M69, the Napalm filled Firebombs that Destroyed Japanese cities

[@DLeadShot]

You just know if someone starts their video with "The intent of this video" that you're about to get the best deep dive into a topic ever.

[@Compulsive_LARPer]

THE INTENT OF THIS POST IS TO BOOST THE ENGAGEMENT OF THIS INCREDIBLY HIGH-QUALITY CHANNEL.

[@nathangreer8219]

I had always heard of these devastating raids, but only now learning the detail. In the short time after one of these breaks through the home's ceiling, you have just a split second for your brain to process what is happening before everything inside is coated with burning napalm. It makes you wish that none of this had ever started.

[@SynapticTransmission]

“The horror, the horror.” ~ Kurtz

[@IIAndersII]

Bomb sirens would be running nonstop up to the stack though

[@cascadianrangers728]

Makes me wish nobody bombed pearl harbor or raped Nanking

[@Broken_dish]

makes you wish the Japanese didn't start a war they had no chance of winning and would commit such atrocities such as throwing Philippine babies into the air to stab with bayonets and it was pretty obvious even to most in the the jap military that if they attacked usa they would lose

[@maxcoldest7196]

It makes you wish your society wasn't based on the Bushido Code.

[@navyreviewer]

Very good. Thanks. You're knocking them out.

[@WolfandCatUnite]

What a great video

[@c1ph3rpunk]

I am an engineer, and have been for 25 years, and still wonder why our talents have to be continually called on by other humans to create weapons such as this. It’s a rather brilliantly simple design, especially by today’s technical standards. It seems quite fit for purpose, though a purpose I wish didn’t need to exist. Had I seen that test data at the time, I’d be taken aback at how destructive of a weapon we had created. I will however call out that safety mechanism, I would NOT want to go down hard in a B-29 with any number of those munitions in the belly.

[@jasondiaz8431]

The b29 would have burst into flames on its own.

[@dovidell]

The B 29 was rushed into service , years before being fit for purpose , despite its technological advancements @@jasondiaz8431

[@czwarty7878]

@@jasondiaz8431 these things burn differently. Much more likely to survive fire in burning aircraft than burning napalm, it's not even a comparison

[@JohnDonne3PersonGod]

Human talents are marshaled for weapons like this because many conflicts become existential. Unfortunately, this is true even on a small scale. In a conflict, even if the nation at war might not be fighting for their life, the units/armies/factions that are deployed into combat are. And once survival is at stake, it's unsurprising that ingenuity and creativity are employed.

[@65gtotrips]

Let’s not forget here that the Japanese Imperial Army from Imperial Japan attacked the United States and it’s our job to defend and diminish any opponents will to fight.

[@eddieslittlestack7919]

The guy loading the bomb while smoking surprised me!! I noticed that a second before you called that out. Love the channel, thanks for the work you put into them.

[@Chris-ut6eq]

I'm sure the smoking was the least dangerous part of this guy's service during the war.

[@ShortArmOfGod]

His biggest threat during the war was malaria.

[@williamromine5715]

I don't know why his smoking should be of any concern. The explosive devices were protected from combustion until a certain sequence occurred.

[@redtobertshateshandles]

Smoking's perfectly safe. Except for the Japanese. Lol

[@earlhuff7847]

If you look back at Occupational Safety and its history, there was none during this time. LOL it really wasn't until the 60's until safety became a priority.

[@JK-rv9tp]

Well done. You can't finish this series without mentioning the wild and crazy incendiary-belfry-burning-bat project. IIRC, the project was cancelled when the test bats escaped and burned down the test facility in the desert.

[@waterloo32594]

Funny how they cancelled the program for being too successful

[@BradiKal61]

That bomb system would have been used except the atomic bomb was completed at just about the same time, and was used instead

[@MrPinhead42]

I highly appreciate your effort in researching historic documents. Top quality content!

[@L_Train]

I found it very interesting learning how the devices work.

[@maestromecanico597]

Again, thank you for taking the time to research and present this. I've known about the bombing all my life but nothing about the details. Thanks, again.

[@johnlovett8341]

Don't all videos start with; "The intent of this video is to deep dive the ... firebomb "? Seriously, nice work as always. Thanks.

[@earlhuff7847]

I think its his nervous tick if you will. LOL it could be worse.

[@king_br0k]

It gas became his style

[@Heike--]

He took some class somewhere that told him to state the intent of what he's doing at the beginning. Frankly more video makers could learn from him.

[@user-mp3eq6ir5b]

Long Answer Short - Yes. It's a Trademark that, once established and recognisable, should not be changed. Like Hormel did with Spam by adding Porato Starch. (but then, the Japanese make Nigiri with it - go figure!) Better than Pilot Whale Blubber)

[@markmaki4460]

To be fair, it didn't look like that bombloader's cigar was lit.

[@gort8203]

Once again, superb research and presentation of the material. No other KZbin channel comes close.

[@Rembrant65]

Congratulations on the quality of this video. Well done.

[@WWIIUSBombers]

Thank you very much!

[@MrAlwaysBlue]

Morbidly fascinating. I look forward to each new video.

[@snowplow7883]

What a progression from Civil War canister shot… to these napalm clusters to modern clusters with bombs and mine fields…

[@ClimateScepticSceptic-ub2rg]

More detail than available elsewhere. Great job of presenting all the facts.

[@RohanGillett]

You can see the scars of these weapons in Tokyo today. The Nihonbashi Bridge still sports a burn mark on its east side.

[@mlovmo]

YES!!! I have been fascinated by the M-69 cluster. Very interesting weapon concept...

[@primmakinsofis614]

There were a variety of incendiary clusters used by the U.S. and Britain during the war. Initially, these were quick opening, resulting in the bombs being released at the bombing altitude and thus scattered widely. Later clusters were aimable; that is, the cluster fell as a complete unit until reaching a predetermined altitude, typically about 5,000 feet, at which point the cluster broke open and released its contents. This allowed the cluster to be aimed like a high explosive bomb for greater accuracy, and the low altitude at which the contents were released resulted in tighter concentrations.

[@spn3925]

Awesome video, I always love learning new things about WW2. Wasn't the intent of the video but I never knew about the existence of the B-32 till I seen in referenced in one of the documents here. Had to go look that one up.

[@primmakinsofis614]

According to the _Army Air Forces Statistical Digest --- World War II,_ the number of incendiary bombs dropped in theaters against Japan, The first figure is for 1944 and the second is for 1945. 100-lb (AN-M47) 22,539 | 839.050 440-lb cluster (AN-M17) 1,130 | 92,287 228-lb cluster (E28/E46) 3,180 | 251,893 The AN-M17 cluster each contained 110 x 4-lb incendiary bombs, yielding a total of 124,300 and 10,151,570 of the 4-lb incendiary bomb being dropped in 1944 and 1945, respectively. The E28 and E46 clusters each contained 38 x 6-lb incendiary bombs, yielding a total of 120,840 and 9,571,934 of the 6-lb incendiary bomb being dropped in 1944 and 1945, respectively. So, in total, more of the 4-lb AN-M50 incendiary bomb were used against Japan than were the 6-lb AN-M69 incendiary bomb.The 100-lb AN-M47 incendiary bomb was a distant third.

[@WWIIUSBombers]

Thanks for the comment. I review the stats and make a correction in the next release, if necessary. I strive to present only accurate data.

[@grizwoldphantasia5005]

@@WWIIUSBombers You do an excellent job.

[@primmakinsofis614]

@@WWIIUSBombers As noted by the previous commentor, you do a great job of providing the data from the period sources and references. I mentioned the stats more as an interesting point on the distribution of weapons used, and certainly not as any sort of criticism.

[@WWIIUSBombers]

See the table 7 that accounts for all the incendiaries dropped against Japanese cities by weight in the USSBS 1947 "A report on Physical damage in Japan". Of the incendiaries dropped on Japan, By weight, M69 = 47%, M47 = 27%, M50 = 21%, M74 = 2%, M76 = 2%.

[@gort8203]

I was surprised to see that they typically set the intervalometer to hit every 50 feet. Given how readily combustible the targets were I sort of expected they would spread them a bit further apart to set fires over a wider area. Info like this that corrects mistaken assumptions is one of the best features of this channel.

[@KJAkk]

If dispersed too far the fires would not converge into a firestorm. That happened when XXI bomber command tried a less tight attack pattern on Nagoya on March 12th, 1945.

[@gavindavies793]

The dispersion from 5000 ft alt is only 2200 sqr ft, that's only a 47x47 ft square area.

[@gregmead2967]

@@gavindavies793 How did you get 2200 sq ft? The diagram at 17:21 shows an area of 0.025 sq miles, which works out to nearly 700,000 sq ft, which works out to 1 M69 every 450 sq ft, or roughly one bomblet in a 20ftx22.5ft rectangle. Pretty bad.

[@gavindavies793]

@@gregmead2967 17:21 area is for a full bomb load dropped at intervals, with some overlap. The 2200 sqr ft figure is from 12:22 which is data for a single cluster bomb.

[@nickmoore385]

Very interesting as usual. I thought incendiary bombs just smouldered, it didn’t realise ones like this splattered burning napalm all over the area. No wonder they were so effective.

[@ShiddyFinkelstein]

You need to watch some film of firebombing of Dresden and Hamburg, etc., and of Japanese cities, and Vietnam. The most iconic image of the Vietnam war is of a young girl running down a road on fire, naked and screaming from the napalm with everything burning around her. She was a friendly. That image did as much as anything else to change Americans' opinions about the war.

[@buzzml8123]

Fantastic information! Seriously, these were devilish devices and it would have been pure hell to be under them

[@dirkbogarde7796]

This is fascinating. 🇩🇪 For Germany a slightly different technique was used. First came the HE bombs to take the roofs off and break the windows in the cities. Then came the Firebombs with at times devastating effect ( Hamburg, Dresden ) where fire storms were created which not only burnt most of the cities but also took away the oxygen thus suffocating the people in the bunkers. It is said that the river Elbe in Hamburg was boiling it was so hot. Similar to Japanese cities, most large & medium cities in German were largely destroyed. Although German houses had brick walls, the inside was made out of wood. Such as the roof rafters, window frames, entire stairs and stair cases , cross beams holding the floors and the floors themselves. Also most of the contents of the apartments and houses would have been wood. Looking at historical film footage you can clearly see the efficient destruction of German towns and cities. Often the walls of 4-5 story apartment buildings are still standing, yet with nothing inside walls.

[@primmakinsofis614]

_Then came the Firebombs with at times devastating effect ( Hamburg, Dresden ) where fire storms were created_ Yes, but firestorms were rare, unpredictable events. There were perhaps a dozen created during the entire war despite the massive amount of bombing. It should also be noted the idea that all the RAF did was incendiary raids on German cities is not correct; plenty of high explosive raids were conducted against urban areas and various military targets. (The peak year for incendiary bomb usage by the RAF in terms of tons dropped and percentage of total tons dropped was 1943.)

[@dirkbogarde7796]

The RAF used Luftminen or Cookies in combination with their firebombs on the same bomber. The massive Cookie was dropped arriving faster and first and blowing away the roofs. In the same bomb bay you had the lighter firebombs with a tail out of fabric. Bomber Harris was doing it in one flight . If there were 12 firestorms this is significant, as these were massiv events which usually destroyed entire inner cities. The fear, terror was demoralising and has an effect to this day. It is burnt into the German psyche . around 30k-40k people would die in Dresden and Hamburg. @@primmakinsofis614

[@stevendorris5713]

Very well done ( no pun intended).

[@andresmartinezramos7513]

Lol

[@WardenWolf]

Before anyone condemns the US for these tactics, one must factor in the realities of the time and Japanese city design. Japanese cities were built in the old European style, with workers largely living within walking distance of the very factories they worked in. And these factories were all producing material for the war effort. This made these factories and, by extent their workers, valid targets. A factory can be rebuilt or its workers reassigned, but the brain drain caused by the loss of people who know how to build the things that factory produces can be even more devastating. Technology of the time was also such that precision bombing was not possible, and thus starting large fires that burned things without direct hits were extremely effective.

[@JBliehall]

True. After the war ended the Japanese themselves admitted that due to the "military location bombing" they moved MOST of the military product production to "small cottage industries in urban (READ: civilian) locations. You would have us believe the "civilian" population was sitting at home making origami paper swans while we fire-bombed them. That is more than idiotic.

[@OriginalWarwood]

Excellent as always!

[@L_Train]

They interviewed E Honda haha.

[@scottengstrom7308]

I was surprised that explosive bombs were not used during the Japanese firebombing raids. General LeMay saw what the British did in Germany where high explosives were used to break up the structures to allow the fire bombs to get at flammable materials in Germany. When LeMay took over in the Japanese theater and implemented the change to firebombing, I assumed that the same mix of bomb types were used. It makes sense when I realized that German structures are brick and mortar and Japan was built of wood and paper. Dugway Proving Grounds proved their worth.

[@ddopson]

I had the exact same surprise. I'd only heard the original LeMay findings from Germany and didn't realize they had changed the recipe for Japan.

[@alanstevens1296]

Even the German wood structures were much heavier design than those in Japan.

[@StephenHulbert-rp2mv]

I'm glad explosive bombs weren't used in these raids as my father was a POW in the Kawasaki precinct, housed in an old masonry monastery, which now doubt saved him and other POWs, when not being a forced/starved slave laborer. He did tell me of the horror of this conflagration, a burning hell, during a major bushfire near our house. The horror of the violent windstorm the inferno created, flying sheets of corrugated iron cutting humans to pieces, with the local Japanese seeking shelter near the POW compound.

[@johnlovett8341]

Dropped from 5,000 feet, he cluster canister disperses 90% of it's 38 M-69 bomblets in a 2,200 ft2 area. That's 90%, about 34, within a 53 foot diameter circle. Pretty tight. I thought they'd spread out more. Will the learning wonders never cease. Thanks!

[@Token_Civilian]

I think that was one bomblet per 2,200 square feet. Which means my suburban 7,000 square foot lot would get hit by 3 of these things.

[@primmakinsofis614]

_Dropped from 5,000 feet,_ Not dropped, but rather breaks open at that or other predetermined altitude. The E28, E46, and M17 were all 'aimable' clusters, that is, they fell as a complete unit until reaching a designated altitude at which point it then broke open and dispersed its contents. This was in contrast to earlier 'quick opening' clusters which opened and dispersed its contents immediately, resulting in the bombs being widely scattered.

[@johnlovett8341]

Cool. Imissed that. I saw the dispersion pattern shown at 17:19 shows a roughly 500 ft x 350 ft dispersion for a single cluster so I figured I was misunderstanding the earlier 2,200 ft2 table.

[@gort8203]

@@Token_Civilian No, one cluster carrier opening every 50 feet, each releasing (was it 38?) bomblets, is way more than one bomblet every 2,200 square feet.

[@Token_Civilian]

@@gort8203 We're talking about 2 different things, the 17:19 usage, but yes, you are right in that sense. If you refer to 12:12, the table that is shown is for a single E46 cluster, that's what my above comment was on. Under the dispersion pattern, it states that a single cluster is 240'x360' and the adjoining column is clearly labeled as square feet per bomb (90% of bombs). That is listed at 2,200. So, simplifying the math to a rectangle vs a race track, 240x360=86400 square feet. Divide that by 38 bombs per cluster yields 2273 square feet, close enough with the simplification to verify the table. So, if a single cluster had been aimed at my suburban home, I'd get about 3 of them landing on my property. Now, what you're talking about is when they release them at 50' intervals. Yes, absolutely, in that case the density will be significantly higher due to each cluster overlapping with the 2 dropped before it and 2 dropped after it (approximately). No wonder these things were so effective - it would be likely that multiple of them would hit each structure.

[@adamsaint2890]

11:53 - our man here is smoking a cigar right next to the bomb. Damnnnnn

[@geocrafters]

Fascinating and well researched. The primary sources used here are incredible. Hollywood take note! Great resource for anyone researching and creating World War II content focused on realism.

[@Bloatlord_the_Magnificent]

Great video! This was a very interesting subject

[@Lockbar]

Curtis LeMay approves!!

[@appaho9tel]

Well done, LeMay wrote about this in his book, fire density mattered, thus the intervalometer setting.

[@floydoroid]

Eerie how they measured the effectiveness of this weapon by how much fire damage japanese residential areas sustained.

[@primmakinsofis614]

RAF Bomber Command measured its success by acres of urban area destroyed (some by incendiary raids and others by high explosive missions).

[@Heike--]

It takes me an hour to watch these videos. Because I have to keep pausing to gaze upon the lovely original source documents and gorgeous photos. Man, you really go all out on that and it shows. I really appreciate that. I mean, the original mockups in the desert of firebomb targets of German and Japanese? And the German house looks identifiably German? *chef's kiss*

[@jayschafer1760]

Same here. I love to read the full text of the images shown.

[@Sacto1654]

The USAAF went the incendiary bomb route because during the 1930's, US diplomats who lived at the US Embassy in Tokyo and sometimes traveled around the country in areas allowed by Japanese authorities immediatedly noted the very high density of homes built of highly flammable materials and also the fact many factories building parts for military goods were located into those residential areas. In short, the Japanese never learned from the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake experience. That earthquake happened right when cooking fires were running to make lunch, and all those uncontrolled fires from spilled cooking units turned into a massive firestorm that killed the majority of people in Tokyo from that earthquake. Had the Japanese government been smarter, they would have banned wooden construction in urban areas in 1924, and as such the use of incendiary bombs would have been a lot less effective.

[@JBliehall]

True.

[@blackvulture6818]

I was kinda surprised by the fact that inendiaries alone are more effective than a combination of demolition and incendiaries. Here in europe it was more common to use the latter. I suppose it has to do with construction techniques, where wood acts more of a structural reinforcemen to masonry rather than being the primary material.

[@paulrandig]

For German cities, I think they used heavy airburst bombs to open up the roofs before dropping the incendiaries. Once the roof tiles were scattered, the wooden roof construction lay open to catch fire. Those heavy beams would then fall and penetrate the ceiling setting its wooden beam on fire. They would eventually collapse burning and crash through the next lower ceiling. To get a fire storm, it was no use trying to use ground detonating bombs to collapse the thick outer brick walls since they would bury much of the flammable material.

[@michaelwright2986]

@@paulrandig That was what I was going to suggest. It looks like the report is pointing to a difference between cities built of stone and brick, and those made of lighter and more inflammable materials. For what it's worth, in the early stage of the British area bombing campaign, it was the medieval centres of cities that were targeted, as they were made largely of wood, and so burned better.

[@NathanDudani]

Using wolfram alpha, 66.9 million BTU is equivalent to .86 energy released by the total fission of one gram of U-235. So 531 B-29 drops fully-loaded with incediaries would be equivalent to the 500g fission material of little boy; but another 400 additional ones would be needed to have matched its total energy released, so ≈900.

[@stevenharris9941]

your math is horribly wrong, as is your history and your numbers used in everything.

[@ralphbannister-b7z]

Very interesting. Thank you

[@archiegeorge3969]

I’m surprised how dense the clusters were set.

[@charleshaggard4341]

Have you completed a video on the problems with the B-29 and their engines? This is an interesting video. I noticed that you didn't mention what this gelled gasoline did to humans but I read where the firebombing killed more civilians than the atomic bombs, but not sure if that is true.

[@lamwen03]

I saw one just recently, it appears that cooling was the biggest problem, the cowl flaps didn't do the job, and the requirement to bomb from 30,000 ft. ( very thin air, very poor cooling ) with a maximum load was the big issue. Far less maintenance required when they switched to low level bombing.

[@longrider42]

Yes the fire bombing did kill more people. In Tokyo alone, 17 square miles of the town was destroyed by fire bombing.

[@charleshaggard4341]

@@longrider42 Can you imagine sitting or laying down in the house and this fire bomb comes through the ceiling and before you can react, it blows flaming napalm on you. Innocent civilians are the ones who suffer most in war anywhere.

[@primmakinsofis614]

@@charleshaggard4341 _Innocent civilians are the ones who suffer most in war anywhere._ The civilians who suffered brutally at the hands of Imperial Japan would shed few tears for Japanese civilians experiencing suffering.

[@dtrain1634]

This was one of the worst off the scale most horrific ‘war crimes’ war theatres. When I visited China they still very much retain the collective memory of WW2 - unit 731 etc. plague, mass rape, slaughter etc.. Still by todays standards the incendiary raids would be considered ‘war crimes’. Hindsight is an incredible thing… The only thing that remains is the principle of ‘two wrongs’… Extremely sad times :( The pacific area is still raw due to WW2. It is essential to understand this when considering todays foreign policy.

[@m9078jk3]

One of my friends in the 462nd BG as a bombardier in the USAAF 20th AF used a lot of these over Japanese cities on B-29 Superfortress's

[@michaelreed8873]

I love the classic military scientific analysis of the bombs effectiveness against a building. Nothing in the report would mention civilians suffocation the violence of war. You have already very well covered the much less success of the European and Japanese bombing. versus the myth of they won the war. I just finished Thomas McKlevy Cleaver's book on the 8th Air Force fighter side of the war and amazed how brave these young men were sacrificing themselves over Europe

[@primmakinsofis614]

_versus the myth of they won the war._ The Air Forces over-promised and under-delivered. That said, the bombing against Germany had significant impact on its economic capacity which contributed to victory.

[@victorboucher675]

Replace the word civilians with factory workforce personal if that help you understand.

[@lairdcummings9092]

I'm a little surprised to learn that mixing incendiaries with demolition bombs was less effective in Japan. In Germany, smaller demolition bombs were used to break open masonry structures to allow incendiary access, though I don't know if that was optimum, either.

[@DanielsPolitics1]

My understanding is that it was at least as much to break windows as to break masonry. In either case, the object was to give more air to the fires.

[@lairdcummings9092]

@@DanielsPolitics1 roofing, actually.

[@temijinkahn511]

Was the same tactics used in Europe? My father flew 29 combat missions as a B24 pilot. He told me they would have 1/4 of the bomb load as high explosive with the rest incendiary. He said the explosive was to break water lines and put rubble in the street both of which would reduce fire fighting effectiveness. European cities used less flamible building materials than was common is Japan.

[@dovidell]

You reap what you sow , and the Japanese military (especially unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese army ) , sowed a " firestorm" of destruction and death across Asia

[@Heike--]

To prove that killing civilians is wrong, we're going to kill civilians. Wait, what?

[@primmakinsofis614]

@@Heike-- Civilians made the war possible. If the civilian population refused to work, the economy would have quickly ceased, and the war ended. Also, there were no more civilians in Japan given that the government had passed a law which drafted all able-bodied citizens into the militia in preparation for resisting any U.S. invasion.

[@Heike--]

If they had refused to work, they would have been beaten or tortured until they did. How is it so difficult to understand that mass murder of defenseless civilians is WRONG? The Nazis and Japanese both got war crimes trials and hangings for doing THE EXACT SAME THING. @@primmakinsofis614

[@victorboucher675]

So are you OK with clotshot bioweapons?

[@erroneous6947]

Very cool video.

[@gavindavies793]

12:22 I'm suprised at how small the dispersal area from 5000 ft alt is, only 2,200 square foot, or a 47x47 ft square area. That's alot of bombs in a small area, several per house atleast. Heck, one big bungalow could get the whole cluster!

[@jorgewhite6658]

One observation :when analyzing the Schweinfurt raids on the german ball bearing manufacturing plants it was discovered that incendiaries work better than gp bombs because in workshops the floors saturated with oil caught fire and thus the lathes , drills and milling machines were destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Another observation : 500 and 1000 lbs bombs will normally penetrate deep underground, if the fuze fails ( and many did) that bomb becomes a hazzard. Every year in the UK, France and Germany areas have to be evacuated so those unexploded ordnance can be cleared. Japan doesn't seem to have a similar issue.

[@primmakinsofis614]

_Another observation : 500 and 1000 lbs bombs will normally penetrate deep underground, if the fuze fails_ This is something which isn't discussed much. The failure/dud rate of U.S. and British explosive bombs during the war was significant.

[@centurian318]

I was under the impression that the hexagonal bomblets were made of magnesium and filled with thermite, not napalm.

[@michaeloboyle8798]

E Honda… like the dude from street fighter that makes fire when he hits you… that is my favorite fact from this video.

[@markworden9169]

I read a book about the the fire raids and the m69 many years ago.

[@blackvulture6818]

One day you will leak some actually classified documents and not say "all the documents shown in this video are declassified", but we will not notice

[@redtobertshateshandles]

Wow. 3-10 kg of incendiary per house. You're not putting that out.

[@briancavanagh7048]

Was there any safety issues carrying incendiary weapons on aircraft in the early days or storage & transport of these types of weapons? Was there any differences between the British & German incendiary weapons?

[@cascadianrangers728]

Fire is mans oldest adversary and dearest friend. These things were so good that for some targets they can do more damage than a fission bomb

[@pauldietz1325]

Ian W. Toll's third book on the Pacific War had the bomblets containing the sock in a lead pipe. Steel makes more sense.

[@heavybreath]

There is a book FLAMES OVER TOKYO which gives development of the incendiary bombs and their employment against Japanese targets Some 50 Japanese cities were hit, Toyama was completely burned down

[@victorboucher675]

Thank you.

[@KenshiroPlayDotA]

The intent of this comment is to ask a few questions : 1) Is there a reason for calling the E46 clusters aimable ? I think nowadays one would call the bomb fin-stabilized. 2) Is there any data about the dud rate of the M69 bomblets ? 3) Did unexploded M69 bomblets readily burn or even detonate if other M69s successfully ignited the surroundings ?

[@primmakinsofis614]

_1) Is there a reason for calling the E46 clusters aimable ? I think nowadays one would call the bomb fin-stabilized._ The first generation of clusters were called 'quick opening' because they opened and dispersed the contents when the bomb release was triggered. The result was that the bomblets would be scattered widely with little accuracy. 'Aimable' clusters, in contrast, fell as a complete unit until reaching a predetermined altitude (typically 5,000 feet) at which point it broke open and dispersed its contents. Because the aimable cluster fell as a complete unit, it could be aimed using the bomb sight similar to how high explosive bombs could be aimed. (The low altitude at which the contents were dispersed also resulted in tighter concentration of the bomblets.) _2) Is there any data about the dud rate of the M69 bomblets?_ The publication _Fire Warfare --- Incendiaries and Flame Throwers_ by the Office of Scientific Research and Development, National Defense Research Committee, and Division 11, on page 16 has a table showing the results of drop tests of the M19 (E46) cluster, and lists the number of duds and the percentage which functioned properly. A total of 50 clusters dropped from various altitudes with varying opening altitudes. Of the 1,900 bomblets released, 1,810 were recovered for examination. Of those, 1,733 functioned properly, or 95.7%, thus implying a dud rate of 4.3%.

[@paulwoodman5131]

much more effective than the bombs they had set up to deliver Napalm with bats. Although, Flaming Bats ;would be a great punk band name.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Great video...👍

[@brentandvuk]

Good details

[@RonLWilson]

Great video!

[@dannywlm63]

Well done yanks

[@moisturisedgnome1181]

Yup. Keep on rockin in the free world

[@primmakinsofis614]

The British also had incendiary cluster bombs in both the 'quick opening' and 'aimable' types.

[@lamwen03]

Great content.

[@DrBobcf]

I'm not sure the guy with the cigar had it lit

[@Chris-ut6eq]

Wow, great detail and original source material. While it's easy to focus on the technical aspects, we should always keep in mind these were people being bombed in a city while living at home and just going about their lives. We needed to win a war, but we should never forget the individuals are people just like us.

[@primmakinsofis614]

It'd be nice if the millions of Chinese, Korean, and other civilians who died at the hands of Imperial Japan were remembered.

[@grizwoldphantasia5005]

"Leaders" start wars. People fight and die. When someone attacks you, there is no place for fretting about attacking the people who support the leaders.

[@Chris-ut6eq]

@@primmakinsofis614 I agree they should be. They to where living at home when a foreign army invaded and did things I hope nether of us can possibly imagine. All war is waged for greed and terrible things are done in the name of patriotism, but we are all human and have hopes/dreams for our future which war often cuts short.

[@edwardscott3262]

While I personally believe we go to war way too often and do believe the suffering of the civilian population is terrible. I no longer agree with public sentiment. Post war attempts at defeating foreign radical ideologies has now shown without a doubt. You can't just spare the civilian population and ever hope to win. They're a very vital part of the war effort and that's been forgotten. In WW2 we knew very well that the civilian population is a group of people who fully support their war and leadership. We knew they were targets we had to hit if we ever hoped to show them the errors of their very radical ideologies. We knew full well that you can't just remove their leadership and hope the civilian population picks something different next time. We shot ourselves in the foot with war time propaganda decrying what the other side did while knowing exactly why we were targeting civilians ourselves. Future generations were tricked into thinking we never would have targeted enemy civilians if we had better tech and if they didn't do it first. Our WW2 leaders took knowledge they had and buried it to keep it from future generations. They did future generations a major disservice in the process. I completely understand why they did it but no one can deny we haven't spent post WW2 completely incapable of defeating foreign radical ideologies because of it. We can't defeat foreign radical ideologies anymore because we're simply no longer allowed to do war that way anymore. Most of all people have completely forgotten that you don't win wars by killing a certain percentage of the other side. You win wars by completely demoralizing them. Death is a part of that but only the most obvious. The psychology of war is the major part of that. In WW2 everything from machine gun fire to artillery shelling to even strategic bombing had a well known psychological component. Machine gunners were taught how to harass the enemy with machine gun fire. Artillery outside of during attacks was timed and targeted to keep the enemy scared and demoralized. Even our strategic bombing was done with the intent of not killing every single person we could but instead keeping them in a tired, confused and demoralized state. Unfortunately after the war the very concepts we used to defeat multiple very radical ideologies just wasn't popular. It got downplayed and forgotten in memoirs and biographies. It wasn't taught to future generations. Most of all our post WW2 war history has shown we're now terrible at it because of that. We pretend every foreign population is like us when by now we sure as hell should have learned that's not true. Hopefully some day we learn enough to stop sending Americans to fight in wars the politicians will never let us win. Unfortunately I highly doubt it.

[@Name-ps9fx]

@@edwardscott3262 You kept saying "very radical ideoligies." The only thing "radical" about them was the fact they stood against our ideoligy, that of equality and diversity (more or less; during WW2 the US was not particularly egalitarian). We may not have liked the Nazis or the Japanese, but for their part they didn't like us either. There is no fundamental difference between all of us.

[@scottessery100]

did the brits and germans use thermite?

[@davewinter2688]

Quote from a famous movie: Ah! The smell of napalm in the morning. Curtis LeMay when he was George Wallace’s vice presidential running mate in 1964 regarding strategy in Vietnam: “First we’ll try diplomacy. If that doesn’t work, then we’ll bomb’em back into the stone age!”He was consistent if nothing else.

[@craiga2002]

I'm not sure, but I think it was 1968.

[@davewinter2688]

You are correct. It was just Johnson vs Coldwater in '64. Johnson did not run in '68 but the Wallace/LeMay ticket entered as 3rd party candidate. I was a sophomore in highschool and have clear remembrance of LeMay's statement at a press conference.

[@davewinter2688]

@@craiga2002 I didn’t get this reply directed correctly the first time I tried. You are correct. It was during the 1968 presidential campaign that LeMay made the comment. I was a sophomore in high school and have a clear remembrance of him making the remarks. I think it was during a press conference. Others have used the line since. In his 1964 Republican convention acceptance speech Barry Goldwater used the line “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Those lines were written for Goldwater. Other quotes from presidential campaigns that live on include JFK’s “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” Although Kennedy spoke the lines, he was just using his version of what Lebanese Khalil Gibran wrote in a 1925 article. Interestingly Dwight D. Eisenhower warned of the Military-Industrial complex in his farewell address to the nation on January 17, 1971. Only LeMay’s “….bomb’em back into the Stone Age” was an off the cuff comment.

[@1977Yakko]

What could possibly go wrong when smoking next to a bunch of napalm? That's totally not a surefire way to earn a Darwin Award.

[@matchpoint14]

I thought Napalm was only used in Vietnam. Did they use this in Korean war too?

[@FirstDagger]

Should be M69 not M-69, the US Army doesn't use the dash for M nomenclature.

[@WWIIUSBombers]

Thanks for the clarification. I fixed the title and description

[@RemusKingOfRome]

Japanese Emperor - "Attack the USA ? WHAT A GREAT IDEA !!! ... " Honor over Reality.

[@treystephens6166]

Emperor Hirohito had no idea what was happening 😂

[@raygiordano1045]

In a way, Hirohito's ignorance makes it worse.@@treystephens6166

[@treystephens6166]

@@raygiordano1045 they say Hirohito had no say in what their Army & Navy did. I can’t believe that. He was their God Emperor. No Japanese would disobey him!

[@grizwoldphantasia5005]

@@treystephens6166 His minions repeatedly disobeyed him, all in the name of obeying him. Look at the Tokyo palace mutiny after the two atomic bombings, and then consider how many there were before.

[@treystephens6166]

@@grizwoldphantasia5005 so did the Japanese Navy & Army starts a War without His Majesty’s approval???

[@Knuck_Knucks]

I don't think it's safe to smoke around the bomb canisters either... 🚬 🐿

[@724bigal]

Of course it wasn’t safe, but neither is loading bombs in a bomber full of hundred plus octane, aviation fuel in a combat zone. Everything is relative.

[@primmakinsofis614]

High explosive bombs were safe until fuzed and armed.

[@WricNick]

Fire is the devils only friend.

[@Heike--]

Napalm was invented by Harvard! Remember to thank the Ivy League for this!

[@primmakinsofis614]

Be sure to thank the leaders of Imperial Japan for stupidly and pointlessly prolonging a war that Japan had clearly lost.

[@Heike--]

That doesn't mean that the Ivy League needs to invent new ways to inflict horrible flaming death and raw human misery. Thank our elites! @@primmakinsofis614

[@primmakinsofis614]

@@Heike-- Imperial Japan was every bit as bad as the Third Reich. Many people in the West don't seem to realize this.

[@Heike--]

They weren't. They didn't attack Jews and were not in any way anti-Semitic. Don't lie and make false equivalences. The Holocaust was a special kind of evil, and it didn't happen in Japan. @@primmakinsofis614

[@stumpythedwarf8712]

I feel that the fire bombing raids alone would have eventually forced the Japanese to surrender, with or with out the atomic bombs. There's a huge difference in damage caused between the two types of weapons used, the fire bombs being the more effective. Both are horrifying in their results, but for different reasons.

[@martylost167]

Yes, because of the quantity of B-29's dropping M-69's. 828 B-29's were in the last bombing run on August 14 before the Hirohito record that played on August 15, but the US had spent all that money and exponential human lives were at stake. "Shock and Ah!" affect. 1 bomb did what? It was the sum of everything that broke Hirohito. Blockade, fire bombs, atomic bombs, Hitler dead, Russia fighting, losing war, Japanese loss of life, poverty, just to name a few. "No!" is still not permitted in most Japanese area's. It has been laxed in modern times, but in the 1940's, "No!", would get you killed. Hirohito saved what was left of the Japanese people on August 15. Their lives were always in his hands, because the Japanese people could not tell Hirohito "No!".

[@primmakinsofis614]

@@martylost167 More of the 4-lb incendiary bomb were dropped against Japan in 1945 than were the 6-lb incendiary: 92,287 clusters dropped times 110 4-lb incendiaries per cluster = 10,151,570 251,893 clusters dropped times 38 6-lb incendiaries per cluster = 9,571,934 Also dropped in 1945 were 839,050 of the 100-lb incendiary bomb.

[@christopherrasmussen8718]

Mays Landing!

[@scootergeorge7089]

More reliable than bat bombs.

[@paulkurilecz4209]

And to think that people get in a tizzy over the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[@VOTEREPUBLICANS594]

So you want to start a war!

[@alejandrayalanbowman367]

Were the US or US personnel ever on the receiving end of napalm? I thought not, otherwise they would never think of using it on somebody else, bastards.

[@petefluffy7420]

Just one ?

[@johnking6252]

And all the time you're devising every little way to annihilate your enemy he's doing the same ? Hello Dr strangelove have we achieved mutual assured destruction yet??? Hal , hello Hal .... 😵😵😵

[@b.griffin317]

0:11 "aimable"?

[@primmakinsofis614]

Yes, aimable. The early incendiary clusters were 'quick opening' affairs which dispersed their contents immediately on bomb release, which resulted in the bombs being widely scattered. The later 'aimable' clusters instead fell as a complete unit until reaching a predetermined altitude (typically 5,000 feet) at which point it broke open and dispersed its contents. Because the aimable cluster fell as a complete unit, it could be aimed like a high explosive bomb. The low altitude at which the contents were dispersed resulted in tighter concentrations.

[@MikeHunt-rw4gf]

Algorithm.

[@scullystie4389]

17:42 not gonna lie, the thought of a Street Fighter character giving a sober analysis on wartime damages entered my mind

[@BamBamBigelow.]

That is a hell of a bomb...Fire up the Hibachi grill 💀

[@primmakinsofis614]

There were plenty of incendiary clusters used by the U.S., Britain, and Gemany.

[@DeltaAssaultGaming]

That’s what they get for Pearl Harbor.

[@Heike--]

FDR provoked the Japanese over and over, and the Japanese clearly warned that his actions would lead to war. But he *wanted* a war.

[@akula9713]

I worked with an old Japanese guy, probably long dead now. He was a child during the war, he lost his 4 brothers and sisters, all kids. When will humans learn to settle their differences peacefully? I think if a leader or political party advocates for war, or threatens other states by moving weapons to their borders, they should be arrested. I’m sick of war. Nearly every year of my life on the god forsaken planet there has been war, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, the list is endless.

[@primmakinsofis614]

_When will humans learn to settle their differences peacefully_ It wasn't differences, it was Imperial Japan wanting to set up its own empire in Asia which kicked off the war in the Pacific. It wanted to set up the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, something from which only Japan would have prospered while the rest of Asia would have suffered.

[@akula9713]

@@primmakinsofis614 America sanctioned Japan of raw materials, particularly oil. And yes I agree empire building is not an honourable activity. The Japanese invaded and devastated China. All that aside, populations, you and me should never allow leaders to wage war. Hitler, we are going to invade Poland! German population NO! Etc. They rule easily because we don’t protest, we don’t question, we don’t resist!

[@JBliehall]

@@akula9713 A Buddist priest once told me, "There are no winners nor losers in wars. Only survivors."

[@McRocket]

To me? Incendiary bombing was far, FAR more cruel than atomic bombing. Most fatalities in the latter died instantly. Most fatalities in the former died much slower/more painful deaths. Thanks for this video. The information you provide on this channel is just incredible. ☮

[@c1ph3rpunk]

Hint: don’t start a world war and continue a path of genocide, someone else might have a problem with it.

[@b1laxson]

Including talk (I believe to be true) of the long lasting heat swirls pulling people and children off the ground into the firey tower... alive ... aware... as they went into the towering flames helpless to stop their motion.

[@grizwoldphantasia5005]

And how does it compare to the rape of Nanking, or all the other atrocities? Or to Hitler's Holocaust, or Stalin's and Mao's starvation campaigns? War is hell. But when someone attacks you, the alternative to inflicting cruel punishment on them is letting them inflict cruel punishment on you.

[@McRocket]

@@grizwoldphantasia5005 ​ Apples and Oranges. That's how it compares. And your ridiculous logic on this is just that - ridiculous. We are not talking about bombing factories during daylight - like the Air Force often did in Europe (at Schweinfurt, Ploesti, etc.). Or using a weapon to end a war - like dropping the A-bombs were (to a point). We are talking about the deliberate incineration/asphyxiation of as many civilians as possible. That is murder and a war crime and nothing you can say to me will change my mind. If you cannot see that there is no excuse for that? Than you are too far gone to be worth my time on this. Good day. ☮

[@primmakinsofis614]

@@McRocket _We are talking about the deliberate incineration/asphyxiation of as many civilians as possible._ Which is something Imperial Japan engaged in before and during the war. Millions of Chinese, Korean, and other civilians were slaughtered at the hands of the Japanese occupying forces. Look up Unit 731 which conducted medical experiments on captive civilians, experiments every bit as bad, if not worse, than Mengele was doing in Germany. Imperial Japan was no innocent party. It started a brutal war where no quarter was given. It reaped what it sowed.

[@spitfeueranna]

Definitely the use of these is classified as a crime against humanity.

[@JBliehall]

Not true. After the war ended the Japanese themselves admitted that due to the "military location bombing" they moved MOST of the military product production to "small cottage industries in urban (READ: civilian) locations. You would have us believe the "civilian" population was sitting at home making origami paper swans while we fire-bombed them. That is more than idiotic.

[@dtrain1634]

Wow, very few cover this vital subject. These fire raids were incredibly destructive and erm.. well by todays standards unethical.

[@lwrii1912]

Very interesting video. Seeing how these fire bombs were so devastatingly effective it kind of makes you wonder if the Atom bombs were really necessary. I can see why we dropped them but it does give one a pause to wonder, what if.....

[@tomhenry897]

We would have to burn every city loose planes and japen still wont surrender even after 2 a bombs almost didnt

[@bigedslobotomy]

Even after fire-bombing Japanese cities, the government was preparing the citizens to resist down to the last woman and child (by telling them the atrocities that the US soldiers would do to them). Japan was preparing for an extended war, in the hope that the US would tire of it and leave them to their own devices (like the US did to Vietnam).

[@lwrii1912]

@@bigedslobotomy Yes, that's correct. I do agree with the decision to use nuclear weapons, it shortened the timeline and saved many many lives. In a different scenario I do wonder if the fire bomb campaign could have achieved the same eventual result given enough time to follow it to it's eventual conclusion. Just sort of a devils advocate position.

[@primmakinsofis614]

@@lwrii1912 _I do wonder if the fire bomb campaign could have achieved the same eventual result given enough time to follow it to it's eventual conclusion._ The United States Strategic Bombing Survey, in its postwar analysis, came to the conclusion that even absent the atomic bombs, the Soviet declaration of war, and a possible U.S. invasion, Japan would certainly have surrendered by Dec. 31, 1945, and probably would have surrendered by Nov. 1, 1945. Of course, that would mean the war lasting another 2.5 to 4.5 months, with thousands of more deaths occurring every day across Asia as a result.

[@lwrii1912]

@primmakinsofis614 Yep, Japan was effectively doomed after they lost their carries. Not mention the effective blockade of an island nation with the allied submarine and surface vessels. The wrighting was on the wall. I think they really kept fighting to bargain for, in their eyes, acceptable surrender terms. There were just too many against too few at the end of the war for any other outcome that occurred.

[@Diogenes425]

We have DEW ( Direct Energy) weapons now. One of those weapons is in Hawaii.

[@robertharker]

Another example of US war crimes in WWII. I understand why the US chose to attack Japan in this way. Japan did not give the US much choice. It was us or them. But that does not change the fact that fire bombing of Japan were war crimes. Attacks specifically against non-combatant civilians intended to inflict as much damage and deaths as possible.

[@victorboucher675]

So are you OK with what Big Pharma has been doing ?