"We promise you a rain of ruin from the air."
Quote:“It's a good thing we won the war. If we hadn't, I'd be hanged as a war criminal" -- Gen Curtis LeMay
334 B-29s, each carrying around 5-7 tons of bombs, mostly incendiary but with some 500-lb HE in order to strew embers around. This bomb-mix was configured after testing on a mock-up showed it to be very efficient at starting and sustaining blazes.
The pathfinder force (two squadrons) marked the target by flying in two vectors, perpendicular to each other, dropping trails of napalm bombs -- creating a large, flaming "X" near the targeting center, on which the main force of bombers dropped their M-69s.
During and after photos showing the devastation:
![[Image: tokyo.jpg]](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/tokyo.jpg)
More Japanese killed than either atomic bomb. The reasoning for the fire bombs was what Gen. Anami had told us, that being that industrial production of weapons would be moved to private residences when possible. He then drafted the entire adult population of Japan. Men to age 60, women to age 45.
This mean that bombing a residential district was bombing weapons production AND soldiers and their homes.
They shouldn't have been, and weren't, surprised by the tactics they inspired us to use.
War is hell. Particularly when you are losing.
The numbers for Dresden have been recalculated.
(03-10-2020, 04:26 PM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2020, 04:11 PM)Bucky Ball Wrote: [ -> ]They did it to Dresden also.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of...rld_War_II
And numerous other Japanese and German cities. This was not a one-off.
And let's throw in the month long government ordered murder and rape rampage in Nanking while we're at it. War ain't pretty.
Tbh, Tokyo was on an entirely different level than Dresden, or Hamburg for that matter.
(03-10-2020, 04:41 PM)Deesse23 Wrote: [ -> ]Tbh, Tokyo was on an entirely different level than Dresden, or Hamburg for that matter.
Yep, over four times the deaths in Tokyo in that one attack. The Japanese were so impotent in defense that the B-29s left their guns and ammo at home.
Here you go, G/S. This is right up your alley.
https://www.historynet.com/japans-fatall...r-ii-2.htm
Quote:Japan’s Fatally Flawed Air Forces in World War II
Quote:World War II in the Pacific was a fight to seize and defend airfields. The Japanese made gaining and maintaining control of the air as much a requirement in their basic war strategy as they did the destruction of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. But as Commander Masatake Okumiya charged, “The Pacific War was started by men who did not understand the sea, and fought by men who did not understand the air.” He might well have added that the war was planned by men who did not understand industry, manpower and logistics.
The Japanese took three years to put a combat pilot on the line. The US did it in two.
And it's well to keep in mind the primary mandate of war-making: Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics. The Japanese Army insisted on starting the Great Pacific War because they didn't have the resources to keep trying to conqueror China. Their situation was not really improved by the temporary control of the Southern Resources Area.
It could have been had they gotten the time to develop those resources. They were denied such time.
The final result was a foregone conclusion.
(03-10-2020, 08:54 PM)Minimalist Wrote: [ -> ]It could have been had they gotten the time to develop those resources. They were denied such time.
The final result was a foregone conclusion.
Europe was a "fortress with no roof." The Japanese upped the game by adding "and no fucking walls, either."
They did not expect a long war. They foolishly assumed that their initial strike would be so successful that we would sue for peace.
They were wrong.
(03-10-2020, 09:14 PM)Minimalist Wrote: [ -> ]They did not expect a long war. They foolishly assumed that their initial strike would be so successful that we would sue for peace.
They were wrong.
That was the only scenario they had that would allow them to win. Everything they did required the US to act as predicted and lose when asked.
(03-10-2020, 09:17 PM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: [ -> ]That was the only scenario they had that would allow them to win. Everything they did required the US to act as predicted and lose when asked.
The fatal flaw in several of their plans is that we would behave as expected.
Americans being Americans, we politely declined, most of the time.
(03-10-2020, 09:45 PM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2020, 09:17 PM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: [ -> ]That was the only scenario they had that would allow them to win. Everything they did required the US to act as predicted and lose when asked.
The fatal flaw in several of their plans is that we would behave as expected.
Americans being Americans, we politely declined, most of the time.
The IJN's wet dream, titled "The Great All Out Battle" (TGAOB) required the USN to steam out from the West Coast and run a gauntlet of submarine and destroyer (equipped with Long Lance torpedoes) attacks and be politely attrited until the Japanese had a clear material superiority, at which point, despite heavy losses, the USN would plow on into Japanese territorial waters to be massacred. The Japanese took this so seriously that they built their ships with limited fuel capacity, expecting to be able to pull into port for a quick top-up during the TGAOB. The first time any major force fueled underway was enroute to Hawaii in Dec. 1941.
War Plan Orange was the US war plan, not Japan's. And it was posited on a one front War. We developed the Rainbow Plans when we realized we'd be fighting "Black" (Germany) and "Orange"(Japan) at the same time. The ABC-1 talks (US-British) established the "Germany First" paradigm and FDR and Churchill confirmed it at the Atlantic Conference in August 1941.
(03-10-2020, 09:14 PM)Minimalist Wrote: [ -> ]They did not expect a long war. They foolishly assumed that their initial strike would be so successful that we would sue for peace.
They were wrong.
"We have awoken a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve." (
Marshal Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto) 
(03-10-2020, 10:45 PM)Gwaithmir Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2020, 09:14 PM)Minimalist Wrote: [ -> ]They did not expect a long war. They foolishly assumed that their initial strike would be so successful that we would sue for peace.
They were wrong.
"We have awoken a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve." (NOT Marshal Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto)
![[Image: Tokyo_kushu_1945-3.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Tokyo_kushu_1945-3.jpg)