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During World War II the strategic bombing of targets without direct
military value became a common policy. As capital of Japan, Tokyo was an
obvious target as part of an assault on the "basic economic and social
fabric of the country".
The first raid on Tokyo was the Doolittle Raid of April 18, 1942 when
sixteen B-25 Mitchells were launched from the USS Hornet to attack targets
including Yokohama and Tokyo and then fly on to airfields in China. Launched
prematurely, the raids were military pin-pricks but a significant propaganda
victory. None of the attacking aircraft reached the designated airfields,
either crashing or ditching. Two crews were captured by the Japanese.
As the war moved closer to the Japanese mainland the AAF was able to
execute larger raids. The key development was of the B-29, with a
operational range of 1500 miles almost 90% of the bombs dropped on the home
islands of Japan were delivered by this type of bomber (147,000 tons). The
B-29 flew missions from India and China in early 1944 and later from the
Marianas Islands (October 1944) and Tinian. The first raid by B-29s on Japan
was on June 15 and the first raid from the east was on November 24, 1944
when 88 aircraft bombed Tokyo. The bombs were dropped from around 30,000
feet and it is estimated that only around 10% hit designated targets.
The scale of operations was stepped up following the arrival of Curtis
LeMay to command the 21st Bomber Command on the Marianas Islands in January,
1945. B-29 raids were switched to night attacks from altitudes of around
7,000 feet on the major conurbations of Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Kobe.
Despite limited early success with incendiary attacks LeMay was determined
to use such bombs against the vulnerable Japanese cities. Attacks on
strategic targets also continued in lower level daylight raids.
The first "fire bomb" raid was on Kobe on February 3 and following
relative success the AAF continued the tactic. Much of the armor and the
defensive weapons of the bombers were also removed to allowed increased bomb
loads, Japanese air defense in terms of night-fighters and anti-aircraft
guns was so feeble it was hardly a risk. The first such raid on Tokyo was on
the night of February 23-24 when 174 B-29s destroyed around one square mile
of the city. Following on that sad success 334 B-29s raided on the night of
March 9-10, dropping around 1,700 tons of bombs. Around 16 square miles of
the city were destroyed and over 100,000 people are estimated to have died
in the "fire storm". It was the most destructive conventional raid of the
war against Japan. In the following two weeks there were almost 1,600
further sorties against the four cities, destroying 31 square miles in total
at a cost of only 22 aircraft. There was a third raid on Tokyo on May 26.
The fire bomb raids were not the only raids on Tokyo, there were more
regular raids using conventional high explosives. With the capture of
Okinawa the Eighth Air Force was to be transferred there. Monthly tonnage
dropped on Japan had increased from 13,800 tons in March to 42,700 tons in
July, and was planned to have continued to increase to around 115,000 tons
per month.
Tokyo was not considered as a target for a nuclear attack, although Tokyo
Bay was apparently examined as a target for a non-lethal demonstration.
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