air intelligence report, v1n4

8/8/2019 Air Intelligence Report, V1N4

1/7

ftlattm otIIIIlel1ed bFatm Io. ~ . " 9 . etteoth. 28 WoY

VOl.\ NO.4 29 MARCH,I945

G RADAR BOMBIN(T Page bUSULTS (TOOD() 85% OF AI RC.RAFT Page 7EPT FLYINC7G THE EFFECTS OF Page CJNCENDIARY ATTACKS( ) DITCH INuS R.EDUC.ED Page 227 PERCENT


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XX I B 0 M BE R e 0 M MAN D~ I I I T E l l i G E N C E REPORT

29 March 1945XXI BOMCOM OPERATIONS

N a g ~ a Gets it Again 3Kobe Hit by 2,328 Tons 48 Square Miles Damage to Osaka 5Ra'dar Bombing Results Good 58 5 of BolICom Aircraf t Kept Flying 7Photo Coverage of the .Veek 7Saipan under New J.!anagement 8XXI BOllCOll TARGETS

The Effects of Incendiary Attacks 9Photo Interpretat ion Reports 11JAPANESE DEFE!lSE


3/7

~ Iqu

~ I AGAINth e primary t a rg e t v i sua ll y and byradar from 5.200' to 9,000 teet .A1:rcratt ot this wing found up toe/lO cloud 0 ' l8r th e target .Seven aircrer t re


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66a, !\ubota Iron and kachine norks,major da:lage. Target 1761, -NittaLeather Belt Manufactur1ng Company,m inor damage. lIiner damage also"a!! int l ic ted on 1191, MabudokiElng1ne Works; 173:5. Japan DyestufflIanutactur1n& Co:upanYi 53 . OsakaHarbor; 3e4. FukuZaki S tep PowerPlant.The photo abene. While 1t showsa great deal ot d"'mage (burned ou ta rea s ou tl ined in black) UlI:ls1rate.

th e diff icul ty ot photo reconnaissance. Many photo aiss10QS ta i l toget coverage becau se ot th e interm1 t t en t clouds dr!ttica: C7V'8r th e, a r f eb . althou&h th e . . . . ther g8Der a 17 1181 be good.

DllIll8ge to O!aka caused by theBoaCom m1!1sion on the night of.4 March 1s 8.1 Square miles.dest%'uetion is almost ent i re lyentrated 1n one area south"es tt.ha cast le.Industries damaged or dastroyedTarget 686, O!aka J(et81r-- '" severe dalD8ge. Target

2,328 11Ninety two percent

B-egs airborne against :!..night of 16 ..17 March 410'"bombs on th e prlmarr + add1 tional three, mak:11lC7309 "hich bombed I hi t ou.,1A to ta l of 2,328 tOildiaries were loosed on tilt"ban ares. 250 of the bOlllIin g radar and 56 b O l l l b l ~The aVerage bomb lOadlllgpcp"mo.! per Sircrat t..

280 ENEMY FIGHTF1lSThe wll lAs ' t' 9por ted13nemy a1rcrart ro t r,140 tc 150 unaggressifeexecuted attacks. Vost

BIllY fighters were Irv1Qgs,Tanya, Tojas and Osear8.Flak was medlUlll aDdgar to intense and Inaewas largely contlnuou!1J,.,1 th some predicted eooetOne aircraf t possibly Ql Iover th e target by BntThree aircraft failed

trom the mission __ 0.9the number airborne. .,eO. at 111'O Jiaa.

RESULTS!'rom partlal1,. ePhotographs t whieh 15Phuto Reconnaissancebeen able to obtain atthis report, photo :have located burned at'"225,610,000 square r e ! ! ~1.830 aeres or 2.66 s ~ _ Numbered targets daled No. II , th e Kawasakiand Car COlllpany. ot ber ;th e Ka.. .sak1 aDd Vltsub .1ndus1:zo1' v e u wer. inarea..I


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n 1ol,o,,,CM IU S

:he _U i tary value or 8 ..29 in -cendiary strikes h as be en qJ8!l-tloned, as "a:'l anticipat8l3, byth e Japanese radio. 'lhe Jap_ane,e, hOlfeT8r. Imow a. well a s weIlow much th e recent m B.C. s t ra t -'IY has set them back Mil i tar i ly .Besid. . th e tabulated appraisalOf tarcet . damaged or destroyed byt he i ncend ia ry s tr ikes , a brier re _Yle" or the entire mUi te ry aspec tsOr thee . min ioos seelll5 1n order.

PURPOSE :. TO SHORTEN WARThe pr imary purpose oC these at _t a co i s to destroy/damage th e rac-tor ies mak1na: the weapons, equip_Mnt and supp11es needed by th eJapanese to ca r ryon th e war i; th e' h iPS, ' shipyards and railroad Cao_Sl i t le s that carry raw materials

,Dd Cinished gooCls; th e saurc.. oC,ower needed to run th e raotories.:bips and ra i l roads i th e essent ial!OlllllUDication 11nes; and th e 'II'&re-ouses containing ra'll' materials or'1nlllhed goods awai till& rabricationshipment.Unfortunately Car th e Ja pa ne se__ ry of th e obJectives enumerated

~ b o v e 11e within or il ll lMdiately ad -.cent to known h1&tl1y inf1alllmable~ t i o n s or their rew PJ'incipali t t e . . As seen trom th e air , th et r t ldng aspect of then cit ies ise r tr tually so11d IIl8SS of one end'0 stary house., over C11I1SY'oodel1 structures, with only a r e l -,t iftl , . slllall proportion oC 1IlU1t1-tcried modern buildings.

A NEW OPPOOTUJllITIThis concentration ot industrywithin so tew ci t ies and this bighdegree ot inflalll:lllabUity ar e with-ou t parallel in any other moClernindustrial country. These condi_t ioos p re se nt a n oppor tu ni ty to rincendiary attack with an expendi-

ture or bOlllb tonnase!l that cannotbe Judged by exPer ience gained inth e European theater.A major teature of the Japaneseeconom1.c structure tbat invites in_cendiary attAck is th e tremendouspart played in war production byth e small household indus tr ies .thousands of l i t t l e sbops otten lo -cated in a t ront o r b ac k roca otindividual residences, or ! lu l l

~ C a o t a r i e s consisting or hardlyaora than a caapI. ot lathes opera-ted by a ta . people.The product s, genera lly machine

parts and other sll&l1 industrialitems, ar e token to th e l arg e f ac -tor ies and sold to thell on a scr tof pieee_work basis, a practieesimilar to the faraing_out s1!1teain England and on th e Continent be-tore th e advent ot the IndustrialRev olution. I n Japan the two sys_tems work hand il l hand, with tbeb.ome 1Dd:a.trla.l serving as a con_tribu'tina: factor to the lIl&in pro-duction syste. of the factories "AoorA IS EXAIIPLB

In 5&'&018, to r exuple, ttuo.elarge bicycle assembly plants Gb-taiDed Tirtual17 a l l their eOllpo-nents trOIll IIltUlY sate l l i te householdshq,ps in the n e l . g , h b o : ~ o o 4 . Tbase


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. ". ~ :

The destruetion or a considerable D.WIber or sizable industrialpleots and hundreds, possibly thousaDds, of satelli te ractories b.this one attack was a paralyzingb101!' to the entue Jap..nese war .machine !'rom whieh i t CllDrlot fullyrecover as long as the war againsttllem la s ts .

PAR..LYZING BLOW -Aside from tengible evidences or

~ e s t r u c t i o n of wartime installa_tions, there is no real is t ic methodor reducing to stattst1cal terl!lS,if i t wau1d serve an y userul pur_pose to do so , the millions of man~ o u r s lost to Ja p war industries bythe forced migration or workers tooutlying shelter &reas, by the pro_:ess or restorins a lIinbUfll or es_,ential civilian goods snd servicesaDd by the absorptioo of I118npOl!'8l'and materials in reconstructlco.

mensurate with forceselected fo r attackpoints to a e e ~ p l i s hare designated. '::"l1olItheiSe ~ l e s 0' t'o detailea cvunt 15 pos_' ~ l e , of eours8, bu t i t is sigD.1f_an t to note that as long ago asExcluding th e So-call 8:5, over 8,000 Tokyo factoriesindustries , Tok;yo ia Ja e4 .... destroyed or damaged by fu eing manufacturing c i t P 8 Q " ~ D e in the great sarthquske endwar industr ies r e p r e s ~ ' Prl e of that year. It 15 of fur_chiDes and machine to 1nted ... interest to note that t he a re aic s precision ins t r 0 s, e l ~ t a t e d by f ire in 1923 or 17eum' and a i rcraf t uments, e miles 15 approxima te ly theto I t 1s. 1 t , a n d , as t he fLre damllge resultlnspa r v a tratlll our 9 Ila rch attack.t ion and communica ti on ceQ ptterminus of practical ly ;n, For those more interested inmain rai l roads on th e 1!;:,II"e they have been than whBreHonshu, as well as th e a d m 1 ~ are going, the search fo r at iOD sea t of government ancf7G8:Dtage fLgure to describe thegreat industrial concerns e teet of the 9 ),larch attack on th ein g Japan's war lZlachine ~ e s e abi l i ty to wage war" . . ises many weeks of research.15,000 FACTORIES IN TOno We here l imit ourselves to attua1 1ist ins or th1ngs destroyedWithin th e ci ty of Toqo la. damaged and to a general s t a ~39 were ove r 15, 000 factorlllt or what we believe have beenplaying f ive persons o r mon .' efl'ects of the attack 00. Jap1s estimated tha t nearly U...bUit1es _ a method of attack

these were lOCated in sect1Q111goed to capitalize on t he b as ic the following pSJe the DUIIIth e c i t1 d ef in ed a s ZONES I fca1 defects io. the Japanese bered t ar ge ts i n Toqo aDd the(most inflammable and s o m ~ ~ t r ia l system described 1n ear- damage to them ar e discussed.lntle.mmable, respect ively) . : ~ p ~ s r : . : . g r ~ . ~ P ~ " : : ' ; ' "::::::_:_:_::_=o_:::_; ;i_o__o-.i i i i ; ; _ ; ; ; ; ; ; ~

17 11 Kar 45 Toqo DamageI. 14 K ar 45 Nagoya City11 Mar 0&5 Tokyo_Jlito-Izu

12 I la r 0&5 KUllano_HalD8m8tsu12 l iar 0&5 ~ u _ O ~ _ O o ' ' ' _o-R114' 12 liar 0&5 Tolqo-JIito-Sb1&uokaReport No. 46 13 Mal" 0&5 Tokyo-1&U.cra!'t. Report Ro. 3 1:5 liar 45 Ok:1oan-Ok1oa- Q'QDtoAS we know trOlll p ~ t r l - !rerart Report Ro. 0& 10& liar 0&5 Southern Bo1ullueaent to SurTey ReportiograPhYt th e conflagrat1 0D 18 liar 45 rree Ballooally th e 9 larch at tack d8,tr Report 80 . 4.3 14 liar 0&5 1IaI0ra-Sbuuomsquare miles of ZONE I '1 Report Ro.... 13 11&1' 45 ~ ' b U - .. .t " ' .ebo-

S ~ U 8 r e miles of ZONE 11._ 5 1 a o n o a e k 1 - b r ~atl 'uetion of 1 6 . 7 square 111 '1 R.port Woo 47 17 Mar 45 tolr;ro-li toth e end of t his r ep or t 11 '1 R.port 10 . 48 16 Jar 0&5 gora-Osa1la.....uun-t1oD. or 22 tarsets known to _..strayed by th is attack . witlll '1 Report Bo. 50 19 Ja r 415 ....,.ment aa to their le d iV1dual '1 ReKort 10 . S3

19 Ja r .15 00'"talle. aM th e et fee t s of oee eport 1 0. 0&2 18 Ia r .15 TokGl'OUft A/P.TJAOSI true t l On or damqe OD th e 1 Report Ro. III 19 . . , . .15 T_IM B lq Reun l' . I e . , - . n t Report 1 0. 19 1 8 1 & 1 ' 4 & T-1719-.1..1. , 41What about a ll those , ..e ,nen t R.port 10 . 21 18 IIaI' 0&15 IIqoJa CUr-B..loa. 1&1

11

I t IS 1lllposslble to Judge th eextent of their contribution,~ ~ ~ c intelligence sources a ll s t r e i ~the 1'll crtacee of' these househoI n a U ; ~ e s to total Japanese production of "a r materials. Thissystem f requently Is r ef er red to asinvisible industry, fo r i t Is ob/tOl1$1y impossible to sp ot the lo cations of such 8 vast number ottam!:,. enterprises.

'SRA1)CJiII PLANTS"Sl1ghtly larger. bu t equally41ttlcult to single ou t and dertneas ': 0 name and lo catio n a re the'shadow plants". small fectoriesWithin the shadow of large indus_t r ial Itl5tallaUons. and servingthem as an added s ou rc e o f proouc_tiOD..'i1I'.180 i nv iS ib le i ndus tr y and th esystem of shadow plants ar e lookedupon as a who le , th e thousands otenterprises added together, becauseof mea large IIlmber, small Size,and 41sperslon thl'oughout th e largeeitleJ!l, Illake poor indiv1dual t a r gets. They can best be destroye dby widespread COnflagrations.

PRECISION BEQUIREOBueh, then, are the factors un_der1Y i l1& r&eent attacks againstpri.eip1 Japanese urban industr1l!1lareas. TheJ!le attacks eal l fo r ahi gh order of preciSion aDd tlnlil1&.I t ls DO ~ e r a t i o n to sa y that.ora cve goes into th e selectionof 51ming points fo r such lliSS10bSthan is the Case fo r all. attack on as iq Jl e l ar ge f ac to ry ,Information concerning locationsof priDe!pal obJeetives to be des_troyed -uat be evaluated il l th e

l1ht or lU"eu of in t lumabl l i t1fu e defens.s, grouDd wInd data 'ete. , ar \u wtu.cb a target a r e ~wb1cIl prcm.... best reeultA C!0lI_

I i= ; ~ = on army contracts. now. Many of the large to y shops, (a1Jllost a l l of them household In -I d us tr le s) a re DOW engaged in f ln l -I ,bing aDd assembling small compo-. nents. Household cutlery shops ar e;, reported to be producing components

tor precision instruments.


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.61:.1 1.0

.1 1. 0

....1

291

....

'4 1 "Ius40145137

0.5 1 0.5 I 0 .'

.6

40 I 41 I 42 1 . ,

....

....,01

9 ~ r l l l "'1'113 llarl16 va

7,00017.50017,000to

lS I

....

....

4 Mar

200

13

.1 ....

. . . . 1 ....

....

....

:Q/llli 1D/lO

l 'he f ol lo WiD6 table sb0W'5 th ecomparison between ene1ll1 f ighter re .act ionat day and a t niRht:

There 15 a progressive increasein th e number of in tercep to r s s ~ ed on night m1ssions. However, th emissions were flown over dit terentareas and tb e t1gures must be 10 .terpreted accordingly.

'3 l

1'1>5702.9

....16.'

.

4.'

91166

10>

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8aS07'I TOQoI Totli fol Tolqo I ToIqoIS07'I Ouleal lobe

2) 0)) 0

.,

1.4

101

'.022.'

Qt

a8 aole or w11formations durn th th e aggreson da y missions.

99

26

.7

27 )205

1 .)

....13.1

4 FebllO Feb!15 'ebll9 F e b l 2 ~ 'e b

24

.,

6)

."9""). 6

....

Toqol lobe

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25.5001 25,500127,500127,500127.000126,500127,000

'TER REACTION WEAKATNIGHT

CCIIPARISCB FIGHTER REACTIQJ AID KFPICT-DAI IlISSICBS JJID IIGRt IlISSICBS

IMtel27 JUI

_ . . 111 tM - .d i l l . 1Ds+'. . . aU __ . . , ...... _ Sa .. . .,... . . .t- .......--- -. 16. 1., . . 25 M.

'!'be enemy i8 no tt o a tt ac k ou rnight missions' .n ess d isp layed

01

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.... _,....... ",.."."-ffir. ':1'.1t

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:-0," ... _,:E: ~ J . ~ : : " j : ' : : " -"... ........ . . : : : - - ' ~ .... ~ ~ -",..,.... , : : ..." ....til: l ' : . " ; : , : : : " , E - . ~--,..,,,. "............"t : ; : : ~ ..mr.::i ";;:;1,,::'-

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air intelligence report, v1n4

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