1945 Newsmap of Japan and the Strategic Bombing Campaign

This August 6, 1945 Newsmap illustrates the World War II (1939 - 1945) U.S. strategic bombing campaign against Japan. August 6, also corresponds to the world's first use of an Atomic Bomb against the Japanese at Hiroshima - although that fact is not presented here and was likely not known to the mapmakers.

A Closer Look

A photograph of two B-29 Superfortresses (with bomb bay doors open and bombs tumbling toward their target) dominates the sheet. An aerial photograph of Kobe during a B-29 raid appears on the upper right, with most of the city obscured by smoke from the raging fires. The brutality of the American bombing offensive becomes is underscored by General Curtis Le May, the commander of the Twentieth Air Force, 'In a few months we expect to run out of targets in Japan'. The accompanying text provides additional detail, stating that 51% of Tokyo, 51% of Kobe, and 44% of Yokohama, just to cite a few, had been destroyed by the B-29s. White boxes highlight eleven additional cities: the Twentieth's next targets.

The B-29 and the Bombing Campaign against Japan

At the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific, Japan successfully captured Wake Island, Guam, and the Philippines, effectively eliminating all possibility of American air attacks against the Home Islands. It took until 1944 for the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) to be able to conduct a sustained air offensive against the Home Islands. The campaign began from airfields in India and China, with B-29 Superfortresses based in India and refueling in China before bombing targets on Kyushu. However, supplying these air groups proved next to impossible and put a sustained offensive from the bases out of the question. Then, after U.S. forces captured Guam, Saipan, and Tinian in the Mariana Islands between June and August 1944, airfields were constructed from which B-29s could attack Japan. The air offensive began as a strategic bombing campaign at the end of November 1944. However, these strategic raids proved ineffective, due to high altitude and other difficulties.

A Change of Tactics

The ineffective nature of high-altitude precision bombing led the USAAF to change tactics and institute a low-altitude firebombing campaign of Japanese cities. Japan's cities were built mostly of wood and cloth, making them susceptible to firebombing. The first firebombing raid on March 9-10, 1945 proved to be the most destructive of the war. In that raid, 16 square miles of Tokyo were destroyed, over 120,000 people were killed or injured, and more than one million were rendered homeless. Firebombing raids of this sort continued throughout March, April, May, and June. By the end of May, over 50% of Tokyo had been destroyed and it was removed from the XXI Bomber Command's list. In mid-June, the XXI Bomber Command began attacking small cities, with populations as small as 62,280, and, since the targets were so small, the bombers would be divided between multiple cities on one day. The aerial bombardment campaign continued until the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with a raid against Yawata and Fukuyama occurring between the two atomic attacks. Bombing raids mostly ended after the Japanese government began surrender negotiations, with only two raids occurring on August 10th, the day after the raid on Nagasaki. Truman ordered an end to the offensive on the 10th, fearing that if attacks continued they would be interpreted in such a way that the Japanese would believe the negotiations had failed.

Verso Content - Training Navy Pilots

Photographs printed on the verso highlight nine aspects of training undergone by Navy airmen and aircrews. Among these are navigation, maintenance, recognition, bombing and torpedoing, and gunnery. A photograph of an airplane about to land on an aircraft carrier dominates the center of the sheet.

Publication History and Census

This map was created and published by the Army Information Branch on Monday, August 6, 1945. We note seven cataloged examples in OCLC: Davidson College, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, the University of Missouri - Columbia, Denison University, Ohio Wesleyan University, the Library of Michigan, and the Denver Public Library.