Mariana Islands on 27 November; these raids continued until January 1945 and resulted in the destruction of 11 Superfortresses and damage to another 43 for the loss of approximately 37 Japanese aircraft. The IJA also began launching fire balloons against the United States during November. This campaign caused little damage and was abandoned in March 1945; by this time 9,000 balloons had been dispatched but only 285 were reported to have reached the United States.
The next American raids on Japan were not successful. XXI Bomber Command attacked Tokyo a further three times between 27 November and 3 December; two of these attacks were made against the Musashino aircraft plant while the other targeted an industrial area using M-69 Incendiary cluster bomb
s which had been specifically developed to attack Japanese urban areas. Little damage was caused to the aircraft plant attacked on 27 November and 3 December as high winds and clouds prevented accurate bombing. The incendiary raid conducted on the night of 29/30 November by 29 Superfortresses burnt out one tenth of a square mile and was also judged to be unsuccessful by the Twentieth Air Force's headquarters.
Four of XXI Bomber Command's next five raids were made against targets in Nagoya
. The first two of these attacks on 13 and 18 December used precision bombing tactics, and damaged the city's aircraft plants. The third raid was a daylight incendiary attack which was conducted after the Twentieth Air Force directed that 100 B-29s armed with M-69 bombs be dispatched against Nagoya to test the effectiveness of these weapons on a Japanese city. Hansell protested this order as he believed that precision attacks were starting to produce results and moving to area bombardment
would be counter-productive, but agreed to the operation after he was assured that it did not represent a general shift in tactics. Despite the change in armament, the 22 December raid was planned as a precision attack on an aircraft factory using only 78 bombers, and bad weather over Nagoya meant that little damage was caused. XXI Bomber Command raided the Musashino aircraft plant in Tokyo again on 27 December, but did not damage the facility. On 3 January 1945 97 B-29s were dispatched to conduct an area bombing raid on Nagoya. This attack started several fires, but these were quickly brought under control.
In late December 1944 Arnold, who was disappointed with the results XXI Bomber Command had achieved up to that time, decided to relieve Hansell of his command and replace him with LeMay. The official history of the USAAF states that this decision was influenced by Arnold's desire that the command rapidly produce results and Hansell's continued focus on precision bombing when the Twentieth Air Force headquarters wanted a greater emphasis placed on area attacks. Due to his success in improving XX Bomber Command's performance, LeMay was seen as being able to solve the problems which were limiting XXI Bomber Command's performance. Hansell was informed of Arnold's decision on 6 January, but remained in his position until mid January. During this period XXI Bomber Command conducted unsuccessful precision bombing attacks on the Musashino aircraft plant in Tokyo and a Mitsubishi Aircraft Works factory in Nagoya on 9 and 14 January respectively. The last attack planned by Hansell was more successful, however, with a force of 77 B-29s crippling a Kawasaki Aircraft Industries factory near Akashi
on 19 January. During XXI Bomber Command's first three months of operations it suffered an average loss rate of 4.1 percent of aircraft dispatched in each raid.
In late January 1945 the Imperial General Headquarters
belatedly adopted a civil defense plan to counter American air raids. This plan assigned responsibility for fighting fires to community councils and neighborhood groups as the professional firefighting units were short-handed. Civilians were to observe a blackout
from 10 P.M. Japanese positions in the Bonin Islands were normally able to provide a hour's warning of American raids and air raid sirens
were sounded in cities threatened by attack.
The first attacks conducted under LeMay's leadership achieved mixed results. XXI Bomber Command flew six major missions between 23 January and 19 February with limited success, though an incendiary raid against Kobe
on 4 February caused significant damage to the city and its main factories. Moreover, while improved maintenance procedures implemented by LeMay reduced the number of B-29s which had to return to base due during raids due to technical problems, the command suffered a loss rate of 5.1 percent in these operations. From 19 February to 3 March XXI Bomber Command conducted a series of precision bombing raids on aircraft factories which sought to tie down Japanese air units so they could not participate in the Battle of Iwo Jima
. These attacks were frustrated by high winds and cloud cover, and little damage was inflicted on the factories. A firebombing raid conducted against Tokyo by 172 B-29s on 25 February was considered successful, however, as it burnt or damaged approximately one square mile of the city's urban area. This attack was conducted as a large-scale test of the effectiveness of firebombing.
and the "Japanese village
" at Dugway Proving Ground
. The American military also attempted to develop "bat bomb
s", which would have involved using air-dropped bat
s armed with incendiary bombs to attack Japanese cities, but this project was abandoned in 1944.
In light of the poor results of precision bombing campaign and the success of the 25 February raid in destroying a large area of Tokyo, LeMay decided to begin firebombing attacks on Japan's main cities during early March. This was in line with Arnold's targeting directive for XXI Bomber Command, which specified that Japan's urban areas should be given the second-highest priority for attacks after aircraft factories. The directive also specified that firebombing raids be conducted once the M-69 bombs had been tested in combat and number of B-29 available was sufficient to launch an intensive campaign. LeMay did not seek Arnold's specific approval before launching his firebombing campaign, however, to protect the USAAF's commander from criticism if the attacks were unsuccessful. The Twentieth Air Force's Chief of Staff, Brigadier General Lauris Norstad
, was aware of the change in tactics though and provided support. To improve the effectiveness of the firebombing attacks, LeMay ordered the B-29s to fly at the low altitude of 5000 feet (1,524 m) and bomb by night; this represented a significant change from the Command's standard tactics which focused on high altitude daylight bombing. As Japan's force of night fighter
s was weak and its anti-aircraft batteries were less effective at night, LeMay also had most of the B-29s' defensive guns removed so they could carry more bombs. These changes were not popular with XXI Bomber Command's aircrew, as they believed that it was safer to fly heavily armed B-29s at high altitude.
that overwhelmed Tokyo's civil defenses and destroyed 16 square miles (41.4 km²) of buildings, representing seven percent of the city's urban area. The Japanese police estimated that 83,793 people were killed, another 40,918 were injured and just over a million lost their homes; postwar estimates of deaths in this attack have ranged from 80,000 to 100,000. Damage to Tokyo's war production was also substantial. Japanese opposition to this attack was relatively weak, and American losses were limited to 14 B-29s destroyed as a result of combat or mechanical faults and a further 42 damaged by anti-aircraft fire. Following the attack on Tokyo, the Japanese Government ordered that all schoolchildren in the third to sixth grades be evacuated from the main cities, and 87 percent of them had been moved to the countryside by early April.
XXI Bomber Command followed up the firebombing of Tokyo with similar raids against other major cities. On 11 March, 310 B-29s were dispatched against Nagoya. The bombing of the city was less concentrated than that of Tokyo, and the attack caused less damage. Nevertheless 2.05 square miles (5.3 km²) were burnt out and no B-29s were lost to the Japanese defenses. On the night of 13/14 March, 274 Superfortresses attacked Osaka and destroyed 8.1 square miles (21 km²) of the city for the loss of two aircraft. Kobe was the next target in the firebombing campaign, and was attacked by 331 B-29s on the night of 16/17 March. The resulting firestorm destroyed 7 square miles (18.1 km²) of the city (equivalent to half its area) and three B-29s were lost. Nagoya was attacked again on the night of 18/19 March, and the B-29s destroyed 2.95 square miles (7.6 km²) of buildings. Only one Superfortress was shot down during this attack and all members of the crew were rescued. This attack marked the end of the first firebombing campaign as XXI Bomber Command had exhausted its supplies of incendiary bombs. The Command's next major raid was an unsuccessful night precision attack on the Mitsubishi aircraft engine factory conducted on the night of 23/24 March; during this operation five of the 251 aircraft dispatched were shot down. In addition to these operations, B-29s began dropping propaganda
leaflets over Japan during March. These leaflets called on Japanese civilians to overthrow their government or face destruction.
The USAAF assessed that the firebombing campaign had been highly successful, and it was noted that American losses during these attacks had been much lower than those incurred during day precision raids. As a result, the Joint Target Group drew up a new set of priorities for XXI Bomber Command which left aircraft engine factories as the Command's first priority but placed stronger emphasis on continuing the attacks on Japan's main urban areas. While this bombing campaign was intended to form part of preparations for the Allied invasion of Japan, LeMay and some members of Arnold's staff believed that it alone would be sufficient to force Japan's surrender.
The Japanese government was concerned about the results of the March firebombing attacks. The raids had demonstrated that the Japanese military was unable to protect the nation's airspace and that as a result the American bombers could cause widespread damage while suffering only light losses. In addition to the extensive physical damage, the raids also caused increased absenteeism in the cities which were attacked as civilians were afraid to leave their homes and work in factories which might be bombed.
. In an attempt to reduce kamikaze
suicide attacks on the Allied invasion fleet, XXI Bomber Command was directed to attack airfields in southern Japan. These attacks began on 20 March and were expanded from the 27 March. On 3 March, the day before the landing, XXI Bomber Command mounted a diversionary precision bombing attack on industrial facilities at Tachiarai
and an airfield at Ōmura
. Despite these raids, large scale kamikaze attacks were conducted against the Allied ships following the landing. As part of the Allied response, XXI Bomber Command conducted major attacks on airfields in Kyushu on 8 and 16 April, though the first of these attacks was diverted to strike residential areas in Kagoshima after the airfields were found to be covered by cloud. From 17 April until 11 May, when the B-29s were released for other duties, about three quarters of XXI Bomber Command's effort was devoted to attacking airfields and other targets in direct support of the Battle of Okinawa; this included 2,104 sorties flown against 17 airfields. These raids cost the Command 24 B-29s destroyed and 233 damaged and were not successful in completely suppressing kamikaze attacks from the airfields which were bombed. From 12 April the VII Fighter Command's
P-51 Mustang very long range fighters which were based on Iwo Jima also attacked airfields in Honshu and Kyushu. The fighter pilots claimed to have destroyed 64 Japanese aircraft and damaged another 180 on the ground as well as shooting down ten in the air; American fighter losses were, 11 aircraft in combat and seven from other causes.
Limited attacks on Japanese cities were conducted while the Battle of Okinawa continued. A night precision bombing raid was flown against the Nakajima engine factory in Tokyo by 121 B-29s on 1 April and three similar attacks were conducted against engine factories in Shizuoka, Koizumi and Tachikawa on the night of 3 April. These raids were unsuccessful as XXI Bomber Command lacked the specialized equipment needed to strike targets accurately at night, and LeMay decided against further such attacks. Small forces of B-29s struck Tokyo and nearby Kawasaki
on 4 April. Two successful large-scale precision bombing raids were flown against aircraft factories in Tokyo and Nagoya on 7 April; the raid on Tokyo was the first to be escorted by Iwo Jima-based P-51 Mustangs, and the B-29s and fighters claimed to have shot down 101 Japanese aircraft for the loss of two P-51s and seven B-29s. Over 250 B-29s struck three different aircraft factories on 12 April, and the 73rd Bombardment Wing
inflicted heavy damage on the Musashino aircraft plant which had been attacked nine times previously. LeMay resumed night firebombing raids on 13 April when 327 B-29s attacked the arsenal district of Tokyo, destroying 11.4 square miles (29.5 km²) of the city, including several armaments factories. On 15 April, 303 B-29s attacked the Tokyo region and destroyed 6 square miles (15.5 km²) of Tokyo, 3.6 square miles (9.3 km²) of Kawasaki and 1.5 square miles (3.9 km²) of Yokohama for the loss of 12 bombers. On 24 April the Tachikawa aircraft engine factory at Yamato near Tokyo was destroyed by 131 B-29s, though an attack on the aircraft arsenal at Tachikawa six days later was aborted due to cloud cover; some of the heavy bombers attacked the city of Hamamatsu instead. Another precision raid was made against the Hiro Naval Aircraft Factory at Kure on 5 May when 148 B-29s inflicted heavy damage on the facility. Five days later B-29s successfully attacked oil storage facilities at Iwakuni
, Ōshima and Toyama. On 11 May a small force of B-29s also destroyed an airframe factory at Konan. XXI Bomber Command reached its full strength in April when the 58th and 315th Bombardment Wings
arrived in the Marianas; at this time the command comprised five wings equipped with B-29s and was the most powerful air unit in the world.
From mid-May XXI Bomber Command conducted an intensive firebombing campaign against Japan's main cities. A force of 472 B-29s struck Nagoya by day on 13 May and destroyed 3.15 square miles (8.2 km²) of the city. The Japanese mounted a strong defense which downed two B-29s and damaged another 64 (another eight B-29s were lost to other causes) and the Americans claimed 18 Japanese fighter "kills" as well as another 30 probables and 16 damaged. Nagoya was attacked again by 457 B-29s on the night of 16 May, and the resulting fires destroyed 3.82 square miles (9.9 km²) of the city. Japanese defenses were much weaker by night, and all but three of the bombers which were lost crashed due to mechanical problems. The two raids on Nagoya killed 3,866 Japanese and rendered another 472,701 homeless. On 19 May, 318 B-29s conducted an unsuccessful precision bombing raid on the Tachikawa Aircraft Company. XXI Bomber Command made further large-scale firebombing attacks against Tokyo on the nights of 23 and 25 May. In the first of these raids 520 B-29s destroyed 5.3 square miles (13.7 km²) of southern Tokyo for the loss of 17 aircraft and 69 damaged. The second attack involved 502 B-29 and destroyed 16.8 square miles (43.5 km²) of the city's central area, including the headquarters of several key government ministries and much of the Tokyo Imperial Palace. Japanese defenses were relatively successful, with 26 B-29s being shot down and another 100 damaged. By the end of these raids just over half (50.8 percent) of Tokyo had been destroyed and the city was removed from XXI Bomber Command's target list. The command's last major raid of May was a daylight incendiary attack on Yokohama on 29 May conducted by 517 B-29s escorted by 101 P-51s. This force was intercepted by 150 A6M Zero fighters, sparking an intense air battle in which five B-29s were shot down and another 175 damaged. In return, the P-51 pilots claimed 26 "kills" and 23 "probables" for the loss of three fighters. The 454 B-29s which reached Yokohama struck its main business district and destroyed 6.9 square miles (17.9 km²) of buildings. Overall, the attacks in May destroyed 94 square miles (243.5 km²) of buildings, which was equivalent to one seventh of Japan's total urban area. The Minister of Home Affairs
, Iwao Yamazaki, concluded after these raids that Japan's civil defense arrangements were "considered to be futile".
The firebombing campaign against major cities ended in June. On the first day of the month 521 B-29s escorted by 148 P-51s were dispatched in a daylight raid against Osaka. While en-route to the city the Mustangs flew through thick cloud, and 27 of the fighters were destroyed in collisions. Nevertheless 458 heavy bombers and 27 P-51s reached the city, and the bombardment killed 3,960 Japanese and destroyed 3.15 square miles (8.2 km²) of buildings. On 5 June, 473 B-29s struck Kobe by day and destroyed 4.35 square miles (11.3 km²) of the city for the loss of 11 bombers. Osaka was attacked again by 409 B-29s on 7 June, and these destroyed 2.21 square miles (5.7 km²) of the city without loss. The Osaka was bombed for the fourth time in the month on 15 June 15 when 444 B-29s destroyed 1.9 square miles (4.9 km²) of buildings in the city and another 0.59 square miles (1.5 km²) in nearby Amagasaki. This attack marked the end of the first phase of XXI Bomber Command's attack on Japan's cities. During May and June the bombers had destroyed much of the country's six largest cities, killing between 112,000 and 126,762 people and rendering millions homeless. The widespread destruction and high number of casualties from these raids caused many Japanese to realize that their country's military was no longer able to defend the home islands. American losses were relatively low in comparison to Japanese casualties, with 136 B-29s being downed during the campaign.
(USSBS) team which was assessing the effectiveness of air attacks on Germany that raids on Japan should be focused on the country's transportation network and other targets with the goal of crippling the movement of goods and destroying food supplies. LeMay's plan called for precision attacks on important industrial targets on days where the weather over Japan was clear and incendiary attacks guided by radar on overcast days. As both the cities and industrial facilities targeted were relatively small, the B-29 force would be sent against multiple locations on days in which attacks were conducted. This targeting policy, which was labeled the "Empire Plan", remained in force until almost the end of the war.
Five major precision bombing attacks were conducted as part of the "Empire Plan". On 9 June, two groups of B-29s bombed an aircraft factory at Narao
and another two groups raided a factory in Atsuta
; both facilities were badly damaged. A single group of B-29s also attempted to bomb a Kawasaki Aircraft Industries factory at Akashi but accidentally struck a nearby village instead. The next day XXI Bomber Command bombers escorted by 107 P-51s successfully attacked six different factories in the Tokyo Bay region. The next precision bombing raids were conducted on 22 June, when 382 B-29s attacked six targets at Kure
, Kakamigahara
, Himeji
, Mizushima and Akashi in southern Honshu. Most of the factories targeted in these raids were badly damaged. Four days later, 510 B-29s escorted by 148 P-51s were sent against nine factories in southern Honshu and Shikoku. Heavy cloud over the region meant that many of these bombers attacked targets of opportunity individually or in small groups, and little damage was done to most of the raid's intended targets. Cloudy weather prevented any further large-scale precision attacks until 24 July, when 625 B-29s were dispatched against seven targets near Nagoya and Osaka. Four of the factories attacked suffered heavy damage. Renewed cloudy weather prevented any further "Empire Plan" precision attacks from being conducted.
XXI Bomber Command began incendiary raids against small cities from 17 June. On that night, Hamamatsu, Kagoshima, Ōmuta
, Yokkaichi
were each attacked by a wing of B-29s using similar tactics to those employed in the firebombing raids against the major cities. Of the 477 B-29s dispatched, 456 struck their targets and Hamamatsu, Kagoshima, Yokkaichi suffered extensive damage; overall 6.073 square miles (15.7 km²) of buildings were destroyed. The cities were almost undefended and no B-29s were lost to Japanese actions. This operation was judged a success, and set the pattern for XXI Bomber Command's firebombing attacks until the end of the war. As the campaign continued and the most important cities were destroyed, the bombers were sent against smaller and less significant cities. On the nights that raids were conducted four cities were normally attacked, each by a wing of bombers. Two-wing operations were conducted against Fukuoka
on 19 June and Ōmuta on 26 July, however. Sixteen multi-city incendiary attacks were conducted by the end of the war (an average of two per week), with 58 different cities being struck in this period. The incendiary raids were coordinated with precision bombing attacks during the last weeks of the war in an attempt to force the Japanese Government to surrender. As the small cities were not defended by anti-aircraft guns and Japan's night fighter force was ineffective only a single B-29 was shot down during this campaign; a further 66 were damaged and 18 were lost in accidents.
The firebombing campaign against small cities continued through June and July. On the night of 19 June B-29s struck Fukuoka, Shizuoka
and Toyohashi
. On 28 June Moji
, Nobeoka
, Okayama and Sasebo
were attacked. Kumamoto
, Kure, Shimonoseki
and Ube
were struck on 1 July. Two nights later, Himeji, Kōchi
, Takamatsu
and Tokushima
were bombed. On 6 July, Akashi, Chiba
, Kōfu
and Shimizu
were attacked. Gifu
, Sakai
, Sendai and Wakayama
were struck on 9 July. Three nights later, the B-29s targeted Ichinomiya
, Tsuruga
, Utsunomiya
and Uwajima
. On 16 July, Hiratsuka
, Kuwana
, Namazu and Ōita
were attacked. Choshi
, Fukui
, Hitachi
, Okazaki
were bombed on 19 July. After a break of almost a week, Matsuyama
, Omuta and Tokuyama
were firebombed on 26 July.
The XXI Bomber Command stepped up its propaganda campaign as attacks on Japanese cities intensified. It has been estimated that B-29s dropped 10 million leaflets in May, 20 million in June and 30 million in July. The Japanese government implemented harsh penalties against civilians who kept copies of these leaflets. On the night of 27/28 July six B-29s dropped leaflets over 11 Japanese cities warning that they would be attacked in the future; this was intended to lower the morale of Japanese civilians and convince them that the United States was seeking to minimize civilian casualties. Six of these cities (Aomori
, Ichinomiya, Tsu
, Uji-Yamada
Ōgaki
and Uwajima) were attacked on 28 July. No B-29s were lost in the raids on these cities, though six were damaged by attacks from between 40 and 50 fighters and another five were damaged by anti-aircraft fire.
August 1945 began with further large-scale raids against Japanese cities. On the first of the month 836 B-29s staged the largest single raid of World War II, dropping 6,145 tons of bombs and mines. The cities of Hachiōji
, Mito
and Nagaoka
Toyama
were the main targets of this operation; all four suffered extensive damage with 99.5 percent of buildings in Toyama being destroyed. The cities of Imabari
, Maebashi
, Nishinomiya and Saga
were attacked on 5 August. These raids had also been preceded by propaganda leaflets and radio broadcasts from Saipan warning that the cities would be attacked.
From late June the 315th Bombardment Wing conducted a series of night precision bombing attacks against the Japanese oil industry, which were conducted independently of the precision day and night incendiary raids. This wing's B-29s were fitted with the advanced AN/APQ-7 radar which allowed targets to be accurately located at night. It arrived in the Marianas in April 1945 and, after a period of operational training, flew its first attack against the Utsube Oil Refinery at Yokkaichi on the night of 26 June. The 30 bombers (out of 38 dispatched) which struck the refinery destroyed or damaged 30 percent of the facility. The unit's next attack was made against a refinery at Kudamatsu
three nights later, and on the night of 2 July it struck another refinery at Minoshima
. On the night of 6/7 July the 315th Bombardment Wing destroyed the Maruzen oil refinery near Osaka, and three nights later it completed the destruction of the Utsube refinery. The wing had conducted 15 operations against Japanese oil facilities by the end of the war. During these attacks it destroyed six of the nine targets attacked for the loss of four B-29s. As Japan had almost no crude oil to refine as a result of the Allied naval blockade of the home islands, the raids against oil refineries had almost no impact on the country's war effort.
During mid-July the USAAF strategic bomber forces in the Pacific were reorganized. On 16 July XXI Bomber Command was re-designated the Twentieth Air Force and LeMay appointed its commander. Two days later the United States Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific
(USASTAF) was established at Guam under the command of General Carl Spaatz. USASTAF's role was to command the Twentieth Air Force as well as the Eighth Air Force
, which at the time was in the process of being reequipped with B-29s and transferred from Europe to Okinawa under the command of James Doolittle (who was now a General). The Commonwealth Tiger Force
, which was to include Australian, British, Canadian and New Zealand heavy bomber squadrons and attack Japan from Okinawa, was also to come under the command of USASTAF when it arrived in the region during late 1945.
s in Japan's home waters to strengthen the blockade of the country. Arnold and his staff were unenthusiastic about the Navy's proposals, as they believed that such missions would require too many Superfortresses to be diverted from precision bombing attacks. In response to repeated requests from the Navy, however, Arnold decided in November 1944 to begin mine laying operations once sufficient aircraft were available. In January LeMay selected the 313th Bombardment Wing
to be the Twentieth Air Force's specialist mine laying unit, and the Navy provided assistance with its training and logistics. LeMay also developed a plan designated Operation Starvation
to use air-dropped mines to implement a blockade
of Japan. As the United States had only occasionally used mines up to this time, the Japanese military had placed relatively little emphasis on keeping its minesweeping
force up to date. As a result, the Japanese were unprepared for a large-scale offensive.
The 313th Bombardment Wing conducted its first mine-laying operation on the night of 27/28 March when it mined the Shimonoseki Strait
to prevent Japanese warships from using this route to attack the US landing force off Okinawa. Mine-laying operations in April were disrupted by using the wing to support operations in Okinawa and participate in conventional bombing raids, but the rate of effort increased in May with missions being conducted against harbors and other choke points around Honshu and Kyushu. From an early stage the air-dropped minefields greatly disrupted Japanese coastal shipping, and they sank more ships than Allied submarine
s during May.
LeMay ordered a further increase to mine-laying sorties in June, and the 505th Bombardment Group
joined the 313th Bombardment Wing on occasion. In response to this offensive, the Japanese greatly expanded their mine-sweeping force by 349 ships and 20,000 men and deployed additional anti-aircraft guns around the Shimonoseki Strait. Overall, however, they had little success in permanently clearing minefields or downing the B-29s. As a result, many of Japan's major harbors, including those of Tokyo, Yokohama and Nagoya, became permanently closed to shipping. During the last weeks of the war B-29s continued to drop large numbers of mines off Japan and expanded the campaign into Korean waters. The 313th Bombardment Wing lost only 16 B-29s during mine-laying operations. Overall, mines dropped by Superfortresses off the Japanese home islands sank 293 ships, which represented 9.3 percent of all Japanese merchant shipping destroyed during the Pacific War and 60 percent of losses between April and August 1945. Following the war the USSBS assessed that the Twentieth Air Force should have placed a greater focus on attacking Japanese shipping, including conducting a more intensive mine-laying effort, due to the effectiveness of these attacks.
on the 19th of the month, and was conducted by Task Force 58
(TF 58). This was the US Navy's main striking force in the Pacific, and comprised 11 fleet carrier
s, five light aircraft carrier
s and a powerful force of escorts. TF 58 approached Japan undetected, and attacked airfields and aircraft factories in the Tokyo region on 16 and 17 February. The American naval aviators claimed 341 'kills' against Japanese aircraft and the destruction of a further 160 on the ground for the loss of 60 aircraft in combat and 28 in accidents. Several ships were also attacked and sunk in Tokyo Bay
. The actual Japanese aircraft losses in this operation are uncertain, however, with the Imperial General Headquarters admitting losing 78 aircraft in dogfights and not providing a figure for those destroyed on the ground. 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. The Task Force attempted further attacks on the Tokyo area on 25 February, but these were largely frustrated by bad weather and the ships sailed south to attack Okinawa from 1 March instead.
TF 58 renewed its attacks on Japan in mid-March in an attempt to reduce the Japanese aircraft available to contest the landing on Okinawa
on 1 April. On 18 March carrier aircraft struck Japanese airfields and other military facilities on Kyushu
. The next day they attacked Japanese warships at Kure
and Kobe
, damaging the battleship Yamato
and aircraft carrier Amagi
. The Japanese fought back against these raids with Kamikaze
suicide aircraft and conventional attacks, and inflicted light damage on three carriers on 18 March and severe damage on the next day. On 20 March TF 58 sailed south but continued fighter sweeps over Kyushu to suppress Japanese aircraft. During the attacks on 18 and 19 March the American naval aviators claimed to have destroyed 223 Japanese aircraft in the air and 250 on the ground while the Japanese placed their losses as 161 of the 191 aircraft they committed in the air and an unspecified number on the ground. From 23 March TF 58 conducted strikes against Okinawa, though its aircraft made further sweeps of Kyushu on the 28th and 29th of the month. Following the landing on 1 April TF 58 provided air defense for the naval force off Okinawa and regularly conducted patrols over Kyushu. In an attempt to stem the large-scale Japanese air attacks against the Allied ships, part of TF 58 struck at kamikaze aircraft bases on Kyushu and Shikoku
on 12 and 13 May. On 27 May, Admiral William Halsey
assumed command of the Fifth Fleet from Admiral Raymond A. Spruance
and it was redesignated the Third Fleet; as part of this change TF 58 became TF 38. The task force continued operations off Okinawa in late May and June, and on 2 and 3 June one of its task groups attacked airfields on Kyushu. Another attack was made against these airfields on 8 June, and on the 10th of the month TF 38 left Japanese waters for a period of recuperation at Leyte
in the Philippines.
On 1 July TF 38 sailed from Leyte to strike at the Japanese home islands. At this time it comprised nine fleet carriers, six light carriers and their escorts. On 10 July the Task Force's aircraft conducted raids on airfields in the Tokyo region, destroying several aircraft on the ground. No Japanese fighters were encountered in the air, however, as they were being kept in reserve for a planned large-scale suicide attack on the Allied fleet. Following this raid TF 38 steamed north, and began a major attack on raids on Hokkaido and northern Honshu on 14 July. These strikes continued the next day, and sank eight of the 12 railway car ferries which carried coal from Hokkaido to Honshu and damaged the remaining four. Many other ships were also destroyed in this area, including 70 out of the 272 small sailing ships which carried coal between the islands. Once again no Japanese aircraft opposed this attack, though 25 were destroyed on the ground. The loss of the railway car ferries reduced the amount of coal shipped from Hokkaido to Honshu by 80 percent, which greatly hindered production in Honshu's factories. This was the single most effective strategic air attack of the Pacific War. TF 38 also began a series of bombardments of industrial targets
by warships on 14 July which continued until almost the end of the war.
Following the attacks on Hokkaido and northern Honshu TF 8 sailed south and was reinforced by the main body of the British Pacific Fleet
, which was designated Task Force 37 and included another four fleet carriers. Strikes on the Tokyo area on 17 July were disrupted by bad weather, but the next day aircraft from the fleet attacked Yokosuka naval base
and damaged the battleship Nagato
and sank four other warships. On 24, 25 and 28 July the Allied fleet attacked Kure and the Inland Sea
and sank an aircraft carrier and three battleships, as well as two heavy cruisers, a light cruiser and several other warships. A force of 79 USAAF Liberators flying from Okinawa participated in this attack on 28 July. Allied casualties were heavy, however, with 126 aircraft being shot down. On 29 and 30 July the carrier aircraft struck at Maizuru
, sinking three small warships and 12 merchant vessels, before the fleet sailed east to avoid a typhoon and replenish its supplies. Its next attacks against Japan took place on 9 and 10 August, and were directed at a build up of Japanese aircraft in northern Honshu which Allied intelligence believed were to be used to conduct a commando raid against the B-29 bases in the Marianas
. The naval aviators claimed to have destroyed 251 aircraft in their attacks on 9 August as well as damaging a further 141, though the destroyer was badly damaged by a kamikaze while escorting TF 38. On 13 August, TF 38's aircraft attacked the Tokyo region again and claimed to have destroyed 254 Japanese aircraft on the ground and 18 in the air. Another attack was launched against Tokyo on the morning of 15 August, and the 103 aircraft of its first wave attacked their targets. The second wave aborted its attack when word was received that Japan had agreed to surrender. Several Japanese aircraft attempted to attack TF 38 later that day, however, and were shot down.
and Seventh Air Force
, which were grouped under the Far East Air Force (FEAF), attacked targets in Kyushu and western Honshu from bases in Okinawa and other locations in the Ryukyu Islands
. These raids formed part of the preparation for preparation the planned invasion of Japan. From 17 May, P-47 Thunderbolt fighters flying from the Ryukyus made frequent day and night patrols over Kyushu to disrupt the Japanese air units there. On 21 June an additional fighter group jointed this effort, and the campain was reinforced by bombers and another fighter group from 1 July. While these American operations were initially fiercely contested, from early July onwards they encountered little opposition as the Japanese aircraft were withdrawn so that they could be preserved for later operations. Between 1 and 13 July, the Americans flew 286 medium and heavy bomber sorties over Kyushu without loss. As the fighters met few Japanese aircraft, they were mainly used to attack transportation infrastructure and targets of opportunity; these included at least two strafing
attacks on groups of civilians.
Attacks on airfields and transportation infrastructure in southern Japan continued until the end of the war. By this time the Fifth Air Force's bombers had flown 138 sorties against airfields in Kyushu and the Seventh Air Force had conducted a further 784. Road and railway bridges were attacked by both fighters and bombers, and the city of Kagoshima was frequently bombed. Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators also bombed the railway terminals in the port of Nagasaki
on 31 July and 1 August. While these raids were focused on tactical targets, the Okinawa-based aircraft also made strategic attacks against industrial facilities on occasion; these included an unsuccessful raid on a coal liquefaction plant at Ōmuta on 7 August. Bombers of the Fifth and Seventh Air Forces also made firebombing attacks against Tarumizu
on 5 August, Kumamoto on 10 August and Kurume
the next day. The FEAF staged its last attacks against Japan on 12 August, though aircraft were dispatched on 14 August but recalled while en-route to their targets. Overall, the two air forces flew 6,435 sorties against targets in Kyushu during July and August for the loss of 43 aircraft to Japanese anti-aircraft guns and fighters.
, the defenders typically had only about a hour to respond to incoming forces of B-29s once they had been detected. This was not enough time for fighter units to scramble
and climb to the B-29s' cruising altitude, and as a result most heavy bomber attacks were intercepted by only small numbers of fighters. Moreover, the American bombers were capable of flying faster at high altitude than many Japanese fighters could. Japanese signals intelligence units could provide longer warning times of incoming raids by eavesdropping on the bombers' radio communications, but were unable to predict the target of the attack. From August 1944 some Japanese aircraft conducted suicide ramming attacks on B-29s, and several specialized kamikaze fighter units were established in October; by the end of the war ramming tactics had destroyed nine B-29s and damaged another 13 for the loss of 21 fighters. Japan's anti-aircraft defenses were strengthened from November 1944 when 12 centimetres (4.7 in) anti-aircraft guns began to be issued to supplement the inadequate 7.5 centimetres (3 in) and 8 centimetres (3.1 in) weapons.
Air combat was most intense in late 1944 and early 1945. Following the first B-29 raids on Tokyo, the number of IJN aircraft assigned to air defense duties was greatly increased and all the 12 centimetres (4.7 in) guns were allocated to protect the capital. Fighters stationed to defend Japan's main industrial areas frequently intercepted attacking B-29s between 24 November 1944 and 25 February 1945, causing significant losses for a period. The number of fighters available declined from late January, however. The Americans suffered few losses from Japanese fighters during the night raids which were conducted from March 1945 until the end of the war. On 15 April the IJAAF and IJN air defense units were belatedly placed under a single command when the Air General Army was formed, but by this time the fighter force's effectiveness had been greatly reduced due to high rates of attrition and casualties in training accidents. Due to the poor standard of the remaining pilots and the arrival of American fighters escorting the B-29s, the Japanese decided in April to reserve their aircraft to counter the Allied invasion. As a result, few of the subsequent Allied air attacks were intercepted. As anti-aircraft guns were mainly stationed around the main industrial areas, many Allied raids on other locations were almost unopposed. Imperial General Headquarters decided to resume attacks on Allied bombers from late June, but by this time there were too few fighters available for this change of tactics to have any results. Overall, Japanese fighters shot down 74 B-29s, anti-aircraft guns accounted for a further 54 and 19 were downed by a combination of anti-aircraft guns and fighters. IJAAF and IJN losses during the defense of Japan were 1,450 aircraft in combat and another 2,750 to other causes.
at the Kyushu Imperial University
.
Beginning in 1942 the United States, with assistance from Britain and other Allied countries, devoted considerable resources to developing nuclear weapon
s through the Manhattan Project
. In December 1944 the USAAF's 509th Composite Group
was formed under the command of Colonel Paul Tibbets
to deliver these weapons once they were complete and, after a period of training, it deployed to Tinian during May and June 1945. On 16 July the "Trinity" test of the first nuclear bomb was successful. Four days later the 509th Composite Group's modified "Silverplate
" B-29s began flying practice raids against Japanese cities, each armed with a single high explosive "pumpkin" bomb
; further practice missions were conducted on 24, 26 and 29 July. Japanese fighters did not attempt to intercept these aircraft, and their bombing altitude of 30000 feet (9,144 m) was beyond the range of most anti-aircraft guns. Meanwhile, on 24 July President Harry S. Truman
approved the use of atomic bombs against Japan, and the next day General Spaatz received written orders to this effect. These orders specified that the first attack should be made after 3 August, and named Hiroshima
, Kokura
, Niigata and Nagasaki as the targets for the atomic bombs. On 26 July the United States, Britain and China issued the Potsdam Declaration
which demanded Japan's surrender after warning that the country would be devastated if the war continued. The Japanese Government rejected the Allied demands on 28 July.
Hiroshima was attacked on 6 August. At 8:15 A.M local time the B-29 Enola Gay
, which was piloted by Colonel Tibbets, dropped "Little Boy" over the center of the city. The resulting explosion killed tens of thousands of people and destroyed about 4.7 square miles (12.2 km²) of buildings. The six American aircraft involved in this attack returned to the Marianas safely. Postwar estimates of casualties from the attack on Hiroshima range from 66,000 to 80,000 fatalities and 69,000 to 151,000 injured. Tens of thousands more subsequently died as a result of radiation and other injuries from the attack; it has been estimated that 140,000 people had died as a result of the atomic bomb by the end of 1945 the total number of fatalities have been estimated to be as high as 230,000. Of the survivors of the bombing, 171,000 were rendered homeless.
Following the attack, a statement from President Truman was broadcast which announced that the United States had used an atomic bomb against Hiroshima and that further air attacks would be conducted on Japanese industrial facilities and transportation network. The statement included a threat that if Japan did not surrender under the terms specified in the Potsdam Declaration it would be subjected to "a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on earth". Two days later, daylight incendiary raids were made against the cities of Yawata and Fukuyama
; these attacks destroyed 21 percent of Yawata's urban area and over 73 percent of Fukuyama. Japanese aircraft intercepted the force dispatched against Yawata and shot down a B-29 and five of the escorting P-47s for the loss of approximately 12 fighters.
The second atomic bomb attack was made on 9 August. On this day, the B-29 Bockscar
was dispatched to attack Kokura with the "Fat Man
" bomb. The city was found to be covered in smoke and haze, however, and as a result, the plane's pilot, Major Charles Sweeney
, decided to attack the secondary target of Nagasaki instead. The bomb was dropped at 10:58 A.M. local time, and the resulting 20 kiloton
explosion destroyed 1.45 square miles (3.8 km²) of buildings in the Urakami
district. Estimates of Japanese casualties range from 23,753 to 45,000 killed and 25,000 to 60,000 wounded. Official Japanese figures in the late 1990s state the total killed exceeded 100,000. The effect of the attack on Nagasaki on the city's industrial production was crippling. Steel production was set back by one year, electrical power was severely reduced for two months and arms production was greatly reduced. All the American aircraft involved in the operation returned safely to Tinian. The Soviet invasion of Manchuria also began on 9 August, with the Red Army
making rapid progress. On this day B-29s dropped three million leaflets on Japanese cities which claimed that atomic bombs would be used to destroy all the country's military resources unless the Emperor ended the war.
In response to the atomic bomb attacks and Soviet intervention, the Japanese Government began negotiations with the Allies about the terms of surrender on 10 August. During this period B-29 attacks on Japan were limited to a raid by the 315th Bombardment Wing against an oil target on the night of 9/10 August and a daytime precision bombing attack on a factory in Tokyo on 10 August. The next day, President Truman ordered a halt to the bombing due to the possibility that it would be seen as a sign that peace negotiations had failed. On 11 August General Spaatz also issued a new targeting directive for any renewed attacks which reduced the emphasis on bombing cities in favor of intensified attacks on transportation infrastructure. On 13 August, B-29s dropped copies of the Japanese government's conditional offer to surrender over Japanese cities. Negotiations appeared to be stalled, and on 14 August Spaatz received orders to resume the bombing campaign. General Arnold requested the largest attack possible, and hoped that USASTAF could dispatch 1,000 aircraft against the Tokyo region and other locations in Japan. In the event, 828 B-29s escorted by 186 fighters (for a total of 1,014 aircraft) were dispatched; during the day aircraft conducted precision attacks on targets at Iwakuni, Osaka and Tokoyama and at night the cities of Kumagaya
and Isesaki
were firebombed. While the Eighth Air Force units at Okinawa had not yet conducted any missions against Japan, General Doolittle decided against contributing aircraft to this operation as he did not want to risk the lives of the men under this command when the war was effectively over. These were the last attacks conducted against Japan by heavy bombers, as at noon on 15 August the Japanese Emperor Hirohito
made a radio broadcast announcing his country's intention to surrender.
Limited air operations continued over Japan in the weeks following the Japanese Government's decision to surrender. On 17 and 18 August, B-32 Dominators flying reconnaissance missions from Okinawa were attacked by IJN fighters near Tokyo. From 17 August the Twentieth Air Force was made responsible for supplying Allied POW camps in Japan, Korea and China until the prisoners were evacuated. Supply drops began 10 days later, and continued until 20 September. During this period the B-29s flew almost 1,000 sorties and delivered close to 4,500 tons of supplies. Eight aircraft crashed during these missions and another was damaged by a Soviet fighter over Korea. While General Spaatz ordered that B-29s and fighters fly continuous show of force
patrols of the Tokyo area from 19 August until the formal surrender ceremony took place, these operations were initially frustrated by bad weather and logistics problems. The first patrols were not flown until 30 August, when they were made in conjunction with the landing of General Douglas MacArthur
and the US Army's 11th Airborne Divisionat Atsugi airfield
. A similar operation was conducted the next day, and on 2 September 462 B-29s and many naval aircraft overflew the Allied fleet in Tokyo Bay after the surrender ceremony on board concluded.
Allied air units participated in the occupation of Japan after the war. Advance parties of the FEAF began to arrive at Atsugi airfield on 30 August, and units of the Fifth Air Force were established across the Japanese home islands during September and October. Besides transporting occupation troops, the Fifth Air Force conducted armed patrols over Japan and Korea as well as many photo reconnaissance and mapping sorties. Royal Australian Air Force
, British Royal Air Force
, Indian Air Force
, Royal New Zealand Air Force
, U.S. Navy and United States Marine Corps air units were also deployed to Japan for occupation duties. There was no Japanese resistance to the Allied occupation, and the number of air units stationed in the country was gradually reduced from late 1945.
Japan's bomb-damaged cities were rebuilt after the war. War damage and the need to rehouse soldiers and civilians returning from overseas resulted in a shortage of 4.2 million units of housing which, combined with food shortages, led to many civilians being forced to live in harsh conditions during the months after the war. In September 1945 the Japanese Government offered to provide material for 300,000 small temporary houses to evacuees, but the emphasis of its policies in this year and 1946 was to stop people returning to the damaged cities. The reconstruction of 115 cities began in 1946, and this work was conducted in line with guidelines developed by the Japanese Government. The Allied occupation authorities were not involved in the urban rebuilding effort, but permitted this work to go ahead despite criticizing it as being inappropriate given Japan's status as a defeated country. Requisitions of land and buildings for use by the occupation force and a requirement that the Japanese Government prioritize the construction of housing for the Allied troops interfered with reconstruction, however. In many cities rebuilding was accompanied by a process of land readjustment which sought to improve the urban layout, though the success of both land readjustment and rebuilding programs varied between locations. Overall, most of the new buildings were of poor quality and it was not until well after the war, that major urban improvement
projects were undertaken.
methodology, and this figure is also occasionally cited. The USSBS' investigators regarded the work of their statistical teams as unsatisfactory, however, and the researchers were unable to calculate the error rate of this estimate. The postwar Japanese Government calculated in 1949 that the number of deaths from air attack in the Home Islands was 323,495. The Twentieth Air Force lost 414 B-29s during attacks on Japan. Over 2,600 American bomber crew members were killed, including POWs who died in captivity, and a further 414 were wounded.
The following table provides examples of the estimated number of Japanese casualties from air attack:
Much of Japan's industrial capacity was destroyed by Allied bombing. Over 600 major industrial facilities were destroyed or badly damaged, contributing to a large decline in production. Absenteeism caused by the air attacks further reduced industrial output. It is not possible to determine the exact damage bombing caused to Japan's economy, however, as the general breakdown which occurred from late 1944 was also the result of the Allied naval blockade. Statistics complied by the USSBS show a correlation between the number of B-29 sorties directed at different industries and the amount by which their production declined, but air attacks were not the only reason for these differences. In addition to the heavy bomber attacks, the operations by Allied aircraft carriers tightened the blockade by disrupting Japanese coastal shipping; the naval aircraft were unable to carry enough bombs to affect seriously Japanese industrial plants, however. In addition to the results of air attacks, Japan's rice crop of 1945 failed. The resulting shortage of rice caused widespread malnutrition, and mass starvation would have occurred had the war continued. In financial terms, the Allied air campaign and attacks on merchant ships destroyed between one third and a quarter of Japan's wealth.
The attacks also caused extensive damage to Japan's urban areas. Approximately 40 percent of the urban area of the 66 cities subjected to area attacks were destroyed. This included the loss of about 2.5 million housing units which rendered 8.5 million people homeless. The Allied urban area attacks reduced the morale of the Japanese population, and postwar surveys
conducted by the USSBS found that air attacks were the most important factor in convincing the Japanese that the war had been lost. During the final months of the war the raids also contributed to the deterioration of the Japanese social fabric. To achieve this, the American Twentieth Strategic Air Force, in concert with its Allies, dropped 160,800 tons of bombs on the Japanese home islands. Of this total, 147,000 tons of bombs was dropped by the B-29 bomber force. Around 90 percent of the American tonnage fell in the last five months of the war.
Allied air raids significantly influenced the Japanese Government's decision to surrender. The USSBS concluded that Japan would have been forced to surrender by 1 November 1945 due to pressure from air attacks and blockade. While the Survey did not state that any single factor caused the surrender, during interrogations most Japanese wartime leaders nominated the prolonged air attacks on the home islands as being the single most important factor which influenced their decision to end the war. In particular, Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki
stated that the combination of the conventional B-29 raids, Potsdam Declaration and atomic bombings gave the Government the opportunity to begin negotiations with the Allies. Emperor Hirohito cited damage from the attacks, inadequate preparations to resist invasion and the Soviet offensive as his justifications for authorizing the surrender.
. In response to this claim, Richard B. Frank argues that this difference was attributable to the evolution in views towards bombing over the course of the war, as well as the limited intelligence on structure of the Japanese economy available to the Allies and the much greater vulnerability of Japanese cities to incendiary bombs. Barrett Tillman
has also written that due to the limitations of technology at the time, and the high winds over Japan, most 'precision' bombing of Japanese facilities also caused widespread damage to surrounding areas, and that the firebombing attacks against Japanese cities were successful in destroying the country's aircraft industry. Edwin P. Hoyt
wrote in 1987 that Japanese people commonly regard the Allied bombing of civilians as being the worst atrocity of the war.
The atomic bomb attacks have been the subject of long-running controversy
. Shortly after the attacks an opinion poll found that about 85 percent of Americans supported the use of atomic weapons, and the wartime generation believed that they had saved millions of lives. Criticisms over the decision to use the bombs have increased over time, however. Arguments made against the attacks include that Japan would have eventually surrendered and that the attacks were made to either intimidate the Soviet Union or justify the Manhattan Project. By 1994, an opinion poll found that 55 percent of Americans supported the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When registering the only dissenting opinion of the judges involved in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East
in 1947, Justice Radhabinod Pal argued that Japan's leadership had not conspired to commit atrocities and stated that the decision to conduct the atomic bomb attacks was the clearest example of a direct order to conduct "indiscriminate murder" during the Pacific War. In contrast, President Truman and, more recently, historians such as Paul Fussell
have argued that the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified as they induced the Japanese surrender.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
forces conducted many air raids on Japan which caused extensive destruction to the country's cities and killed over 300,000 people. These attacks began with the Doolittle Raid
Doolittle Raid
The Doolittle Raid, on 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese Home Islands during World War II. By demonstrating that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, it provided a vital morale boost and opportunity for U.S. retaliation after the...
in mid-April 1942, but did not resume until June 1944 when United States Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
(USAAF) B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers began a series of attacks from bases in China. From November 1944 the USAAF conducted a major strategic bombing
Strategic bombing during World War II
Strategic bombing during World War II is a term which refers to all aerial bombardment of a strategic nature between 1939 and 1945 involving any nations engaged in World War II...
offensive against Japan which continued until the end of the war. Allied naval and land-based tactical air units also raided Japan during the war's last months.
While the US military had developed plans for an air campaign against Japan prior to the Pacific War
Pacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...
, the capture of Allied bases in the western Pacific in the first weeks of the war meant that this offensive did not begin until mid-1944 when the long-ranged B-29 Superfortress was ready for use in combat. The early attacks staged via China proved unsuccessful, however. The strategic bombing campaign against Japan was greatly expanded from November 1944 when bases in the Mariana Islands
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
became available. These attacks initially targeted key industrial facilities, but from March 1945 were frequently directed against urban areas. Aircraft flying from Allied aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
s and the Ryukyu Islands
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the , is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyushu in Japan. From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew, akin to the Mandarin...
frequently attacked targets in Japan during 1945; most of these raids were made in preparation for the planned Allied invasion
Operation Downfall
Operation Downfall was the Allied plan for the invasion of Japan near the end of World War II. The operation was cancelled when Japan surrendered after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan. The operation had two parts: Operation...
which was scheduled for October 1945. The Japanese military was unable to stop the Allied attacks, and the country's civil defense
Civil defense
Civil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attack. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation, and recovery...
preparations proved inadequate. During early August 1945 the cities of Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
and Nagasaki
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...
were attacked with atomic bombs
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
. Along with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, the Allied bombing campaign was one of the main factors which influenced the Japanese Government's decision to surrender
Surrender of Japan
The surrender of Japan in 1945 brought hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent...
in mid-August 1945.
Estimates of the number of Japanese killed during the air attacks range from 300,000 to 900,000. In addition to the loss of life, the raids caused extensive damage to Japan's cities and contributed to a large decline in industrial production. There has been long-running debate over the morality of the attacks on Japan, with the use of atomic weapons being particularly controversial.
United States plans
The United States Army Air CorpsUnited States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
(which was re-designated the USAAF in June 1941) began contingency planning for an air campaign against Japan during 1940. During that year the naval attaché to the Embassy of the United States in Tokyo
Embassy of the United States in Tokyo
The Embassy of the United States in Tokyo represents the United States to Japan. Along with consulates general in Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, and Naha, the embassy provides assistance to American citizens and issues visas to foreign nationals who wish to visit or immigrate to the United...
reported on Japan's weak civil defense
Civil defense
Civil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attack. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation, and recovery...
s, and proposals were developed for US volunteer aircrew to assist the Chinese forces in the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
. The first American Volunteer Group
American Volunteer Group
The American Volunteer Groups were volunteer air units organized by the United States government to aid the Nationalist government of China against Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War...
(the 'Flying Tigers
Flying Tigers
The 1st American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force in 1941–1942, famously nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was composed of pilots from the United States Army , Navy , and Marine Corps , recruited under presidential sanction and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. The ground crew and headquarters...
') began operations as part of the Chinese Air Force in late 1941 using fighter aircraft. A second American Volunteer Group was subsequently formed to attack Japan from bases in China using Hudson
Lockheed Hudson
The Lockheed Hudson was an American-built light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built initially for the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and primarily operated by the RAF thereafter...
and A-20 Havoc medium bombers, but was diverted elsewhere in Asia following the Attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
on 7 December 1941 which led to open hostilities between the US and Japan.
Japanese successes during the opening months of the Pacific War
Pacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...
nullified pre-war US plans for attacks against the Japanese homeland. Before the outbreak of war the USAAF planned operations against Japan from Wake Island
Wake Island
Wake Island is a coral atoll having a coastline of in the North Pacific Ocean, located about two-thirds of the way from Honolulu west to Guam east. It is an unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States, administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior...
, Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and coastal areas in China. These areas were rapidly captured by Japan, however, and the USAAF heavy bomber force in the Philippines was largely destroyed when Clark Air Base
Clark Air Base
Clark Air Base is a former United States Air Force base on Luzon Island in the Philippines, located 3 miles west of Angeles City, about 40 miles northwest of Metro Manila. Clark Air Base was an American military facility from 1903 to 1991...
was attacked on 8 December 1941. The USAAF attempted to send 13 heavy bombers to China in March and April 1942 to attack the Japanese home islands. These aircraft reached India, but remained there when the Japanese conquest of Burma caused logistics problems and Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
proved reluctant to allow the aircraft to operate from territory under his control. A further 13 B-24 Liberator heavy bombers were dispatched from the United States to China in May 1942 as the HALPRO force, but were instead re-tasked to support Allied operations in the Mediterranean when they reached Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. In July 1942 the commander of the American Volunteer Group, Colonel Claire Lee Chennault
Claire Lee Chennault
Lieutenant General Claire Lee Chennault , was an American military aviator. A contentious officer, he was a fierce advocate of "pursuit" or fight-interceptor aircraft during the 1930s when the U.S. Army Air Corps was focused primarily on high-altitude bombardment...
, sought a force of 100 P-47 Thunderbolt fighters and 30 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers which he believed would be sufficient to "destroy" the Japanese aircraft industry. Three months later Chennault told President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
that a force of 105 modern fighters and 40 bombers (including 12 heavy bombers) would be able to "accomplish the downfall of Japan" within six to twelve months. These claims were not considered credible by the USAAF's headquarters, and Chennault's requests for reinforcements were not granted.
Pre-war Japanese defenses
Japan's pre-war plans to protect the country from air attack were based around neutralizing potential enemy air bases. Before the war, it was believed that the aircraft of the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
based in the country's far east
Russian Far East
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...
posed the greatest threat. The Japanese military plans for dealing with this threat called for the destruction of Soviet air bases within reach of the Home Islands at the outset of war. As a result of this offensive doctrine, few resources were allocated to build up a defensive force of fighter aircraft to protect Japan. When the Pacific War began, the Japanese government believed that the best way to prevent American air raids was to capture and hold the areas in China and the Pacific from which attacks could be launched. It was anticipated that Allies might attack the home islands using naval aircraft flying from aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
s, but any such raids were expected to be conducted on a small scale and made mainly to boost morale in the United States and Britain. In addition to an expectation that the Allies would not re-capture air bases within range of Japan, the Japanese government chose to not develop strong air defenses as the country's industrial resources were insufficient to maintain both an offensive air force in China and the Pacific as well as a defensive air force in the Home Islands.
As a result of Japan's offensive doctrine, the country's air defenses were weak at the start of the Pacific War. In early 1942 forces allocated to the defense of Japan comprised 100 Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF) and 200 Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
(IJN) fighter aircraft (many of which were obsolete) as well as 500 Army-manned and 200 IJN-manned anti-aircraft guns. Most of the IJAAF and IJN formations stationed in the home islands were training units which had only a limited ability to counter Allied attacks. The Army also operated a network of military and civilian-manned observation posts to provide warning of air attack and was in the process of building radar stations. Command and control of the air defenses was fragmented, and the IJAAF and IJN did not coordinate their activities or communicate with each other. As a result, the forces were unable to react to a sudden air attack.
Japan's civil defense
Civil defense
Civil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attack. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation, and recovery...
organization was also inadequate to cope with large-scale air attacks. Air raid drills had been held in Tokyo and Osaka since 1928, and from 1937 local governments were required to provide civilians with manuals which explained how to respond to air attacks. Few cities had full-time professional firefighter
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
s, and most relied on volunteers. Such firefighting forces that did exist lacked modern equipment and used outdated tactics. In addition, few measures were undertaken to provide air defense facilities for civilians or industry such as the construction of air-raid shelter
Air-raid shelter
Air-raid shelters, also known as bomb shelters, are structures for the protection of the civil population as well as military personnel against enemy attacks from the air...
s.
Doolittle Raid
USAAF aircraft bombed Japan for the first time in mid-April 1942. In an operation conducted primarily to raise morale in the United States, 16 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers were embarked aboard the aircraft carrier which carried them from San Francisco to within range of Japan. The aircraft were launched on 18 April, and individually bombed targets in Tokyo, YokohamaYokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
, Yokosuka, Nagoya and Kobe
Kobe
, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...
. The few Japanese air defense units were taken by surprise, and all the B-25s escaped without serious damage. The aircraft then continued to China and the Soviet Union, though several crashed in Japanese-held territory after running out of fuel. Japanese casualties were 50 killed, and over 400 wounded with about 200 houses destroyed.
Although the Doolittle Raid caused little damage, it had important ramifications. The attack raised morale in the United States and made a hero out of its commander, Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle. The weak state of Japan's air defenses greatly embarrassed the Japanese military leadership, and four fighter groups were transferred from the Pacific to defend the home islands. In an attempt to prevent further attacks, the Imperial Japanese Navy also launched an offensive in the Pacific Ocean which ended in defeat during the Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...
. The Japanese Army also conducted the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign to capture the air bases in central China at which the Doolittle Raiders had intended to land. This offensive achieved its objectives and resulted in the deaths of 250,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians, including many civilians killed in war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s. In an attempt to retaliate against the Doolittle Raid, the IJA also began developing fire balloons capable of carrying incendiary and anti-personnel bombs from Japan to the continental United States.
Bombing of the Kuril Islands
Following the Doolittle Raid, the next air attacks on Japan were made against the Kuril IslandsKuril Islands
The Kuril Islands , in Russia's Sakhalin Oblast region, form a volcanic archipelago that stretches approximately northeast from Hokkaidō, Japan, to Kamchatka, Russia, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. There are 56 islands and many more minor rocks. It consists of Greater...
in mid-1943. The liberation of Attu Island
Attu Island
Attu is the westernmost and largest island in the Near Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, making it the westernmost point of land relative to Alaska and the United States. It was the site of the only World War II land battle fought on the incorporated territory of the United States ,...
in May 1943 during the Aleutian Islands Campaign provided the USAAF with bases within range of the Kurils. As part of the preparations for the liberation of Kiska Island the Eleventh Air Force
Eleventh Air Force
The Eleventh Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces . It is headquartered at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska....
planned a series of raids against the Kurils to suppress Japanese air units stationed there. The first of these attacks was made against southern Shumshu
Shumshu
Shumshu , is the northernmost island of Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. The name of the island is derived from the Ainu language meaning “good island”. It is separated from Paramushir by the very narrow Second Kuril Strait in the northeast , its northern...
and northern Paramushir
Paramushir
Paramushir , is a volcanic island in the northern portion of Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It is separated from Shumshu by the very narrow Second Kuril Strait in the northeast , from Antsiferov by the Luzhin Strait to the southwest, from Atlasov in the...
u by eight B-25s on 10 July. A second raid was staged against the Kurils on 18 July by six B-24 Liberator heavy bombers, and the unopposed liberation of Kiska (Operation Cottage
Operation Cottage
Operation Cottage was a tactical maneuver during the Aleutian Islands campaign. In the operation, which took place on August 15, 1943, Allied military forces landed unopposed on Kiska Island, which had been occupied by Japanese forces since June, 1942. The Japanese forces, however, had secretly...
) took place on 15 August.
The Eleventh Air Force and US Navy units continued to make small-scale raids on the Kuril Islands until the closing months of the war. The USAAF attacks were broken off for five months following a raid on 11 September when nine of the 20 B-24s and B-25s dispatched were lost, but U.S. Navy PBY Catalinas continued to bomb Japanese positions in the Kurils. In response to the American attacks, the IJN established the North-East Area Fleet in August 1943 and in November that year Japanese fighter strength in the Kurils and Hokkaidō
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
peaked at 260 aircraft. The Eleventh Air Force resumed its offensive in February 1944 after it had been reinforced with two squadrons of P-38 Lightning escort fighters, and continued to attack targets in the Kurils until June 1945. While these raids caused little damage, they forced the Japanese to divert large numbers of soldiers to defend their northern islands against a potential United States invasion.
Operation Matterhorn
Preparations
In late 1943, the United States Joint Chiefs of StaffJoint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a body of senior uniformed leaders in the United States Department of Defense who advise the Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the President on military matters...
approved a proposal to begin the strategic air campaign
Strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
against the Japanese home islands and East Asia by basing B-29 Superfortress
B-29 Superfortress
The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...
heavy bombers in India and establishing forward airfields in areas of China. This strategy, which was designated Operation Matterhorn
Operation Matterhorn
Operation Matterhorn was a military operations plan of the United States Army Air Forces in World War II for the strategic bombing of Japanese forces by B-29 Superfortresses based in India and China. Targets included Japan itself, and Japanese bases in China and South East Asia...
, required the construction of large airstrips beside Chengtu
Chengdu
Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...
in inland China which would be used to refuel B-29s traveling from bases in Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
en-route to targets in Japan. XX Bomber Command
XX Bomber Command
The XX Bomber Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Far East Air Forces, based on Okinawa. It was inactivated on July 16, 1945.- History:...
was assigned responsibility for this effort, and its ground crew began to leave the United States for India during December 1943. The Twentieth Air Force
Twentieth Air Force
The Twentieth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming.20 AF's primary mission is Intercontinental Ballistic Missile operations...
was formed in April 1944 to oversee all B-29 operations. In an unprecedented move, the commander of the USAAF, General Henry H. Arnold
Henry H. Arnold
Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold was an American general officer holding the grades of General of the Army and later General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps , Commanding General of the U.S...
, took personal command of this unit and ran it from the Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
. The 58th Bombardment Wing
58th Air Division
The 58th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, based at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio. It was inactivated on 1 February 1959.- B-29 development :...
was XX Bomber Command's main combat unit, and its movement from Kansas to India took place between April and mid-May 1944.
The Japanese military began transferring fighter aircraft from China and the Pacific to the home islands in early 1944 in anticipation of B-29 raids. The IJAAF established three air divisions to defend Honshū
Honshu
is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
and Kyūshū
Kyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
, and the IJN also contributed air units to support the Army. Further anti-aircraft gun batteries and searchlight units were also formed to protect major cities and military bases. These defenses remained inadequate, however, as Japan had few aircraft and anti-aircraft guns capable of effectively engaging B-29s at their cruising altitude of 30000 feet (9,144 m) and only a small number of radar stations were established to provide early warning of raids.
In response to the Doolittle Raid and the threat of further attacks, the Japanese Government also sought to improve the country's civil defenses. The national government placed the burden of constructing civilian air-raid shelters on the prefecture governments
Prefectures of Japan
The prefectures of Japan are the country's 47 subnational jurisdictions: one "metropolis" , Tokyo; one "circuit" , Hokkaidō; two urban prefectures , Osaka and Kyoto; and 43 other prefectures . In Japanese, they are commonly referred to as...
. These governments built few shelters, however, as construction work was hindered by shortages of concrete and steel. In October 1943 the Ministry of Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs (Japan)
was a ministry in the Japanese government that existed from July 1, 1960 to January 5, 2001 and is now part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. The head of the ministry was a member of a cabinet....
directed households in the major cities to build their own shelters, though these were normally only trench
Trench
A trench is a type of excavation or depression in the ground. Trenches are generally defined by being deeper than they are wide , and by being narrow compared to their length ....
es. Tunnels and natural caves were later used to shelter civilians from B-29 raids, and less than two percent of civilians had access to bombproof air-raid shelters. A small number of sophisticated shelters were constructed for air defense headquarters and to protect key telephone facilities, however. Following the outbreak of war, the Ministry of Home Affairs expanded the number of firefighters, though these generally remained amateur volunteers who lacked adequate training and equipment. Civilians were also trained to fight fires and encouraged to swear an 'air defense oath' to respond to attacks from incendiary or high explosive bombs.
The Japanese Government took steps to prepare the country's major cities for air attacks from the autumn of 1943. In November that year, an air defense general headquarters was established and a program of demolishing large numbers of buildings in major cities to create firebreak
Firebreak
A firebreak is a gap in vegetation or other combustible material that acts as a barrier to slow or stop the progress of a bushfire or wildfire. A firebreak may occur naturally where there is a lack of vegetation or "fuel", such as a river, lake or canyon...
s began the next month. By the end of the war 614,000 housing units had been destroyed to clear firebreaks; these accounted for a fifth of all housing losses and displaced 3.5 million people. The Japanese Government also encouraged old people, children and women in cities which were believed likely to be attacked to evacuate to the countryside
Evacuations of civilians in Japan during World War II
About 8.5 million Japanese civilians were displaced from their homes between 1943 and 1945 as a result of Air raids on Japan by the U.S. Air Force . These evacuations started in December 1943 as a voluntary government program to prepare the country's main cities for bombing raids by evacuating...
from December 1943, and a program of evacuating entire classes of schoolchildren was implemented. By August 1944 330,000 schoolchildren had been evacuated in school groups and another 459,000 had moved to the countryside with their family. Little was done to disperse industrial facilities so they were less vulnerable to attack, however, as this was logistically difficult.
Attacks from China
XX Bomber Command began flying missions against Japan in mid-June 1944. The first raid took place on the night of 15/16 June when 75 B-29s were dispatched to attack the Imperial Iron and Steel WorksBombing of Yawata (June 1944)
The Bombing of Yawata on the night of 15/16 June 1944 was the first air raid on the Japanese home islands conducted by United States Army Air Forces strategic bombers during World War II. The raid was undertaken by 75 B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers staging from bases in China...
at Yawata in northern Kyūshū. This attack caused little damage and cost seven B-29s, but received positive media coverage in the United States and indicated to Japanese civilians that the war was not going well. Shortly after this raid Arnold relieved XX Bomber Command's commander, Brigadier General Kenneth Wolfe, when he was unable to make follow-up attacks on Japan due to insufficient fuel stockpiles at the bases in China. Wolfe's replacement was Major General Curtis LeMay
Curtis LeMay
Curtis Emerson LeMay was a general in the United States Air Force and the vice presidential running mate of American Independent Party candidate George Wallace in 1968....
, a veteran of Eighth Air Force
Eighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....
bombing attacks against Germany.
Subsequent B-29 raids staging through China were generally not successful. The second raid took place on 7 July when 17 B-29s attacked Sasebo
Sasebo, Nagasaki
is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. As of 2011, the city has an estimated population of 259,800 and the density of 609 persons per km². The total area is 426.47 km². The locality is famed for its scenic beauty. The city includes a part of Saikai National Park...
, Ōmura
Omura, Nagasaki
is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. As of January 1, 2009, the city has an estimated population of 89,891. The total area is 126.33 km², and includes Nagasaki Airport.-History:...
and Tobata
Tobata-ku, Kitakyushu
is a ward of Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka, Japan. It is the smallest ward of Kitakyūshū city at 16.66 km². The population was 64,330 as of the national census in 2000.-History and Geography:...
, causing little damage, and on the night of 10/11 August 24 Superfortresses attacked Nagasaki
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...
. Another unsuccessful raid was conducted against Yawata on 20 August during which 12 out of the 75 B-29s dispatched were shot down. Japanese Government propaganda claimed that 100 bombers had been downed during this attack, and one of the crashed B-29s was placed on display in Tokyo. XX Bomber Command's performance improved after LeMay instituted a training program and improved the organization of the B-29's maintenance units during August and September. A successful attack was mounted against Ōmura on 25 October which destroyed the city's small aircraft factory, though a follow-up raid on 11 November was not successful. The city was attacked again by 61 B-29s on 21 November and by 17 bombers on 19 December. XX Bomber Command made its ninth and final raid on Japan on 6 January 1945 when 28 B-29s once again bombed Ōmura. During the same period the command conducted a number of attacks on targets in Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
, China and Formosa
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
from its bases in China as well as striking targets in South East Asia from India. The command flew its final mission from India, a raid on Singapore
Bombing of Singapore (1944–1945)
The Bombing of Singapore was a military campaign conducted by the Allied air forces during World War II. United States Army Air Forces long-range bomber units conducted 11 air raids on Japanese-occupied Singapore between November 1944 and March 1945...
, on 29 March and its constituent units were then transferred to the Mariana Islands.
Operation Matterhorn was not successful. The nine raids conducted against Japan via bases in China succeeded only in destroying Ōmura's aircraft factory. XX Bomber Command lost 125 B-29s during all of its operations from bases in India and China, though only 29 were destroyed by Japanese forces. The attacks had a limited impact on Japanese civilian morale and forced the Japanese military to reinforce the home islands' air defenses at the expense of other areas. These limited successes did not justify the large allocation of Allied resources to the operation, however.
Initial attacks from the Mariana Islands
United States Marine CorpsUnited States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
and United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
forces captured the Japanese-held islands of Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
and Tinian
Tinian
Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.-Geography:Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister island, Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 sq.mi....
in the Mariana Islands
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
between June and August 1944. During the subsequent months, USAAF and U.S. Navy engineers constructed six massive airfields on the islands capable of accommodating hundreds of B-29s. These bases were much better suited to supporting an intensive air campaign against Japan than those in China as they could be easily supplied by sea and lay just 1500 miles (2,414 km) south of Japan, allowing B-29s to strike most of the home islands.
The Twentieth Air Force's XXI Bomber Command
XXI Bomber Command
The XXI Bomber Command was a unit of the Twentieth Air Force in Guam for strategic bombing during World War II.- Lineage:* Constituted as XXI Bomber Command on 1 Mar 1944, and activated the same day.-Assignments:...
began to arrive in the Mariana Islands during October 1944. The Command was led by Brigadier General Haywood S. Hansell
Haywood S. Hansell
Haywood Shepherd Hansell Jr., was a general officer in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, and later the United States Air Force...
who had also participated in Eighth Air Force operations against Germany. XXI Bomber Command B-29s flew six practice missions against targets in the Central Pacific during October and November in preparation for their first attack on Japan. On 1 November a F-13 photo reconnaissance variant of the B-29 from the 3d Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron
3d Space Operations Squadron
The United States Air Force's 3d Space Operations Squadron is a satellite operations unit located at Schriever AFB, Colorado.-Mission:...
overflew Tokyo; this was the first American aircraft over the city since the Doolittle Raid. Further F-13 sorties were conducted during early November to gather intelligence on aircraft plants and port facilities in the Tokyo–Yokosuka
Yokosuka, Kanagawa
is a city located in Kanagawa, Japan. As of 2010, the city had an estimated population of 419,067 and a population density of 4,160 people per km². It covered an area of 100.62 km²...
area. As these aircraft flew at both a high speed and high altitude, the F-13s were generally able to evade the large numbers of Japanese fighters which were scrambled to intercept them as well as the heavy anti-aircraft fire they attracted.
XXI Bomber Command's initial attacks on Japan were focused on the country's aircraft industry. The first attack, codenamed Operation San Antonio I, was made against the Musashino aircraft plant in the outskirts of Tokyo on 24 November 1944. Only 24 of the 111 B-29s dispatched attacked the raid's primary target, and the others bombed port facilities and industrial and urban areas. The Americans were intercepted by 125 Japanese fighters but only one B-29 was shot down. This attack caused some damage to the aircraft plant and further reduced Japanese civilians' confidence in the country's air defenses. In response to this raid, the Japanese military stepped-up its air attacks
Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands
During World War II, a series of Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands took place between November 1944 and January 1945. These raids targeted United States Army Air Forces bases and sought to disrupt the bombing of Japan by B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers operating from the islands...
on B-29 bases in the Mariana Islands on 27 November; these raids continued until January 1945 and resulted in the destruction of 11 Superfortresses and damage to another 43 for the loss of approximately 37 Japanese aircraft. The IJA also began launching fire balloons against the United States during November. This campaign caused little damage and was abandoned in March 1945; by this time 9,000 balloons had been dispatched but only 285 were reported to have reached the United States.
The next American raids on Japan were not successful. XXI Bomber Command attacked Tokyo a further three times between 27 November and 3 December; two of these attacks were made against the Musashino aircraft plant while the other targeted an industrial area using M-69 Incendiary cluster bomb
M-69 Incendiary cluster bomb
The M-69 incendiary cluster bomb was used to target Japanese cities during World War II. They were nicknamed 'Tokyo Calling Cards'.The bomb used napalm as an incendiary filler, improving on earlier designs which used thermite or magnesium fillers that burnt more intensely but were less...
s which had been specifically developed to attack Japanese urban areas. Little damage was caused to the aircraft plant attacked on 27 November and 3 December as high winds and clouds prevented accurate bombing. The incendiary raid conducted on the night of 29/30 November by 29 Superfortresses burnt out one tenth of a square mile and was also judged to be unsuccessful by the Twentieth Air Force's headquarters.
Four of XXI Bomber Command's next five raids were made against targets in Nagoya
Bombing of Nagoya in World War II
The Bombing of Nagoya in World War II by the United States Army Air Force took place during the closing months of the war.- History :The first was a precision bombing on December 13, 1944, the target of which was a Mitsubishi military factory. On January 3, 1945 there was a general firebombing of...
. The first two of these attacks on 13 and 18 December used precision bombing tactics, and damaged the city's aircraft plants. The third raid was a daylight incendiary attack which was conducted after the Twentieth Air Force directed that 100 B-29s armed with M-69 bombs be dispatched against Nagoya to test the effectiveness of these weapons on a Japanese city. Hansell protested this order as he believed that precision attacks were starting to produce results and moving to area bombardment
Area bombardment
In military aviation, area bombardment is aerial bombardment targeted indiscriminately at a large area, such as a city block or an entire city.Area bombing is a form of strategic bombing...
would be counter-productive, but agreed to the operation after he was assured that it did not represent a general shift in tactics. Despite the change in armament, the 22 December raid was planned as a precision attack on an aircraft factory using only 78 bombers, and bad weather over Nagoya meant that little damage was caused. XXI Bomber Command raided the Musashino aircraft plant in Tokyo again on 27 December, but did not damage the facility. On 3 January 1945 97 B-29s were dispatched to conduct an area bombing raid on Nagoya. This attack started several fires, but these were quickly brought under control.
In late December 1944 Arnold, who was disappointed with the results XXI Bomber Command had achieved up to that time, decided to relieve Hansell of his command and replace him with LeMay. The official history of the USAAF states that this decision was influenced by Arnold's desire that the command rapidly produce results and Hansell's continued focus on precision bombing when the Twentieth Air Force headquarters wanted a greater emphasis placed on area attacks. Due to his success in improving XX Bomber Command's performance, LeMay was seen as being able to solve the problems which were limiting XXI Bomber Command's performance. Hansell was informed of Arnold's decision on 6 January, but remained in his position until mid January. During this period XXI Bomber Command conducted unsuccessful precision bombing attacks on the Musashino aircraft plant in Tokyo and a Mitsubishi Aircraft Works factory in Nagoya on 9 and 14 January respectively. The last attack planned by Hansell was more successful, however, with a force of 77 B-29s crippling a Kawasaki Aircraft Industries factory near Akashi
Akashi, Hyogo
is a city located in southern Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, on the Seto Inland Sea west of Kobe.As of April 1, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 290,776, with 117,392 households, and a population density of 5,907.68 persons per km²...
on 19 January. During XXI Bomber Command's first three months of operations it suffered an average loss rate of 4.1 percent of aircraft dispatched in each raid.
In late January 1945 the Imperial General Headquarters
Imperial General Headquarters
The as part of the Supreme War Council was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime...
belatedly adopted a civil defense plan to counter American air raids. This plan assigned responsibility for fighting fires to community councils and neighborhood groups as the professional firefighting units were short-handed. Civilians were to observe a blackout
Blackout (wartime)
A blackout during war, or apprehended war, is the practice of collectively minimizing outdoor light, including upwardly directed light. This was done in the 20th century to prevent crews of enemy aircraft from being able to navigate to their targets simply by sight, for example during the London...
from 10 P.M. Japanese positions in the Bonin Islands were normally able to provide a hour's warning of American raids and air raid sirens
Civil defense siren
A civil defense siren is a mechanical or electronic device for generating sound to...
were sounded in cities threatened by attack.
The first attacks conducted under LeMay's leadership achieved mixed results. XXI Bomber Command flew six major missions between 23 January and 19 February with limited success, though an incendiary raid against Kobe
Bombing of Kobe in World War II
On March 17, 1945, 331 American B-29 bombers launched a firebombing attack against the city of Kobe, Japan. Of the city's residents, 8,841 were confirmed to have been killed in the resulting firestorms, which destroyed an area of three square miles and included 21% of Kobe's urban area. At the...
on 4 February caused significant damage to the city and its main factories. Moreover, while improved maintenance procedures implemented by LeMay reduced the number of B-29s which had to return to base due during raids due to technical problems, the command suffered a loss rate of 5.1 percent in these operations. From 19 February to 3 March XXI Bomber Command conducted a series of precision bombing raids on aircraft factories which sought to tie down Japanese air units so they could not participate in the Battle of Iwo Jima
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima , or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan. The U.S...
. These attacks were frustrated by high winds and cloud cover, and little damage was inflicted on the factories. A firebombing raid conducted against Tokyo by 172 B-29s on 25 February was considered successful, however, as it burnt or damaged approximately one square mile of the city's urban area. This attack was conducted as a large-scale test of the effectiveness of firebombing.
LeMay changes tactics
The USAAF had been assessing the feasibility of a firebombing campaign against Japanese cities since 1943. USAAF planners had determined that Japan's industry was concentrated in a small number of large cities and a high proportion of industrial production took place in residential homes and small factories located in urban areas. As a result, it was estimated that incendiary bomb attacks on Japan's six largest cities could have a major impact on the country's industrial production through causing physical damage to almost 40 percent of key industrial facilities as well as the loss of 7.6 million man-months of labor. It was estimated that such attacks would kill over 500,000 people, render about 7.75 million homeless and force almost 3.5 million to be evacuated to other areas. In preparation for such attacks the USAAF had tested the effectiveness of incendiary bombs on Japanese-style buildings at Eglin FieldEglin Air Force Base
Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately 3 miles southwest of Valparaiso, Florida in Okaloosa County....
and the "Japanese village
Japanese village
Japanese Village was the nickname for a range of residential houses constructed in 1943 by the U.S. army in the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, roughly a southwest of Salt Lake City....
" at Dugway Proving Ground
Dugway Proving Ground
Dugway Proving Ground is a US Army facility located approximately 85 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah in southern Tooele County and just north of Juab County...
. The American military also attempted to develop "bat bomb
Bat bomb
Bat bombs were bomb-shaped casings with numerous compartments, each containing a Mexican Free-tailed Bat with a small timed incendiary bomb attached. Dropped from a bomber at dawn, the casings would deploy a parachute in mid-flight and open to release the bats which would then roost in eaves and...
s", which would have involved using air-dropped bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s armed with incendiary bombs to attack Japanese cities, but this project was abandoned in 1944.
In light of the poor results of precision bombing campaign and the success of the 25 February raid in destroying a large area of Tokyo, LeMay decided to begin firebombing attacks on Japan's main cities during early March. This was in line with Arnold's targeting directive for XXI Bomber Command, which specified that Japan's urban areas should be given the second-highest priority for attacks after aircraft factories. The directive also specified that firebombing raids be conducted once the M-69 bombs had been tested in combat and number of B-29 available was sufficient to launch an intensive campaign. LeMay did not seek Arnold's specific approval before launching his firebombing campaign, however, to protect the USAAF's commander from criticism if the attacks were unsuccessful. The Twentieth Air Force's Chief of Staff, Brigadier General Lauris Norstad
Lauris Norstad
Lauris Norstad was an American General in the United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force.-Early life and military career:...
, was aware of the change in tactics though and provided support. To improve the effectiveness of the firebombing attacks, LeMay ordered the B-29s to fly at the low altitude of 5000 feet (1,524 m) and bomb by night; this represented a significant change from the Command's standard tactics which focused on high altitude daylight bombing. As Japan's force of night fighter
Night fighter
A night fighter is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility...
s was weak and its anti-aircraft batteries were less effective at night, LeMay also had most of the B-29s' defensive guns removed so they could carry more bombs. These changes were not popular with XXI Bomber Command's aircrew, as they believed that it was safer to fly heavily armed B-29s at high altitude.
March firebombing campaign
The first firebombing attack in this campaign was conducted on Tokyo on the night of 9/10 March, and proved to the single most destructive air attack of the war. XXI Bomber Command mounted a maximum effort for this operation, and on the afternoon of 9 March 346 B-29s left the Marianas bound for Tokyo. They began to arrive over the city at 2 A.M. Guam time on 10 March, and 279 bombers dropped 1,665 tons of bombs. This caused a massive firestormFirestorm
A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires, forest fires, and wildfires...
that overwhelmed Tokyo's civil defenses and destroyed 16 square miles (41.4 km²) of buildings, representing seven percent of the city's urban area. The Japanese police estimated that 83,793 people were killed, another 40,918 were injured and just over a million lost their homes; postwar estimates of deaths in this attack have ranged from 80,000 to 100,000. Damage to Tokyo's war production was also substantial. Japanese opposition to this attack was relatively weak, and American losses were limited to 14 B-29s destroyed as a result of combat or mechanical faults and a further 42 damaged by anti-aircraft fire. Following the attack on Tokyo, the Japanese Government ordered that all schoolchildren in the third to sixth grades be evacuated from the main cities, and 87 percent of them had been moved to the countryside by early April.
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
leaflets over Japan during March. These leaflets called on Japanese civilians to overthrow their government or face destruction.
The USAAF assessed that the firebombing campaign had been highly successful, and it was noted that American losses during these attacks had been much lower than those incurred during day precision raids. As a result, the Joint Target Group drew up a new set of priorities for XXI Bomber Command which left aircraft engine factories as the Command's first priority but placed stronger emphasis on continuing the attacks on Japan's main urban areas. While this bombing campaign was intended to form part of preparations for the Allied invasion of Japan, LeMay and some members of Arnold's staff believed that it alone would be sufficient to force Japan's surrender.
The Japanese government was concerned about the results of the March firebombing attacks. The raids had demonstrated that the Japanese military was unable to protect the nation's airspace and that as a result the American bombers could cause widespread damage while suffering only light losses. In addition to the extensive physical damage, the raids also caused increased absenteeism in the cities which were attacked as civilians were afraid to leave their homes and work in factories which might be bombed.
Destruction of Japan's main cities
The expanded firebombing campaign was delayed by using B-29s to support the Allied forces engaged in the Battle of OkinawaBattle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...
. In an attempt to reduce kamikaze
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
suicide attacks on the Allied invasion fleet, XXI Bomber Command was directed to attack airfields in southern Japan. These attacks began on 20 March and were expanded from the 27 March. On 3 March, the day before the landing, XXI Bomber Command mounted a diversionary precision bombing attack on industrial facilities at Tachiarai
Tachiarai, Fukuoka
is a town located in Mii District, Fukuoka, Japan.As of 2003, it has an estimated population of 15,323 and a density of 671.18 persons per km². The total area is 22.83 km².Tachiarai is divided into three neighborhoods: Ozeki, Hongō and Kikuchi...
and an airfield at Ōmura
Omura, Nagasaki
is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. As of January 1, 2009, the city has an estimated population of 89,891. The total area is 126.33 km², and includes Nagasaki Airport.-History:...
. Despite these raids, large scale kamikaze attacks were conducted against the Allied ships following the landing. As part of the Allied response, XXI Bomber Command conducted major attacks on airfields in Kyushu on 8 and 16 April, though the first of these attacks was diverted to strike residential areas in Kagoshima after the airfields were found to be covered by cloud. From 17 April until 11 May, when the B-29s were released for other duties, about three quarters of XXI Bomber Command's effort was devoted to attacking airfields and other targets in direct support of the Battle of Okinawa; this included 2,104 sorties flown against 17 airfields. These raids cost the Command 24 B-29s destroyed and 233 damaged and were not successful in completely suppressing kamikaze attacks from the airfields which were bombed. From 12 April the VII Fighter Command's
46th Fighter Wing (World War II)
The 46th Figher Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Pacific Air Forces, based on Guam. It was inactivated on 24 August 1948.-History:...
P-51 Mustang very long range fighters which were based on Iwo Jima also attacked airfields in Honshu and Kyushu. The fighter pilots claimed to have destroyed 64 Japanese aircraft and damaged another 180 on the ground as well as shooting down ten in the air; American fighter losses were, 11 aircraft in combat and seven from other causes.
Limited attacks on Japanese cities were conducted while the Battle of Okinawa continued. A night precision bombing raid was flown against the Nakajima engine factory in Tokyo by 121 B-29s on 1 April and three similar attacks were conducted against engine factories in Shizuoka, Koizumi and Tachikawa on the night of 3 April. These raids were unsuccessful as XXI Bomber Command lacked the specialized equipment needed to strike targets accurately at night, and LeMay decided against further such attacks. Small forces of B-29s struck Tokyo and nearby Kawasaki
Kawasaki, Kanagawa
is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, between Tokyo and Yokohama. It is the 9th most populated city in Japan and one of the main cities forming the Greater Tokyo Area and Keihin Industrial Area....
on 4 April. Two successful large-scale precision bombing raids were flown against aircraft factories in Tokyo and Nagoya on 7 April; the raid on Tokyo was the first to be escorted by Iwo Jima-based P-51 Mustangs, and the B-29s and fighters claimed to have shot down 101 Japanese aircraft for the loss of two P-51s and seven B-29s. Over 250 B-29s struck three different aircraft factories on 12 April, and the 73rd Bombardment Wing
73d Air Division
The 73d Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, based at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. It was inactivated on 1 April 1966.-World War II:...
inflicted heavy damage on the Musashino aircraft plant which had been attacked nine times previously. LeMay resumed night firebombing raids on 13 April when 327 B-29s attacked the arsenal district of Tokyo, destroying 11.4 square miles (29.5 km²) of the city, including several armaments factories. On 15 April, 303 B-29s attacked the Tokyo region and destroyed 6 square miles (15.5 km²) of Tokyo, 3.6 square miles (9.3 km²) of Kawasaki and 1.5 square miles (3.9 km²) of Yokohama for the loss of 12 bombers. On 24 April the Tachikawa aircraft engine factory at Yamato near Tokyo was destroyed by 131 B-29s, though an attack on the aircraft arsenal at Tachikawa six days later was aborted due to cloud cover; some of the heavy bombers attacked the city of Hamamatsu instead. Another precision raid was made against the Hiro Naval Aircraft Factory at Kure on 5 May when 148 B-29s inflicted heavy damage on the facility. Five days later B-29s successfully attacked oil storage facilities at Iwakuni
Iwakuni, Yamaguchi
is a city located in Yamaguchi, Japan.On March 20, 2006, the old city of Iwakuni absorbed the towns of Kuga, Mikawa, Miwa, Nishiki, Shūtō and Yū, and the village of Hongō, all from Kuga District, to form the new, expanded city of Iwakuni.- History :...
, Ōshima and Toyama. On 11 May a small force of B-29s also destroyed an airframe factory at Konan. XXI Bomber Command reached its full strength in April when the 58th and 315th Bombardment Wings
315th Air Division
The 315th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Pacific Air Forces, based at Tachikawa Air Base, Japan. It was inactivated in April 1969.-History:...
arrived in the Marianas; at this time the command comprised five wings equipped with B-29s and was the most powerful air unit in the world.
From mid-May XXI Bomber Command conducted an intensive firebombing campaign against Japan's main cities. A force of 472 B-29s struck Nagoya by day on 13 May and destroyed 3.15 square miles (8.2 km²) of the city. The Japanese mounted a strong defense which downed two B-29s and damaged another 64 (another eight B-29s were lost to other causes) and the Americans claimed 18 Japanese fighter "kills" as well as another 30 probables and 16 damaged. Nagoya was attacked again by 457 B-29s on the night of 16 May, and the resulting fires destroyed 3.82 square miles (9.9 km²) of the city. Japanese defenses were much weaker by night, and all but three of the bombers which were lost crashed due to mechanical problems. The two raids on Nagoya killed 3,866 Japanese and rendered another 472,701 homeless. On 19 May, 318 B-29s conducted an unsuccessful precision bombing raid on the Tachikawa Aircraft Company. XXI Bomber Command made further large-scale firebombing attacks against Tokyo on the nights of 23 and 25 May. In the first of these raids 520 B-29s destroyed 5.3 square miles (13.7 km²) of southern Tokyo for the loss of 17 aircraft and 69 damaged. The second attack involved 502 B-29 and destroyed 16.8 square miles (43.5 km²) of the city's central area, including the headquarters of several key government ministries and much of the Tokyo Imperial Palace. Japanese defenses were relatively successful, with 26 B-29s being shot down and another 100 damaged. By the end of these raids just over half (50.8 percent) of Tokyo had been destroyed and the city was removed from XXI Bomber Command's target list. The command's last major raid of May was a daylight incendiary attack on Yokohama on 29 May conducted by 517 B-29s escorted by 101 P-51s. This force was intercepted by 150 A6M Zero fighters, sparking an intense air battle in which five B-29s were shot down and another 175 damaged. In return, the P-51 pilots claimed 26 "kills" and 23 "probables" for the loss of three fighters. The 454 B-29s which reached Yokohama struck its main business district and destroyed 6.9 square miles (17.9 km²) of buildings. Overall, the attacks in May destroyed 94 square miles (243.5 km²) of buildings, which was equivalent to one seventh of Japan's total urban area. The Minister of Home Affairs
Home Ministry (Japan)
The ' was a Cabinet-level ministry established under the Meiji Constitution that managed the internal affairs of Empire of Japan from 1873-1947...
, Iwao Yamazaki, concluded after these raids that Japan's civil defense arrangements were "considered to be futile".
The firebombing campaign against major cities ended in June. On the first day of the month 521 B-29s escorted by 148 P-51s were dispatched in a daylight raid against Osaka. While en-route to the city the Mustangs flew through thick cloud, and 27 of the fighters were destroyed in collisions. Nevertheless 458 heavy bombers and 27 P-51s reached the city, and the bombardment killed 3,960 Japanese and destroyed 3.15 square miles (8.2 km²) of buildings. On 5 June, 473 B-29s struck Kobe by day and destroyed 4.35 square miles (11.3 km²) of the city for the loss of 11 bombers. Osaka was attacked again by 409 B-29s on 7 June, and these destroyed 2.21 square miles (5.7 km²) of the city without loss. The Osaka was bombed for the fourth time in the month on 15 June 15 when 444 B-29s destroyed 1.9 square miles (4.9 km²) of buildings in the city and another 0.59 square miles (1.5 km²) in nearby Amagasaki. This attack marked the end of the first phase of XXI Bomber Command's attack on Japan's cities. During May and June the bombers had destroyed much of the country's six largest cities, killing between 112,000 and 126,762 people and rendering millions homeless. The widespread destruction and high number of casualties from these raids caused many Japanese to realize that their country's military was no longer able to defend the home islands. American losses were relatively low in comparison to Japanese casualties, with 136 B-29s being downed during the campaign.
Attacks on small cities
In mid-June Arnold visited LeMay's headquarters at Saipan. On 14 June he approved a proposal to send the B-29s against 25 relatively small cities with populations ranging from 323,000 to 62,280, as well as continued precision attacks on key targets. This decision was made despite a recommendation from the United States Strategic Bombing SurveyStrategic bombing survey
The United States Strategic Bombing Survey was a board tasked with examination and analysis of the United States' involvement in the World War II. Its primary purpose was to determine the effectiveness of Allied, and more specifically American, strategic bombing campaigns in Europe and in Asia...
(USSBS) team which was assessing the effectiveness of air attacks on Germany that raids on Japan should be focused on the country's transportation network and other targets with the goal of crippling the movement of goods and destroying food supplies. LeMay's plan called for precision attacks on important industrial targets on days where the weather over Japan was clear and incendiary attacks guided by radar on overcast days. As both the cities and industrial facilities targeted were relatively small, the B-29 force would be sent against multiple locations on days in which attacks were conducted. This targeting policy, which was labeled the "Empire Plan", remained in force until almost the end of the war.
Five major precision bombing attacks were conducted as part of the "Empire Plan". On 9 June, two groups of B-29s bombed an aircraft factory at Narao
Shinkamigoto, Nagasaki
is a town located in Minamimatsuura District, Nagasaki, Japan.The town was established on August 1, 2004 after the merger of the towns of Arikawa, Kamigotō, Narao, Shin'uonome and Wakamatsu, all from Minamimatsuura District...
and another two groups raided a factory in Atsuta
Atsuta-ku, Nagoya
is one of the wards of the city of Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. At the 2005 census it had a population of 63,608. Atsuta Shrine is well known. The rolling stock manufacturer Nippon Sharyo has its headquarters in the ward.-References:...
; both facilities were badly damaged. A single group of B-29s also attempted to bomb a Kawasaki Aircraft Industries factory at Akashi but accidentally struck a nearby village instead. The next day XXI Bomber Command bombers escorted by 107 P-51s successfully attacked six different factories in the Tokyo Bay region. The next precision bombing raids were conducted on 22 June, when 382 B-29s attacked six targets at Kure
Kure, Hiroshima
is a city in Hiroshima prefecture, Japan.As of October 1, 2010, the city has an estimated population of 240,820 and a population density of 681 persons per km². The total area is 353.74 km².- History :...
, Kakamigahara
Kakamigahara, Gifu
is a city located in the Gifu Prefecture of central Japan. It was founded on 1 April 1963 by the merger of Naka, Sohara, Unuma, and Inaba. Kakamigahara covers a total area of...
, Himeji
Himeji, Hyogo
is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. As of April 1, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 535,945, with 206,409 households. The total area is 534.43 km².- History :...
, Mizushima and Akashi in southern Honshu. Most of the factories targeted in these raids were badly damaged. Four days later, 510 B-29s escorted by 148 P-51s were sent against nine factories in southern Honshu and Shikoku. Heavy cloud over the region meant that many of these bombers attacked targets of opportunity individually or in small groups, and little damage was done to most of the raid's intended targets. Cloudy weather prevented any further large-scale precision attacks until 24 July, when 625 B-29s were dispatched against seven targets near Nagoya and Osaka. Four of the factories attacked suffered heavy damage. Renewed cloudy weather prevented any further "Empire Plan" precision attacks from being conducted.
XXI Bomber Command began incendiary raids against small cities from 17 June. On that night, Hamamatsu, Kagoshima, Ōmuta
Omuta, Fukuoka
is a city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.As of January 1, 2010, the city has an estimated population of 127,126 and the density of 1,558.87 persons per km²...
, Yokkaichi
Yokkaichi, Mie
is a city located in Mie, Japan.As of October 1, 2010, the city has an estimated population of 314,393. The total area is 205.53 km².The closest major city is Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture....
were each attacked by a wing of B-29s using similar tactics to those employed in the firebombing raids against the major cities. Of the 477 B-29s dispatched, 456 struck their targets and Hamamatsu, Kagoshima, Yokkaichi suffered extensive damage; overall 6.073 square miles (15.7 km²) of buildings were destroyed. The cities were almost undefended and no B-29s were lost to Japanese actions. This operation was judged a success, and set the pattern for XXI Bomber Command's firebombing attacks until the end of the war. As the campaign continued and the most important cities were destroyed, the bombers were sent against smaller and less significant cities. On the nights that raids were conducted four cities were normally attacked, each by a wing of bombers. Two-wing operations were conducted against Fukuoka
Fukuoka
Fukuoka most often refers to the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture.It can also refer to:-Locations:* Fukuoka, Gifu, a town in Gifu Prefecture, Japan* Fukuoka, Toyama, a town in Toyama Prefecture, Japan...
on 19 June and Ōmuta on 26 July, however. Sixteen multi-city incendiary attacks were conducted by the end of the war (an average of two per week), with 58 different cities being struck in this period. The incendiary raids were coordinated with precision bombing attacks during the last weeks of the war in an attempt to force the Japanese Government to surrender. As the small cities were not defended by anti-aircraft guns and Japan's night fighter force was ineffective only a single B-29 was shot down during this campaign; a further 66 were damaged and 18 were lost in accidents.
The firebombing campaign against small cities continued through June and July. On the night of 19 June B-29s struck Fukuoka, Shizuoka
Bombing of Shizuoka in World War II
The on June 19, 1945 was part of the strategic bombing campaign waged by the United States of America against military and civilian targets and population centers during the Japan home islands campaign in the closing stages of World War II.-Background:...
and Toyohashi
Toyohashi Air Raid
The was a strategic bombing operation on the night of 19 June 1945 against the city of Toyohashi, Japan. The air raid was part of the Allies' aerial campaign against the Home Islands of the Empire of Japan during World War II.-Background:...
. On 28 June Moji
Moji-ku, Kitakyushu
is a ward of Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is the former city of Moji which was one of five cities merged to create Kitakyūshū in 1963. It faces the city of Shimonoseki across the Kanmon Straits between Honshū and Kyūshū....
, Nobeoka
Nobeoka, Miyazaki
is the northernmost city located in Miyazaki, Japan.-Population:As of the January 1, 2008 merger, the city has an estimated population of 130,435 and a population density of 150 persons per km². The total area is 867.97 km².-History:...
, Okayama and Sasebo
Sasebo, Nagasaki
is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. As of 2011, the city has an estimated population of 259,800 and the density of 609 persons per km². The total area is 426.47 km². The locality is famed for its scenic beauty. The city includes a part of Saikai National Park...
were attacked. Kumamoto
Kumamoto, Kumamoto
is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. Greater Kumamoto has a population of 1,460,000, as of the 2000 census...
, Kure, Shimonoseki
Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. It is at the southwestern tip of Honshū, facing the Tsushima Strait and also Kitakyushu across the Kanmon Straits....
and Ube
Ube, Yamaguchi
is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan on the Seto Inland Sea.As of 2010, the city has an estimated population of 179,000 and the density of 622 persons per km². The total area is 287.69 km².The city was founded on November 1, 1921....
were struck on 1 July. Two nights later, Himeji, Kōchi
Kochi, Kochi
is the capital city of Kōchi Prefecture on Shikoku island of Japan.Kōchi is the main city of the prefecture with over 40% of its population. As of May 31, 2008, the city had an estimated population of 340,515 and a density of...
, Takamatsu
Takamatsu, Kagawa
is a city located in central Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in Japan, and is the seat of the prefectural government. It is designated a core city by the Japanese Government. It is a port city located on the Seto Inland Sea, and is the closest port to Honshu from Shikoku island...
and Tokushima
Tokushima, Tokushima
is the capital city of Tokushima Prefecture on Shikoku island in Japan.As of May 1, 2011, the city had an estimated population of 263,372, with 114,325 households, and a population density of 1,377.25 persons per km². Its total area is 191.23 km²....
were bombed. On 6 July, Akashi, Chiba
Chiba, Chiba
is the capital city of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is located approximately 40 km east of the center of Tokyo on Tokyo Bay. Chiba City became a government designated city in 1992. Its population as of 2008 is approximately 960,000....
, Kōfu
Kofu, Yamanashi
is the capital city of Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan.As of May 1, 2011, the city had a estimate population of 197,540, with 85,794 households. The total area is 212.41 km².-History:Kōfu's name means "capital of Kai Province"...
and Shimizu
Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka
is one of three wards of the city of Shizuoka, in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, located in the eastern part of the city.-Geography:Shimizu is located on the coast of Suruga Bay of the Pacific Ocean and covers a wide area from a coastal plain to the hills...
were attacked. Gifu
Gifu, Gifu
is a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. During the Sengoku period, various warlords, including Oda Nobunaga, used...
, Sakai
Sakai, Osaka
is a city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the Medieval era.Following the February 2005 annexation of the town of Mihara, from Minamikawachi District, the city has grown further and is now the fourteenth most populous city in...
, Sendai and Wakayama
Wakayama, Wakayama
is the capital city of Wakayama Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan.-Background:Wakayama occupies 4% of the land area and has 40% of Wakayama prefecture's population. The city was founded on April 1, 1889....
were struck on 9 July. Three nights later, the B-29s targeted Ichinomiya
Ichinomiya, Aichi
is a city located in Aichi, Japan. The city is often called Owari-Ichinomiya to avoid confusion with another Ichinomiya . The pre-expansion city was once part of now-defunct Nakashima District until September 1, 1921....
, Tsuruga
Tsuruga, Fukui
is a city located in southern Fukui Prefecture, Japan.-Outline:One of city of Wakasa Area, present southern Fukui Prececture. Municipalized on April 1, 1937....
, Utsunomiya
Utsunomiya, Tochigi
is the capital and most populous city of Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. In October 2010 the city had an estimated population of 510,416 and a population density of 1,224.49 people per square kilometer. The total area is 416.84 km². had a population of 888,005 in the 2000 Census...
and Uwajima
Uwajima, Ehime
is a city located in Ehime, Japan. In 1595, what is now Uwajima was known as Itajima village. Takatora Tohdo became lord of the Uwa region, and ordered the restoration of Marugushi Castle...
. On 16 July, Hiratsuka
Hiratsuka, Kanagawa
is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the city had an estimated population of 259,991 and the density of 3,830 persons per km²...
, Kuwana
Kuwana, Mie
is a city located in the northern end of Mie Prefecture, Japan. It is known as a major sightseeing city in the prefecture. Located at the mouth of the three rivers dividing Mie and Aichi prefectures, the city has functioned as a regional center of fishing, industry, business, and culture.As of...
, Namazu and Ōita
Oita, Oita
is the capital city of Ōita Prefecture located on the island of Kyushu, Japan.- Demographics and geography :Ōita is the most populous city in Ōita Prefecture...
were attacked. Choshi
Choshi, Chiba
is a city located on the Pacific Ocean coast of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is the easternmost city in the Greater Tokyo Area. The easternmost point in the Greater Tokyo Area is Cape Inubō....
, Fukui
Fukui, Fukui
is the capital of Fukui Prefecture, Japan. The city is located in the north-central part of the prefecture on the coast of the Sea of Japan.-Demographics:...
, Hitachi
Hitachi, Ibaraki
is a city located on the Pacific Ocean in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Its name could be directly translated as "sunrise", but probably more appropriately adapted to "prosperous wealth" .-Demographics:...
, Okazaki
Okazaki, Aichi
is a city located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. As of August 2011, the city had an estimated population of 373,339 and a population density of 964 persons per km². The total area was 387.24 km².-Geography:...
were bombed on 19 July. After a break of almost a week, Matsuyama
Matsuyama, Ehime
is the capital city of Ehime Prefecture on the Shikoku island of Japan. It is located on the northeastern portion of the Dōgo Plain. Its name means "pine mountain." The city was founded on December 15, 1889....
, Omuta and Tokuyama
Tokuyama, Yamaguchi
was a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan.On April 21, 2003 Tokuyama was merged with the city of Shinnan'yō, the town of Kumage, from Kumage District, and the town of Kano, from Tsuno District, to form the new city of Shūnan....
were firebombed on 26 July.
The XXI Bomber Command stepped up its propaganda campaign as attacks on Japanese cities intensified. It has been estimated that B-29s dropped 10 million leaflets in May, 20 million in June and 30 million in July. The Japanese government implemented harsh penalties against civilians who kept copies of these leaflets. On the night of 27/28 July six B-29s dropped leaflets over 11 Japanese cities warning that they would be attacked in the future; this was intended to lower the morale of Japanese civilians and convince them that the United States was seeking to minimize civilian casualties. Six of these cities (Aomori
Aomori, Aomori
is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture, in the northern Tōhoku region of Japan. As of 2009, the city had an estimated population of 302,068 and a density of 366 persons per km². Its total area was 824.52 km².- History :...
, Ichinomiya, Tsu
Tsu, Mie
is the capital of Mie Prefecture, Japan. The city of Tsu is located on Ise Bay, east of the city. Tsu is bounded to the north by Suzuka and Kameyama; to the west by Iga, Nabari, and Nara Prefecture; and to the south by Matsuzaka city.-History:...
, Uji-Yamada
Ise, Mie
, formerly called Ujiyamada , is a city located in eastern Mie Prefecture, on the island of Honshū, Japan.Ise is home to Ise Grand Shrine, the most sacred Shintō Shrine in Japan, and is thus a very popular destination for tourists. The city has a long-standing nickname—Shinto —that roughly means...
Ōgaki
Ogaki, Gifu
is a city located in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. It was incorporated as a city on April 1, 1918. As of July 2011, the city has an estimated population of 160,999 and a total area of .Ōgaki was the final destination for the haiku poet Matsuo Bashō...
and Uwajima) were attacked on 28 July. No B-29s were lost in the raids on these cities, though six were damaged by attacks from between 40 and 50 fighters and another five were damaged by anti-aircraft fire.
August 1945 began with further large-scale raids against Japanese cities. On the first of the month 836 B-29s staged the largest single raid of World War II, dropping 6,145 tons of bombs and mines. The cities of Hachiōji
Hachioji, Tokyo
is a city located in Tokyo, Japan, about 40 kilometers west of the center of the special wards of Tokyo.As of January 1, 2010, the city has an estimated population of 551,901 and a population density of 2,962.27/km². The total area is 186.31 km². It is the eighth largest city in the...
, Mito
Mito, Ibaraki
is the capital of Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan and has a central location, moderately offset towards the coast in that prefecture. As of 2005, the city has an estimated population of 263,748 and a total area is 217.45 km², giving a population density of 1,212.91 persons per km²...
and Nagaoka
Nagaoka, Niigata
is a city located in the central part of Niigata Prefecture, Japan. It is the second largest city in the prefecture, behind the capital city of Niigata...
Toyama
Toyama, Toyama
is the capital city of Toyama Prefecture, Japan, located on the coast of the Sea of Japan in the Chūbu region on central Honshū, about 200 km north of the city of Nagoya and 300 km northwest of Tokyo....
were the main targets of this operation; all four suffered extensive damage with 99.5 percent of buildings in Toyama being destroyed. The cities of Imabari
Imabari, Ehime
is a city located in Ehime, Japan. It is the second largest city in Ehime prefecture.Following a recent merger, the city has an estimated population of 172,384 and density of 410.87 persons per km². The total area is .-Transportation:...
, Maebashi
Maebashi, Gunma
is the capital city of Gunma Prefecture, Japan.The city was founded on April 1, 1892, by the samurai Makuba Kawai.On December 5, 2004 the town of Ōgo, and the villages of Kasukawa and Miyagi, all from Seta District, were merged into Maebashi....
, Nishinomiya and Saga
Saga, Saga
is the capital of Saga Prefecture, located on the island of Kyūshū, Japan.Saga was the capital of Saga Domain in the Edo period, and largest city of former Hizen Province....
were attacked on 5 August. These raids had also been preceded by propaganda leaflets and radio broadcasts from Saipan warning that the cities would be attacked.
From late June the 315th Bombardment Wing conducted a series of night precision bombing attacks against the Japanese oil industry, which were conducted independently of the precision day and night incendiary raids. This wing's B-29s were fitted with the advanced AN/APQ-7 radar which allowed targets to be accurately located at night. It arrived in the Marianas in April 1945 and, after a period of operational training, flew its first attack against the Utsube Oil Refinery at Yokkaichi on the night of 26 June. The 30 bombers (out of 38 dispatched) which struck the refinery destroyed or damaged 30 percent of the facility. The unit's next attack was made against a refinery at Kudamatsu
Kudamatsu, Yamaguchi
is a city in Yamaguchi, Japan.As of 2003, the city has an estimated population of 53,082 and the density of 594.02 persons per km². The total area is 89.36 km²....
three nights later, and on the night of 2 July it struck another refinery at Minoshima
Arida, Wakayama
is a city in Wakayama, Japan. As of 2008, the city had an estimated population of 30,787 in an area totalling 36.91 km². The city was founded on May 1, 1956, when the neighbouring four towns of Minoshima, Miyazaki, Yasuda and Miahara merged to form a single city. The main industries in Arida and...
. On the night of 6/7 July the 315th Bombardment Wing destroyed the Maruzen oil refinery near Osaka, and three nights later it completed the destruction of the Utsube refinery. The wing had conducted 15 operations against Japanese oil facilities by the end of the war. During these attacks it destroyed six of the nine targets attacked for the loss of four B-29s. As Japan had almost no crude oil to refine as a result of the Allied naval blockade of the home islands, the raids against oil refineries had almost no impact on the country's war effort.
During mid-July the USAAF strategic bomber forces in the Pacific were reorganized. On 16 July XXI Bomber Command was re-designated the Twentieth Air Force and LeMay appointed its commander. Two days later the United States Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific
United States Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific
The United States Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific was a World War II command and control authority of the strategic United States Army Air Forces in the Pacific Theater.-Overview:...
(USASTAF) was established at Guam under the command of General Carl Spaatz. USASTAF's role was to command the Twentieth Air Force as well as the Eighth Air Force
Eighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....
, which at the time was in the process of being reequipped with B-29s and transferred from Europe to Okinawa under the command of James Doolittle (who was now a General). The Commonwealth Tiger Force
Tiger Force (air)
Tiger Force, also known as the Very Long Range Bomber Force, was the name given to a World War II British Commonwealth long-range heavy bomber force, formed in 1945, from squadrons serving with RAF Bomber Command in Europe, for proposed use against targets in Japan...
, which was to include Australian, British, Canadian and New Zealand heavy bomber squadrons and attack Japan from Okinawa, was also to come under the command of USASTAF when it arrived in the region during late 1945.
Aerial mine laying
From mid-1944, the US Navy pressed for B-29s to be used to lay naval mineNaval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
s in Japan's home waters to strengthen the blockade of the country. Arnold and his staff were unenthusiastic about the Navy's proposals, as they believed that such missions would require too many Superfortresses to be diverted from precision bombing attacks. In response to repeated requests from the Navy, however, Arnold decided in November 1944 to begin mine laying operations once sufficient aircraft were available. In January LeMay selected the 313th Bombardment Wing
313th Air Division
The 313th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Pacific Air Forces, based at Kadena AB, Okinawa. It was deactivated on 1 October 1991.-History:...
to be the Twentieth Air Force's specialist mine laying unit, and the Navy provided assistance with its training and logistics. LeMay also developed a plan designated Operation Starvation
Operation Starvation
Operation Starvation was an American naval mining operation conducted in World War II by the Army Air Force, in which vital water routes and ports of Japan were mined by air in order to disrupt enemy shipping.-Operation:...
to use air-dropped mines to implement a blockade
Blockade
A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...
of Japan. As the United States had only occasionally used mines up to this time, the Japanese military had placed relatively little emphasis on keeping its minesweeping
Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
force up to date. As a result, the Japanese were unprepared for a large-scale offensive.
The 313th Bombardment Wing conducted its first mine-laying operation on the night of 27/28 March when it mined the Shimonoseki Strait
Kanmon Straits
The Kanmon Straits or the Straits of Shimonoseki is the stretch of water separating two of Japan's four main islands. On the Honshū side of the water is Shimonoseki and on the Kyūshū side is Kitakyūshū, whose former city and present ward, Moji , gave the strait its "mon"...
to prevent Japanese warships from using this route to attack the US landing force off Okinawa. Mine-laying operations in April were disrupted by using the wing to support operations in Okinawa and participate in conventional bombing raids, but the rate of effort increased in May with missions being conducted against harbors and other choke points around Honshu and Kyushu. From an early stage the air-dropped minefields greatly disrupted Japanese coastal shipping, and they sank more ships than Allied submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s during May.
LeMay ordered a further increase to mine-laying sorties in June, and the 505th Bombardment Group
505th Bombardment Group
The 505th Bombardment Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Thirteenth Air Force, stationed at Clark Field, Philippines. It was inactivated on 30 June 1946...
joined the 313th Bombardment Wing on occasion. In response to this offensive, the Japanese greatly expanded their mine-sweeping force by 349 ships and 20,000 men and deployed additional anti-aircraft guns around the Shimonoseki Strait. Overall, however, they had little success in permanently clearing minefields or downing the B-29s. As a result, many of Japan's major harbors, including those of Tokyo, Yokohama and Nagoya, became permanently closed to shipping. During the last weeks of the war B-29s continued to drop large numbers of mines off Japan and expanded the campaign into Korean waters. The 313th Bombardment Wing lost only 16 B-29s during mine-laying operations. Overall, mines dropped by Superfortresses off the Japanese home islands sank 293 ships, which represented 9.3 percent of all Japanese merchant shipping destroyed during the Pacific War and 60 percent of losses between April and August 1945. Following the war the USSBS assessed that the Twentieth Air Force should have placed a greater focus on attacking Japanese shipping, including conducting a more intensive mine-laying effort, due to the effectiveness of these attacks.
Naval air attacks
The U.S. Navy conducted its first attacks against Japan since the Doolittle Raid in mid-February 1945. This operation was undertaken primarily to destroy Japanese aircraft which could attack the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps forces involved with the landing on Iwo JimaBattle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima , or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan. The U.S...
on the 19th of the month, and was conducted by Task Force 58
Fast Carrier Task Force
The Fast Carrier Task Force was the main striking force of the United States Navy in the Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II.The Fast Carrier Task Force was known under two designations. The Navy made use of two sets of upper command structures for planning the upcoming operations...
(TF 58). This was the US Navy's main striking force in the Pacific, and comprised 11 fleet carrier
Fleet carrier
A fleet carrier is an aircraft carrier that is designed to operate with the main fleet of a nation's navy. The term was developed during the Second World War, to distinguish it from the escort carrier and other lesser types...
s, five light aircraft carrier
Light aircraft carrier
A light aircraft carrier is an aircraft carrier that is smaller than the standard carriers of a navy. The precise definition of the type varies by country; light carriers typically have a complement of aircraft only ½ to ⅔ the size of a full-sized or "fleet" carrier.-History:In World War II, the...
s and a powerful force of escorts. TF 58 approached Japan undetected, and attacked airfields and aircraft factories in the Tokyo region on 16 and 17 February. The American naval aviators claimed 341 'kills' against Japanese aircraft and the destruction of a further 160 on the ground for the loss of 60 aircraft in combat and 28 in accidents. Several ships were also attacked and sunk in Tokyo Bay
Tokyo Bay
is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...
. The actual Japanese aircraft losses in this operation are uncertain, however, with the Imperial General Headquarters admitting losing 78 aircraft in dogfights and not providing a figure for those destroyed on the ground. 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. The Task Force attempted further attacks on the Tokyo area on 25 February, but these were largely frustrated by bad weather and the ships sailed south to attack Okinawa from 1 March instead.
TF 58 renewed its attacks on Japan in mid-March in an attempt to reduce the Japanese aircraft available to contest the landing on Okinawa
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...
on 1 April. On 18 March carrier aircraft struck Japanese airfields and other military facilities on Kyushu
Kyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
. The next day they attacked Japanese warships at Kure
Kure, Hiroshima
is a city in Hiroshima prefecture, Japan.As of October 1, 2010, the city has an estimated population of 240,820 and a population density of 681 persons per km². The total area is 353.74 km².- History :...
and Kobe
Kobe
, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...
, damaging the battleship Yamato
Japanese battleship Yamato
, named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, was the lead ship of the Yamato class of battleships that served with the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. She and her sister ship, Musashi, were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, displacing...
and aircraft carrier Amagi
Japanese aircraft carrier Amagi
was a of the Imperial Japanese Navy built during World War II. Named after Mount Amagi, and completed late in the war; she never embarked her complement of aircraft and did not participate in any battles. The ship capsized in July 1945 after being hit multiple times during airstrikes by American...
. The Japanese fought back against these raids with Kamikaze
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
suicide aircraft and conventional attacks, and inflicted light damage on three carriers on 18 March and severe damage on the next day. On 20 March TF 58 sailed south but continued fighter sweeps over Kyushu to suppress Japanese aircraft. During the attacks on 18 and 19 March the American naval aviators claimed to have destroyed 223 Japanese aircraft in the air and 250 on the ground while the Japanese placed their losses as 161 of the 191 aircraft they committed in the air and an unspecified number on the ground. From 23 March TF 58 conducted strikes against Okinawa, though its aircraft made further sweeps of Kyushu on the 28th and 29th of the month. Following the landing on 1 April TF 58 provided air defense for the naval force off Okinawa and regularly conducted patrols over Kyushu. In an attempt to stem the large-scale Japanese air attacks against the Allied ships, part of TF 58 struck at kamikaze aircraft bases on Kyushu and Shikoku
Shikoku
is the smallest and least populous of the four main islands of Japan, located south of Honshū and east of the island of Kyūshū. Its ancient names include Iyo-no-futana-shima , Iyo-shima , and Futana-shima...
on 12 and 13 May. On 27 May, Admiral William Halsey
William Halsey, Jr.
Fleet Admiral William Frederick Halsey, Jr., United States Navy, , was a U.S. Naval officer. He commanded the South Pacific Area during the early stages of the Pacific War against Japan...
assumed command of the Fifth Fleet from Admiral Raymond A. Spruance
Raymond A. Spruance
Raymond Ames Spruance was a United States Navy admiral in World War II.Spruance commanded US naval forces during two of the most significant naval battles in the Pacific theater, the Battle of Midway and the Battle of the Philippine Sea...
and it was redesignated the Third Fleet; as part of this change TF 58 became TF 38. The task force continued operations off Okinawa in late May and June, and on 2 and 3 June one of its task groups attacked airfields on Kyushu. Another attack was made against these airfields on 8 June, and on the 10th of the month TF 38 left Japanese waters for a period of recuperation at Leyte
Leyte Island
Leyte is an island in the Visayas group of the Philippines.The island measures about 180 km north-south and about 65 km at its widest point. In the north it nearly joins Samar, separated by the San Juanico Strait, which becomes as narrow as 2 km in some places...
in the Philippines.
On 1 July TF 38 sailed from Leyte to strike at the Japanese home islands. At this time it comprised nine fleet carriers, six light carriers and their escorts. On 10 July the Task Force's aircraft conducted raids on airfields in the Tokyo region, destroying several aircraft on the ground. No Japanese fighters were encountered in the air, however, as they were being kept in reserve for a planned large-scale suicide attack on the Allied fleet. Following this raid TF 38 steamed north, and began a major attack on raids on Hokkaido and northern Honshu on 14 July. These strikes continued the next day, and sank eight of the 12 railway car ferries which carried coal from Hokkaido to Honshu and damaged the remaining four. Many other ships were also destroyed in this area, including 70 out of the 272 small sailing ships which carried coal between the islands. Once again no Japanese aircraft opposed this attack, though 25 were destroyed on the ground. The loss of the railway car ferries reduced the amount of coal shipped from Hokkaido to Honshu by 80 percent, which greatly hindered production in Honshu's factories. This was the single most effective strategic air attack of the Pacific War. TF 38 also began a series of bombardments of industrial targets
Allied naval bombardments of Japan during World War II
During the last weeks of World War II, warships of the United States Navy, Britain's Royal Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy bombarded several cities and industrial facilities in Japan. These bombardments caused heavy damage to several of the factories targeted, as well as nearby civilian areas...
by warships on 14 July which continued until almost the end of the war.
Following the attacks on Hokkaido and northern Honshu TF 8 sailed south and was reinforced by the main body of the British Pacific Fleet
British Pacific Fleet
The British Pacific Fleet was a British Commonwealth naval force which saw action against Japan during World War II. The fleet was composed of British Commonwealth naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944...
, which was designated Task Force 37 and included another four fleet carriers. Strikes on the Tokyo area on 17 July were disrupted by bad weather, but the next day aircraft from the fleet attacked Yokosuka naval base
Attack on Yokosuka
The attack on Yokosuka was an air raid conducted by the United States Navy on 18 July 1945 during the Pacific War. The Japanese battleship Nagato was the raid's main target, though anti-aircraft positions and other warships at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal were also attacked. Other U.S. Navy and...
and damaged the battleship Nagato
Japanese battleship Nagato
Nagato was a battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy; the lead ship of her class. She was the first battleship in the world to mount 16 inch guns, her armour protection and speed made her one of the most powerful capital ships at the time of her commissioning.She was the flagship of Admiral...
and sank four other warships. On 24, 25 and 28 July the Allied fleet attacked Kure and the Inland Sea
Bombing of Kure (July 1945)
The bombing of Kure and surrounding areas by United States and British naval aircraft in late July 1945 led to the sinking of most of the surviving large warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy . The United States Third Fleet's attacks on Kure Naval Arsenal and nearby ports on 24, 25, and 28 July...
and sank an aircraft carrier and three battleships, as well as two heavy cruisers, a light cruiser and several other warships. A force of 79 USAAF Liberators flying from Okinawa participated in this attack on 28 July. Allied casualties were heavy, however, with 126 aircraft being shot down. On 29 and 30 July the carrier aircraft struck at Maizuru
Maizuru, Kyoto
is a city located in Kyōto, Japan, on an inlet of the Sea of Japan.As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 89,626 and the density of 264 persons per km². The total area is .The city was founded on May 27, 1943....
, sinking three small warships and 12 merchant vessels, before the fleet sailed east to avoid a typhoon and replenish its supplies. Its next attacks against Japan took place on 9 and 10 August, and were directed at a build up of Japanese aircraft in northern Honshu which Allied intelligence believed were to be used to conduct a commando raid against the B-29 bases in the Marianas
Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands
During World War II, a series of Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands took place between November 1944 and January 1945. These raids targeted United States Army Air Forces bases and sought to disrupt the bombing of Japan by B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers operating from the islands...
. The naval aviators claimed to have destroyed 251 aircraft in their attacks on 9 August as well as damaging a further 141, though the destroyer was badly damaged by a kamikaze while escorting TF 38. On 13 August, TF 38's aircraft attacked the Tokyo region again and claimed to have destroyed 254 Japanese aircraft on the ground and 18 in the air. Another attack was launched against Tokyo on the morning of 15 August, and the 103 aircraft of its first wave attacked their targets. The second wave aborted its attack when word was received that Japan had agreed to surrender. Several Japanese aircraft attempted to attack TF 38 later that day, however, and were shot down.
Raids from Okinawa
From May 1945 aircraft of the USAAF's Fifth Air ForceFifth Air Force
The Fifth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces . It is headquartered at Yokota Air Base, Japan....
and Seventh Air Force
Seventh Air Force
The Seventh Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces . It is headquartered at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea....
, which were grouped under the Far East Air Force (FEAF), attacked targets in Kyushu and western Honshu from bases in Okinawa and other locations in the Ryukyu Islands
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the , is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyushu in Japan. From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew, akin to the Mandarin...
. These raids formed part of the preparation for preparation the planned invasion of Japan. From 17 May, P-47 Thunderbolt fighters flying from the Ryukyus made frequent day and night patrols over Kyushu to disrupt the Japanese air units there. On 21 June an additional fighter group jointed this effort, and the campain was reinforced by bombers and another fighter group from 1 July. While these American operations were initially fiercely contested, from early July onwards they encountered little opposition as the Japanese aircraft were withdrawn so that they could be preserved for later operations. Between 1 and 13 July, the Americans flew 286 medium and heavy bomber sorties over Kyushu without loss. As the fighters met few Japanese aircraft, they were mainly used to attack transportation infrastructure and targets of opportunity; these included at least two strafing
Strafing
Strafing is the practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. This means, that although ground attack using automatic weapons fire is very often accompanied with bombing or rocket fire, the term "strafing" does not specifically include the...
attacks on groups of civilians.
Attacks on airfields and transportation infrastructure in southern Japan continued until the end of the war. By this time the Fifth Air Force's bombers had flown 138 sorties against airfields in Kyushu and the Seventh Air Force had conducted a further 784. Road and railway bridges were attacked by both fighters and bombers, and the city of Kagoshima was frequently bombed. Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators also bombed the railway terminals in the port of Nagasaki
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...
on 31 July and 1 August. While these raids were focused on tactical targets, the Okinawa-based aircraft also made strategic attacks against industrial facilities on occasion; these included an unsuccessful raid on a coal liquefaction plant at Ōmuta on 7 August. Bombers of the Fifth and Seventh Air Forces also made firebombing attacks against Tarumizu
Tarumizu, Kagoshima
is a city located in Kagoshima, Japan.As of 2003, the city has an estimated population of 19,512 and the density of 120.55 persons per km². The total area is 161.86 km².The city was founded on October 1, 1958.-External links:* *...
on 5 August, Kumamoto on 10 August and Kurume
Kurume, Fukuoka
is a city located in Fukuoka prefecture, Japan.The city has an estimated population of 303,277 and a population density of 1,319.51 persons per km²...
the next day. The FEAF staged its last attacks against Japan on 12 August, though aircraft were dispatched on 14 August but recalled while en-route to their targets. Overall, the two air forces flew 6,435 sorties against targets in Kyushu during July and August for the loss of 43 aircraft to Japanese anti-aircraft guns and fighters.
Japanese military response
Air defenses
Japan's air defenses proved inadequate to stop the Allied air attacks. Due to the short range of the country's land-based radars and Allied attacks on IJN picket shipsRadar picket
A radar picket is a radar-equipped ship, submarine, aircraft, or vehicle used to increase the radar detection range around a force to protect it from surprise attack. Often several detached radar units encircle a force to provide increased cover in all directions.-World War II:Radar picket ships...
, the defenders typically had only about a hour to respond to incoming forces of B-29s once they had been detected. This was not enough time for fighter units to scramble
Scrambling (military)
In military aviation scrambling or a scramble is the act of quickly getting fighter aircraft airborne to intercept hostile aircraft.-Historical use:...
and climb to the B-29s' cruising altitude, and as a result most heavy bomber attacks were intercepted by only small numbers of fighters. Moreover, the American bombers were capable of flying faster at high altitude than many Japanese fighters could. Japanese signals intelligence units could provide longer warning times of incoming raids by eavesdropping on the bombers' radio communications, but were unable to predict the target of the attack. From August 1944 some Japanese aircraft conducted suicide ramming attacks on B-29s, and several specialized kamikaze fighter units were established in October; by the end of the war ramming tactics had destroyed nine B-29s and damaged another 13 for the loss of 21 fighters. Japan's anti-aircraft defenses were strengthened from November 1944 when 12 centimetres (4.7 in) anti-aircraft guns began to be issued to supplement the inadequate 7.5 centimetres (3 in) and 8 centimetres (3.1 in) weapons.
Air combat was most intense in late 1944 and early 1945. Following the first B-29 raids on Tokyo, the number of IJN aircraft assigned to air defense duties was greatly increased and all the 12 centimetres (4.7 in) guns were allocated to protect the capital. Fighters stationed to defend Japan's main industrial areas frequently intercepted attacking B-29s between 24 November 1944 and 25 February 1945, causing significant losses for a period. The number of fighters available declined from late January, however. The Americans suffered few losses from Japanese fighters during the night raids which were conducted from March 1945 until the end of the war. On 15 April the IJAAF and IJN air defense units were belatedly placed under a single command when the Air General Army was formed, but by this time the fighter force's effectiveness had been greatly reduced due to high rates of attrition and casualties in training accidents. Due to the poor standard of the remaining pilots and the arrival of American fighters escorting the B-29s, the Japanese decided in April to reserve their aircraft to counter the Allied invasion. As a result, few of the subsequent Allied air attacks were intercepted. As anti-aircraft guns were mainly stationed around the main industrial areas, many Allied raids on other locations were almost unopposed. Imperial General Headquarters decided to resume attacks on Allied bombers from late June, but by this time there were too few fighters available for this change of tactics to have any results. Overall, Japanese fighters shot down 74 B-29s, anti-aircraft guns accounted for a further 54 and 19 were downed by a combination of anti-aircraft guns and fighters. IJAAF and IJN losses during the defense of Japan were 1,450 aircraft in combat and another 2,750 to other causes.
Treatment of prisoners of war
Most of the Allied airmen captured after being shot down over Japan were mistreated. The Japanese considered B-29 crewmen to be war criminals, and they were subject to trial and possible execution for indiscriminate bombing. Mobs of Japanese civilians sometimes killed downed airmen immediately after they were captured. Most captured airmen were also tortured. Overall, of the 550 Allied airmen who were captured in the Japanese home islands (excluding the Kurils), 29 were killed by civilians, 132 were murdered in prison and another 94 died from other causes, including 64 who were killed when they were deliberately not evacuated from a prison in Tokyo during the 25/26 May raid on the city. Six survivors of a B-29 shot down on 5 May were subjected to vivisectionVivisection
Vivisection is defined as surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure...
at the Kyushu Imperial University
Kyushu University
Kyushu University is one of the most prestigious universities in Japan. It can be seen in the several rankings such as shown below.-General Rankings:The university has been ranked 8th in 2010 and 2009 in the ranking "Truly Strong Universities" by Toyo Keizai...
.
Atomic bombings and final attacks
Beginning in 1942 the United States, with assistance from Britain and other Allied countries, devoted considerable resources to developing nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
s through the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
. In December 1944 the USAAF's 509th Composite Group
509th Composite Group
The 509th Composite Group was a United States Army Air Forces unit created during World War II, and tasked with operational deployment of nuclear weapons...
was formed under the command of Colonel Paul Tibbets
Paul Tibbets
Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force, best known for being the pilot of the Enola Gay, the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb in the history of warfare. The bomb, code-named Little Boy, was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima...
to deliver these weapons once they were complete and, after a period of training, it deployed to Tinian during May and June 1945. On 16 July the "Trinity" test of the first nuclear bomb was successful. Four days later the 509th Composite Group's modified "Silverplate
Silverplate
Silverplate was the code reference for the United States Army Air Forces participation in the Manhattan Project during World War II. Originally the name for the aircraft modification project for the B-29 Superfortress to enable it to drop an atomic weapon, Silverplate eventually came to identify...
" B-29s began flying practice raids against Japanese cities, each armed with a single high explosive "pumpkin" bomb
Pumpkin bomb
Pumpkin bombs were conventional high explosive aerial bombs developed by the Manhattan Project and used by the United States Army Air Forces against Japan during World War II...
; further practice missions were conducted on 24, 26 and 29 July. Japanese fighters did not attempt to intercept these aircraft, and their bombing altitude of 30000 feet (9,144 m) was beyond the range of most anti-aircraft guns. Meanwhile, on 24 July President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
approved the use of atomic bombs against Japan, and the next day General Spaatz received written orders to this effect. These orders specified that the first attack should be made after 3 August, and named Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
, Kokura
Kokura
is an ancient castle town and the center of Kitakyūshū, Japan, guarding, via its suburb Moji, the Straits of Shimonoseki between Honshū and Kyūshū. Kokura is also the name of the penultimate station on the southbound Sanyo Shinkansen line, which is owned by JR Kyūshū and an important part of the...
, Niigata and Nagasaki as the targets for the atomic bombs. On 26 July the United States, Britain and China issued the Potsdam Declaration
Potsdam Declaration
The Potsdam Declaration or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender is a statement calling for the Surrender of Japan in World War II. On July 26, 1945, United States President Harry S...
which demanded Japan's surrender after warning that the country would be devastated if the war continued. The Japanese Government rejected the Allied demands on 28 July.
Hiroshima was attacked on 6 August. At 8:15 A.M local time the B-29 Enola Gay
Enola Gay
Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, mother of the pilot, then-Colonel Paul Tibbets. On August 6, 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb as a weapon of war...
, which was piloted by Colonel Tibbets, dropped "Little Boy" over the center of the city. The resulting explosion killed tens of thousands of people and destroyed about 4.7 square miles (12.2 km²) of buildings. The six American aircraft involved in this attack returned to the Marianas safely. Postwar estimates of casualties from the attack on Hiroshima range from 66,000 to 80,000 fatalities and 69,000 to 151,000 injured. Tens of thousands more subsequently died as a result of radiation and other injuries from the attack; it has been estimated that 140,000 people had died as a result of the atomic bomb by the end of 1945 the total number of fatalities have been estimated to be as high as 230,000. Of the survivors of the bombing, 171,000 were rendered homeless.
Following the attack, a statement from President Truman was broadcast which announced that the United States had used an atomic bomb against Hiroshima and that further air attacks would be conducted on Japanese industrial facilities and transportation network. The statement included a threat that if Japan did not surrender under the terms specified in the Potsdam Declaration it would be subjected to "a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on earth". Two days later, daylight incendiary raids were made against the cities of Yawata and Fukuyama
Fukuyama, Hiroshima
is a city located on the Ashida River in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.As of January 31, 2010, the city has an estimated population of 465,238 and a population density of 898.02 persons per km². The total area is 461.23 km². After Hiroshima City, it is the largest city in Hiroshima Prefecture...
; these attacks destroyed 21 percent of Yawata's urban area and over 73 percent of Fukuyama. Japanese aircraft intercepted the force dispatched against Yawata and shot down a B-29 and five of the escorting P-47s for the loss of approximately 12 fighters.
Bockscar
Bockscar, sometimes called Bock's Car or Bocks Car, is the name of the United States Army Air Forces B-29 bomber that dropped the "Fat Man" nuclear weapon over Nagasaki on 9 August 1945, the second atomic weapon used against Japan....
was dispatched to attack Kokura with the "Fat Man
Fat Man
"Fat Man" is the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons to be used in warfare to date , and its detonation caused the third man-made nuclear explosion. The name also refers more...
" bomb. The city was found to be covered in smoke and haze, however, and as a result, the plane's pilot, Major Charles Sweeney
Charles Sweeney
Major General Charles W. Sweeney was an officer in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II and the pilot who flew the "Fat Man" atomic bomb to Nagasaki on August 9, 1945...
, decided to attack the secondary target of Nagasaki instead. The bomb was dropped at 10:58 A.M. local time, and the resulting 20 kiloton
TNT equivalent
TNT equivalent is a method of quantifying the energy released in explosions. The ton of TNT is a unit of energy equal to 4.184 gigajoules, which is approximately the amount of energy released in the detonation of one ton of TNT...
explosion destroyed 1.45 square miles (3.8 km²) of buildings in the Urakami
Urakami
Urakami was an area in the northern part of the city of Nagasaki. It is the exact ground zero where the atomic bomb exploded on August 9, 1945. It is the site of Urakami Cathedral, which was the largest cathedral in East Asia before it was destroyed by the bomb and then rebuilt.-External links:...
district. Estimates of Japanese casualties range from 23,753 to 45,000 killed and 25,000 to 60,000 wounded. Official Japanese figures in the late 1990s state the total killed exceeded 100,000. The effect of the attack on Nagasaki on the city's industrial production was crippling. Steel production was set back by one year, electrical power was severely reduced for two months and arms production was greatly reduced. All the American aircraft involved in the operation returned safely to Tinian. The Soviet invasion of Manchuria also began on 9 August, with the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
making rapid progress. On this day B-29s dropped three million leaflets on Japanese cities which claimed that atomic bombs would be used to destroy all the country's military resources unless the Emperor ended the war.
In response to the atomic bomb attacks and Soviet intervention, the Japanese Government began negotiations with the Allies about the terms of surrender on 10 August. During this period B-29 attacks on Japan were limited to a raid by the 315th Bombardment Wing against an oil target on the night of 9/10 August and a daytime precision bombing attack on a factory in Tokyo on 10 August. The next day, President Truman ordered a halt to the bombing due to the possibility that it would be seen as a sign that peace negotiations had failed. On 11 August General Spaatz also issued a new targeting directive for any renewed attacks which reduced the emphasis on bombing cities in favor of intensified attacks on transportation infrastructure. On 13 August, B-29s dropped copies of the Japanese government's conditional offer to surrender over Japanese cities. Negotiations appeared to be stalled, and on 14 August Spaatz received orders to resume the bombing campaign. General Arnold requested the largest attack possible, and hoped that USASTAF could dispatch 1,000 aircraft against the Tokyo region and other locations in Japan. In the event, 828 B-29s escorted by 186 fighters (for a total of 1,014 aircraft) were dispatched; during the day aircraft conducted precision attacks on targets at Iwakuni, Osaka and Tokoyama and at night the cities of Kumagaya
Kumagaya, Saitama
is a city in Saitama Prefecture, Japan.As of 2010, the city has an estimated population of 203,089 . The total area is 159.88 km². The city is one of the biggest in northern Saitama Prefecture. It is the administrative, business and commercial centre in northern Saitama Prefecture. Eight...
and Isesaki
Isesaki, Gunma
is a city located in Gunma, Japan. The current population is 211,021, with 80,638 households. A small city located near the geographic center of Japan's main island of Honshū, Isesaki is the fourth largest city in Gunma Prefecture and it is one of the growing cities within Gunma Prefecture...
were firebombed. While the Eighth Air Force units at Okinawa had not yet conducted any missions against Japan, General Doolittle decided against contributing aircraft to this operation as he did not want to risk the lives of the men under this command when the war was effectively over. These were the last attacks conducted against Japan by heavy bombers, as at noon on 15 August the Japanese Emperor Hirohito
Hirohito
, posthumously in Japan officially called Emperor Shōwa or , was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order, reigning from December 25, 1926, until his death in 1989. Although better known outside of Japan by his personal name Hirohito, in Japan he is now referred to...
made a radio broadcast announcing his country's intention to surrender.
Postwar
Show of force
Show of force is a military term for an operation intended to warn or intimidate an opponent and to showcase one's own capability or will to act if provoked...
patrols of the Tokyo area from 19 August until the formal surrender ceremony took place, these operations were initially frustrated by bad weather and logistics problems. The first patrols were not flown until 30 August, when they were made in conjunction with the landing of General Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
and the US Army's 11th Airborne Divisionat Atsugi airfield
Naval Air Facility Atsugi
is a naval air base located in the cities of Yamato and Ayase in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is the largest United States Navy air base in the Pacific Ocean and houses the squadrons of Carrier Air Wing 5, which deploys with the aircraft carrier...
. A similar operation was conducted the next day, and on 2 September 462 B-29s and many naval aircraft overflew the Allied fleet in Tokyo Bay after the surrender ceremony on board concluded.
Allied air units participated in the occupation of Japan after the war. Advance parties of the FEAF began to arrive at Atsugi airfield on 30 August, and units of the Fifth Air Force were established across the Japanese home islands during September and October. Besides transporting occupation troops, the Fifth Air Force conducted armed patrols over Japan and Korea as well as many photo reconnaissance and mapping sorties. Royal Australian Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
, British Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
, Indian Air Force
Indian Air Force
The Indian Air Force is the air arm of the Indian armed forces. Its primary responsibility is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during a conflict...
, Royal New Zealand Air Force
Royal New Zealand Air Force
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is the air arm of the New Zealand Defence Force...
, U.S. Navy and United States Marine Corps air units were also deployed to Japan for occupation duties. There was no Japanese resistance to the Allied occupation, and the number of air units stationed in the country was gradually reduced from late 1945.
Japan's bomb-damaged cities were rebuilt after the war. War damage and the need to rehouse soldiers and civilians returning from overseas resulted in a shortage of 4.2 million units of housing which, combined with food shortages, led to many civilians being forced to live in harsh conditions during the months after the war. In September 1945 the Japanese Government offered to provide material for 300,000 small temporary houses to evacuees, but the emphasis of its policies in this year and 1946 was to stop people returning to the damaged cities. The reconstruction of 115 cities began in 1946, and this work was conducted in line with guidelines developed by the Japanese Government. The Allied occupation authorities were not involved in the urban rebuilding effort, but permitted this work to go ahead despite criticizing it as being inappropriate given Japan's status as a defeated country. Requisitions of land and buildings for use by the occupation force and a requirement that the Japanese Government prioritize the construction of housing for the Allied troops interfered with reconstruction, however. In many cities rebuilding was accompanied by a process of land readjustment which sought to improve the urban layout, though the success of both land readjustment and rebuilding programs varied between locations. Overall, most of the new buildings were of poor quality and it was not until well after the war, that major urban improvement
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
projects were undertaken.
Results
The air attacks on Japan caused hundreds of thousands of casualties, though estimates of the number who were killed and wounded vary considerably. The strategic attacks by the Twentieth Air Force caused most of the casualties and damage. The figures most frequently cited in the literature on the campaign are sourced from the USSBS report The Effects of Bombing on Health and Medical Services in Japan which estimated that 333,000 Japanese were killed and 473,000 wounded. Another USSBS report, The Effects of Strategic Bombing on Japanese Morale, included a much higher estimate of 900,000 killed and 1.3 million injured which was reached by a Japanese research team using a statistical samplingSampling (statistics)
In statistics and survey methodology, sampling is concerned with the selection of a subset of individuals from within a population to estimate characteristics of the whole population....
methodology, and this figure is also occasionally cited. The USSBS' investigators regarded the work of their statistical teams as unsatisfactory, however, and the researchers were unable to calculate the error rate of this estimate. The postwar Japanese Government calculated in 1949 that the number of deaths from air attack in the Home Islands was 323,495. The Twentieth Air Force lost 414 B-29s during attacks on Japan. Over 2,600 American bomber crew members were killed, including POWs who died in captivity, and a further 414 were wounded.
The following table provides examples of the estimated number of Japanese casualties from air attack:
| Source | Estimate of Japanese casualties from Allied air raids |
|---|---|
| USSBS (June 1947) | The Effects of Bombing on Health and Medical Services in Japan: 333,000 killed, 473,000 wounded |
| USSBS (July 1947) | The Effects of Strategic Bombing on Japanese Morale: 900,000 killed, 1.3 million injured |
| Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (1995) | Approximately 500,000 killed |
| Frank (1999) | About 410,000 killed |
| Dower (1986) | Approximately 393,367 killed |
| Tillman (2010) | At least 330,000 killed |
| Craven and Cate (1953) | About 330,000 killed, 476,000 wounded |
| Russell (2001) | About 330,000 killed, 476,000 wounded |
| Japanese Government (1949) | 323,495 killed |
| Hoyt (2000) | 300,000 civilians killed and 500,000 wounded |
Much of Japan's industrial capacity was destroyed by Allied bombing. Over 600 major industrial facilities were destroyed or badly damaged, contributing to a large decline in production. Absenteeism caused by the air attacks further reduced industrial output. It is not possible to determine the exact damage bombing caused to Japan's economy, however, as the general breakdown which occurred from late 1944 was also the result of the Allied naval blockade. Statistics complied by the USSBS show a correlation between the number of B-29 sorties directed at different industries and the amount by which their production declined, but air attacks were not the only reason for these differences. In addition to the heavy bomber attacks, the operations by Allied aircraft carriers tightened the blockade by disrupting Japanese coastal shipping; the naval aircraft were unable to carry enough bombs to affect seriously Japanese industrial plants, however. In addition to the results of air attacks, Japan's rice crop of 1945 failed. The resulting shortage of rice caused widespread malnutrition, and mass starvation would have occurred had the war continued. In financial terms, the Allied air campaign and attacks on merchant ships destroyed between one third and a quarter of Japan's wealth.
The attacks also caused extensive damage to Japan's urban areas. Approximately 40 percent of the urban area of the 66 cities subjected to area attacks were destroyed. This included the loss of about 2.5 million housing units which rendered 8.5 million people homeless. The Allied urban area attacks reduced the morale of the Japanese population, and postwar surveys
Statistical survey
Survey methodology is the field that studies surveys, that is, the sample of individuals from a population with a view towards making statistical inferences about the population using the sample. Polls about public opinion, such as political beliefs, are reported in the news media in democracies....
conducted by the USSBS found that air attacks were the most important factor in convincing the Japanese that the war had been lost. During the final months of the war the raids also contributed to the deterioration of the Japanese social fabric. To achieve this, the American Twentieth Strategic Air Force, in concert with its Allies, dropped 160,800 tons of bombs on the Japanese home islands. Of this total, 147,000 tons of bombs was dropped by the B-29 bomber force. Around 90 percent of the American tonnage fell in the last five months of the war.
Allied air raids significantly influenced the Japanese Government's decision to surrender. The USSBS concluded that Japan would have been forced to surrender by 1 November 1945 due to pressure from air attacks and blockade. While the Survey did not state that any single factor caused the surrender, during interrogations most Japanese wartime leaders nominated the prolonged air attacks on the home islands as being the single most important factor which influenced their decision to end the war. In particular, Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki
Kantaro Suzuki
Baron was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, member and final leader of the Taisei Yokusankai and 42nd Prime Minister of Japan from 7 April-17 August 1945.-Early life:...
stated that the combination of the conventional B-29 raids, Potsdam Declaration and atomic bombings gave the Government the opportunity to begin negotiations with the Allies. Emperor Hirohito cited damage from the attacks, inadequate preparations to resist invasion and the Soviet offensive as his justifications for authorizing the surrender.
Morality
There has been debate over the morality of the air campaign against Japan since World War II. During the war the American public approved of the bombing of Germany and Japan, and the few people who criticized the raids were attacked as being unrealistic or even traitors. Some United States government and military personnel believed that the bombing campaign was morally ambiguous, however, but rarely voiced their views publicly. The moral concerns over the attacks have been focused on the large number of civilian casualties and property damage they caused. It has been suggested that the USAAF's use of widespread firebombing tactics against Japan and focus on precision bombing of targets in Germany was motivated by anti-Japanese sentimentAnti-Japanese sentiment
Anti-Japanese sentiment involves hatred, grievance, distrust, dehumanization, intimidation, fear, hostility, and/or general dislike of the Japanese people and Japanese diaspora as ethnic or national group, Japan, Japanese culture, and/or anything Japanese. Sometimes the terms Japanophobia and...
. In response to this claim, Richard B. Frank argues that this difference was attributable to the evolution in views towards bombing over the course of the war, as well as the limited intelligence on structure of the Japanese economy available to the Allies and the much greater vulnerability of Japanese cities to incendiary bombs. Barrett Tillman
Barrett Tillman
Barrett Tillman is an American author who specializes in naval and aviation topics in addition to fiction and technical writing.Tillman's most influential book to date is On Yankee Station , written with the late John B. Nichols...
has also written that due to the limitations of technology at the time, and the high winds over Japan, most 'precision' bombing of Japanese facilities also caused widespread damage to surrounding areas, and that the firebombing attacks against Japanese cities were successful in destroying the country's aircraft industry. Edwin P. Hoyt
Edwin Palmer Hoyt
Edwin Palmer Hoyt was a highly prolific American writer who specialized in military history. Until 1958 Hoyt worked in media...
wrote in 1987 that Japanese people commonly regard the Allied bombing of civilians as being the worst atrocity of the war.
The atomic bomb attacks have been the subject of long-running controversy
Debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki concerns the ethical, legal and military controversies surrounding the United States' atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 August and 9 August 1945 at the close of the Second World War...
. Shortly after the attacks an opinion poll found that about 85 percent of Americans supported the use of atomic weapons, and the wartime generation believed that they had saved millions of lives. Criticisms over the decision to use the bombs have increased over time, however. Arguments made against the attacks include that Japan would have eventually surrendered and that the attacks were made to either intimidate the Soviet Union or justify the Manhattan Project. By 1994, an opinion poll found that 55 percent of Americans supported the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When registering the only dissenting opinion of the judges involved in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East
International Military Tribunal for the Far East
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East , also known as the Tokyo Trials, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, or simply the Tribunal, was convened on April 29, 1946, to try the leaders of the Empire of Japan for three types of crimes: "Class A" crimes were reserved for those who...
in 1947, Justice Radhabinod Pal argued that Japan's leadership had not conspired to commit atrocities and stated that the decision to conduct the atomic bomb attacks was the clearest example of a direct order to conduct "indiscriminate murder" during the Pacific War. In contrast, President Truman and, more recently, historians such as Paul Fussell
Paul Fussell
Paul Fussell is an American cultural and literary historian, author and university professor. His writings cover a variety of genres, from scholarly works on eighteenth-century English literature to commentary on America’s class system...
have argued that the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified as they induced the Japanese surrender.