Unknown Title

Title:

Black snow : Curtis LeMay, the firebombing of Tokyo, and the road to the atomic bomb / James M. Scott.

Author:

Scott, James (James M.) author.

ISBN:

9781324002994

Personal Author:

Scott, James (James M.) author.

Physical Description:

420 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Content Type:

text

Media Type (RDA):

unmediated

Carrier Type:

volume

Abstract:

"Black Snow brilliantly vivifies the horrific reality of the most destructive air attack in history, against Tokyo on the night of March 9-10, 1945. James Scott deftly employs sharply etched portraits of individuals of all stations and nationalities to survey the global, technological, and moral backdrop of the cataclysm, including the searing experiences of Japanese trapped in a gigantic firestorm. This riveting account illuminates an historical moment of profound contemporary relevance." --Richard B. Frank, author of Tower of Skulls: A History of the Asia-Pacific War: July 1937-May 1942.

Personal Subject:

LeMay, Curtis E.-Military leadership.

Subject Term:

Incendiary bombs -- History -- 20th century.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Aerial operations, American.

Geographic Term:

Tokyo (Japan) -- History -- Bombardment, 1945.

Format:

Books

Available:*

Library	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Lockport Public Library	34094004980473	940.5442 SCOTT	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Medina - Lee-Whedon Memorial Library	34103001949108	940.54 SCOT (HISTORY 7)	Searching... Unknown
Searching... North Tonawanda Public Library	34120007036946	940.5449 SCOT	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Ransomville Free Library	34131000811672	940.5442 SCOTT	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed.

Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: "If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals." James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight "precision" bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later.

Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

Author Notes

James M. Scott is the author of Black Snow, Rampage, and Target Tokyo, a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He lives in Charleston, South Carolina.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this immersive, meticulously researched history, Pulitzer finalist Scott (Target Tokyo) contends that the 1945 firebombing campaign against Japan marked a moral shift in U.S. military strategy and paved the way to the use of the atomic bomb. Drawing on oral histories and survivor diaries, Scott vividly recounts the air raid on Tokyo orchestrated by Maj. Gen. Curtis LeMay, which incinerated one out of every four buildings in the Japanese capital and killed more than 100,000 people. LeMay continued the campaign for 159 days, targeting Nagoya, Osaka, and Kobe, among other cities, destroying homes, factories, aircraft plants, and oil refineries. Scott carefully builds up to the firebombing campaign, detailing the pressure on American commanders to bring the war to a close, the capture of the Mariana Islands to be used as airfields, challenges involved in building the B-29 bomber, and Gen. Haywood Hansell Jr.'s refusal to shift strategies from high-altitude daylight precision bombing of industries to nighttime, low-altitude incendiary bombing of civilian neighborhoods. Also profiled is Army Air Forces commander Henry "Hap" Arnold, who thought that "crush Japan" would demonstrate the need for an independent air force and made the decision to replace Hansell with LeMay. Full of vivid action scenes and sharp character observations, this riveting WWII history reveals the staggering cost of obtaining peace. (Sept.)

Kirkus Review

Thorough study of the B-29 raids over Japan that underscores the debate over precision bombing versus firebombing at the end of World War II. In this excellent follow-up to Rampage and Target Tokyo, Scott evenhandedly examines the controversy surrounding the firebombing of Japanese cities and offers a sympathetic rendering of the devastating effects of those bombings on the civilian population. At the core of the narrative is the development of the B-29 Superfortress, a massive, expensive new bomber championed by Gen. Henry "Hap" Arnold in his advocacy for the independence of the Air Force. By late 1944, ready for action, the new bombers were assigned to the Pacific theater in an operation overseen by Gen. Haywood Hansell Jr., "one of the few leaders who still preached the idea of humane [daylight precision] bombing." As the American public clamored for an end to the war, top-level military officials made the decision to increase the use of incendiary bombs in order to break the morale of the Japanese civilian population, force surrender, and avoid a costly invasion. In the early weeks of 1945, Hansell was replaced by ace pilot and operator Curtis LeMay, who immediately instigated the firebombing system, which involved flying low at night and carpeting dense urban areas with waves of incendiaries, killing thousands. "Targeting homes was the key to societal breakdown," the generals concluded. Scott writes that LeMay's March bombing of Tokyo represented a "tremendous moral shift for the United States, which until this moment had opposed the intentional killing of civilians." This paved the way for the destruction of dozens of other Japanese cities, and after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the death toll reached 330,000, an estimate that was "likely low." Scott alternates his page-turning account of the air operations with devastating on-the-ground eyewitness reports of survivors, providing a kaleidoscopic portrait of both sides in a cataclysmic conflict. A top-shelf World War II history told with meticulous research and considerable heart. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Library Journal Review

L.J. Ganser narrates Scott's (Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila) history of the strategic incendiary WWII bombing campaign against Japan by the U.S. Air Force with flair and feeling. Each chapter begins with an eloquently voiced quote, setting the tone for the content that follows. The production opens with the creation of the new Boeing B-29 Superfortress and then segues into the life of General Curtis LeMay, the commanding officer of the XXI Bomber Command, who both planned and executed the 1945 bombing strategy. Scott details the political and logistical path of the air war in Asia and concludes just after the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Ganser's voice enlivens the vindication LeMay felt during the bombing campaign; the guilt, remorse, and depression felt by some of the Americans after bombing missions; and both the overwhelming sense of loss and the horrors felt by Japanese civilians when viewing the total devastation of their homes and livelihoods. Ganser's pronunciation of Japanese names and places is generally commendable. VERDICT This harrowing narrative includes the point of view of Japanese civilians who were victims of the U.S. war strategy; a timely reminder of the human costs of war.--Stephanie Bange