Horrific Aftermath of the Doolittle Raid

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The flight deck of the U.S. aircraft carrier Hornet, some 800 miles off Tokyo Japan, where it shows some of 16 Billy Mitchell (B-25) Bombers, under the command of Major Jimmy Doolittle, just before they were guided off flight deck for historic raid on Tokyo, April of 1942. (Bettmann/Corbis)

The Untold Story of the Vengeful Japanese Attack After the Doolittle Raid

by James M. Scott/Smithsonianmag.com 2016

At midday on April 18, 1942, 16 U.S. Army bombers, under the command of daredevil pilot Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, thundered into the skies over Tokyo and other key Japanese industrial cities in a surprise raid designed to avenge the attack on Pearl Harbor. For the 80 volunteer raiders, who lifted off that morning from the carrier Hornet, the mission was one-way. After attacking Japan, most of the aircrews flew on to Free China, where low on fuel, the men either bailed out or crash-landed along the coast and were rescued by local villagers, guerrillas and missionaries.

That generosity shown by the Chinese would trigger a horrific retaliation by the Japanese that claimed an estimated quarter-million lives and would prompt comparisons to the 1937-38 Rape of Nanking. American military authorities, cognizant that a raid on Tokyo would result in a vicious counterattack upon free China, saw the mission through regardless, even keeping the operation a secret from their Pacific theater allies. This chapter of the Doolittle Raid has largely gone unreported—until now.



Long-forgotten missionary records discovered in the archives of DePaul University for the first time shed important new light on the extent to which the Chinese suffered in the aftermath of the Doolittle raid.

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  1. The hidden secrets of our WWII communications point to why Japan hit Pearl Harbor and China. Those secret archives have been opened, but it seems that does not hinder unfounded speculation. Britain’s and USA military both knew what Germany’s plans were from the beginning and also Japans for their radio codes had been broken. The dropping of 2 Atomic Bombs on Japans two cities were not needed for Japan had been trying to surrender via Russia. Do some research of your own. There have been books written based on facts since those WWII secret archives were opened.

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