Figure 1.--Here we see a Japanese village after World War II. It shows the wood and paper construction of Japanese villages and cities, essentially giant piles of kindling, fuel for horrendous fire storms. Major cities had central areas with major stone building. These were islands of modernity in huge seas of wood and paper buildings, both shops and residential housing. Another vulnerability is visible. Note the cliffside just outside the village. Japan was a collection of mountainous islands with relatively little flat agricultural land. This meant that densely populated Japan was not self-sufficient in food production and by 1944 with the Japanese cargo vessels being sunk, he Japanese were beginning to go hungry. Notice that the children are wearing wooden geta sandals rather than shoes. Photographer: S.F. Lindstrom.

Japan as it set upon the path of aggression and war began bombing civilians. This began in Manchuria and quickly spread to Shanghai (1931). Italy would join in with the invasion of Ethiopia (1935) and the Germans in Spain (1936). But it was the Japanese who began the bombing of civilians. The Japanese today like to view themselves as a victim of the War, not a primary perpetrator of war and mass murder. Not only did the Japanese begin the aerial bombardment of Chinese cities, but they continued bombing those cities for10 years until the American Flying Tigers began to provide a potent air defense for the Chinese (December 1941). The Japanese launched bombing campaign with the reassuring belief that Japan was invulnerable. The militarists believed that Japan could bomb other countries and could never be bombed itself. China did not have the industrial capacity to lunch a strategic bombing campaign. And the Pacific Ocean protected Japan from being bombed by any hostile power, namely the Americans and British. In reality, the Japan was among among the most vulnerable countries. Japan's problem was that it cities were largely constructed of wood and paper, essentially giant piles of kindling, fuel for horrendous fire storms. Major cities had central areas with major stone building. These were islands of modernity in huge seas of wood and paper buildings, both shops and residential housing. It was just a mater of developing long range bombers. Boeing in America began work on long-range bombers (1938). Boeing's preliminary design study for the Model 334 was a derivative of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. The Army Air Corps lacked funds to pursue the project on its own. The Air Corp approves a small scale effort to produce a few prototypes (May 1941). Days after Pearl Harbor the Air Corps gave priority for the project and order 500 B-29 Super Fortresses (January 1942).

Created: 3:53 AM 1/19/2025
Last updated: 3:54 AM 1/19/2025