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  • 4 months ago
Disaster Transbian episode 118
Transcript
00:00December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy.
00:30A date which will live in infamy.
01:00A date which will live in infamy.
01:30Destination Tokyo.
01:35It's like taking off in Mexico for targets in Canada.
01:39The attack force began departing its bases at 5.35pm local time on March 9th, 1945.
01:47It took two and three quarter hours for all of the 325 B-29s, you think that's fucking enough, which were dispatched to take off.
01:59Turbulence was encountered on the flight to Nihon, but the weather over Tokyo was good.
02:04There was little cloud cover, and visibility was good for the first bomber crews to arrive over Tokyo.
02:12They were able to see clearly for 10 miles.
02:15Conditions on the ground were cold and windy, with the city experiencing gusts of between 45 miles per hour and 67 miles per hour blowing from the southeast.
02:27The first B-29s over Tokyo were four aircraft tasked with guiding the others in.
02:34These super fortresses arrived over the city shortly before midnight on March 9th.
02:39They carried extra fuel, additional radios, and 21 Bomber Command's best radio operators, instead of bombs,
02:49encircled Tokyo at an altitude of 25,000 feet throughout the raid.
02:54All right, let's see.
03:24Let's go and try and try to make it.
03:29The name of the village of the village of the village,
03:32is now from about 500 years ago,
03:35the city of the village was built on the village.
03:38The beautiful bright green light of the village
03:42was hidden in the village of the village.
03:45It is a place where the village was the one living.
03:54The End
04:24The End
04:54The End
05:04The Flew off early in the haze of dawn
05:09An international dragon lost in time
05:13A skimming ways of an underground sea
05:16There's some kind of dream world fantasy
05:20To veteran crews it's just another day's work
05:31One more 1,500 mile haul up and down the ruddy Pacific
05:3615 hours, 7,000 gallons, 4 engines, 11 guys
05:41Not wood
05:43The main component of the M69 bomb
06:05A cheesecloth sock containing specially processed jellied gasoline
06:09When ignited the gel filling becomes a clinging fiery mass
06:13Spreading more than a yard in diameter
06:14It burns at approximately 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit
06:17For 8 to 10 minutes
06:19The bomb was developed by the National Defense Research Council
06:22In collaboration with the Chemical Warfare Service
06:24On the assembly line at Mays Landing, New Jersey
06:27The bombs are secured inside the cylindrical halves of the cluster wall
06:31The dark black spiders bursting in the sky
06:42They're reaching twisted claws on every side
06:46No place to run, no place to hide
06:50No turning back on a suicide ride
06:54No turning back on a strawberry
12:52Another 19 superfortresses, which were unable to reach Tokyo, struck targets of opportunity
13:00or of last resort.
13:34The raid was detected.
15:00and rescuing those trapped in burning buildings.
15:04Over 120 firemen and 500 civil guards who had been assigned to help them were killed
15:10and 96 fire engines destroyed.
15:14Driven by the strong wind, the large numbers of small fires
15:18started by the American incendiaries rapidly merged into major blazes.
15:23These formed firestorms that quickly advanced to the northwest,
15:28destroying or damaging almost all of the buildings in their path.
15:33The only buildings which survived the fire were constructed of stone.
15:38By an hour after the start of the attack,
15:41most of eastern Tokyo either had been destroyed or is being affected by fires.
15:47The heat in some of the areas was reported to have reached a temperature
15:50of up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, 980 degrees Celsius.
15:56Civilians who stayed at their homes or attempted to fight the fire
16:01had virtually no chance of survival.
16:04Historian Richard B. Frank has written that,
16:07the key to survival was to grasp quickly,
16:10that the situation was hopeless and flee, unquote.
16:15Soon after the start of the raid,
16:17news broadcasts began advising civilians to evacuate as quickly as possible,
16:23but not all did so immediately.
16:24The foxholes, which had been dug near most homes,
16:29offered no protection against the firestorm,
16:32and civilians who sheltered in them were burned to death or suffocated.
16:37As the firestorm spread, civilians fled through the streets,
16:41desperate to escape the firestorm.
16:43Thousands of the evacuated civilians were killed by fire
16:47and by asphyxiation after the firestorm sucked oxygen out of the air.
16:57The heat was so intense that it caused people's clothes to burst into flames
17:02without actually having touched the fire.
17:04It also melted glass in windows,
17:08and the superheated air and cyclonic winds from the firestorm
17:13blew the hot, liquefied glass to rain down and melt into people's skin.
17:20Families often sought to remain with their local neighborhood associations,
17:30but it was easy to become separated in the conditions.
17:34Few families managed to stay together throughout the night.
17:38Escape frequently proved impossible,
17:40as smoke reduced visibility to just a few feet
17:44and roads were rapidly cut by the fires.
17:48Crowds of civilians often panicked
17:50as they rushed toward the perceived safety of canals,
17:54with those who fell being crushed to death.
17:56The majority of those killed in the raid
18:02died while trying to evacuate.
18:04In many cases, entire families were killed.
18:09In a particularly deadly instance,
18:11the full bomb load of a B-29
18:13landed in a crowd of civilians
18:16crossing the Kototoe-bashi over the Sumirigawa,
18:20burning hundreds of people to death.
18:29Few places in the targeted area provided safety.
18:32Many of those who attempted to evacuate to the large parks,
18:37which had been created as wreckages against fires
18:40following the 1923 Kanto Daishenzai,
18:43were killed when the conflagration
18:45moved across these open spaces.
18:49Similarly, thousands of people
18:51who gathered in the grounds of the Sensoji Temple
18:54in Asakusa died.
18:57Others sheltered in solid buildings,
18:59such as schools or theaters and in canals.
19:02In one instance,
19:04over a thousand people were killed
19:06after they took refuge
19:08in a school's massive swimming pool
19:11and were boiled alive.
19:16Many of the people who attempted to shelter in canals
19:19were killed by smoke
19:21or when the passing firestorm
19:23sucked oxygen out of the air.
19:25The fire finally burned itself out
19:28mid-morning on March 10th
19:31and came to a stop
19:32when it reached large open areas
19:35where the Nakagawa unga,
19:37thousands of people injured in the raid,
19:40died over the following days.
19:41Oh, I hope that she was killed in the hospital.
19:55Oh, I hope that she was killed in the hospital.
19:59Oh, my brother, come on.
20:29Yeah, yeah, yeah.
20:46The car is not good, I don't want to see the car.
20:50What's the hell, isn't it?
20:52Even if you drive the truck today,
20:59Air Force pictures show what is left of what was once the world's largest single aircraft
21:05plant.
21:06The Mitsubishi factory at Nagoya is mute and twisted evidence of the frightful efficiency
21:10of B-29s and long before the day of the atomic bomb.
21:26This plant alone accounted for 17% of Japan's entire plane output and covered an area of
21:315 million square feet.
21:33This is part of a war machine that America is determined shall never rise again.
21:5680 years after the firebombing, in 2025, the firebombing of Tokyo.
22:01Unlike the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima, Nagasaki has been relegated.
22:20To the darkest recesses of Nihon's collective memory and virtually ignored by successive
22:27governments despite similar casualty figures.
22:31There is no national memorial to the victims and there has been no attempt to establish
22:38an accurate death toll.
22:40Survivors are not entitled to government compensation and their testimony has not been collected,
22:46unlike survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
23:01a total compensation of 11 million yen.
23:0320,000 yen?
23:04That's like a whole dollar!
23:0674,300 US dollars each were rejected.
23:11Citizens, having been mobilized as part of the war effort, were supposed to endure their
23:17suffering.
23:18At the 80th anniversary of the raid, the few remaining survivors continued to seek recognition.
23:48As you can see, this is the 17th century creator, the 17th century in the 19th century.
23:51What is the press and the 3rd century here?
23:53Yes, you can see that it is mostly known as the 8th century before the raid.
23:56We have to collect the 10th century from a country before the raid.
23:58But the first time, it is
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