Bombing of Tokyo
On the 18th of April 1942, sixteen North American B-25 Mitchells took off from the aircraft carrier Hornet. These modified bombers flew toward Tokyo and Yokohama before heading to airfields in China. The mission served as a symbolic retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbor four months earlier. Damage to Japan's warfighting capability remained minimal during this operation. Yet the raid became a significant propaganda victory for the United States. Most attacking aircraft crashed or were ditched short of their landing sites due to an encounter with a Japanese picket boat. One bomber landed in the neutral Soviet Union where its crew was interned. That crew later smuggled themselves over the border into Iran by the 11th of May 1943. Two other crews were captured by Japanese forces in occupied China. Three of those captured men were executed by Japanese troops shortly after.
The B-29 Superfortress strategic bomber enabled large-scale bombing of Japan with an operational range exceeding 2,000 miles. Almost 90% of all bombs dropped on the Japanese home islands came from these aircraft. High-altitude attacks above 25,000 feet initially struggled against Japanese air defenses. Flight operations from the Northern Mariana Islands began in November 1944 after Saipan and Tinian were seized. Bombing trials conducted between May and September 1943 at Dugway Proving Grounds demonstrated incendiary effectiveness. Curtis LeMay ordered his bomber wings to switch tactics and use incendiary munitions instead of general-purpose bombs. The first American raid using incendiaries targeted Kobe on the 4th of February 1945. Tokyo received incendiary strikes on the 25th of February 1945 when 174 B-29s flew a high altitude daylight raid. That attack destroyed around 2.6 square kilometers of snow-covered city using 453.7 tons of ordnance. LeMay subsequently ordered further raids at much lower altitudes during night hours. He removed defensive guns except for the tail gun to reduce weight and increase fuel efficiency.
On the night of the 9th through the 10th of March 1945, 334 B-29s targeted the Shitamachi neighborhood of Tokyo. Ultimately 279 bombers dropped 1,665 tons of bombs on the city. Most ordnance consisted of E-46 cluster bombs releasing 38 napalm-carrying M69 incendiary bomblets. These bomblets punched through thin roofing or landed on ground before igniting 3 to 5 seconds later. A smaller number of M47 jelled-gasoline and white phosphorus bombs were also deployed. Within two hours rapidly spreading fires overwhelmed Japanese firefighting capabilities. The first B-29s arrived dropping bombs in a large X pattern centered near docks in Koto and Chūō wards. Follow-on aircraft aimed near this flaming X as individual fires coalesced into a general conflagration. Prevailing natural winds gusting at 30 miles per hour prevented classification as a firestorm. Approximately 16 square kilometers of the city were destroyed during these events. Some 100,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the raid. Out of 339 B-29s launched for Operation Meetinghouse, 282 reached Tokyo while 27 were lost.
The US Strategic Bombing Survey later estimated nearly 88,000 people died in the March 9th through 10th raid alone. The Tokyo Fire Department recorded a higher death toll of 97,000 killed and 125,000 wounded. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department established a figure of 83,793 dead and 40,918 wounded. Over one million residents lost their homes according to police records. Historian Richard Rhodes placed the death toll at over 100,000 with injuries reaching one million. Gabriel Kolko cited a figure of 125,000 deaths in his 1968 book reprinted in 1990. Elise K. Tipton arrived at a rough range of 75,000 to 200,000 deaths. Donald L. Miller stated there were at least 100,000 Japanese deaths and about one million injured. The wider strategic campaign against Japan killed more than 300,000 people and injured an additional 400,000 mostly civilians.
Tokyo struggled to rebuild after the war ended in August 1945. In 1945 and 1946 the city received roughly 26.6% of the national reconstruction budget proportional to its bombing damage. By 1949 Tokyo was given only 10.9% of the budget while runaway inflation significantly devalued the currency. Occupation authorities such as Joseph Dodge drastically cut back on rebuilding programs. They focused instead on improving roads and transportation infrastructure. Fast economic growth did not occur until the 1950s. Damage to residential and commercial neighborhoods cut the whole city's industrial output in half. Over 50% of Tokyo's industry had been spread among these neighborhoods before destruction. Firebombing killed or made homeless many factory workers critical to the war effort.
Between 1948 and 1951 ashes of 105,400 people killed in attacks on Tokyo were interred at Sumida Ward in Yokoamicho Park. A memorial opened in that park in March 2001. The park maintains a list of names based on applications from victims' families. That list contained 81,273 names as of March 2020. Families can submit applications to have names added to the official record. Japanese author Katsumoto Saotome helped start a library about the raid in Koto Ward called the Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage. This library contains documents literature and survivor accounts collected by Saotome. Historian Archie Miyamoto documented memorials dedicated to American bomber crews killed in action. One such memorial stands in Higashimurayama commemorating eleven crewmen who died when their B-29 crashed on the 2nd of April 1945. A local farmer built a Heiwa Kannon Buddhist statue after seeking out the fallen crewmen's families.
In 2007 one hundred twelve members of the Association for the Bereaved Families brought a class action against the Japanese government. They demanded an apology and 1.232 billion yen in compensation. Their suit charged that the government invited the raid by failing to end the war earlier. Plaintiffs argued the state failed to help civilian victims while supporting former military personnel. The case was dismissed at first judgment in December 2009 and appeal rejected. The Supreme Court rejected their final appeal in May 2013. In 2013 Prime Minister Shinzō Abe stated raids were incompatible with humanitarianism foundations of international law. His cabinet noted it remains difficult to argue whether raids were illegal under laws existing at the time. The Tokyo Fire Department recorded 267,171 buildings destroyed leaving over one million people homeless during the March 1945 attacks.
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Common questions
When did the first B-25 Mitchells take off from the aircraft carrier Hornet to bomb Tokyo?
Sixteen North American B-25 Mitchels took off from the aircraft carrier Hornet on the 18th of April 1942. This mission served as a symbolic retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbor four months earlier.
What date did the major firebombing raid on Shitamachi occur during Operation Meetinghouse?
The US Strategic Bombing Survey estimated nearly 88,000 people died in the March 9th through 10th raid alone. The bombing campaign targeted the Shitamachi neighborhood of Tokyo on the night of the 9th through the 10th of March 1945.
How many people were killed or wounded according to the Tokyo Fire Department records for the March 1945 attacks?
The Tokyo Fire Department recorded a higher death toll of 97,000 killed and 125,000 wounded. These figures represent the casualties from the air raids by the US Army Air Forces in the Pacific War.
When was the memorial opened at Yokoamicho Park that holds ashes of victims killed in attacks on Tokyo?
A memorial opened in Yokoamicho Park in March 2001 to honor those who died. Between 1948 and 1951 ashes of 105,400 people killed in attacks on Tokyo were interred at Sumida Ward in this location.
What year did the Supreme Court reject the final appeal regarding compensation claims against the Japanese government?
The Supreme Court rejected their final appeal in May 2013 after dismissing the case at first judgment in December 2009. Plaintiffs had demanded an apology and 1.232 billion yen in compensation for the bombing of Tokyo.