Civilized Cruelty
Much has been written about American and English bombing in Europe during World War II; the Russian reader is less aware of the actions of the bomber aviation US to Japanese cities at the end of World War II. The facts are shocking, and against their background, even the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 appears to be a rather ordinary affair, which fits quite well with the logic of air warfare by American aviation - up to now - in wars in Korea, Vietnam, and air strikes in Yugoslavia, Libya, Iraq and Syria. Intoxicated by the unconditional success in the war with Japan, achieved without the landing of American troops on the Japanese islands proper, the Pentagon strategists wanted to make aviation the main means to achieve world domination. I, who served in the Air Defense Forces for more than two decades, recalls in this connection that in the late 40s and early 50s of the last century, the military personnel of the Strategic Air Command of the US Air Force had 1,5 heavy bombers, which was planned to be used against our country according to the scenario, which had been first tested in the cities of Germany and Japan. With the Soviet Union, this option failed. I want to believe that it will not work against modern Russia.The article was prepared based on the materials of the foreign press and the book “Torch for the enemy” by M. Kaidan, published in 1992 year.
BEGINNING OF THE END
Exactly at noon 10 March 1945, the Japanese imperial headquarters in Tokyo issued the following communique:
“Today, 10 in March, shortly after midnight and before 02.40, near 130 B-29 bombers attacked Tokyo with all their might and made indiscriminate bombardment of the city. ... the bombing caused fires in various places of the capital. The fire in the headquarters building of the Imperial Ministry of the Court was taken under control at 02.35, and the rest no later than 08.00.
According to far from complete information, 15 was shot down and 50 aircraft were damaged ”...
Japanese newspapers, which were in the tight grip of censorship, published not only this brief message, but also several more lines that hinted at the unprecedented force of the blow and its consequences.
The scanty newspaper lines — no matter how hard the editors and publishers of Japanese newspapers tried — could not fully reflect the horror that Tokyo embraced after this raid of American bombers. The newspapers did not report that almost 17 square miles of territory in the industrial center of the city suffered a severe blow, after which only buildings remained from the buildings. There was no information about the number of dead, burned, and maimed residents. There was not a word that ordinary Japanese had learned over the following days: at least 48 thousand people died, and from 50 to 100 thousand people may also not be alive. The newspapers were silent about the fact that the city authorities, who knew the slums better than others, believed that the final list of the dead - although it was impossible to speak of exact figures - could reach a quarter of a million people.
The “Great” Tokyo 1923 earthquake of the year and the earth tremors with the ensuing fires caused the death - according to official figures - approximately 100 thousand people. Another 43 thousand people disappeared, and from this figure at least 25 thousand were also included in the list of the dead. As a result of the earthquake, tens of thousands of people were trapped under collapsed buildings, but the resulting fire moved much slower than the terrifying incoming wave of flame that rolled freely across Tokyo in the early morning hours of March 10. On this day, approximately 1945 hours, 6 square miles of Tokyo city territory burned out and more than 17 thousand inhabitants were killed.
Americans went to such a stunning "success" for several years ...
WAR
14 August 1945, the military ruler of more than half a billion people and the territory of the planet with an area of almost 3 million square miles, recognized the complete defeat and surrendered without any conditions to his opponent. The empire, shortly before the capitulation reached its zenith in its conquests, collapsed as a world power, although it still had millions of well-equipped and trained soldiers and thousands of combat aircraft ready for the strongest suicide attack on the American invading forces.
Japanese land has not seen a single enemy soldier, and yet Japan surrendered. As M. Kaidan writes in his book, this happened as a result of well-coordinated efforts to increase the impact on it, for which the vast industrial resources of the United States were used.
“Fully recognizing the important contributions of other types of armed forces,” stated American General Henry Arnold in his November 12 1945 report of the year, “I believe that the contribution made by the air force can be justly called decisive ...
The collapse of Japan confirmed the validity of the entire strategic concept of the offensive phase of the war in the Pacific. Viewed broadly and simply, this strategy was to lead an air force attack, both land and carrier based, to such an extent that all the rage of the crushing air attack could be brought down on Japan itself, with the likelihood that such an attack will defeat Japan without invading (into it).
There was no need for invasion. ”
Americans are divided into three stages of the war against Japan. The first stage is defensive, it began with Pearl Harbor and the simultaneous attack of the Japanese in Oceania and in Asia. For the US, it was a period of despair - their troops retreated, suffering heavy losses. Then came the battle (June 1942 of the year) at Midway Atoll, when the US Navy first hit back and, as a result of successful strikes by dive bomber, destroyed the enemy's large aircraft carrier 4. This began the "defensive offensive period", or the period of "containment" of the Japanese from the expansion of their existing gains. The Americans began to conduct limited attacks (Guadalcanal), but the main task they considered was finding the possibility of arranging their manpower and military equipment in such a way that they could strike at the Japanese islands proper.
But at that time the war in Europe was for the United States the highest priority, so they could not allocate sufficient forces and means for decisive action in Asia.
By the middle of 1944, the outcome of the war in Europe was predetermined. She was not yet won, but there was no doubt about her outcome. Significantly reduced battlegrounds. The African continent was clear of the enemy. American troops were on the European continent, and from the east the Germans drove the Red Army.
The American program "Very Long Range Bomber", conceived several years ago, began to take on a real form. In Asia and Oceania, Americans made holes in the perimeter of Japanese defense, captured islands and accumulated material resources and manpower there for an offensive in Asia, and Japanese cities inevitably became the main target for a rapidly growing fleet huge B-29 bombers.
As Kaidan writes, B-29 brought an incredible stream of fire to Japan. Her ability to continue the war collapsed in the ashes of scarred and burnt urban centers. The share of two atomic bombs accounted for less than 3% of the damage from the total damage caused to the industrial centers of Japan. “But these bombs gave the Japanese, so anxious to save face, excuse and means for ending a long vain war with a touch of honor ...” the author points out.
15 June 1944 of the year was the day from which the American campaign to use long-range bombers began to unwind to burn the core of Japan. On this day, B-29 based in China dropped a lot of bombs on a huge metallurgical plant in Yavat; at the same time, the American marines fought a long-distance landing on Saipan Island (Mariana Islands) south of Yavat, which gave hope that the B-29 would soon have a good launch pad for the massive bombardments of Japan itself.
As Caydan points out, “on that day, the high command of Japan had to admit, at least to himself, that his beautiful dream of the isolation of the Japanese islands had turned into a terrible nightmare.”
The destruction of Japanese cities was predetermined in December 1943, when the United States decided to use a radically new weapons - very long range bombers - against Japan.
NEW WEAPONS
On the development of the Manhattan Project, which gave the US an atomic bomb and was considered the most expensive event in the US stories, 2 was spent billion dollars. However, even before the first B-29 took off in June 1943, it was already spent or planned to spend 3 billion on its development and production. In a situation of strictest secrecy, the bomber was designed for more than two years.
The B-29 was the first American bomber designed to operate from large (more than 9 km) heights; the plane was a mass of new products, in particular, sealed flight compartments and air heating system. However, the most impressive innovation was the centralized fire control system (CCSW), which provided remote fire control in the event of the death of one or several shooters from the firing points on the 5 aircraft (in aggregate 12 machine guns and 1 gun). It was assumed that the firing point placement scheme implemented at the bomber eliminates the presence of “dead zones” in which the attacking enemy fighter would not be exposed to firing effects of the bomber’s defensive armament. The effectiveness of the TsSOO also increased the electronic computer, which continuously gave data on the speed of the attacking enemy fighters and their range, and also determined the corrections for gravity, wind, air temperature and the altitude of the bomber itself.
In order to assess the effectiveness of the TsSUO, we say that during the first 6 months of combat use of the B-29 (from Chinese territory), Japanese fighters destroyed all 15 bombers, losing their aircraft to 102 as “probably destroyed”, 87 as “probably destroyed” and 156 as "Seriously damaged."
With a full combat load, the bomber's weight was 135 000 pounds (61 235 kg), of which 20 000 pounds (9072 kg) accounted for 40 bombs caliber 500 pounds (227 kg).
TESTING NEW WEAPONS
Initially, the US military command planned to use the B-29 centrally, as a single mobile force, since it was not economical to keep all the bombers on one theater of operations. Most of all, the fact that B-29, due to its weight and size, could only act from reinforced runways, worked against this concept.
Initially, to maximize the approach of B-29 to targets on the Japanese islands in the region of Chengdu (China), construction began on four new airfields for bombers and three airfields for fighter planes; Several hundred thousand Chinese workers were involved in the construction.
By June 1944, B-29 was ready for a combat debut in Asia. 5 June 1944 of the year 98 bombers from bases in India flew into a raid on Siam (Thailand), where 77 aircraft were able to drop their bombs on targets, of which only 48 bombers hit their targets. After 10 days, 15 June, 75 aircraft B-29 attacked the steel plant in Yamata, of which only 45 bombers dropped bombs, of which none hit the target.
During the two raids, the Americans lost 9 aircraft - without opposition from the enemy, and the raids were more likely to have a psychological effect - positive for the Americans and negative for their opponent.
Generally speaking, in the nine months of hostilities from the territory of China, the B-29 bombers, summarized in the XX Bomber Command, carried out 49 raids (3058 sorties) and dropped tons of high-explosive and incendiary bombs on the enemy 11 477. Targets on the territory of Japan itself were minimally affected by American aviation, so the Matterhorn project, which envisaged an attack on the Japanese islands from bases in continental Asia, was curtailed and the actions of the XX Bomber Command were deemed "failures."
ON MARIAN ISLANDS
In the chronicle of the war with Japan, the date 15 of June 1944 of the year mentioned above is remarkable not only by the bombing of the Yavat metallurgical combine, but also by the fact that on this day the American marines launched their landing on the island of Saipan (Marianas), which was defended by several tens of thousands of soldiers the emperor, and within a month, having broken the organized resistance of the Japanese, took him under control. Soon the Americans captured two more of the largest southern islands in the Mariana Islands - Tinian and Guam.
Saipan has an area of approximately 75 square miles, and from it to Tokyo is approximately 800 miles closer than from Chendu, located on mainland China, from the airfields of which B-29 operated before. A few months of hard work on the construction of airfields, and now in 24 in November 1944, the first raid on Tokyo with high-explosive and incendiary bombs from Saipan takes 100 B-29. Bombing using airborne radar was carried out from high altitudes, but the result of this and most of the raids that followed it left much to be desired. So, 4 March 1945 of the year took place the eighth B-29 raid on the Masashino plant in Tokyo, which withstood all previous raids by both bombers and carrier-based aircraft, and continued to work. 192 B-29 participated in the eighth raid, but the damage to the plant was “slightly more serious than a scratch”. The target area was completely covered by clouds, and B-29 dropped bombs on the radar, unable to observe the results, and as a result - a complete failure of the raid. The reasons for this failure, as well as the campaign as a whole, should be sought first and foremost in the accuracy of the bombing of B-29 crews, which was officially characterized as “deplorable” and was considered the weakest link in the campaign; Another reason for the failure was the “shocking” percentage of aircraft that, for various reasons, interrupted the flight and returned to the departure aerodrome (up to 21% of the number of aircraft that took off for the raid); finally, there was a large number of aircraft, which for various reasons made landing on the water and were lost, conceived together with the crews.
Having headed the XXIX of the XXI Bomber Command (Mariana Islands) on January 20, Major General Le Mey carefully analyzed the results of the bomber raids and made cardinal conclusions. “I may have been wrong,” said the general regarding the X-NUMX B-1945 bombers based on Saipan, Tinian and Guam, subordinate to him, “but, having studied the photo-intelligence data, I considered that Japan was poorly prepared to repel nightly raids from low altitudes . She lacked radar and anti-aircraft artillery guns. If it happened in the skies over Germany, then we would have failed because the German air defense was too strong. And for complete success in Japan, it was necessary to have enough bomb load on airplanes to “saturate” the bombing area. I had enough shock force, because I had three bomber wings. ”
The decision of Le Mey was undoubtedly influenced by the fact that, in contrast to Europe, where city buildings and factory buildings were made of durable materials, residential buildings and factory buildings in 90% in Japanese cities were made of flammable materials.
On the morning of March 9, 1945, in the rooms of the pre-flight briefing of the XXI Bomber Command, after setting the tasks, crews had an unexpected silence - the pilots began to realize what they had just heard:
- a series of strongest nightly strikes with incendiary bombs will be inflicted on the main industrial cities of Japan;
- bombing will be carried out from heights in the 5000 – 8000 ft range (1524 – 2438 m);
- the aircraft will not be defensive weapons and ammunition, except for firing points in the tail of the aircraft; in subsequent raids they will also be dismantled; crews will fly abbreviated;
- combat orders - for flight to the target, its attack and return to the departure base - will not be; airplanes will act individually;
- The first goal will be Tokyo - a city known for its strong air defense.
According to Le May, the main group should have been preceded by the actions of guidance aircraft, which would mark target points for strike aircraft.
And the crews instructed on how to behave if they were shot down and they were on the ground: "... hurry to surrender to the military, as civilians will beat you on the spot ... during interrogations, never call the Japanese Japs, this is certain death ...".
By the end of the day, 9 March 1945, the guidance aircraft (each had 180 napalm bombs weighing 70 pounds; the bombs of these bombs were set to 100 feet, where they exploded and threw the combustible mixture in different directions, which ignited everything she encountered on the way) were over the target and laid out the letter "X" with napalm bombs. Crosshair "X" was the aiming point for the main group B-29, which, starting from a quarter of an hour after midnight 10 in March 1945, began to bomb the city. Time bomb meters on the bombers were set to dump magnesium bombs every 50 feet (15,24 m) of the track - in this situation every square mile in the target area "received" at least 8333 incendiary bombs with a total weight of 25 tons.
A few miles from the attacked area was the home of a member of the Swedish embassy, who described the raid impressions in this way: “The bombers looked great, they changed color like chameleons ... the planes looked greenish, caught in the rays of searchlights, or red when they flew over the fire… White buildings brick and stone burned bright flames, and the fire of wooden buildings gave a yellowish flame. A huge wave of smoke hung over the gulf of Tokyo. ”
The residents of Tokyo who fell into the fire trap had no time for beauty and figurative comparisons. As the city’s fire department chief reported later, “at 00.45, half an hour after the bombing began, the situation was completely out of control and we were completely helpless ...”
Prior to this raid, the Japanese didn’t suspect that tons of incendiary bombs dropped from one 29 8 turned the territory of 600 size to 2000 feet (183 – 609 m) into a flaming hell in a matter of minutes, which is impossible to get out of. The German Hamburg, which fell in July 1943, under a massive bombardment of British aviation, became the first city in history to be hit by a firestorm. Tokyo got the sad glory of the first city in the world, in which a fiery hurricane raged, in which primary flames from dropping incendiary bombs stuck into the ignited houses of the Japanese and almost instantly rushed up and to the side. The speed of the spread of fire was incredible, like a strong fire of dry trees in a large forest; the fire itself literally exploded as the fire progressed. Small fires connected into huge glowing spheres, as if animated, these spheres jumped from one building to another, overcoming a distance of several hundred feet at a time and causing a victim in his way to a powerful flash, which immediately transformed the city block or even several blocks. to hell.
Driven by the wind, whose ground speed reached 28 miles per hour, the fire spread rapidly, absorbing the new fires and the volumes of hot heat from tens of thousands of magnesium bombs; the fire became a pillar of fire, then took the form of a wall of fire that galloped across the burning roofs of buildings, then, under strong wind pressure, the wall bent and began to lean toward the ground, absorbing the oxygen-rich surface layer and raising the burning temperature. That night in Tokyo, she reached a fantastic number in 1800 degrees Fahrenheit (982,2 degrees Celsius).
Due to the low heights of the bombing of the cockpit, the B-29 crews were not sealed - the pilots did not need to wear oxygen masks. As Kayden testifies, “in the bombers above the city, gases from the fire raging below began to penetrate, and the cabins began to fill with a strange veil that had a blood-red hue. The pilots could not bear what was brought into the cockpit along with the veil, they choked, they were coughing and vomiting, they grabbed their masks to greedily swallow pure oxygen ... Military pilots could tolerate anything, but not the all-pervading stench of burning human flesh, which to the height of two miles filled the air above the city lying in agony ... "
According to official Japanese data, more than 130 thousand people died that day; Thousands of them died in terrible agony, being welded - people were looking for salvation from fire in urban waters, but they boiled when incendiary bombs hit them.
12 March 1945 was the turn for the city of Nagoya, a more modern city with buildings made of refractory materials and the best firefighters in the country. The raid was attended by 286 B-29, which burned the entire 1,56 square miles of city square, but important industrial facilities were located there. March 14 2240 tons of bombs were dropped on Osaka - the center of heavy industry and the country's third largest port; everything (including the largest factories) in the 9 square miles was burnt out or completely destroyed in the city. 17 March was bombarded by Kobe, a large road and rail junction and shipbuilding center, and 2300 tons of bombs were dropped on it. The final blow in this blitzkrieg was a repeated raid on Nagoya (2000 tons of bombs).
Thus, in five B-29 raids, more than 29 square miles of territory were burned in the largest industrial centers of Japan, dropping 10 100 tons of bombs to them. Losses in bombers from Japanese fighters and anti-aircraft artillery accounted for just 1,3% of the planes that were over the target (in later raids they fell to 0,3%).
After a short respite, the Americans resumed raids, and Tokyo turned into a city of absolute terror - on the night of April 13, 1945 B-327 bombs were dropped on it, and after three hours W-29 bombed again around Tokyo. 36 May 29; 24 bombers dropped more than 1945 tons of bombs on the city; after two days, when the fires from the previous raid had not yet been burned out, 520 tons of M-3600 bombs, which were a combination of a high-explosive charge and a combustible mixture, were dropped on Tokyo. After this raid, the city was deleted from the list of targets (a total of 3252 77 tons of bombs were dropped on the city). In Tokyo, there are slightly more 11 million inhabitants, the rest left the city.
Avalanches of high-explosive and incendiary bombs rained down on Nagoya - "the city that did not catch fire." Nagoya has not experienced fires of such strength as Tokyo, but after the fourth raid with the use of incendiary bombs (and before that there were also 9 bombings by high-explosive bombs) Nagoya was removed from the list of targets.
The rink of fire crushed Japan. 29 May 1945, the huge port of Yokohama was removed from the list of targets after only one raid, in which 459 B-29 dropped 2769 tons of bombs to the city and burned 85% of its area. The city of Osaka, the country's second largest city, was hit in a series of blows after 6110 tons of bombs were dropped on it. Japanese authorities announced that 53% of the city had been destroyed and that more than 2 million of its inhabitants had fled.
By mid-June, 1945, the second phase of the incendiary bomb campaign, had reached its goal - in the five largest industrial cities in Japan, there was nothing more to bomb; from their total city square in 446 square miles to square 102 square miles where the vital enterprises were located, there was absolute destruction.
The only major city to escape the bombing was Kyoto (5-th largest in the country), a famous religious center.
From 17 June 1945, incendiary bomb raids were launched against cities with populations from 100 to 350 thousand; after a month of 23 bombing such cities were removed from the list of targets.
Since 12 July 1945, the last group of targets began to strike - cities with a population of less than 100 thousand people.
By the time the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, B-29 with its incendiary bomb raids burned down the area in 178 square miles in Japan’s 69 cities (atomic bombings increased this figure by 3%), and underwent direct impact from the bombings more than 21 million people.
As General Le May later put it, “another six months, and we would have bombed the Japanese in the early Middle Ages ...”
In less than half a year, counting from 10 in March 1945, with incendiary bombardments, civilian population losses in Japan more than doubled Japan’s military losses in the 45 months of the US war.
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