Jap cities were indeed carpet-bombed as the possibilities became realized. An early March 1945 fire bomb attack on Tokyo arguably killed more people than either atomic bomb attacks.
What if FDR has a B-52?
Stupid question. We burned down Toyo and then it took an additional TWO ATOMIC BOMBS to get the Japs to surrender.
We did not have the capability at the time or we would have.......................
We had no capability to bomb Japan more heavily than something like the Doolittle Raid before 1944. There was no possibility of “carpet bombing” Japanese cities in 1942. We got there about as fast as we could. The long range of the B-29s was required, plus island airbases in the Marianas, and we did not have those until 1944.
p.s. We couldn’t reasonably fly more Doolittle type raids from carriers because (1) the risk to the carriers was enormous and it was a one-time mission (B-25s couldn’t come back and land on carriers, they had to fly to a land base); (2) after the initial surprise of the Doolittle Raid the Japanese were much better prepared to defend against such raids; (3) flying 16 B-25s at a time, once in a long while, is not any kind of “carpet bombing” — the military significance would have been inconsequential. The Doolittle Raid was great for shaking the Japanese psyche, making them devote more resources to defend their home islands, and probably helping lead their navy into the attempt to take the island of Midway (to complete their arc of island-based surveillance). But a series of Doolittle type raids going forward would have been much too expensive and too risky for too little military return.
Impossible.
We had neither the aircraft nor airfields close enough.
There is no way we could have carpet bombed Japan right after Pearl Harbor.
One of the most daring exploits of the war (the Doolittle Raid) took a huge amount of planning and risk just to drop a few dozen 500 lb bombs on mainland Japan.
There were a lot of lives lost, blood shed, and dollars spent to get to the point we were able to carpet bomb them.
Arguably the big benefit of the Doolittle Raid was to lead the Japanese Navy into what proved to be a trap for them at the Battle of Midway (because we had broken their naval code). But a series of Doolittle type raids would have been extremely risky and expensive, with rapidly diminishing returns, and probably would have cost us our carriers. No, we had to develop the B-29 and capture the Marianas in order to make major strikes against Japan, and that took until 1944.
How could we have “carpet-bombed” Japan? On the day the war began, we had only about 300 heavy bombers in service, and many of these were obsolete B-18’s and early-model B-17’s, which weren’t much better. And our closest air base to Japan was in the Philippines, which would have left most of the Empire beyond the range of our planes.
It does not necessarily destroy moral and weaken resolve and may infact stiffen resolve
People who have lost everything have little to lose
It's called "Military Deterrence."
And how were we supposed to get there to carpet bomb them after Pearl Harbor? Migrating coconuts?
I have worked with the Japanese and I have yet to find a single one who is not trustworthy, kind and caring. So carpet bombing them is a repulsive idea.
You can carpet bomb their politicians though.
If we could have, we would have at that point in time.
It took us a few years, but we finally put a stop to it. And in the end, it only took two bombs to get their undivided attention.
Eventually, we did.
My dad was on Bataan, did the Death March and four years in the Jap death camps.
His brother, Uncle Bill, was cutting beryllium in Los Alamos.
His brother, Uncle Kevin, was in L.A. building bombers.
His third brother, Uncle Marvin, was in the Seabees building airfields in the Pacific, so that bombers could reach Japan and drop the bombs that finally freed their brother.
I have flown over Tinian a couple of times. Some years ago, you could still see the runways. I thank God for that concrete and my Uncles and the thousands like them.
The limited bombing by Doolittle’s Raiders succeeded in spooking the Japs. They realized they needed to pull back some of their forces to protect the mainland. It was a huge success, for lifting the American spirits as well.
We firebombed Tokyo. Killed 1/2 million people.