Japan had to commit war machinery to the home islands as a result.
Yes and this was an important outcome from the raid, but the piercing of the psyche of the Japanese military and their leaders was of the highest importance not to mention the rallying effect it on our forces and nation.
To put it in perspective if I remember correctly we dropped approximately 1/1000th of the ordnance as a standard B-29 raid package put on Tokyo in a day at the end of the war.
As a former Army officer and student of military history it remains one of the greatest chapters in warfare in my humble opinion. Amazing men, an audacious plan and idea, and a huge rallying cry (like the Alamo) for a nation and military that desperately needed one.
“To put it in perspective if I remember correctly we dropped approximately 1/1000th of the ordnance as a standard B-29 raid package put on Tokyo in a day at the end of the war.”
Probably. A B-29 payload was 16,000 lbs. B-25 maximum bomb load was 3,000 lbs and the Doolittle raiders went lighter than that.
The Navy’s Pacific War grand strategy was designed around securing airstrips close enough to Japan’s home islands to bomb them at will with the not-yet-built B-29 bombers. Saipan, Tinian and Guam in the Marianas were all B-29 bases.
The Mariana B-29 airfields were vulnerable to attack from planes based on Iwo Jima which is one reason there was a battle for that island.