The Fire Bombing of Tokyo

[March 10, 2017]  Leadership means making tough decisions and having the temerity to keep us informed even when it’s not popular to do so.  The night of the black snow is what the Japanese later called the night of March 9 to 10, 1945 when the American strategic air campaign firebombed the city of Tokyo, Japan.  It is estimated that over 105,000 were killed in the single most destructive bombing raid in human history.

World War II was a nasty, brutish war brought on the world by Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan.  At its end, over 60 million people were killed; 3 percent of the world’s population.  The horror is beyond imagination but it is the duty and responsibility of leaders everywhere to never allow the history and lessons of those times to fade.

It is not just the job of historians to enlighten us; they often do a marginal job of keeping us informed anyway.  Academics often fail to properly enlighten because of the fact-filled, mind-numbing way their message is delivered.  That is why those with frontline experience must also help us learn crucial lessons, not just facts.

It’s been 72 years since that night in an air raid, worse than the destruction of Nagasaki by an atomic bomb and on par with Hiroshima by another atomic bomb.  But the Tokyo firebombing received little attention, eclipsed by the atomic bombings and Japan’s postwar rush to rebuild.¹

Because the bombing took place so long ago, survivors are dwindling fast yet few ever talked about it.  Many refused, presumably because of the horror.  Split-second decisions of Japanese families often determined who lived and who died.

“The bombs were raining down on us.  Red and black, that’s what I remember most.” – Yoshitaka Kimura², child survivor of the Tokyo firebombing

Tokyo was the first of five incendiary raids launched in quick succession against the largest Japanese cities.  What military and political civilian leaders should take away from the firebombing was that the objective to shorten the war by destroying Japanese morale did not work.  It didn’t work earlier in Germany or England where bombers were sent to the same effort.

We should learn from World War II.  Lessons from the effects of the bombings during that war can be applied to what we do today.

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1. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/03/10/national/deadly-wwii-u-s-firebombing-raids-on-japanese-cities-largely-ignored/#.WMGZ-4WcGUk
2. Read more about Yoshitaka Kimura’s story here: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/03/10/national/deadly-wwii-u-s-firebombing-raids-on-japanese-cities-largely-ignored/#.WMGZ-4WcGUk