At the end of the war Japan is in bad shape. Okinawa fell and so the Americans are at Japan's door. Since the beginning of the war 7 millions tons of marchant ships have been sunk of which 60% have been torpedoed by american submarines. There is only 1 million tons left and the ships can sail only where it is safe: between Mandchouria and Japan.
The american submarines are working hard: November 21st 1944 the Sealion II (frigate captain Reich) sinks the cruiser Kongo near Formosa; the 27th the Archerfish sinks the carrier Shimano (a giant battleship of the type of the Yamato transformed into a carrier of 65 000 tons with a 300m bridge) 22h after its first exit from the dry docks at Tokyo.
Bombings are happening more and more constantly and that decreases greatly the industrial capacity of Japan. The bombing raids started in June 1944 with the new B-29 Superfortress which have a high range that allow them to take off from China or Bengale to bomb Japan, but the results are low because Japan is defended by many fighters and so after the japanese attack on China in 1945 the operation is canceled. The B-29 have to wait the conquest of Saipan and Guam to continue their bombing over Japan. The 21st Bomber Command under the orders of general Hansell sets itself in the Mariannas and the first raids are made from high altitude during the day but once again the japanese fighters intercepts the bomber and the american losses are around 5%.
With the conquest of Iwojima and a change in the leader -the new commander being major-general Curtis E. Le May- the 21st Bomber Command changes its bombing tactic: incendiary/explosive bombs (napalm) are dropped on the targets during the night from a medium altitude (1500m). The machine guns of the bombers are retreived to increase the bomb stock since the japanese defense is completely hopeless in the dark. The tactic uses the fact that the japanese buildings are made of wood and paper and so the japanese cities burn quicker than the european cities. Also Japan has much less passive defenses than the European countries: firemen for example: Tokyo had only 11 000 firemen aged between 13 and 17 years old defending 340km square -8 millions of people. So the bombers are to strike the big cities where the armament factories are still operational, like Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya.
In the night of March 9th 1945 320 B-29 (6 tons of bomb each) make a incendiary raid on Tokyo by dropping 1667 tons of bombs (more than Hambourg in Europe). At 0h15 the first two bombers were dropping their bombs following perpendiculary axes so that a giant fire cross appeared in the center of the city. With a 45km/h wind 33km square of the city are burned and 100 000 civilians die: boiled in their pool where they had taken refuge, asphixied or burned; and another 100 000 are injured. This raid cost only 14 B-29 to the Americans of which many were damaged by the ascendant wind due to the fire and which pitched things 2000m high. In the next week the raids continue on the 5 major cities: March 12th Nagoya, 286 bombers destroy 5km square; March 14th 2240 tons of bombs explode on Osaka and remove 14km square of the city; Kobe is reduced of 5km square on the 16th; Nagoya is visited by 300 B-29 on March 22nd which drop their 2000 tons of stock; May 29th Yokohama is destroyed at 85% by 460 bombers and Tokyo is not spared: from April 13th to May 26th 4 raids of about 400 bombers each will destroy some 60km square of the city. With the night raid, the american losses are reduced to 1.4%. So the raids continue in the following months. On June 17th the 5 major cities have lost 80% of their industrial potential. The only big city which is not bombed is Kyoto, for religious reasons. In June the medium cities (350 000 inhabitants), about 25 of them, are also targeted. From July 12th the targets are all cities of 100 000 inhabitants and more.
le 16; Nagoya reçoit la visite de 300 B-29 le 22 mars et de leur chargement de 2000 tonnes; le 29 mai Yokohama est détruit à 85 pourcent par 460 bombardiers pendant que du 13 avril au 26 mai, Tokyo endure 4 raids d'environ 400 appareils chaque et éliminant quelques 60km carrés. Avec ces raids de nuit, les pertes américaines sont réduites à 1,4% des forces engagées. Les mois qui suivent voient les raids nocturnes continuer. Au 17 juin, les 5 grandes cités ont perdu plus de 80 pourcent de leur potentiel industriel. La seule grande ville qui est épargnée est Kyoto, pour des raisons religieuses. En juin, les villes moyennes (350 000 habitants), environ 25, sont aussi attaqués. À partir du 12 juillet, c'est les villes de 100 000 habitants qui sont attaqués
Au début les Mariannes avaient 350 appareils dans leurs aérodromes et en avril 1945 le nombre a doublé pour atteindre 1050 à la fin de la guerre. La dernière étape mise en place par Curtis Le May est le retour des raids de jour à moyenne altitude car la DCA japonaise à été de beaucoup réduite, la chasse japonaise ne se risque plus grâce à la présence de chasseurs américains Mustang et Thunderbolt qui partent de Iwojima. Dans les dernières semaines de la guerre, même les chasseurs font des raids par vagues de 1000 appareils sur les ports, les terrains d'aviation, les transports et les industries. En plus, du 13 au 17 juillet, une flotte anglo-américaine (Task Forces 37 et 38) se déplaça le long de la côte japonaise pour y bombarder les ports d'Hakodate et de Muroran; pilonner (avec les croiseurs et cuirassés de la 3e flotte qui s'était approché à 28 000m) les industries de Kamaishi, de Wanishi et d'Hitachi. Le 23 juillet, ce fut au tour des navires japonais survivants de recevoir des obus: le croiseur Haruna et les cuirassés Ise et Hyuga furent coulés tandis que 4 autres croiseurs et 3 porte-avions étaient mis hors de combat. Il ne restait donc plus que le cuirassé Nagato comme grand bâtiment pouvant prendre la mer. Pour compléter le tout, les sous-marins américains faisaient sentir leur présence dans la mer du Japon où ils harcelaient les communications.
When war will be over the Air Force will have bombed seriously 40 cities and lost 441 B-29. In all 69 cities have been bombed and reports says that 300 000 people died, 450 000 are injured and 15 000 000 are homeless from the 290km square destroyed. Only by itself Tokyo was reduced of 90km square by 11 800 tons of bombs.
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