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Heroshima

 

"Target for tonight: Tokyo!"
(The fire bombing of Japan part 2)
 
Getting
Into WWII
getting
Out of WWII
 
CIVILIANS! EVACUATE AT ONCE!
These leaflets are being dropped to notify you that your city has been listed for destruction by our powerful air force.  The bombing will occur within 72 hours.  This advance notice will give your military authorities ample time to take necessary defensive measures to protect you from our inevitable attack.  Watch and see how powerless they are to protect you.  We give the military clique this notification of our plans because we know there is nothing they can do to stop our overwhelming power and our iron determination.  We want you to see how powerless the military is to protect you.  Systematic destruction of city after city will continue as long as you blindly follow your military leaders, whose blunders have place you on the very brink of oblivion.   It is your responsiblility to overthrow the military government now and save what is left of your beautiful country.
 
    But in his book The Night Tokyo Burned, Hoito Edoin says that rather then breaking the Japanese will, the fire bombing only became one more horror to bear, in an already unbearable life.  They became fatalistic: if they were going to die, so be it. They would die on their feet, not on their knees as slaves.  Not that they felt they had any chance of being victorious, rather they felt they were making their last choice. 

    Twenty two million people were directly affected by the raids.  Over 160 sq miles of urban territory were destroyed. between 200,000 and 300,000 people lost their lives.  Cities were being destroyed two or three at a time.  Raids were scheduled at a rate of every two to three days.  Even after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Two of five cities that were OFF the regular target list, by order of Washington) the raids went on.  The raids continued until August 14, 1945, the last day of the war. 

Heroshima and after...