March 1945: Firebombing of Japan begins

Since its capture of the Mariana Islands in November 1944, the USA had engaged in an extensive bombing campaign against Japan. This campaign had been targeted against Japanese industry, with the goal of destroying Japan’s capacity to wage war. These initial bombing raids were of limited effectiveness, as Japan moved much of its manufacturing capacity into smaller factories, often in private homes, that could not be easily targeted by aerial bombardment. In March 1945, the Allies adopted a new bombing doctrine, switching from daytime precision bombing to nighttime firebombing. Firebombing was massively successful in destroying Japanese industry; it also devastated huge areas of urban Japan and resulted in hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties, including almost 100,000 in Tokyo alone.

Firebombing was adopted as the primary bombing doctrine of Allied forces in the Japan Theater as a reaction to the lack of success in degrading Japanese industry through precision bombing. By moving a considerable amount of manufacturing to smaller locations or homes, Japan managed to shelter its war industry from aerial bombardment, making precision bombing ineffective. A firebombing of Tokyo on 25 February 1945 was remarkably successful, so, in March 1945, US General Curtis LeMay approved a transition to a firebombing campaign.

Firebombing was remarkably successful at degrading Japan’s capacity to wage war. Most Japanese buildings were made of wood and were highly flammable, meaning that fires started by incendiary bombs would rapidly spread and consume large areas. Thinking that its control of Pacific and Chinese air bases would protect it from attack, Japan had failed to invest in either bomb shelters or adequate firefighting capacity, meaning that fires were poorly contained and caused massive damage and huge numbers of civilian deaths. The fires started by Allied bombing not only destroyed the dispersed manufacturing centers used for war industry, but also destroyed the economies and livelihoods of urban Japan, reducing millions to poverty and simultaneously increasing the burdens on the Japanese state and reducing its capacity to provide for them. The civilian death toll of firebombing was also seen as a positive by some Allied commanders, as it reduced morale and was thought likely to induce Japanese surrender.