Inferno: The Firebombing of Japan, March 9-August 15, 1945"Targeting Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Kobe, as well as smaller Japanese cities, Major General Curtis LeMay (1906-1990) and his squadrons of B-29 bombers - flying low and carrying nothing but incendiary explosives - unleashed an almost nightly bombing campaign througout the spring and summer of 1945 that reduced the residential and commercial centers of the nation to rubble and charcoal. Fueled by high winds and napalm, these bombs proved frighteningly effective against the island's traditional wood and paper houses, killing 300,000 men, women, and children, and wounding 500,000 more." "During the first raid on Tokyo on March 9, 1945, the resulting firestorm burned nearly sixteen square miles of the city and sent its terrified residents running through the streets in search of shelter. The survivors overcame flames, panicked crowds, falling debris, and choking smoke. Many fled to the city's rivers, where they drowned. With penicillin in short supply, disease ran rampant. In all, 100,000 Japanese civilians perished." "Based on vivid interviews with dozens of survivors, Inferno is an unflinching, intimate account of those horrific events as they unfolded in the midnight hours of a desperate world war. It is also an indictment of the decisions and decision-makers who refocused strategy in the Pacific Theater from military targets to innocent civilians."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
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Air Force air raid air-raid shelter air-raid siren aircraft altitude Americans army Asakusa attack bodies bombers bombs bridge building burn up Japan Captain Kubota Chunichi Shimbun civil defense civilians Curtis LeMay damage dead destroyed district doctor dropped emperor enemy planes eyes face factory father feet fight fire dragon fire raid firebombs firestorm flames futon head heard hospital hour husband Imabari Imperial incendiary International Criminal Court Japa Japanese fighter Kazuko killed Kimiko knew Kobe leaflets LeMay LeMay's lived looked machine guns Manabe March 13 March 9 Marianas Michiko military Mitsubishi Miwa monpei morning mother moved Nagoya night Obata Ochi Osaka penicillin percent radio railroad refugees rescue Shirabe sister smoke soldier square miles station street Sumida River Takako Takeo Taneko targets Tokyo told Toshie Toshiko Tsunoh Ueba Umaya walked wind wounded XXI Bomber Command
Bibliographic information
| Title | Inferno: The Firebombing of Japan, March 9-August 15, 1945 |
| Editor | Edwin Palmer Hoyt |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Madison Books, 2000 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | Jan 8, 2010 |
| ISBN | 1568331495, 9781568331492 |
| Length | 153 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Asia / Japan History / Military / Strategy History / Military / World War II |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |