There’s been a lot of coverage of the 70th anniversary of the bombing raids on Dresden in 1945, with much debate about war crimes. But I can find virtually no reference to the far more destructive raid that took place just three weeks later. On the night of 9-10 March 1945, 21st Bomber Command of the United States Army Air Force, based in the Marianas islands, launched an all-out raid on Tokyo; 338 B-29 “Superfortress” bombers dropped 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs on the Japanese capital with the deliberate intention of setting it alight. The flimsy materials from which Japanese structures were built made them peculiarly susceptible to this type of bombing.
The Americans were more successful than they could ever have dreamed: 16 square miles of the city was burnt out and at least 100,000 people perished in that one night. This was twice as many as Britain lost to bombing in the whole war and greater than the initial death toll sustained by Hiroshima. The overwhelming majority of dead were, of course, civilians. US plane losses were insignificant, as the Japanese night fighter capability was poor, as were their anti-aircraft defences.
I have never seen any suggestion in the west that this raid was a “war crime” even though (unlike Dresden) nobody disputes the casualty figures. And the instigator, Major General Curtis LeMay, became a lionised hero in the USA and later head of the Strategic Air Command (SAC). How different from the equivocal recognition given to “Bomber” Harris.
I wonder if the archbishop will apologise to the Japanese for this far more destructive raid, or at least (there being no British aircraft involved), urge President Obama to do so.
I hope that your newspaper will give at least equal coverage to what was actually the most deadly non-atomic bombing raid of the war.
Norman Wallace
Church Stretton, Shropshire
• The mass bombing of Dresden is rightly being remembered. Yet no mention of George Bell, bishop of Chichester, who publicly attacked area bombing as unchristian and inhumane. He was condemned in parliament, the press, even the church. He had been regarded as the next archbishop of Canterbury but Churchill would never agree. After the war, he was the one whom German clergy approached in order to restore friendship between the countries.
Bob Holman
Glasgow
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