Flames over Tokyo [Hardcover]

E. Bartlett Kerr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 23, 1991

Based on interviews with U.S. aircrews and other servicemen, as well as survivors of the attacks, this compelling account of America's assault on Japan's home islands tells how America delivered the decisive blow to the Japanese Empire--resulting in the destruction of 60 cities. Photographs.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kerr's notable study recounts how U.S. Air Force general Curtis LeMay, unable to destroy Japan's war factories with conventional bombs from high altitude by daylight, made a radical departure from strategic bombing doctrine by sending an air armada over Tokyo on the night of March 9-10, 1945 at low altitude, loaded with bombs designed to set fire to Japan's highly combustible cities. The destruction was awesome: 83,000 killed, more than a million left homeless. In the ensuing five months B-29 bombers dropping incendiaries destroyed or heavily damaged some 60 Japanese cities. Kerr also describes the campaign from ground level, reporting details of the futile firefighting efforts, the overwhelming medical challenge and the massive corpse-disposal problem. His riveting narrative reveals how the raid affected virtually every facet of Japanese day-to-day life, crippled war production and led the emperor and his advisers to accept Allied demands for surrender after the ultimate firebombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Kerr is author of Surrender and Survival: The Experience of American POWs in the Pacific, 1941-1945. Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The war in the Pacific entered its final phase when General Curtis LeMay unleashed his armada of firebombing B-29s against Japan's cities. This popular study by a respected military writer does a skillful job of blending background material with numerous first-person accounts. Details of the strategic background and command structure provide counterpoint to the in-the-cockpit memoirs of the raids themselves. The book makes a dramatic complement to Hoito Edoin's eyewitness view of the devastation on the ground, The Night Tokyo Burned ( LJ 12/87), and nicely enlarges upon Wilbur Morrison's earlier study, Point of No Return: The Story of the Twentieth Air Force ( LJ 3/1/79). Previewed in "The Day of Infamy in Print," LJ 9/1/91, p.206-7.
- Ray mond L. Puffer, U.S. Air Force History Prog., Los Angeles
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 348 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; First edition (October 23, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556113013
• ISBN-13: 978-1556113017
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,358,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Straightforward and intriguing, December 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Flames over Tokyo (Hardcover)

This book tells the story of how stategiests and generals devised the policy of fire-bombing Japanese cities during World War II to devastate Japanese war industry, cause general economic chaos and destroy civilian morale. The book spends a bit of time discussing the morals behind doing this, but does not try, or really pretend to try, to wrestle the moral issues w/bombing civilian populations (though it acknowledges that this was a big change in prior U.S. strategy). Instead, the book focuses on the methodical way that advocates of incendiary bombing finally got the U.S. Army Air Force to consider abandoning precision bombing technqiues with heavy explosives (which wasn't really working) and instead start experimenting w/incendiary bombs specifically designed to set Japanese cities afire. The book is very careful in showing that it was really quite difficult to put the strategy together w/specific techniques so that it actually worked, and it lays out the steps taken bit by bit to ensure that the fire bombing eventually worked. It also points out that Japan was particularly vulnerable to this kind of attack, due to the wooden construction of its homes, & the crowded conditions of its cities.

The author makes the case that the strategic bombing using incendiary bombs could have (without resorting to the Atomic Bomb) brought Japan to surrender without an invasion by Allied land forces. I'm not convinced; but the book is really quite impressive in laying out how the strategy developed and how impactful it actually was.

As for the moral issues involved here -- there are many; I will not attempt to address them. Truly the impact of these attacks were horrifying (for an excellent cinematic treatment of this subject see the Japanese animated classic, "Grave of the Fireflies," on VHS or DVD). In any case, if you want a fuller understanding of what air power can do in time of war, this book is worth reading.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique material, August 12, 2004

By 

E M Smid "elzosmid" (The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flames over Tokyo (Hardcover)

This is an unique book about a much forgotten episode of WW2. Two years after the Doolittle Raid and half a year before Enola Gay, there were thousands of american bombers over Japan. On the 60 biggest cities they dropped incendiary bombs especially developped for this purpose. In fact, Nagasaki and Hiroshima were chosen for the A-bombs because all the bigger cities were already flattened by these bombardments.

One thing I found disturbing was the discription of how the attitude towards bombing of civilian targets slowly changed. At the start of the war it was a big no-no. Later there was much talk about war industry located in small buildings in urban regions. After the British bombing of Hamburg and Dresden (Germany), all arguments against bombing civilian targets seemed to have disappeared.
In fact, the war industry in Japan came almost to a halt, not because of the damage inflicted to plants and logistics etc. but mainly because millions of workers were killed, wounded or homeless. People fled the cities and didn't show up at work.

I found this book very interesting. I normally don't read about wars or history much. I got interested in it after seeing the movie "Grave of the Fireflies". I didn't care much about the different divisions of the airforce and the names of generals etc. but I found this book exiting to read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This is the semi-official account, November 27, 2005

By 

Gary Cox (West Linn, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flames over Tokyo (Hardcover)

The author's name is E. Bartlett Kerr, and LeMay was a General in the Army Air Force, not the Air Force to correct the entry. This book is written from the perspective of the U.S. Army Air Force and corrects the impression some writers give that LeMay was somehow personally responsible for the incendiary attacks. This books shows the entire scope of the operation, including the politics behind the weapons. It describes the fires, the Japanese politics, the strength of Hirohito in demanding peace, etc. It maintains that the war could have been won without resorting the A-bomb, but misses the theory that the bombs were dropped to keep Russia from dividing up Japan they way the divided up Germany. Readers should also consult: Guillain, Robert (1981). I Saw Tokyo Burning. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. He was a Frenchman living in Japan. His account is a clear picture from a resident's perspective.