Posted on 02/04/2023 12:01:52 PM PST by Antoninus
One of the best kept secrets of the war involved the Japanese balloon bomb offensive. Prompted by the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in April 1942, the Japanese developed the balloon bombs as a means of direct reprisal against the U.S. mainland. The balloons, made of paper or rubberized silk, carried anti-personnel and incendiary bombs.
The first operational launches took place on Nov. 3, 1944, and two days later a U.S. Navy patrol boat spotted a balloon floating on the water off the coast of California. Japan launched some 9,000 balloons during a five-month period, to be carried by high altitude winds more than 6,000 miles eastward across the Pacific to North America. Perhaps a thousand of these reached this continent, but there were only about 285 reported incidents. Most were reported in the northwest United States, but some balloons traveled as far east as Michigan.
As more sightings occurred, the government, with the cooperation of the news media, adopted a policy of silence to reduce the chance of panic among U.S. residents and to deny the Japanese any information on the success of the launches. Discouraged by the apparent failure of their effort, the Japanese halted their balloon attacks in April 1945.
On May 5, 1945, six picnickers were killed in Oregon when a balloon bomb they dragged from the woods exploded. The U.S. government quickly publicized the balloon bombs, warning people not to tamper with them. These were the only known fatalities occurring within the United States during World War II as a direct result of enemy action.
Actual damage caused by the balloon bombs was minor. However, the incendiaries that these balloons carried did pose a serious threat to the northwestern U.S. forests during dry months. These balloons also offered a vehicle for germ warfare if the Japanese had decided to employ this weapon.
The balloon attacks began after air defense facilities in the United States had been deactivated. To counter this threat, U.S. Army Air Forces and Navy fighters flew intercept missions to shoot down balloons when sighted. Army personnel and USAAF aircraft were also stationed at critical points to combat any forest fires that might occur. In addition, supplies of decontamination chemicals and sprays to counter any possible use of germ warfare were quietly distributed in the western United States. Before detailed USAAF defensive plans had been put into effect, the attacks ceased.
“These were the only known fatalities occurring within the United States during World War II as a direct result of enemy action.”
Incorrect.
L
Democrats like to keep their failures secret.
In WWI, the Germans dropped bombs on London from zeppelins.
I’m about 25 miles from the Bly, Oregon balloon bomb site.
Yup. My concern is not so much that these balloons are carrying bombs, but that they’re delivery vehicles for COVID-23. Its not like the Chinese are averse to using germ warfare. We should know that by now.
During the First World War German saboteurs blew up the Big Tom Munitions Dump in Jersey City, NJ on July 30,1916, killing four workers. America wasn’t even in the war yet. But a Democrat was in The White House.
A year earlier in May 1915 a German U-boat sank the liner Lusitania, killing 123 Americas and Wilson did nothing.
If it was our balloons floating over China, I’d like to see, and hear their response. You know they wouldn’t believe any claim that they were “civilian.”
Wasn’t the Lusitania carrying munitions?
That's all it takes.
I seem to remember reading about an attack attempt by the British on German industry in WWII by sending over weather balloons trailing small cables or wires.
The idea was that a balloon dragging a 300 foot long copper wire could possibly catch in an high-voltage line and damage the German electrical system.
I think they tried it, but without success.
The name of the place in Jersey City was Black Tom Island
My first thought when it was spotted was "The Chicoms and bringing us Comrade Dr Fow-Chi's latest virus from Wuhan. And Pedo Joe let it cross the Country to spread it.
What if the chineese govt just were not interested in having Blinkin come to their country.
I dont believe our govt knew there was a balloon until someone saw and reported it and they backtracked it.
There are so many easier ways to infect a country with a bio weapon.
This is covered in “The Stand”.
Well, that's been proven with Covid, but like our TRIAD (Bombers, Land based ICBMs, SLBMs) the Chicoms could be looking for alternatives in case we develop an effective countermeasure.
Sending in infected humans is about as cheap and effective as it can get!
Those countermeasures would be to not let anyone into the country.
We’ve seen how well that works. Ha ha.
It’s old, but watch the WWI movie “Wings” Howard Hughes made. The Zeppelin operations and bombing scene is unreal. Don’t watch the “how they filmed it” until afterwards. By the way, how they did it is also amazing.
Yes it was. And the German government put an ad in the New York papers warning passengers that it was carrying arms and would be sunk if they could find it.
And by the way, at that moment, we were neutral. The Royal Navy guaranteed they would sink any American ship carrying ANY cargo into a German port.
But it’s ok when the Brits do it.
The reality is that the German effort to blockade Britain was exactly precisely the same as the Brits were doing to Germany. It’s deeply misguided to conflate WWI Germany with WWII nazi Germany.
Another difference. The German WWI soldier had the vote and had for decades. Most British soldiers had no right to vote. Only property owners. They did not gain that right until after the war.
So in the war to make the world safe for democracy, the bad guys were the ones who actually got to vote. WWI is a crazy thing to start looking deeper into.
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