Geographer
Junior Member
What was the target of the Doolittle raid? Was there a specific military installation or was it anywhere in the city of Tokyo?
The April 1942 Doolittle Raid on Tokyo
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
The only aircraft that actually landed anywhere intact, was the one that diverted to the Soviet Union. As they made their way towards the China Sea, they began to get extremely short on fuel. Some indicated that it had holes in one of the fuel tanks that was leaking. The pilot knew it would never reach the Chinese Coast...so it turned further north and landed intact in Vladivostok, Russia. It was aircraft number eight piloted by Captain E. J. York.
After landing in Vladivostok, the Soviets held interred the crewmen, and moved them to several different locations in the Soviet Union.
While being held, the crew was limited to the same diet as the Soviet people, which consisted of mainly black bread and cabbage. The five men began to suffer from malnutrition, dysentery and other ailments.
The navigator, Nolan Herndon, later said,
"I can't blame the Russian people, They were starving, too. Stalin was the bad guy to us."
Rather than wait until the end of the war under such deplorable conditions, the crew of decided that they had to escape. While they were held in Ashkhabad, near the Iranian border, they met and developed a relationship with a sympathetic Soviet officer. This individual in turn introduced them to an Afghan smuggler who began giving them better food he got from the black market.
Together, the crew, at that point had about $300 amongst them. They paid the smuggler $250 to guide them to a British embassy in Tehran.
It worked and he did so. The five men, with help from British diplomats in Mashhad, ultimately were able to make their way into India where they arranged a flight home.
After landing in Vladivostok, the Soviets held interred the crewmen, and moved them to several different locations in the Soviet Union.
While being held, the crew was limited to the same diet as the Soviet people, which consisted of mainly black bread and cabbage. The five men began to suffer from malnutrition, dysentery and other ailments.
The navigator, Nolan Herndon, later said,
"I can't blame the Russian people, They were starving, too. Stalin was the bad guy to us."
Rather than wait until the end of the war under such deplorable conditions, the crew of decided that they had to escape. While they were held in Ashkhabad, near the Iranian border, they met and developed a relationship with a sympathetic Soviet officer. This individual in turn introduced them to an Afghan smuggler who began giving them better food he got from the black market.
Together, the crew, at that point had about $300 amongst them. They paid the smuggler $250 to guide them to a British embassy in Tehran.
It worked and he did so. The five men, with help from British diplomats in Mashhad, ultimately were able to make their way into India where they arranged a flight home.
Jura The idiot
General
if interested, check
The Action
in
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Well Even if there was chances of hitting it would have been zilch. this is the second world war, Bombing was rudimentary at best. Today if we wanted to destroy a building we can drop a single weapon that will go right down the chimney like a Evil Santa Claus. In 1942 the Technology was such that to take that same structure would have demanded Dozens of heavy bombers dropping hundreds of bombs over a huge swath of territory. the most precise bombing was a dive bomber where the pilot basicly charged the bird at the target in a near Kamikaze run only pulling up and dropping the weapon at the last second.
The Doolittle bombers were to few and to small to Carpet bomb and to large to dive bomb. There mission was Psychological. The Japanese Command had told the Populous that bombs would never fall on the mainland. the Doolittle made that false
Jura The idiot
General
Hermann Goering made an analogous promise (which was even more ludicrous considering the distances in Europe as compared to the Pacific) but added he would change his family name to ... I'm sorry I'm not sure, but I think it was Mueller (the point was the family name would be very common) ... if German towns were ever bombed; long time ago I read recollections of a German soldier who for some time served in a Protective Detail of Goering, and noticed they were referred to (unofficially, of course) as Mueller-Komando LOL!
EDIT
I apologize for this off-topic post, but I couldn't resist to give an example of typical German humour LOL! Jeff remove this post if inappropriate here
The targets were specific factories in the few cities targeted...the principle being Tokyo.
16 bombers with four bombs each...that's a total of only 64 bombs!
Pretty amazing that they did make some direct hits...they also flew at relatively low level compared to later carpet bombing raids.
This pic shows a Steel Factory that was hit in the Raid and being examined afterward by the owner. It was taken by the Japanese at the time:
16 bombers with four bombs each...that's a total of only 64 bombs!
Pretty amazing that they did make some direct hits...they also flew at relatively low level compared to later carpet bombing raids.
This pic shows a Steel Factory that was hit in the Raid and being examined afterward by the owner. It was taken by the Japanese at the time:
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Doolittle Raiders lucked out though, The Japanese Promise meant that when the Bombers rolled over head the Japanese air defenders did not react as they should have. the effect was far more than the damage. Japanese Command in the ensuing period changed tactics and rushed to try and cut off Any future attempts are a repeat performance. There actions however would lead to Midway Where 4 of the 6 Japanese Carriers that had launched the attack at Pearl Harbor were Sunk.
Brumby
Major
I would first pose the question to you why should morality and standards be the guide to judge historical events like the Doolittle Raid? Conflict and nation preservation are amoral efforts to ensure continuation of life. Moral standards have no relevance without existence.
Guys, this was not put here for people to play devils advocate.
The Doolittle Raid was military mission. It did do some damage. It did cause the Imperial Japanese to station more aircraft around the home islands because the US showed they could be hit.
It did raise the moral in the US.
All of these were goals of the mission that were achieved.
it also lost all of the aircraft, and some crew...but relatively few when you consider what they did.
Those are all results of the raid, and they played to the benefit of the US at the time.
War always involves killing...and citizens of the warring nations die.
That is horrible but it is also a part of war.
Please take your theorizing, moral equivalencies, devil's advocate, etc.,, etc. elsewhere.
The forum has rules...stay within the rules on either side.
DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS MODERATION
The Doolittle Raid was military mission. It did do some damage. It did cause the Imperial Japanese to station more aircraft around the home islands because the US showed they could be hit.
It did raise the moral in the US.
All of these were goals of the mission that were achieved.
it also lost all of the aircraft, and some crew...but relatively few when you consider what they did.
Those are all results of the raid, and they played to the benefit of the US at the time.
War always involves killing...and citizens of the warring nations die.
That is horrible but it is also a part of war.
Please take your theorizing, moral equivalencies, devil's advocate, etc.,, etc. elsewhere.
The forum has rules...stay within the rules on either side.
DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS MODERATION
Geographer
Junior Member
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