At the end of the Pacific War, in the early morning of May 24, midnight of May 25, and on May 29, 1945, the U.S. military launched its final air raids on Tokyo. Tokyo was blasted into flames at the mercy of the massive influx of U.S. B-29 bombers. In the Aoyama district of Tokyo, a large number of burnt corpses were found. The charred and rigor mortis bodies of Tokyo residents were tagged with tags for subsequent disposal of the corpses. All of the bombs dropped were incendiary devices, with 3,645 tons dropped on May 24 and 3,262 tons on May 25, nearly four times the 1,665 tons dropped on March 10.
Following the air raid on Tokyo in the early morning hours of May 24, 1945, the U.S. forces left the Japanese breathless as another air raid on Tokyo came in the late evening of May 25, this time by U.S. B-29 bombers. According to the record of the air raid, about two hundred or so U.S. B-29 bombers invaded the Japanese mainland from the southern Pacific Ocean, moving northward along the Izu Islands, and from the Boso Peninsula or Suruga Bay area. The U.S. planes attacked the Keihin area one after the other. The U.S. planes indiscriminately bombed a wide area of the city, including central Tokyo, mainly with incendiary bombs. The Japanese military recorded that the B-29 bombers had fled over the southeast sea by 1:30 a.m. on May 26 as a result of a daring offensive by Japanese air control units against the B-29s.
The last air raid on Tokyo caused extensive damage in Tokyo's Minami-cho, Shiba, Shibuya, Kyobashi, Akasaka, Meguro, Azabu, Shinagawa, Koishikawa, Katsushika, Ushigome, Shimotani, Setagaya, Asakusa, Ebara, Joto, Mukojima, Fukagawa, Edogawa, Itabashi, Hongo, Adachi, Suginami, Arakawa, Omori, Yodobashi, Nakano, Yotsuya, Kanda, Honbashi, Takinogawa, Oji and Tachikawa cities. and Tachikawa City, as well as in Tama County to the north and south.
The civilian casualties in Tokyo totaled approximately 882 dead, 4,437 injured, and 29 missing. Approximately 157,039 houses were damaged and 620,000 people were affected. The National Police Agency reported that the morale of Tokyo residents was strong in the earlier Tokyo air raids. The National Police Agency recorded that although the last air raid was vicious and there was still no evidence of any worrisome incidents such as false rumors, there were some signs of unrest in public sentiment due to the successive air raids on Tokyo.
No comments:
Post a Comment