LeMay + Bombing of Japan

Political reasons for nuclear bombs

Justification for the creation of an Airforce separate to the military for Arnold and LeMay

Secured Japanese defeat before the USSR could gain US influence in Asia

Examples of nuclear bombing

Iwo Jima - Feb/Mar 1945, 18k killed

Okinawa - Apr/Jun 1945, 94k killed

Operation downfall - Didn’t happen but was planned for Nov 1945 and estimated to have killed millions of Japanese people

Japanese culture

Had no intention to surrender - Bushido

Rather die fighting than give up - Kamikaze from Oct 1944

7th Aug - MAGIC intercepted Japanese message that they had on intention to surrender

Atomic bomb usage

Hiroshima - 6th Aug ‘45 - ‘Little boy’ - instantly killed 50k inhabitants of Hiroshima

Nagasaki - 9th Aug ‘45 - ‘Fat man’ - 150-250k killed

Challenges of bombing of Japan

Weather anomalies
Inexperienced crews
B29s were new and problematic

Distances - Bases had to be in India or China to reach Japan

Goals of bombing of Japan

Defeat Japan without the need for a ground invasion

Disrupt Japanese industry

Destroy Japanese morale

Justify creation of Airforce as a separate branch of the military

Operation Meetinghouse

Plan not confirmed by senior officers

9th-10th March 1945

500k M69 incendiary bombs in 1 night

Resulted in a firestorm killing 100k people

Only 5% of B29’s used were lost

Bombing of Japanese cities

11th March - Nagoya

13th March - Osaka

16th - Kobe, 650k made homeless

May - June 442k casualties, 126k killed, 13m homeless, 136 b-29 lost

Adaptations

April 1945 - P51 Mustangs became available
June 1945 - RADAR fitted
May 1945 - 60m propaganda leaflets warning of firebombing raids