14. Doolittle Raid on Tokyo
On April 12th, 1942, sailors of Task Force 16, commanded by Vice Admiral William F. Halsey and comprised of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and escorting cruisers and destroyers, linked up with the carrier Hornet north of Hawaii. Halsey’s men were startled to see the Hornet’s flight deck crammed with strange airplanes, bigger than anything seen before aboard an American carrier. The planes were US Army Air Forces B-25 medium bombers, and the surprise raid they carried out a few days later was to be their first major combat operation.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt wanted Japan bombed as soon as possible, both as payback and in order to boost public morale. America had no airbases within bombing range of Japan, however, so a plan was devised to bring an improvised airbase – an aircraft carrier – close enough for modified B-25 bombers to do the job. US Army Air Forces lieutenant colonel James “Jimmy” Doolittle was put in charge, and he began training select aircrews on short takeoffs. Taking off from aircraft carriers was difficult but doable for B-25s, but landing back on their flight decks was an impossibility. So after bombing Japan, the bombers were to continue on westward and land in China.
Halsey’s task force was sighted by an enemy picket boat, 750 miles from Japan, on the morning of April 18th, 1942. The Japanese vessel was quickly sunk, but it got off a radio message before going down. It was decided to launch the bombers immediately, 10 hours earlier and 170 miles further from Japan than initially planned. Sixteen B-25s, carrying a mix of incendiaries and 500 lb bombs, lumbered off the Hornet and winged their way to Tokyo, flying low to avoid detection. They reached the Japanese capital around noon, and bombed military and industrial targets. None of the attackers were shot down. 15 bombers crash landed in China, while the 16th made its way to Vladivostok, where it and its crew were interred by the Soviets.
Of eighty American crewmen, three were killed, and eight were captured by the Japanese. Of the latter, three were executed and one died in captivity. Physical damage from the raid was minimal, but the psychological impact was huge on both sides of the Pacific. American morale received a well needed boost, while the Japanese high command lost a considerable amount of face. To regain face, the Japanese set in motion plans for what they hoped would be a decisive victory over the US Navy. Instead, it resulted in a catastrophic Japanese defeat a few weeks later, at the Battle of Midway.