Are you people really that ignorant?
The range of a heavy bomber during WWII was around 3000 miles. That means that whatever mission the plane flew it would have to be able to get back home (or are you silly enough to think the bombers would have landed on enemy territory and said "hey, could you fill 'er up--we need to get home?").
Germany would have been the more likely candidate to bomb the US, and even had a bomber on the drawing boards which could have done that. Fortunately, Hitler was a terrible military mind and went into battle without being properly prepared.
Das ist eine gute Sache, denn dieses wäre in deutscher Sprache abzufassen hatten sie den Krieg gewonnen (unter anderem).
Anyway, Japan is roughly 10,000 miles from the US mainland. As you may know (but you are probably too ignorant) that Gen. Doolittle had to launch his raid on Tokyo via aircraft carrier (as was also the case with the Pearl Harbour raid) since most planes couldn't have made the distance across the Pacific Ocean (oe even the Atlantic).
But, I hate to break it to you--the Japanese DID bomb the US mainland, but due to the size of the aircraft (among other things), this event is not too well known:
Most Americans probably believe that continental United States has never been bombed. The relative isolation of America, plus the defensive strengths of its Air Force and Navy, have supposedly eliminated such a threat. But is that really true? The answer is no–America has been bombed from the air, not once but twice. These little-publicized events took place in September 1942, and the attacker was an aircraft launched from a submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN).Yes, the Japanese bombed and shelled the US mainland. Of course, it was with little effect due to the weaponry not being powerful. Not to mention there were a lot of other reasons Japan wasn't going to bother with the US mainland (hint--you would have had a lot more to fear from Germany, but that's another post).
The IJN began experimenting with aircraft-carrying submarines in 1925. By the time of Pearl Harbor, 11 of its submarines were equipped to carry, launch, and recover one specially configured floatplane. Most of those early boats were classified as scouting submarines, B1 Type, of the I-15 class. They displaced 2,584 tons submerged and had a length of 356 feet. Powered by twin diesel engines and electric motors driving two propeller shafts, the B1 type boats had a cruising range of more than 14,000 miles. The crews were comprised of 97 officers and enlisted men, including the pilot and crewman for the single floatplane. Although the B1 type submarines carried an aircraft for reconnaissance purposes, they were also formidable attack boats, armed with 17 torpedoes and a 5.5.-inch thick deck gun.
And while gun loons like to say that Japan was deterred from attacking the US because of civilian guns and use a bogus quote to back that up: the reality is that civilian guns weren't a deterrent.
It was the practicality and necessity of attacking the US mainland that was the real deterrent from any SIGNIFICANT attack on the US mainland: not civilian guns.
See also:
- Misquoting Yamamoto
- Japanese Bombing of the US West Coast in WWII
- Japanese Vengenance Balloon Bombs of World War II - J. David Rogers
- Oregon Responds to World War II: Bombs Fall on Oregon: Japanese Attacks on the State
- When the Japanese Attacked Santa Barbara (1940s)
- Air Raids on Australia 1942-43
And while we're at it--a song about the Japanese bombing Australia:
"A small Japanese force occupied the islands of Attu and Kiska, but the remoteness of the islands and the difficulties of weather and terrain meant that it took nearly a year for a far larger U.S./Canadian force to eject them.
ReplyDeleteThe battle is known as the "Forgotten Battle", due to being overshadowed by the simultaneous Guadalcanal Campaign. In the past, many western military historians believed it was a diversionary or feint attack during the Battle of Midway meant to draw out the U.S. Pacific Fleet from Midway Atoll, and was in fact launched simultaneously under the same overall commander, Isoroku Yamamoto. However, historians Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully have made an argument against this interpretation, stating that the Japanese invaded the Aleutians to protect the northern flank of their empire and did not intend it as a diversion."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleutian_Islands_Campaign