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THE RESULTS

Over the course of the war, mine laying sank or damaged over 2 million tons of enemy shipping, a volume representing nearly one quarter of the prewar strength of the Japanese merchant marine. Prior to Operation STARVATION, a widespread mining campaign was conducted in the enemy’s Outer Zone. Submarines, surface vessels and aircraft laid nearly 13,000 mines in harbors and shipping lanes. No submarine or surface vessel was lost while minelaying and out of 3,231 aircraft mining sorties, only 40 aircraft failed to return.

Approximately 770,000 tons of shipping was sunk or damaged.

During Operation STARVATION, more than 1,250,000 tons of shipping was sunk or damaged during the last five months of the war. Approximately 12,000 mines were laid requiring only 5.7 percent of the Twenty-first Bomber Command’s total effort. Out of 1,529 B-29 mining sorties, only 15 aircraft failed to return. In the five months prior to the end of hostilities, mines sank or damaged more shipping than any other agent including submarines or direct air attack by both Army and Naval forces. The Shimonoseki Straits and all important industrial ports were almost completely blockaded. Hundreds of ships were delayed, sunk, or damaged and supplies vitally needed in industrial and populated sections were diverted to northern Honshu ports where much of it remained, waiting to be hauled over an already overloaded transportation system to its useful destination.

The following represents the consensus of all Japanese mine experts as presented by Captain Tamura at a USSBS Conference:

“We agree that the mine warfare conducted by American planes during the greater East Asia War produced a very great strategical effect… When B-29s began to use Saipan as a base for mine warfare against our main islands they first interrupted communications in the Inland Sea Area and then by closing the Japan Sea ports they cut our communications and our food and raw material artery to the continent. The mine warfare coupled with the bombing raids prevented our utilizing our war strength and completely nullified our plans to the extent of forcing us to abandon them… It was indeed a far-sighted policy.”

CONCLUSION

The decision to employ the B-29 in the mining campaign was made with an eye towards post-war roles and missions for the Air Force; but in the end, the operation was an excellent example of inter-service cooperation. The 313th Wing started late, mining for less than five months, but Operation Starvation was a great success that contributed to the surrender of Japan without the need for a costly invasion.

Admiral Nimitz had the last word, “The planning, operational, and technical execution of Twentieth Air Force aircraft mining on a scale never before attained, has accomplished phenomenal results and is a credit to all concerned.”

Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:
www.web-birds.com/
http://research.airuniv.edu/papers/ay2002/awc/mason.pdf
www.usaaf.net/
www.9thbombgrouphistory.org

..............

"Thunderin' Loretta"of the 1st B.S. The two men pictured are Charles Siddens (left) and his brother, Wendy. Wendy Siddens was a Navy man who managed to visit Tinian and see his brother. Charles and his entire crew were lost on a mine laying mission in May of '45

The decision to employ the B-29 in the mining campaign was made with an eye towards post-war roles and missions for the Air Force...

That's one way of looking at it. I've read the Air Force only took the mission to keep the Navy from having a reason to get its own heavy bombers. Despite the effectiveness of the mining campaign, the fliers still hated anything that took them away from strategic bombing.

Can anyone tell me why dropping a couple of atomic bombs is considered by many to be so much worse than starving an entire nation? Even the name, "Operation Starvation," is horrifying.

Not mentioned in the above essay: If the whole nation of Japan were starving, prisoners would NOT have been well fed. [Quite the contrary. The first President Bush's "Flyboy" companions who were captured were subject to cannibalism.]

The Japanese had no respect for prisoners because of their own warrior code. Their prisoners suffered a horrendously high death rate: 35% of US soldiers died in Japanese captivity compared to less than one percent of those held by Germans. As former POW and later diplomat John Fletcher-Cooke wrote, “Few, if any POWs would have got out of Japan alive if the atomic bombs had not been dropped.”

To-the-death fanaticism was a major reason to use atomic bombs: to end the war with as few deaths as possible on both sides.

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on July 09:
1766 J Schopenhauer,
1802 Thomas Davenport invented 1st coml electric motor
1819 Elias Howe Spencer Mass, invented sewing machine
1856 Nikola Tesla, Croatia, electrical engineer/inventor (Tesla Coil)
1858 Franz Boas anthropologist/linguist (Mind of Primitive Man)
1887 Samuel Eliot Morison historian (Admiral of the Ocean Sea)
1901 Barbara Cartland romance author
1915 David Diamond Rochester NY, composer (Paderewski Prize-1943)
1916 Edward Heath (C) British PM (1970-74)
1927 Ed Ames Malden Mass, actor (Mingo-Daniel Boone)
1929 Hassan II king of Morocco (1961- )
1929 Lee Hazelwood Ok, country singer/songwriter (Summer Wine, Jackson)

1932 Donald Rumsfeld politician (Sec DoD.)

1938 Brian Dennehy Ct, actor (Check is in the Mail, F/X, Cocoon, Ants)
1939 James Hampton Okla City OK, actor (Bugler Dobbs-F Troop)
1939 Richard Roundtree New Rochelle NY, actor (Shaft, Roots)
1943 John H Casper Greenville SC, Col USAF/astronaut (STS-36, sk:STS-50)
1945 Dean R[ay] Koontz, US, sci-fi author
1946 Mitch Mitchell drummer (Jimi Hendrix Experience)
1947 O(renthal) J(ames) Simpson SF, NFL running back (Buf Bills)/actor/murderer
1952 John Tesh Garden City NY, TV host (Entertainment Tonight)
1954 Debbie Sledge Phila, vocalist (Sister Sledge-We are Family)
1955 Jimmy Smits NYC, actor (Victor-LA Law, Running Scared, Believers)
1956 Tom Hanks Concord, Calif, actor (Bossom Buddies, Big, Applo 13, Saving Pvt. Ryan...)
1957 Kelly McGillis Newport Beach Ca, actress (Top Gun, Accused, Witness)
1976 Fred Aaron Savage Ill, actor (Kevin-Wonder Years, Vice Versa)

Deaths which occurred on July 09:
1441 Jan/Johannes van Eyck, Flemish painter (Lamb Gods), dies
1737 de' Medici, last Medici-grand duke of Toscane, dies
1755 British Gen. E Braddock mortally wounded during French & Indian War
1850 Zachary Taylor 12th pres of US, dies in White House served 16 mo
1977 Dr Loren Eiseley prof of Anthropology (Animal Secrets), dies at 69
1988 Barbara Woodhouse dog trainer, dies at 78 of a stroke
1990 Howard Duff actor, dies at 76 of a heart attack

Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1967 LEE CHARLES RICHARD---SAN DIEGO CA.
[REMAINS RETURNED 06/03/83]
1967 MARTIN EDWARD H.---SAVANNAH GA.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 98]
1971 LILLY CARROLL BAXTER---MORGANTOWN WV.
1972 KETCHIE SCOTT D.---BIRMINGHAM AL.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
0711 Berbers under Tarik-ibn Ziyad occupies North Spain
1401 Mongol monarch Timur Lenk destroys Baghdad
1540 England's King Henry VIII 6-mo marriage to Anne of Cleves annulled
1572 19 Catholic priests hanged in Gorcum
1595 Johannes Kepler inscribes geometric solid construction of universe
1609 Emperor Rudolf II grants Bohemian protestants freedom of religion
1755 Brit Gen E Braddock mortally wounded during French & Indian War
1776 Dec of Ind read aloud to Gen Washington's troops in NY
1816 Argentina declares independence from Spain
1846 Capt Montgomery claims Yerba Buena (SF) for US
1853 Adm Perry & US Navy visit Japan
1860 Temperature hits 115ø F in Ft Scott & 112ø F in Topeka Kansas
1862 Gen John Hunt Morgan captures Tompkinsville, Ky
1863 Union troops enter Port Hudson
1868 1st black cabinet member in SC (Francis L Cardozo-sect of state)
1872 Doughnut cutter patented by John Blondel, Thomaston, Me
1878 An improved corncob pipe patented by Henry Tibbe, Washington, Mo
1902 L Carnera discovers asteroid #487 Venetia
1910 Walter Brookins becomes 1st to pilot an airplane to 1 mile altitude
1914 1st US duplicate auction bridge championship held, Lake Placid, NY
1915 Germany surrenders South West Africa to Union of South Africa
1916 1st cargo submarine to cross the Atlantic arrives in US from Germany
1917 British warship "Vanguard" explodes at Scapa Flow killing 800
1918 101 killed & 171 injured in worst US train wreck, Nashville, Tenn
1918 US Army's Distinguished Service Cross authorized
1927 Atty William T Francis named minister to Liberia
1933 Frankford Yellowjackets sold, rechristened Philadelphia Eagles
1944 World's largest circus tent catches fire at Ringling Brother's - Barnum & Bailey 2nd performance. 168 die. (Hartford Conn)
1947 Britain's Princess Elizabeth & Lt Philip Mountbatten's engagement
1948 Satchel Paige, 42, debuts in majors pitching 2 scoreless inn for Cleve
1950 13.15" (33.40 cm) of rainfall, York, Nebraska (state 24-hour record)
1951 Pres Truman asked Congress to formally end state of war with Germany
1953 1st helicopter passenger service (NYC)
1955 1st black executive on White House staff (E Frederic Morrow)
1955 Bill Haley & Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" tops billboards chart
1956 Dick Clark's 1st appearance as host of American Bandstand
1957 Discovery of element 102 (Nobelium) announced
1958 Giant splash caused by fall of 90 million tons of rock & ice into Lituya Bay, Alaska washes 1,800 feet up the mountain
1963 Federation of Malaysia forms
1976 Uganda asks UN to condemn Israeli hostage rescue raid on Entebbe
1978 American Nazi Party, holds a rally at Marquette Park, Chicago (I hate Ill. nazis!)
1978 L Chernykh discovers asteroid #2530 Shipka
1978 Nearly 100,000 demonstrators march on Wash DC for ERA
1979 Voyager 2 flies past Jupiter
1980 7 die in a stampede to see the pope in Brazil
1982 Margaret Thatcher begins her 2nd term as British prime minster
1982 Pan Am Boeing 727 crashes in Kenner, La, killing 153
1986 Att Gen's Com on Pornography links hard-core porn to sex crimes
1991 AL beats NL in 62nd All Star Game in Toronto

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Argentina : Independence Day (1816)
Morocco : Youth Day/King Hassan II's Birthday

US : National POW/MIA Recognition Day

South Africa : Family Day (Monday)
Swaziland : Reed Dance Day (Monday)
Be Nice to New Jersey Week (Day 6)
Nude Recreation Week (Day 5)
US : National Blonde Day
National July Belongs to Blueberries Month

Religious Observances
Christian : St Thomas More, humanist/martyr
Old Catholic : Feast of St Maria Goretti, virgin/martyr

Religious History
1228 Death of Stephen Langton (b.ca.1155), Archbishop of Canterbury. It was Langtonwho formulated the original division of the Bible into chapters in the late 1100s.
1530 German reformer Martin Luther wrote in a letter: 'This is a definite sign thatwe are God's children, because we are men of peace.'
1838 Birth of Philip P. Bliss, American gospel singer and songwriter. His best-remembered hymns include 'Wonderful Words of Life,' 'It is Well with My Soul' and 'Let theLower Lights Be Burning.'
1843 Birth of Ralph E. Hudson, sacred composer and music publisher. His most enduringhymns include 'At the Cross' and 'Blessed Be the Name.'
1896 Birth of William Cameron Townsend, American missionary and linguist. In 1942 heestablished what has become the largest evangelical missionary agency in the world --Wycliffe Bible Translators (WBT).

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how popular it remains?"

Things To Do If You Ever Became An Evil Overlord...
If the beautiful princess that you capture says "I'll never marry you! Never, do you hear me, NEVER!!!", say "Oh well" and kill her.

The World's Shortest Books...
My Weightloss program. Michael Moore

Dumb Laws...
France:
No pig may be addressed as Napoleon by its owner.

Top Ten Things That sound Dirty In Golf..But Aren't...
4. Stand with your back turned and drop it.

No sterilizers (mechanisms which detonated the weapon after a preset period of time) were used on any of the mines.

Any one know how we protected ourselves from these mines??? Would have thought they would want a sterilizer after 90 day? How would we have dealt with these if we had invaded Japan?