[17][18] The plans for the strategic bombing offensive against Japan developed in 1943 specified that it would transition from a focus on the precision bombing of industrial targets to area bombing from around halfway in the campaign, which was forecast to be in March 1945. Meeting house Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com . After the war, the United States Strategic Bombing Survey estimated the casualties as 87,793 killed and 40,918 injured. Such was the success of MEETINGHOUSEthat the fire-bombing of Japans cities did not end with March 9-10. This attack was code-named Operation Meetinghouse by the USAAF and is known as the Great Tokyo Air Raid in Japan. [86] Many of the bombers were streaked with ashes from the fires. The turbulence was such that the bombers buffeted along with sudden altitude changes as much as 1,000 feet, up or down. The sheer destruction and violence of the raids achieved their goal. [39], LeMay decided to adopt radically different tactics for this campaign. It was getting the war over that bothered me.. It wasn't B-17 Flying Fortresses that did the job, as Marshall had predicted, but the new. The plaintiffs also claimed that the Japanese Government had violated the post-war constitution by compensating the military victims of the raid and their families, but not civilians. It destroyed 16 square miles and 100,000 people. Over a thousand bodies were counted in the pool, which was full to the top with water the night before, but in the morning was bone-dry. They carried extra fuel, additional radios and XXI Bomber Command's best radio operators instead of bombs, and circled Tokyo at an altitude of 25,000 feet (7,600m) throughout the raid. [124] A post-strike assessment by XXI Bomber Command attributed the scale of damage to the firebombing being concentrated on a specific area, with the bombers attacking within a short timeframe, and the strong winds present over Tokyo. He believed that changing the emphasis from precision bombing to area bombing was the most promising option to turn the XXI Bomber Command's performance around. Your email address will not be published. It is the centre of the organisation and it oversees various functions of the business, acting as a mechanism for control. Burnt charcoal-like piles on streets, corners, and inside homeswere stark reminders that a human being had burned to death on that spot. As many bodies were not recovered, the number of fatalities is higher than this number. Grant is a historian who has written extensively on many aspects and periods of history. The most important of these was the weather; the American raiders frequently encountered cloudy conditions and high winds over Japan which made accurate bombing extremely difficult. The B-29s would become night raiders, and they would come in low. [95] The fire finally burned itself out during mid-morning on 10 March, and came to a stop when it reached large open areas or the Nakagawa Canal. The resultant weight savings allowed them to carry a larger bomb load. Earlier raids, including the Doolittle Raid, had not been very effective, so the March bombing of Tokyo was planned differently. [44] LeMay notified the Twentieth Air Force headquarters of his intended tactics on 8March, a day he knew Arnold and Norstad would be absent. General Curtis LeMay formally took over the XXI Bomber Command in January 1945, and was promptly given the responsibility of conducting the strategic air campaign against Japans home islands. There had to be strong winds, and in Tokyos case, winds blowing in from the north. [100], Civilians who stayed at their homes or attempted to fight the fire had virtually no chance of survival. [62], Driven by the strong wind, the large numbers of small fires started by the American incendiaries rapidly merged into major blazes. [78] At around midnight on 9March a small number of B-29s were detected near Katsuura, but were thought to be conducting reconnaissance flights. Japanese cities were specified as the secondary target, with area bombing being authorized for use against them. Analysis by XXI Bomber Command staff of the 25 February raid concluded that the incendiary bombs had been dropped from too high an altitude, and attacking at lower levels would both improve accuracy and enable the B-29s to carry more bombs. [128] President Franklin D. Roosevelt probably also held this view. Flying individually would also lead to reductions in fuel consumption as the pilots would not need to constantly adjust their engines to remain in formation. [83], The raid lasted for approximately two hours and forty minutes. A further 42 were damaged, of which two had to be written off. The majority of the 10th Air Division's senior officers were sacked or reassigned as punishment for the unit's failure on 10 March. It is generally acknowledged that the tactics used against Tokyo and in similar subsequent raids were militarily successful. These projects require a unique approach to planning, financing, and delivery, with labor and capacity being persistent concerns.. On June 19, 2023, McKinsey's Global Infrastructure Initiative convened a roundtable of leaders across energy, metals and mining, power, investing and construction to explore levers for achieving green capital excellence in the energy transition. [25] On 3January, 97 Superfortresses were dispatched to firebomb Nagoya. It didn't make sense to use such a powerful bomb on an already-crippled . Early in the morning on March 10, 1945, terrified residents of Japan's capital awoke to an inescapable inferno. [34] Firemen, police officers and soldiers also tried to rescue survivors trapped under collapsed buildings. As part of the case, it was argued that the raid had been a war crime and the Japanese Government had acted wrongly by agreeing to elements of the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco which waived the right to seek compensation for such actions from the US Government. [93] From April, the Japanese reduced their attempts to intercept Allied air raids to preserve aircraft to contest the expected invasion of Japan. [26] That day, the Twentieth Air Force directed XXI Bomber Command to dispatch 100 B-29s on a firebombing raid against Nagoya. Mike Reiss, who travelled on the Titan last year, told the BBC: "You sign a waiver before you get on that mentions death three different times . [59] As of March 1945, most of the 10th Air Division's 210 combat aircraft were day fighters, with the 53rd Air Regiment operating 25 or 26 night fighters. The lower casualties were, in part, the result of better preparations by the Japanese authorities which had resulted from a realization that they had greatly under-estimated the threat posed by firebombing. [29] The directive also called for a large-scale trial incendiary raid as soon as possible. View Classic LDS Maps. Historian Richard B. Frank has written that "the key to survival was to grasp quickly that the situation was hopeless and flee". Over 1,000,000 people were left homeless after the raid, and more than a quarter million buildings and homes had been destroyed. Tokyo had been bombed before, but only once at night and not by many aircraft. Dry, windy conditions aided the spread of the conflagration, which turned into a firestorm, destroying almost 16 square miles of the densely populated city. The Operation Meetinghouse | Belfast Child It was also estimated that these attacks would kill over 500,000 people, render about 7.75million homeless and force almost 3.5million to be evacuated. The firebombing attacks ended only because XXI Bomber Command's stocks of incendiaries were exhausted. Incredibly fierce winds and thick cloud cover limited the strike to a paltry 24 bombers. The November 24 raid, while hyped beyond belief, did little damage. Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya (again) all were attacked with incendiaries in the same week as Tokyo. Gusts of over 65 miles per hour were recorded in the city in numerous spots. Convinced that the way to destroy Japans ability to wage war was by burning its wooden cities to the ground, LeMay ordered Mission 38 to proceed. [81] The 10th Air Division sortied all of its available night interceptors, and the 1st Anti aircraft Division's searchlight and anti aircraft units went into action. March 9, 1945: Burning the Heart Out of the Enemy | WIRED [36] While he made this decision on his own initiative, the general directions issued to LeMay permitted such operations. [139] American newspaper reports focused on the physical damage to Tokyo, made little reference to casualties and did not include estimates of the death toll. Published on February 24, 2019 in 9-10 March 1945: Operation Meetinghouse Full resolution (1000 769) Previous Next . Karacas argues that the Japanese Government prefers to focus on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as commemoration of these attacks "reinforces the Japanese-as-victim stereotype". Few of the incendiaries landed in the target area. The firestorm, with its intense heat and winds, created tornadic activity that caused updrafts in the flames and in turn created massive turbulence. As the bombers passed over the target area and opened their bomb bay doors to unleash their payload, many of the crews were met with a sickening odor. [63], Thousands of the evacuating civilians were killed. [172] Tillman has written that area bombing was the only viable tactic available to the USAAF at the time given the failure of the precision bombing campaign. These measures were generally unsuccessful. Rubble was often not cleared from the firebreaks, which provided a source of fuel. As a result, LeMay decided to remove all of the B-29s' guns other than those at the rear of the aircraft to reduce the weight of the aircraft and further boost the weight of bombs they could carry. The success in countering the raid led the Japanese authorities to become over-confident about their ability to protect cities against incendiary attacks. The mission to destroy Japans cottage industry, at least in Tokyo, had been achieved. Hell has come to earth. Published on February 25, 2019 in 9-10 March 1945: Operation Meetinghouse Full resolution (800 547) [81] Pathfinder bombers simultaneously approached the target area at right angles to each other. Faced with the thinly veiled threat, that unless LeMay and his Superforts inflicted extreme violence on Japan through the air, an amphibious invasion of the Home Islands would have to be executed with an estimated 1,000,000 potentialAmerican casualties,Iron Ass LeMaychanged tactics. [3] [4] He began his career conducting oral histories and research for HBOs miniseries The Pacific and holds the distinction of being the first historian hired by the Museums Research Department. All else, some say, is a prelude or tangential". [95] Other radio broadcasts focused on B-29 losses and the claimed desire of Japanese civilians to continue the war. [70] With a population of around 1.1 million, it was one of the most densely populated urban areas in the world. Many other bodies were not recovered, and the city's director of health estimated that 83,600 people were killed and another 40,918 wounded. This was not the first American bombing of the Japanese capital. [141], Few steps were taken to improve Tokyo's defenses after the raid. [80], The attack on Tokyo commenced at 12:08 am local time on 10 March. These Superfortresses arrived over the city shortly before midnight on 9March. 73 Years Ago, the US Destroyed Tokyo in Deadliest Air Raid in History There was little cloud cover, and visibility was good for the first bomber crews to arrive over Tokyo; they were able to see clearly for 10 miles (16km). [5], Japanese forces conducted area bombing attacks on Chinese cities throughout the war. Published on March 11, 2018 in 9-10 March 1945: Operation Meetinghouse Full resolution (800 638) Published on March 10, 2020 in 9-10 March 1945: Operation Meetinghouse Full resolution (2695 2636) Previous Target Assessment Map, Tokyo Metropolis. [25] On 18 December 84 XX Bomber Command B-29s conducted an incendiary raid on the Chinese city of Hankou which caused extensive damage. community had one or more meetinghouses. Operations management acts as an umbrella, and connects all facets of the business, from HR to project management and supply chain management to finance and facilities. It was determined (correctly) by American intelligencethat a high concentration of small factories that made up Japans cottage industry production capability were in this specific area of Tokyo. His boss, General Hap Arnold, urged him to adopt incendiary bombing against Japans cities and abandon the policy of precision bombing. Japan's main industrial facilities were vulnerable to such attacks as they were concentrated in several large cities, and a high proportion of production took place in homes and small factories in urban areas. At the time the bombs were going to be dropped, Tokyo had already been devastated by Operation Meetinghouse. Operation Meetinghouse, which was conducted on the night of 9-10 March 1945, is the single most destructive bombing raid in human history. [168] For instance, Selden argues that the attack on Tokyo marked the beginning of an American "approach to warfare that targets entire populations for annihilation". First, it was a strategic decision. [13] The first target directive issued to the XXI Bomber Command by its parent unit, the Twentieth Air Force, on 11 November, 1944 specified that the main target was Japanese aircraft and aviation engine factories. [111], After the raid, civilians across Tokyo offered assistance to the refugees. The Japanese Government responded with a combination of repression, including heavy penalties for people accused of disloyalty or spreading rumors, and a propaganda campaign focused on restoring confidence in the country's air and civil defense measures. Such were the casualties on the groundthat the smell would permeate the airplanes and the flight suits of the crews for days after the raid. In the 12 years he was Manager of Research Services, Seth and his team increased the oral history collection from 25 to nearly 5,000 oral histories. The B-29s were simply too low, too fast, and too many. Instead of high altitude strikes with conventional bombs, this raid used the B-29s at low altitude (5,000-9,000 ft) and at night, to take advantage of weaknesses in air . The planners estimated that incendiary bomb attacks on Japan's six largest cities could cause physical damage to almost 40percent of industrial facilities and result in the loss of 7.6million man-months of labor. Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Wikipedia [47], The officers who commanded XXI Bomber Command's three flying wings agreed with the new tactics, but there were fears that they could result in heavy casualties. The following B-29s dumped over 1,665 tons of incendiary bombs on Tokyo that night. [101] The foxholes which had been dug near most homes offered no protection against the firestorm, and civilians who sheltered in them were burned to death or died from suffocation. Major General Curtis LeMay, the commander of XX Bomber Command, replaced General Hansell. [2] The American attacks on Germany mainly used high-explosive bombs, with incendiary bombs accounting for only 14 percent of those dropped by the Eighth Air Force. In some cases, the winds actually flipped some of the B-29s over in mid-air. Some of these refugees resented the differences in living conditions, prompting riots and looting. After several small night raids were conducted on the region during December 1944 and January 1945, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force's 10th Air Division, which was responsible for intercepting attacks on the Kant region, placed a greater emphasis on training its pilots to operate at night. B-29s had been bombing Japan with little success from China since mid-1944. The area was highly vulnerable to firebombing, as most buildings were constructed from wood and bamboo and were closely spaced. Born in Norwich, Connecticut, in 1913, William Fournier was raised in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. [93] Five of the downed B-29s managed to ditch in the sea, and their crews were rescued by United States Navy submarines. [14] The Twentieth Air Force had an unusual command structure, as it was personally headed by General Henry H. Arnold, the commanding officer of the USAAF. While some of the citizenry dutifully filed out of their wooden homes, many did not. [68] The raid was to target a rectangular area in northeastern Tokyo designated Zone I by the USAAF which measured approximately 4 miles (6.4km) by 3 miles (4.8km). An ominous, deep glow burned crimson on the horizon ahead as the huge silver B-29s streaked low above the surface of the Pacific. An hour after the first fires started, the conflagrationspread beyond the target area, and LeMays desired firestorm was achieved with devastating results. They dominated the political, social, and economic life of the town into the 18th century, and their "plain style . Australia 2023: Delivering capital projects for the energy transition Small scale, limited incendiary raids had been carried out earlier in the year by LeMays crews with some success. [10][11] The remainder of Tokyo was photographed in subsequent reconnaissance flights, and these images were used to plan the 10 March raid and other attacks on urban areas. [34], Most of the bodies which were recovered were buried in mass graves without being identified. Operation Meetinghouse - Wikiwand The fire bombing raid killed at least 100,000 civilians and left over 1 million homeless. [9] XXI Bomber Command's subsequent raids on Tokyo and other cities mainly used precision bombing tactics and high explosive bombs, and were largely unsuccessful due to adverse weather conditions and a range of mechanical problems which affected the B-29s. [156], Many historians have stated that the 10 March raid on Tokyo was a military success for the United States, and marked the start of the most effective period of air raids on Japan. Power. [89], As expected by LeMay, the defense of Tokyo was not effective. Families often sought to remain with their local neighborhood associations, but it was easy to become separated in the conditions. Operation Meetinghouse was the code name used by the United States Army Air Forces for the deadliest air raid and bombing attack in human history on March 10, 1945, killing over 100,000 people and destroying 267,171 structures. Menu Skip to content . These islands, unlike some of the other recent conquests, were not just mere stepping stones on the road to Tokyo. Chongqing, China's provisional capital, was frequently attacked by aircraft using incendiary and high explosive bombs. Bombing raids were conducted on the same lines as U.S. operations in Europe: high-altitude attacks in daylight seeking to strike industrial and military targets. It caused extensive damage, with almost 28,000 buildings being destroyed. The first raid targeted an aircraft engine factory on the city's outskirts, and caused little damage. Police records show that 267,171 buildings were destroyed, which represented a quarter of all buildings in Tokyo at the time. [125], Few concerns were raised in the United States during the war about the morality of the 10 March attack on Tokyo or the firebombing of other Japanese cities. A total of 231 B-29s were dispatched, of which 172 arrived over the city; this was XXI Bomber Command's largest raid up to that time. The Bombing of Tokyo aka "Operation of Meetinghouse" is the single most destructive bombing raid in human history which destroyed 41 km2 of central Tokyo and killed at least 100.000 civilians by US Air Force. [68] The 73rd and 313th Bomb Wings' Superfortresses were each loaded with 7 short tons (6.4t) of bombs. During the Battle of Buna, two soldiers of the 32nd Infantry Division went above and beyond the call of duty. [84] However, these bodies of water provided safety to thousands of others. [90] Nevertheless, the Japanese gunners shot down 12 B-29s. Important Dates in Aviation History. [34] Due to the extent of the damage and the exodus from Tokyo, no attempt was made to restore services to large sections of the city. At least three people have been killed, including a child, and many have been injured after a shopping centre was hit by Russian missiles in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine.
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