NHK WORLD PRIME
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Saturday, January 27 4:10 - 5:0011:10 - 12:00
January 27, 2018
Strategy Gone Awry: Revisiting the US Air Raids on Japan
The United States dominates the world in airpower. Behind the birth of the US Air Force is a little-known story about the deadly firebombing campaign against Japan at the end of World War Ⅱ. NHK combed through audiotaped interviews with 246 senior Air Force officials, including the leader of the air assault on Japan, Gen.Curtis LeMay. The interviews reveal how an "ideal" strategy designed to cause minimal civilian casualties ultimately went awry, and gave way to attacks with incendiary bombs that claimed some 400,000 Japanese lives.
Essentially, more of the same BS we've heard of since... the use of 'precision' bombs... to prevent loss of civilian lives.. using the new B-29 bomber program that cost a little more than the Manhattan Project or so it is said here - $3billion, so a low level army air force general with his career/ego on the line.. in need of victory... but his bombers are no where near successful...single digit 'success' rate.. though about the same as in Europe they say here... (no mention of the fact that many factories in Europe weren't bombed on purpose, given American connections to them)... The major reason seems due to the then unknown element of the 'jet stream'... add in the weather and the nature of how the industry was spread out, and the limits of air power was quickly shown, but with egos on the line, sooner or later, the 'job' gets done.. change of command (reminded me of American Civil War)... .with firebombing or terror bombing... .though it seems an important push was to end the war with this tactic to prevent any sharing of the 'success' with the Army's planned invasion. So, same incompetence.... low skill levels... not much different than Europe in the first few years as America wasn't prepped for war with anyone other than low tech and trusting 'Indians' or small Central American nations with much less force projection than we had then... not much has changed.
PS.... forgot to mention one point, valid or not, that the guy in charge of the War Dept said in his files/biblio, that he decided in favor of the nucs to prevent the continuation of this firebombing campaign, which has plans to target most of the rest of the cities down to 10,000 population base....