B-29 bombers fly over Mount Fuji in 1945

Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers fly over Japan’s Mount Fuji en route to blitzing Tokyo sometime in 1945.

During the war, the US Intelligence Center actually considered the option to dye the snow capped Mount Fuji by dropping black or red paint on it. The plan was part of a psychological warfare campaign, especially considering the mountain’s cultural significance, but it was eventually abandoned.

The bombing of Tokyo was an US Air Force operation launched in the closing stages of the Pacific War between 1944 and 1945. It ended on August 15th 1945, the day of the Japanese surrender.

Operation Meetinghouse, conducted on 9-10 March 1945, was part of the Tokyo bombing campaign and is notably remembered as the single most destructive air raid in human history. Over 100.000 civilians were killed during two nights, while 41 square kilometers of central Tokyo were destroyed and one million people were left homeless. The attack was so vicious that asphalt was liquified and entire areas were vaporized, while Major General Curtis LeMay, who orchestrated the operation, famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we’ll be tried as war criminals.”

Book suggestion ⤵️

📖 Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb (James M. Scott, 2022)