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echoarty — Tokyo Bound
Published: 2013-02-25 09:53:22 +0000 UTC; Views: 1101; Favourites: 3; Downloads: 13
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68 years ago, on a full moon night, 172 B-29's took off from Guam for the first large scale fire-bombing raid on Tokyo. It was considered a sucess, and would lead to the even larger raid of March 9th raid that devastated the city.Related content
Comments: 10
I thought the US bombed Tokyo but I had thought it was only once.
BTW, when I saw the title I thought some nasty villain had tied up your newest heroine named Tokyo.
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Geautiful work on this image.
Andrew, the first time the US bombed Toyko and other cities was the Doolittle raids in 1942, by B-25 Medium bombers ferryed close to the Japanese mainland by the carrier USS Hornet. Later on in the war, Japan was bombed by B-17's and B-24's from Australia, but it was a long, long run and they could'nt reach very far. Originally, the US built bases in China, but problems in getting supplies over "The Hump" in Burma made these less effective than they could have been. The solution was found to be airfields built on Japanese held islands that had to be wrested from the enemy by the US Marines and Army troops at great human cost. When the islands of Saipan and Tinian and Guam were taken, the US Air Force finally had bases close enough to make the maximum use of the B29 strategic bomber. Okinawa and Iwo Jima were later taken to give airfields for escort P51 fighter protection for the big bombers.
Actually, the firebombing of Tokyo did far more damage than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings. The flimsy construction of most Japanese houses at the time made them vulnerable to this kind of attack, and the massive fires created a firestorm that killed thousands of civilians. Other cities were attacked this way, the purpose being to kill the civilians that worked in the war materiel factories.
I'm not condemning the US, we were at war with a stubborn and ruthless enemy. Tojo and his generals were willing to fight until the death, and believed their own propaganda about the US destroying the Japanese way of life. It was a terrible time, and I truly hope we never have to resort to solving international disputes by war anymore.
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We bombed Tokyo several times from Nov 1944 on... In fact the last time was 4 days prior to the end of the war. And, they were scheduled for a third atom bomb, but the parts for it were late, and the Japanese surrender beat it.
Hmmm... new heroine, named Tokyo... Hmmm...
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Nice picture and it really captures the essence of the B-29. They're perfect replicas of the actual models and the moon looks awesome. Although I am Canadian, the Americans did a great job in doing this mission and props to them for doing, and props to you for keeping that mission etched in our memories
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Thanks, got the freebie prop, imported and saved it, got to playing around with it and decided to do a 'night over the Pacific' shot, and release it in March. Then, for S&G, I referenced the raids on Tokyo and found that one had happned today (well, today 68 years ago) and figured I post it in rememberance of that.
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Awesome. Well it is a great reminder and awesome pic. I salute you!
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