1. … With Huge Consequences
To calm jittery civilians and guard against a repeat, four fighter groups were retained in Japan in 1942 and 1943, even though they were desperately needed in the South Pacific and elsewhere. As to payback, the Japanese could not avenge the bombing of their capital with a retaliatory raid on Washington, DC. So they worked off their frustration with a collective punishment campaign against the part of China where Doolittle’s B-25s had crash-landed, and the crews had been helped by the locals. In an orgy of rapine and murder known as Operation Sei-Go, the Japanese killed an estimated quarter million Chinese civilians, plus an estimated seventy thousand Chinese soldiers. They also sought to regain face with an attempt to capture Midway Island a few weeks later. It backfired spectacularly, and ended in a catastrophic Japanese defeat at the Battle of Midway, which turned the tide of war in the Pacific.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
Doolittle, James H. – I Could Never Be So Lucky Again: An Autobiography (1991)
Encyclopedia Britannica – Doolittle Raid
History Collection – Historic Air Raids That Rained Fury From the Skies
Lawson, Ted, W. – Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (2003 Edition)
Naval History and Heritage Command – Doolittle Raid, 18 April, 1942
Scott, James M. – Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor (2015)
