Revenge of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II: Doolittle's attack on Tokyo

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, American President Roosevelt called on the American people to remember this shame. In retaliation for this arrow, Roosevelt personally ordered the US Army and Navy to find ways to bomb Japan. Using land-based aircraft to take off from China, the aircraft can only fly in one direction. Until the middle of 1942 10, General Kim's general staff came up with a plan: to send land-based bombers from the aircraft carrier for bombing. Aircraft carriers can carry planes near the Sea of Japan, but medium bombers can't land on the aircraft carriers, and the planes that complete the bombing mission will fly to Chinese mainland.

The plan selected the medium bomber B-25B and the latest aircraft carrier Bumblebee, and was completed under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel James doolittle, the world record holder of flight speed in that year. For this reason, the B-25B was modified, all unnecessary equipment was removed, and an oil tank and a wooden gun for camouflage were added. 1February 3, 942, two B-25B took off successfully on the bumblebee, which proved the feasibility of this plan. Since then, volunteers from the 17 bomber brigade have formed 24 sets of units. These aircrew members only know that they will complete a very dangerous secret mission. The crew spent a month practicing short takeoff and taxiing on the simulated flight deck marked on the runway. The centerline mark on the bumblebee deck is the same as that on the land runway.

1On April 2, 942, Bumblebee, escorted by six ships, downloaded Doolittle's crew and 16 B-25B, bid farewell to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, made waves and sped west. On April 14, Bumblebee crossed the storm area in the North Pacific and joined the Enterprise of halsey at the designated place between Aleutian Islands and midway Island. "Task Force Mike"-the code name of this mission-headed for the target sea area 400 miles west of Kyushu coast on the gloomy sea. After announcing the goal of the mission, all the staff cheered and thundered. On the way, the task force received a broadcast from Radio Tokyo: "Reuters, England reported that three American bombers bombed Tokyo. The news is ridiculous. Japanese nationals don't care about this kind of propaganda and enjoy spring in the warm sunshine and the fragrance of cherry blossoms. " Japan's ignorance enhanced the confidence of the crew to complete the task.

On the afternoon of April 17, the "Mike Task Force" was only 24 hours away from the take-off point and was still not discovered by the enemy. The deck crew on Bumblebee made a final inspection of B-25B. Each plane carries four 500-pound bombs, and Colonel Mitchell's medals are tied to the bombs. The bomb also said, "We don't want to burn the world, we just want to burn Tokyo". In the evening, the radar found the whistle boat on the outermost layer of the Japanese maritime warning line, and the fleet changed course. Shortly after 7: 30 a.m. on April 18, an enemy ship spotted the task force, and its radio alarm was received by the fleet. A few minutes later, the cruiser Vanguard sank the small service boat with artillery fire. Doolittle and Halsey decided to take off immediately. Even if they fly 100 miles, they can't risk the fleet. This is definitely the right decision. Although the Japanese defense line is about to enter a state of alert, the Japanese will not expect to be attacked that day.

"Let doolittle and his brave squadron take off. Bon voyage, God bless! " Halsey signaled the Hornet. At 8 o'clock in the morning, the bumblebee turned to the wind. Doolittle held Captain Mitchell's hand tightly, and then shouted to his companion, "Boy, that's it. Let's go together! " The giant bumblebee is no different from a fallen leaf in the sea to which she is attached, and the deck swings back and forth almost close to the sea. The left wing of the B-25 has stretched out the left chord of the bumblebee. Doolittle increased the throttle to the maximum, the plane waddled in the direction of strong wind, and the heavy fuselage slowly lifted at the end of the deck. Then every plane left the ship, and there was cheers on the deck. At 8: 24, all 16 planes took off safely. Navy photographer Lieutenant Colonel john ford and his crew filmed the whole take-off.

"That morning, the wind was roaring, the sea was roaring, and the blue sea burst into waves on both sides of the aircraft carrier," halsey wrote in his memory. "Jimmy led his squadron to take off, and then my duty officer wrote in the flagship logbook: change course, turn 90 degrees, and immediately leave the sea area at a speed of 25 nautical miles per hour ..." doolittle led his squadron to the west, and every pilot knew what he was doing. The crew joked that it was decided who would throw the bomb into the Japanese palace by flipping a coin. In fact, palaces, hospitals and schools are not among the targets of bombing. Even when 350 B-29s bombed Tokyo later, the palace was an absolute protected area, which was the last bit of respect for the enemy. Two hours later, at 12: 20 Tokyo time, when doolittle's bombers flew over Tokyo Bay at low altitude, people in Tokyo were having lunch, and a patrol plane didn't give an alarm to stop the air raid of low-altitude planes from blocking balloons. Just after the morning air defense early warning exercise, it was taken down, and even the nine fighters flying in the sky didn't find doolittle. At noon that day, tojo hideki happened to inspect Mito Aviation School and fly back to Tokyo. Tojo's secretary found a twin-engine plane flying from the right, painted with an unfamiliar sign, and then suddenly realized, "American plane!" " "... If the B-25 doesn't dismantle the machine gun, it may add additional results to this task.

"Continue to fly low over the suburbs due south and the center of eastern Tokyo. Rise to 1200 feet in the air, turn southwest, and drop bombs on fire-prone areas. " Doolittle dropped the first high-explosive bomb and truthfully recorded the aviation log. "Anti-aircraft gun fire is very fierce, but only one plane was almost hit. Descend to the height of the roof, then drill into the smoke at low altitude in the western suburbs, then turn around and fly south to the sea. " The alarm sounded again. In the crowded streets and parks at lunchtime, when the first bomber flew overhead, people looked overhead in unison. People waved their hands and thought that the Japanese Air Force was performing a realistic performance. Only when the explosion shook the capital and smoke rose did they know that it was a real bombing. The crew listening to Radio Tokyo on the retreating aircraft carrier knew from the trembling alarm behind the announcer's voice that doolittle's plane had arrived over the city. In the next twenty minutes, ten more American bombers flew overhead, and a series of explosions occurred in the city. The ten planes were separated from the first two planes by strong winds, but the planes flew from all directions and continued to create chaos. The other three B-25 bombers arrived over Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe at the same time, and the Japanese fighter pilots were at a loss. For a long time, they couldn't figure out which direction the attack came from. American bombers took the opportunity to flee eastward to the Sea of China, and Japanese fighters had no time to pursue them.

All the 16 planes that attacked Japan missed their targets. Among them, 1 flew to Vladivostok injured and was detained by the Soviet Union. The rest 15 planes all flew to China, and the destination was Zhuzhou Airport in Hunan, China, but they didn't reach the destination due to darkness, fog and lack of oil. 15 aircraft scattered in China, Zhejiang and Jiangsu. Of the 75 crew members, 3 were killed when the plane landed, and 8 parachuted in the Japanese-occupied area and were captured by Japan. Only four of them survived after the war. Doolittle's parachute landed slowly in the farmland, and then doolittle was rescued by farmers in China. Doolittle used the blunt words of China: "I hit the Japanese in the sky!" That's enough. Doolittle and the remaining 63 crew members were then escorted to the rear by China soldiers and civilians, and then returned to China. 1990, the surviving crew also organized a party and invited five old people from China who were protecting them at that time.

Apart from destroying 90 buildings and killing dozens of civilians, the attack did not cause much actual damage. However, as the president expected, this directly boosted American morale. The Los Angeles Times praised: "doolittle did a good job." . Roosevelt added a strong mystery to this matter, saying that the attack was launched from Shangri-La. Shangri-La is a mysterious paradise in james hilton's novel The Lost Horizon, which is used to cover up the fact that an aircraft carrier was used. The air raid made the Japanese chiefs of staff lose face, because there was no intelligence to show that there were twin planes on the American aircraft carrier, so they still didn't understand what was going on for several days after the air raid. However, a series of information, such as the discovery of American fleet, air strikes, the discovery of wreckage in China and confessions obtained by extorting confessions from prisoners by torture, can be linked to understand the launching process of the attack. Subsequently, the joint fleet immediately organized the interception of the mixed fleet. But halsey's task force easily escaped the chasing plane, and the fleet quickly passed through the fog barrier. A few days later, imperial japanese navy gave up the pursuit.