Was the American Bombing Campaign in World War II a War Crime?

American Heritage Magazine ^ | April 6, 2006 | Fredric Smoler

[tbird5]

Deliberately targeting civilians is widely considered terrorism nowadays, but during World War II both the Britain’s Bomber Command and the United States Army Air Force deliberately targeted civilians.

The British philosopher A. C. Grayling, in his new book Among the Dead Cities: The History and Moral Legacy of the WWII Bombing of Civilians in Germany and Japan (Walker, $25.95), points out that the two air forces combined killed perhaps 600,000 German civilians and another 200,000 Japanese. He makes the case that at least by our current standards we were terrorists, and it logically follows that the attacks were war crimes. In an age of political terror, when it is urgent to come up with a persuasive distinction between legitimate and illegitimate violence, it is hard to overstate the importance of the questions Grayling raises.

[rlmorel]

Good gosh, you never heard of that?

[dfwgator]

If you read Shirer's "Berlin Diary," Germans almost had an indifference to the war, when it started.

That changed after the victory over France, and I do believe most did become convinced Hitler was a genius and became more fanatical.

[frankiep]

And apparently some posters here think that fighting to make certain that the genocidal regimes that started the war were thrown on the ash heap of history was not necessary. It's unbelievable how many revisionists and sympathizers are here tonight.

[COEXERJ145]

They didn't need it to run out of air (hydrogen). They had calculated the amount of time the balloon would take to travel the distance from Japan to the continental United States. They installed a simple timing device would release the balloon's payload at the calculated time.

After the payload was released, the balloon had a self destruct system that would destroy the balloon to prevent the Americans from capturing one intact.

[Alberta's Child]

The question was raised here in the context of a Japanese plan to bomb San Francisco. My point was that a balloon traveling several thousand miles across an ocean is hardly the kind of method one would use to carry out such a mission. You could have a near-perfect understanding of meteorology and launch 1,000 balloons every day from Japan -- and you would probably spend 500 years launching balloons without ever getting one to land in San Francisco.

[Dawggie]

People need face reality. Go to war, people die; both the ones that shoot and the ones that make. Don't play the game if your afraid to do what must be done.

[PISANO]

Politically Correct WARS are here to stay for the US but in those days there was ONLY ONE consideration......TOTAL VICTORY!!!

It is amazing to me that anything but KILL THE ENEMY and destroy his war making capacity, before the HE does it to you, is even considered!!

[rlmorel]

It isnt that hard. If you have a rudimentary knowledge of wind patterns, velocities and distances, you set various balloons to destruct after a certain time frame. It is a pretty stupid way to make war, but that is what the Japanese had to work with at that point, as decimated as they were.

[mugs99]

Maybe I'm completely naive about this, but how the hell was Japan going to drop a bomb on San Francisco? Did they have some kind of super-duper-long-range bomber program that I'm not aware of?

They had three seaplane carrying submarines. One was already in position off the coast of Panama. They were awaiting the delivery of the uranium. Their scheduled dirty bomb attack on San Francisco was two weeks away when we nuked them.

Hitler supplied the uranium to Japan after we bombed his "America Bomber" Factory. His plan was to drop his bomb on New York. We killed their civilians instead of them killing ours.

We should be sorry for that?
.

[wolficatZ]

 

 "..his attitude ("Bomber" Harris') towards the enemy, was clearly expressed the night of a German attack on London when, climbing on the roof of the Air Ministry building as bombs were exploding all around, he stated "They have sown the wind, and so they shall reap the whirlwind.""

 

 

[frankiep]

Hey, I could use the jet stream to send balloons across the Pacific Ocean, too. What I can't do, however (and I don't understand how anyone in 1945 could have done it), is: 1) ensure that it follows a precise track that takes it directly over the U.S., and 2) runs out of air over the U.S. (as opposed to landing in the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean in Europe, or -- heaven forbid -- floats all the way around the world and lands in Japan).

"From the late fall of 1944 through the early spring of 1945, the Japanese launched more than 9,000 of these "fusen bakudan", or fire balloons, of which 300 were found or observed in the US."

http://www.japan-101.com/history/fire_balloons_or_balloon_bombs.htm

It's like talking to a wall with some people

Again, just because you don't see how it could happen doesn't mean that it didn't happen. You really should at least know a little bit about the ACTUAL history of WWII before making ridiculous statements.

[Alberta's Child]

And apparently some posters here think that fighting to make certain that the genocidal regimes that started the war were thrown on the ash heap of history was not necessary.

Ash heap of history?

It's funny you should mention that. I've often said that if my great-grandfather came back today and spent 48 hours getting familiar with what the United States has become, he'd swear that the Nazis had actually won World War II -- or that we'd been invaded by the Soviets soon after the war ended.

[Alberta's Child]

I do understand your point. You confirmed that Japan didn't launch any of these balloons with the express intent of having them land in San Francisco -- they simply launched them in the hope that some or all of them would land anywhere in the United States.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Was the American Bombing Campaign in World War II a War Crime?

No.

The Americans applied the tech they had at the time in the same way the enemy had already begun to do and to a much lesser degree.

When a city got bombed like they did back then it was a serious blow to the morale of the enemy to stay in the war and from the American perspective that is what they were doing and when you see how the Germans did attempt to assassinate Hitler on more than one occasion it can be said the tactic did have the desired effect.

And it was the same deal for Japan, except with the dropping of the atomic bombs you had the extra incentive that Japan was testing chemical and biological weapons on US prisoners of war. They crossed the line and it was a question mark of how far they could develop such dastardly weapons and employ them in mass when we would be forced to invade their home island. That question had to be removed as quickly as possible and was by using science from the lab just like Japan was doing on US prisoners.

[Zhang Fei]

It was total annihilation that broke the will of the enemy to continue the war, surrender, adopt democracy and join the free nations of the world. Unfortunately, that is not the way wars are fought today and look at what you get -- unending insurgencies.

We killed about 12% of Germany's population and about 2.5% of Japan's population during WWII. I think that was the key - most of the military age people who were raring to fight were killed off. The rest were content to submit to Allied rule after their surrender. But we also lost 400,000 dead. Which is why we were able to take the gloves off. In Iraq, after about 3 years of light-duty guerrilla war, we're up to 2,500 dead. I don't think that's enough to justify flattening Iraqi cities with conventional bombs. But if we had done so, I suspect we'd have a lot less guerrilla activity today.

Note that that this guerrilla war hasn't lasted very long by the standards of these things. One of the more successful campaigns run by the Brits - the Malayan Emergency - lasted a dozen years. And they were up against opposition - a ragtag bunch of self-trained Communist political cadres, really - armed primarily with old equipment looted from post-surrender (WWII) Japanese arsenals, whereas the core of the Iraqi resistance is composed of personnel from a half-million man army funded with billions from decades of oil revenues.

[txroadkill]

Actually, I got much of my World War II history on the lap of an old relative who served in the South Pacific.

So did I, both my grandfathers, and 4 uncles. One of my Grandfathers served in both Europe and in the Pacific and was present at D-Day and Iwo Jima on board a Navy Destroyer. The difference between you and me is that it sparked enough curiosity to study the war so that I could put what they told me into context and understand what they felt and why they fought.

[rlmorel]

That last one is going to leave a mark...

[rlmorel]

Right.

[frankiep]

It's funny you should mention that. I've often said that if my great-grandfather came back today and spent 48 hours getting familiar with what the United States has become, he'd swear that the Nazis had actually won World War II -- or that we'd been invaded by the Soviets soon after the war ended.

Now you are equating the US with the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany? You truly are an idiot of the highest degree. You are a disgrace.

I do understand your point. You confirmed that Japan didn't launch any of these balloons with the express intent of having them land in San Francisco -- they simply launched them in the hope that some or all of them would land anywhere in the United States.

Your relativism is ridiculous. Are you saying that because the fire balloon attacks weren't specifically aimed at San Francisco that they were no big deal? You know what, nevermind. I've had enough of trying to argue with you. You are obviously hopelessly delusional about anything to do with WWII or why the US was justified in actually fighting to win that war. Goodnight, and may God have mercy on you.

[RBroadfoot]

BINGO!