More people died in Tokyo than in Nagasaki from the atomic bomb. The worst bombing of World War II Did the Americans bomb Tokyo in 1942

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima was not something out of the ordinary (except for the use of a new type of weapon) and certainly did not break the “record” in terms of the number of civilians killed.

The peaceful Japanese population was systematically destroyed by the Americans. Constantly came news about the disappearance from the face of the earth of this or that city (together with the inhabitants). It has become commonplace. Strategic bombers just flew in and poured out several hundred tons of death. Japanese air defense could not fight it.

However, American General Curtis Lemay believed that things were not going too well - not enough Japanese were dying. The previous bombings of Tokyo, in 1943, 1944, 1945 did not bring the desired effect. Dropping land mines from a great height only makes a lot of noise. Lemay began to come up with various new technologies for more effective extermination of the population.

And he came up with. The planes were supposed to fly in three lines and carefully drop incendiary bombs every 15 meters. The calculation was simple: the city was densely built up with old wooden buildings. With an increase in the distance to at least 30 meters, tactics became ineffective. It was also necessary to observe the temporary regime, at night people usually sleep in their homes. Air pressure and wind direction also had to be taken into account.

All this, according to calculations, should cause a fiery tornado and burn a sufficient number of citizens.

And so it happened - the calculations turned out to be correct.

Napalm is a mixture of naphthenic and palmitic acid that is added to gasoline as a thickener. This gives the effect of slow ignition, but long burning. Burning emits acrid black smoke, causing asphyxiation. Napalm is almost impossible to extinguish with water. This viscous liquid, almost jelly, is filled into sealed containers with fuses and dropped onto the target. Houses in the city were packed tightly, napalm burned hot. That is why the fiery channels left by the bomb streams quickly merged into a single sea of ​​fire. Air turbulence spurred on the elements, creating a huge fiery tornado.

During Operation Prayer House, in one night (March 10, 1945) in Tokyo burned alive: according to American post-war data - about 100,000 people, according to Japanese - at least 300,000 (mostly old people, women and children) . Another one and a half million were left without a roof over their heads. Those who were lucky said that the water in Sumida boiled, and the steel bridge thrown over it melted, dropping drops of metal into the water.

In total, then 41 square kilometers of the city area, which was inhabited by about 10 million people, burned out, 40% of the entire housing stock (330 thousand houses) was destroyed.

The Americans also suffered losses - 14 B-29 strategists (out of 334 participating in the operation) did not return to the base. Just the fiery napalm hell created such turbulence that the pilots flying in the last wave of bombers lost control. These tragic shortcomings were subsequently eliminated, tactics were improved. Several dozen Japanese cities were subjected to this method of destruction from March 1945 until the end of the war.

General Curtis LeMay later stated, "I think if we had lost the war, I would have been tried as a war criminal."

Everyone knows how the Second World War ended, the main event was the victory of the Soviet army over Nazi Germany, but there are also special episodes that have remained in the shadow of history. Facts that in the modern world prefer to be silent and not remembered, as this does not fit into the "golden annals" of history.

The air raid on Tokyo, undertaken on the night of March 9-10, 1945, is considered one of the deadliest air raids in the history of the war. As a result of the raid, vast territories were affected, and more people died than during any of the two subsequent nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On that tragic night, 1 million homes were reportedly destroyed and the civilian death toll was estimated at between 100,000 and 200,000. Subsequently, the Japanese called this event "Black Snow Night".

The United States declared war on Japan the day after the Japanese bombing of the American Pearl Harbor. This day was called by President Roosevelt "a date that will forever remain a shame" for the United States. During the attack on Pearl Harbor, 188 American aircraft were destroyed by Japanese forces, 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 were injured.

However, the very first air raid on Tokyo took place as early as April 1942, but it was not as large and destructive as those that occurred later.

American bombing of Tokyo in response to Pearl Harbor

As soon as in 1944 the US air force was replenished with long-range bombers "B-29" under the code name "flying fortress", the US army began to be able to conduct strategic operations aimed at densely populated areas. B-29s were used first in the Marianas, after which the incessant bombing of Japanese settlements began. The results were unsatisfactory, since even in the daytime the accuracy of bombing was hampered by cloudy weather and strong winds.

While Germany was steadily moving towards surrender in the spring of 1945, Japan resisted any negotiations on admitting its defeat, and the prospect of further heavy losses in the Pacific did not suit the American authorities and President Truman, who was then in power.

In January 1945, the command of the 20th Air Army was transferred to General K. Lemay, who immediately began planning new tactics. The first reform was to move from general purpose bombs to incendiary and fragmentation bombs.

In February 1945, this strategy was applied in the bombing of Tokyo and the Japanese port of Kobe. They were carried out from a great height, and then K. Lemay switched to low-altitude attacks using incendiary bombs. This was explained by the fact that at a low altitude of 1.5 km to 2.7 km, Japanese anti-aircraft batteries were less effective.

On March 9, 1945, a total of 334 B-29 bombers took off for "Operation Meetinghouse". At the beginning, the tracker plane marked the targets with napalm bombs, and after it, at an altitude of 600 m to 760 m, the B-29 ranks followed, starting to bombard the city.

Most of the aircraft used 500-pound (226 kg.) E-46 cluster bombs, which, in turn, fired an incendiary "stuffing" M-69 with napalm. M-69s are designed to explode after being dropped at altitude, simultaneously igniting huge jets of napalm. Another type of bomb in widespread use was the 100 lb (45 kg) M-47 incendiary bomb. They were refueled with gasoline, and the principle of their action was similar to the action of the "E-46", the Americans also used phosphorus bombs, which also ignited with lightning speed.

The fire defenses of Tokyo were eliminated in the first two hours of the raid. The raid's strategy was for the first bombing strikes to be carried out in a pattern that was a huge X-outline outlining Tokyo's working-class coastal high-density areas.

The attack was further intensified by subsequent rounds of bombing, already aimed at the burning city. An endless hail of bombs set off numerous fires, which soon coalesced into one unstoppable flame that grew under the influence of a strong wind.

As a result of this fire, the area of ​​the city was reduced by almost 16 square miles due to the fire. Of the 334 B-29s that took off for the attack, 282 aircraft successfully reached their target. Part of the bombers did not return due to the fact that they were either hit by air defense systems or fell under the ascending streams of massive fires.

Air raids on Tokyo continued and subsequently, after the first bombing, the death toll reached 200,000 people. While the war in Europe ended with the defeat of Nazi Germany on May 8, 1945, the Japanese consistently either refused or ignored Allied demands for unconditional surrender. On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered. This was six days after the second atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

REAL HOLOCAUST

The bombing of Tokyo - the bombing of the Japanese capital, carried out by the US Air Force on the night of March 9-10, 1945. The air raid involved 334 B-29 strategic bombers, each of which dropped several tons of firebombs and napalm. As a result of the resulting fiery tornado, fires quickly spread in residential areas built up with wooden buildings. More than 100 thousand people died, mainly the elderly, women and children.

14 bombers were lost.

After the ineffective bombing of Japan in 1944, American General Curtis LeMay decided to adopt a new tactic, which was to carry out massive night bombings of Japanese cities with napalm incendiary bombs from low altitudes. The use of this tactic began in March 1945 and continued until the end of the war. 66 Japanese cities fell victim to this method of attack and were badly damaged.

For the first time, Tokyo was bombed on February 23, 1945 - 174 B-29 bombers destroyed about 2.56 square kilometers of the city.

Bomber B-29 Superfortress ("superfortress").

And already on the night of March 9-10, 334 bombers in two hours of attacks staged a fiery tornado, similar to the tornado during the bombing of Dresden.

On the night of March 10, 334 B-29 strategic bombers took off from airfields in the Mariana Islands and headed for the capital of Japan. Their goal was to exterminate the civilian population, since they carried only incendiary bombs with napalm on board.

Napalm is a mixture of naphthenic and palmitic acid that is added to gasoline as a thickener. This gives the effect of slow ignition, but long burning. Burning emits acrid black smoke, causing asphyxiation. Napalm is almost impossible to extinguish with water. This viscous liquid, almost jelly, is filled into sealed containers with fuses and dropped onto the target.

Ashes, debris and burnt bodies of residents on the streets of Tokyo. March 10, 1945

On this day, protective weapons and armor were removed from the B-29 in order to increase the carrying capacity. The previous bombings of Tokyo, in 1943, 1944, 1945 did not bring the desired effect. Dropping land mines from a great height only makes a lot of noise. Finally, General Curtis LeMay came up with a burnout tactic. The planes flew in three lines and carefully dropped incendiary bombs every 15 meters. The calculation was simple - the city is densely built up with old wooden buildings. With an increase in the distance to at least 30 meters, tactics became ineffective. It was also necessary to observe the temporary regime, at night people usually sleep in their homes.

Mother and child burnt to death by US firebombs in Tokyo

As a result, a real fiery hell reigned in Tokyo. The city was on fire, and clouds of smoke covered all residential areas, so it was impossible to escape. The huge area of ​​the city ruled out the possibility of misses. The carpet of "lighters" was spread out exactly, despite the night hours. The Sumida River that flowed through the city was silvery in the moonlight, and visibility was excellent. The Americans were flying low, only two kilometers above the ground, and the pilots could distinguish every house. If the Japanese had gasoline for fighters or shells for anti-aircraft guns, they would have to pay for such impudence. But the defenders of the Tokyo sky had neither one nor the other, the city was defenseless.

Houses in the city were packed tightly, napalm burned hot. That is why the fiery channels left by the bomb streams quickly merged into a single sea of ​​fire. Air turbulence spurred on the elements, creating a huge fiery tornado.

By noon, when the smoke cleared, the Americans photographed from the air a terrifying picture of how the city was almost burned to the ground. Destroyed 330 thousand houses on an area of ​​40 square meters. km. In total, then 41 square kilometers of the city area, which was inhabited by about 10 million people, burned out, 40% of the entire housing stock (330 thousand houses) was destroyed.

Those who were lucky said that the water in Sumida boiled, and the steel bridge thrown over it melted, dropping drops of metal into the water. The Americans, embarrassed, estimate the loss of that night at 100,000 people. Japanese sources, without showing exact figures, believe that the value of 300,000 burnt will be closer to the truth. Another one and a half million were left without a roof over their heads. American losses did not exceed 4% of the vehicles involved in the raid. Moreover, their main reason was the inability of the pilots of the terminal machines to cope with the air currents that arose over the dying city.

Yesterday, victims of the Soviet bombardment of the city on March 9, 1944 were commemorated in Tallinn - funeral services were held, memorial prayers were read, memorial candles were lit, requiem concerts were held, bells rang in the churches of Tallinn.

On this day, March 9, 1944 at 19:15, the first bombing hit the city and its civilians. The bombing of 9 March was not the only one. On March 6, 1944, Narva was almost completely bombed, after which, three days later and on the night of March 10, an even larger bombardment hit the capital of Estonia. According to historical data, at 19:15 and at 03:06, Soviet aircraft dropped 1,725 ​​explosive and 1,300 incendiary bombs on Tallinn.

As a result of the air raid, 554 people were killed, including 50 German soldiers and 121 prisoners of war, and 650 people were injured.

During the bombing, the Old Town was badly damaged, mainly in the vicinity of Harju Street. The building of the theater "Estonia" burned down. The Niguliste Church and the City Archives of Tallinn were damaged by fire. In general, 3350 buildings were damaged by air raids, 1549 buildings were destroyed. According to historical information, about 20,000 citizens were left homeless.

See also:

On March 10, 1945, American aircraft literally razed Tokyo to the ground. The purpose of the attack was to persuade Japan to peace, but the Land of the Rising Sun did not even think of capitulating. Alexey Durnovo about the worst bombing of World War II.

Everyone knows the tragic fate of Dresden, which the Allied aviation literally turned into ruins. A month after the first attack on Dresden, Tokyo repeated the fate of the German city. The events of March 10, 1945 are perceived in modern Japan with about the same pain as the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is also a national tragedy.

Tokyo bombing claims 100,000 lives

background

Japan has been attacked by American aircraft since the spring of 1942. But, for the time being, the bombings were not particularly effective. The US warplanes were based in China, they had to travel long distances to attack, and therefore the bombers had a limited warhead on board. In addition, Japan's air defense forces for the time being coped with US air attacks. The situation changed after the US captured the Marianas. Thus, three new American air bases appeared on the islands of Guam and Saipan. For Japan, this was more than a serious threat. Guam is separated from Tokyo by approximately one and a half thousand kilometers. And since 1944, the United States has been in service with B-29 strategic bombers, capable of carrying a large warhead and covering up to six thousand kilometers. The Andersen base, located on Guam, was considered by the United States military command as an ideal springboard for attacks on Japan.

Tokyo after the bombing

New tactics

Initially, the US target was Japanese industrial enterprises. The problem was that Japan, unlike Germany, did not build giant complexes. The strategic munitions factory could very well be located in a small wooden hangar in the center of a major city.

It was not so much a blow to production as a psychological attack.

In order to destroy such an enterprise, it was necessary to inflict considerable damage on the city itself, which inevitably involved a large number of civilian casualties. It must be said that the American command saw considerable benefit in this. Destroy a strategic object, and at the same time inflict a psychological blow on the enemy, forcing him to capitulate.

The planning for the strategic bombing of Japan was entrusted to General Curtis LeMay, who developed a truly murderous tactic. The general drew attention to the fact that the Japanese air defenses were weak in the dark, and there were almost no night fighters in service with the Empire. This is how the plan of night bombing of Japanese cities from low altitudes (one and a half to two kilometers) arose.

334 B-29 bombers literally razed Tokyo to the ground

The planes flew in three lines and dropped incendiary shells and napalm every fifteen meters. Already the first raid on Kobe in February 1945 showed the extreme effectiveness of this tactic. The next target was Tokyo, which was attacked by American bombers on the night of February 23rd-24th. 174 B-29 aircraft damaged a dozen industrial enterprises, and the napalm itself caused a huge fire. As it turned out, it was only a rehearsal.

These charred buildings were the seat of government

Tokyo

The list of targets for attacks included 66 Japanese cities. But even against the backdrop of all the other bombings, the March raid on Tokyo looks like something extraordinary. 334 bombers took part in Operation Meetinghouse (House of Prayer). Twice as much as usual. The planes rained down on the city one and a half thousand tons of incendiary shells and napalm. The main blow was taken by the center of Tokyo, but the bombing caused a severe fire, and he, in turn, a fiery tornado. The flame spread to residential areas and rapidly spread throughout the city. In conditions of strong wind, it was impossible to put out the fire. City fire services were unable to stop the fire, which lasted more than a day. The fire burned 330,000 houses. Nearly half of Tokyo's population was left homeless. The movement of transport was completely paralyzed, as well as any production in the territory of the Japanese capital. At least 100,000 people became victims of the attack, although the exact number of casualties is unknown to this day.

The bodies of those killed in the bombing of Tokyo

Effects

The American command believed that the ruthless bombardment of Tokyo would force Japan out of the war. It was this plan that made the raid on the capital possible at all. Curtis LeMay later admitted that the bombing of Tokyo was strongly opposed by Harry Truman, who at that time was still only Vice President of the United States. However, Truman did not then have a strong influence on the US military. Prior to his accession to the presidency, he did not even know about the Manhattan project. Franklin Roosevelt did not inform him of many other strategic decisions. As for the command of the headquarters, it continually offered to replace Tokyo with Yokohama, Kyoto or Hiroshima. But, in the end, it was decided to attack Tokyo, because the loss of the capital, as the command believed, would have a shocking effect on the Emperor and the government of the Land of the Rising Sun.

Despite monstrous losses, Hirohito refused to surrender

This effect has not been achieved. On March 11, Hirohito visited the devastated Tokyo. The emperor wept when he saw the smoking ruins where the city had been in bloom. However, the US offer of surrender, which followed a few days later, was ignored by Japan. Moreover, the air defense of the Land of the Rising Sun was ordered to take all possible measures to prevent night raids. On May 26, American bombers returned to again bring down napalm and land mines on Tokyo. This time they met with fierce resistance. If in March the American squadron lost 14 aircraft, then in May it was already 28. Forty more bombers were damaged.

Burning Tokyo. May 1945

The command considered these losses critical and curtailed the bombing of Tokyo. It is believed that it was after this that the decision was made to launch a nuclear attack on Japanese cities.

Previous air raids

The first air raid (the so-called "Doolittle Raid"; Doolittle Raid) on Japan took place on April 18, 1942, when 16 B-25 Mitchell aircraft, which had taken off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, attacked Yokohama and Tokyo. After the attack, the planes were supposed to land at airfields in China, but none of them flew to the landing site. All of them crashed or sank (with the exception of one that landed on the territory of the USSR and whose crew was interned). The crews of two vehicles were taken prisoner by Japanese troops.

For the bombing of Japan, mainly B-29 aircraft with a range of about 6,000 km (3,250 miles) were used, aircraft of this type dropped 90% of all bombs on Japan.

On June 15, 1944, as part of Operation Matterhorn, 68 B-29 bombers flew from the Chinese city of Chengdu, which had to fly 2,400 km. Of these, only 47 aircraft reached the target. On November 24, 1944, 88 aircraft bombed Tokyo. The bombs were dropped from 10 km (24,000 ft) and only a tenth of them hit their intended targets.

Air raids from China were ineffective due to the fact that the aircraft had to cover a long distance. To fly to Japan, additional fuel tanks were installed in the bomb bays, while reducing the load of bombs. However, after the capture of the Mariana Islands and the transfer of air bases to Guam, Saipan and Tinian, aircraft could fly with an increased supply of bombs.

Weather conditions made it difficult to carry out daytime targeted bombing, due to the presence of a high-altitude jet stream over Japan, the dropped bombs deviated from the trajectory. In addition, unlike Germany with its large industrial complexes, two-thirds of Japanese industrial enterprises were located in small buildings, with fewer than 30 workers.

General Curtis Lemay decided to use a new tactic, which consisted of conducting massive night bombings of Japanese cities and suburbs with incendiary bombs from low altitude (1.5-2 km). An air campaign based on such tactics began in March 1945 and continued until the end of the war. Its targets were 66 Japanese cities, which were heavily damaged.

In Japan, this tactic was first used on February 3, 1945, when aircraft dropped incendiary bombs on Kobe, with success. Japanese cities turned out to be extremely vulnerable to such attacks: a large number of wooden houses without fire breaks in the building contributed to the rapid spread of fires. The bombers were stripped of their protective armament and some of their armor to increase their payload, which increased from 2.6 tons in March to 7.3 tons in August. The planes flew in three lines and dropped napalm and incendiary bombs every 15 meters. With an increase in the distance to 30 meters, tactics became ineffective.

On February 23, 1945, this method was used during the bombing of Tokyo. 174 B-29 bombers destroyed about 2.56 sq. km. city ​​squares.

Plaque

To build on the success, 334 bombers took off from the Mariana Islands on the night of March 9-10. After a two-hour bombardment, a fiery tornado formed in the city, similar to the one that was during the bombing of Dresden. 41 sq. km were destroyed in the fire. area of ​​the city, 330 thousand houses burned down, 40% of the total housing stock was destroyed. The temperature was so high that people's clothes caught fire. As a result of the fires, at least 80 thousand people died, most likely more than 100 thousand people. American aviation lost 14 bombers, another 42 aircraft were damaged.

Subsequent bombings

On May 26, the third raid took place. American aviation suffered record losses - 26 bombers.

Grade

The necessity of the bombing of Tokyo is ambiguous and controversial in the circles of historians. General Curtis LeMay later stated, "I think if we had lost the war, I would have been tried as a war criminal." However, he believes that the bombing saved many lives by pushing Japan to surrender. He also believes that if the bombing continued, a ground invasion would no longer be required, since Japan would have suffered enormous damage by then. Historian Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, in Racing the Enemy (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2005), argued that the main reason for the surrender was not atomic strikes or incendiary bombardments of Japanese cities, but the attack of the USSR, which terminated the neutrality pact between the USSR and Japan and the fear of a Soviet invasion . This statement is usual for Soviet textbooks, but original for Western historiography and has been subjected to devastating criticism. For example, the Japanese historian Sadao Asada (from the University of Kyoto) published a study based, among other things, on the testimony of figures who were part of the circle that made the decision to surrender. When deciding on surrender, it was nuclear bombing that was discussed. Sakomishu Hisatsune, General Secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers, later testified: “I am sure the war would have ended the same way if the Russians had not declared war on us at all.” The entry of the USSR into the war only deprived Japan of hope for mediation, but did not threaten to invade, - the USSR simply did not have the technical means for this.

The Soviet-Japanese War was of great political and military importance. So on August 9, at an emergency meeting of the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War, Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki said:

The Soviet Army defeated the strong Kwantung Army of Japan. The Soviet Union, having entered the war with the Empire of Japan and made a significant contribution to its defeat, hastened the end of World War II. American leaders and historians have repeatedly stated that without the entry of the USSR into the war, it would have continued for at least another year and would have cost an additional several million human lives.

During the Crimean Conference, Roosevelt, in a conversation with Stalin, noted the undesirability of the landing of American troops on the Japanese islands, which would be done only in case of emergency: “The Japanese have an army of 4 million on the islands, and the landing will be fraught with heavy losses. However, if Japan is subjected to a heavy bombardment, then it can be hoped that everything will be destroyed, and in this way it will be possible to save many lives without landing on the islands.

Memory

Tokyo has a memorial complex dedicated to the bombing, a museum, as well as several monuments. Photo exhibitions are held annually in the exhibition halls. In 2005, a ceremony was held in memory of the dead, attended by two thousand people who witnessed the bombing, and Prince Akishino, the grandson of Emperor Hirohito.