Black Snow - Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb

Seven minutes past midnight on 9 March 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a more than 1,800-degree firestorm that liquefied asphalt and vaporised 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, 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.

 

About the author

James M. Scott is the author of Black Snow, Rampage, Target Tokyo, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and co-author, with Jack Carr, of Targeted: Beirut. He lives in Charleston, South Carolina.

Summary

The unprecedented fire raid that incinerated Tokyo, helped win the war and marked a major shift in American military policy

Product details

• Authors: James M Scott, James M. Scott
• Publisher: Norton
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.11.2022
• EAN: 9781324002994
• ISBN: 978-1-324-00299-4
• No. of pages: 432
• Dimensions: 160 mm x 251 mm x 33 mm
• Weight: 722 g
• Subjects: Fiction > Gift books, albums, perpetual calendars, postcard booklets; Humanities, art, music > History > 20th century (up to 1945); Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; USA, Japan, HISTORY / Military / General, military history, HISTORY / Military / United States, HISTORY / Asia / Japan, Air forces & warfare, United States of America, USA, Asian History, Air forces and warfare, HISTORY / Military / Aviation & Space