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Japanese Balloon Battle
mw2040 writes "Slate reports on a little-known method used by the Japanese during WWII - hydrogen-filled paper balloons with deadly payloads floated without a guidance-system across the Pacific. Both amazing low-tech warfare and a cautionary tale about censorship during wartime. More links (even one for our neighbors to the North) (shamelessly stolen from the article)."
Unless you actually read a book or watched Discovery channel in the past 20 years. I've seen that on there tons of times. And I read a story about it in high school which was almost 6 years ago. Maybe little known if you only know a little?
The BBC (or it may have been Channel 4 in the UK) did a programme about these balloons, explaining how the Japanese used the Jet Stream, and a clockwork mechanism to drop sandbags allowing the balloon to drop out of the stream once over the States - I believe many ended up in Canada.
I heard about this in my world history classes in high school and college, in my Japanese history class (well no shit I'd hear about it there), and on several occasions since, and I've never once gone actively looking for this information.
I think it's more well-known than most minor elements of WWII.
... the pinnacle of the science of precision bombing. Can't really see it catching on.
Interestingly, one of these was also found in California.
(That page says the device was taken to Moffetf Field in Sunnyvale CA, but Moffett is and always has been in Mountain View. I believe it was sometimes described as being in Sunnyvale because the military guys were sensitive to the perception of 'Mountains' being anywhere near their airship base. No reference, just remember this from many an airshow..)
I'm sure I read somewhere (or saw on Discovery) that the only mainland US casualties from WW2 were caused by the bombs carried by these balloons.
They managed to cross the pacific by using the jetstream IIRC.. at a time when that particular weather system was relatively unknown.
Bum, I can't log in.. I'm normally MegatronUK... too many damn passwords...
Nothing wrong with censorship during a war for survival. First order of the day is always to survive.
One thing you will not find in Japanese schoolbooks is an historical account of the massacre at Nanking. In 1937, the Japanese attacked China and killed thousands of innocents in Nanking. Today, it's as if it never happened. In fact, I have never learned of this myself until very recently.
This kind of censorship is what we need to be aware of today. Historical records must not be skewed so that they may not tell all sides of the story - always make sure you know where your sources are coming from. This is one of the many reasons why history repeats itself.
More and more people thinks that high technology is much more efficient to win a war. I don't think it is necessarily true. :)
On the contrary, i think that low tech can be much more lethal because of their simplicity. High technology requires people to be trained and efficient, while low tech can be done nearly by everyone, increasing the deadliness and the frequency of those attacks.
Again, don't underestimate the use of high technology devices as a simple low tech weapon. For instance, dropping a PC on someone can be deadly
Pelops
The Japanese had created an interesting bio-weapon during WWII, though they only "tested" it on the Chinese. They figured out a way to create a bomb that would explode scattering plague infested fleas everywhere. It was quite an engineering marvel, even if the results were sickening(to this day, parts of rural China will still periodically get outbreaks of the plague because of these weapons labs), they figured out how to make a bomb explode without killing the fleas. However they never really used it against the Americans, maybe in fear of what the retribution would be.
As the case with Nazi scientists, the head Japanese scientists who worked on Japan's bioweapons during the war avoided war crimes prosecutions by coming over to the US after the war to help in the new "war" against the Soviets.
To this end the Germans disassembled a light bomber, brought it to the arctic in a sub...put it together and tried to hit a munitions facility north of Minneapolis. It ran out of fuel and crashed within 10 miles of the suspected target. Imagine the psychological impact of a heartland attack like that.
Of course there is the well known U-boat activity from Florida to Maine. People living on the coast saw many instances of ship aflame.
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
photos and more info here and an interesting photo of them being shot down from a plane.
Intersting stuff.
Anyway, these bombs weren't intended for a civilian population (the chance of hitting somebody directly would be astronomically low), they would be useful to start forest fires.
I'm finding it hard to believe that this comment isn't a troll.
Either that or it displays a very real ignorence of the eithics of bombing during WWII.
WWII was an ugly war. Every nation involved did thing which were, then and now, considered unacceptable. Nations still do today. Unfortunatly many still operate on the principle that the end justifies the means. I think this is actually one of the tenents of Neoconservatisim.
May the Maths Be with you!
It seems that ingenious Brits were ready to send pidgeons over the front line on balloons as well. I can't quite remember what for - they were either carrier pidgeons for use by secret agents or they carried tiny bombs on them to cause havoc amongst the enemy forces (and I guess they wanted to be sure those ones weren't carrier/racing pidgeons.. /.er can find it!
I wish I could find a website for you.. maybe another Brit
This has been reported many times over the past few years.
Some of the interesting facts regarding this is that the Japanese discovered the Jet stream during the war, using it to distribute the balloons to the US.
Another interesting fact is that the US traced where exactly the balloons were being launched from by small samples of dirt that had contaminated the payloads. The US used pre-war mineralogical surveys to find the exact beach they were being lauched from, and eventually took care of it, so to speak.
Wait a minute. I got it. You could play with your magic nose goblins.
Governments give out all kinds of excuses for censorship. That it will "aid the enemy" or "induce panic". In reality they just don't want bad press.
Censorship is a very thorny issue, but we need total freedom of the press for our society to remain free. The story of "embedded" reporters during the Iraq war was a case in point. Embedded was a euphamisim for censored and reporters felt this. Their skewed reports helped continue the culture of lies and exaggeration that prevailed in the lead up to the war. People were misinformed about that war. From start to finish. Far better for us all to get the story , warts and all, rather than have it dripped and filtered to us by biased parties.
Interestingly, the prevailence of high tech media helped retard the effect of censorship during the war. It was difficult, but no impossible, for the army to censor reporters for very long. The press center in Quatar became redundant as feeds were transmitted directly from the field.
High tech media is also the ONLY reason that we are seeing images of torture from prisons in Iraq.
The media also practices self-censorship by limiting the coverage of disturbing imagery. I think they should give people more credit and stop listening to the easily offended.
The truth is never more distorted than during times of war. But this is the most critical time in which the truth needs to be shown, in all its
truth. We might like like the truth, but we NEED to hear it. We have to hold a mirror up to ourselves. Otherwise we'll start to believe all the rethoric and that would be a vert bad thing.
May the Maths Be with you!
Just as unguided as the 1000 plane raids staged over Germany. As unguided as the incendiary raids over Japan. Just because we're th good guys didn't mean we didn't do the same thing.
John McPhee wrote about this in The New Yorker, 29 January 1996, 52:60. It's a really neat story on how Geologists figured out where exactly in Japan the balloons were being produced based on the sand used in the ballast the ballons held to make the long float across the Pacific.
This is how we first learned about the jet stream as well.
I'm pretty sure the story is in Annals of the Former World, a 1996 book by McPhee, all about geeky geology stuff, but it's a really interesting read.
My father told me stories about these ballons when I was a kid, during WWII. The ballons where kind of a running joke at that time. At least that is how he made it sound. Apperently some did actual explode, but of course the NEVER hit anything.
There was no mention from him or any one else in the room about cencership. Which leads me to wonder was there REALY any goverment cover up? Or was it just not importent enought for any one to realy care, one way or the other.
There are many much more IMPORTANT things that where covered up. Like the U.S. army company whiped out by thier own troops durring a landing.,
anon, anon, anon
Who cares about ballons?
Come the revolution, the Bourgeois, Capitalistic, "A PARKING STICKER HOLDERS", will be first against the wall!
After the Rape of Nanking, its very hard to have any sympathy for any Japanese. [my emphasis]
Because all Japanese supported it? I was under the - apparently mistaken - impression that pre-war and wartime Japan was a dictatorship. Or is this another stunning example of generalising to avoid making real points?
This is where the serious fun begins.
Is this news not 60 years old?
Not that it worked out very well, but I still think the American's bombing method was much more interesting, and probably a little less well-known. (Though not at all arcane. The last time I mentioned it at least one fourteen-year-old already knew of it.)
Only by coincidence did the Yanks discover that the bombs really were coming from Japan. The sand used in the sandbags was analysed and turned out very unique. However, as the Americans had done a complete survey of Japan's beaches (your granddad's tax dollars at work), they were able to narrow it down to a sand composition at a single beach in Japan.
Curious, a couple planes were sent to investigate...
So until 1940-whatever... No idea the jet stream existed.
:wq
I thought the balloon bombs were pretty famous, simply because they caused the only casualties (from enemy action) on the mainland USA during the whole of the war. A picknicking family found one of the bombs, which hadn't gone off, and er...tampered with it until it did, killing them.
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
You mean the Norwegian?
Antti S. Brax - Old school - http://www.iki.fi/asb/
The Canadian war museum, http://www.civilization.ca/cwm/cwme.asp has one on such captured balloon on display. They also have a map showing where each balloon landed. The source of the balloons were eventually tracked down by studying the sand they used for ballast - it had a unique composition particular to one area in Japan. From this information they were able to later able to pinpoint the location the factory and put it out of commission.
The Japanese were the first to discover the existance of the jet stream, and take advantage of it.
My rights don't need management.
The Plutonium Files is an account written by the journalist who uncovered and eventually forced the declassification of the story of about 60 years of secret radiation-exposure experiments by the US government on thousands of unknowing civilians and military personnel, including e.g. feeding pregnant women at a hospital a 'new infant formula' to test the effects of radiation on the foetus. These programmes have now actually been declassified and apologised for by the Department of Energy under Clinton, but few people actually know about them and they are definitely not written about in textbooks!
As for land grabs, while there were a number of prominent Americans that advocated annexing Canada in those days, President Madison wasn't one of them. Rather, it was rabble rousers west of the Appalachians and south of Mason-Dixon.
Luke, help me take this mask off
There was an oil refinery near Santa Barabara that was shelled by a Japanese U-boat during WWII, as well. Just because the government says it didn't happen, doesn't mean it didn't actually happen.
Why do most mainstream news articles seem to censor themselves by giving us six paragraphs of patting one self ( the author that is) on the back and rhetorical questions before hitting the meat of the story?
About half way down the article they finally mention the balloon bombs but by that time I was already bored to death. Maybe the Japanese should have used dullard journalism on us... it would have been more effective.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Your US-centricity is showing. Canada just had a 60th anniversary for D-day in which the Canadian troops were able to drive further into the mainland than any other troops. The US is not the only one who fought and died in WW2. Note that this article is made by a Canadian whose Grandfather fought, Geez!
Stay tuned for new sig...
Biowarfare was the big worry. As a carrier for a livestock or agriculture disease (or even people), one successful payload could have caused a lot of disruption. Look at what one case of Mad Cow disease did recently. The allies were certainly doing their own research into stuff like Rinderpest and delivery systems, so they knew it was possible.
Hmm, interesting. I just Googled and rinderpest to check the spelling. I was about to search on "rinderpest biowarfare" and it occured to me that if I was running things (eek), I'd make sure searches like that got filed somewhere.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
The thousands of Japanese troops who took part deserved to be tried for war-crimes.
The reamining million Japanese civilians who were either (a) ignorant of Japanese crimes, even actions, in Nanking, (b) opposed to Japanese occupation of part of China, or (c) apathetic should not be lumped together with those who commited crimes. By the same token, "all US citizens should be condemned for My Lai". Bullshit. The original post was a generalisation: God, I hate fools who extrapolate and deal in stereotypes.
This is where the serious fun begins.
The part that makes me scratch my head is, people actually express a mix of indignation and boredom over the original sources. What they seem to want to watch instead is talking heads -- "pundits" -- spewing nonsense.
Imagine the difference with something like this balloon story. You could interview the Japanese policy makers and have them describe why they chose to do it when they did. You could look at blueprints and documents, talk to the makers, and see how the things worked. You could compare this to other intercontinental weapons -- interesting angle -- to see how their (potential) use might be different. World War II as the genesis of "strategic" weapons and the end of the distinction between combatant and non-combatant populations, you know?
But no, we'd put lots of bilious fools on TV to remind us that the Japanese hated America, or some such stupidity. Because supposedly, the other stuff, the real history, is boring. Or so our TV ratings would seem to suggest. Cut to political ad in which Japanese face "morphs" into the face of myu political opponent. It's depressing.
But then, I actually watch C-Span...
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
You need a lot of chemicals to kill any number of people. It took over 1 tonne per soldier killed in WWI.
And remember the Tokyo subway gas attack and how ineffective it was? The same amount of C4 in a place as crowded as that would have done a lot more damage.
Why do you think terrorists stick to explosives and guns?
Though this article was intended to demonstrate the dangers of wartime censorship, the actual history demonstrates a quite different viewpoint.
The ballon attack plan was never to cut power lines and blow up family picnics. The Japanese had been working for many years on the effective use of biological weapons, and had every intention of using them with the balloons once they had some idea of whether they were reaching the US. Blowing up picnics should have provided them immediate, specific targeting feedback through the US media - much better targeting intelligence than would have been provided by a bizarre outbreak of bubonic plague in the Pacific Northwest.
Slate's having compared this to burying memos and hiding prisoner abuse scandals, secrets that are kept solely to protect political interests rather than military ones, demonstrates not only a catastrophic failure to understand history, but further weakens the credibility of anyone speaking out against that very same modern politically driven censorship.
Nice going, Slate.
who are those slashdot people? they swept over like Mongol-Tartars.
Boy, now you are just getting me depressed. Now if all major conflicts could just be determined on the ice we could really kick ass.
Stay tuned for new sig...
The casualties are noteworthy because they're the only people killed inside the United States by a foreign military since the Brits burned DC in 1812. There was fighting in Alaska and (obviously) Hawaii during WWII, but they weren't states yet.
-B
What a troll.
Until our (u.s.a) ill-planned assault on the Iraqi people, it's highly likely Canada would have stood by the U.S. even if Britain had declared open war on us.
Fat chance of that now, with people like you bashing them at every opportunity.
Firstly, Little boy and fat man were both A-bombs, the N-bomb was developed far later and never used in actual warfare. Secondly they wern't guided, they were parachute retarded. Thirdly one of the reasons Hiroshima was chosen over Kyoto as the target of the first bomb is that Hiroshima had a larger amount of military infrastruture.
Forthly, the Japaneese started the war in the pacific. They invaded China, Malasia, Singapore and New Guinea amongst others. They sunk British and American merchant ships, they murdered millions of chineese civilians in cold blood, they carpet bombed Darwin, they starved POWs and they torpedoed American warships without declaring war. Basically they started an evil war, and the Americans had to nuke them in order to get them to stop. This is a little different than sending baloons over the pacific in order to help their tyranny over Asia to continue.
When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
Scattering Bible verse covered plastic bags is littering. Beside being unsightly, plastic bags can also be deadly to wildlife. Littering Korea (either North or South) with plastic bags is not constructive.
On June 24 1943, the English fishing port of Grimsby was bombed with experimental "butterfly" anti-personnel bombs. A total news blackout on this raid caused the Luftwaffe to abandon butterfly bombs after one raid, since they thought that the devices were ineffective. Quite the opposite was true -- many people were killed or injured by the butterfly bombs. Unexploded devices were still being found in and around Grimsby until quite recently.
In March 1941, the Scottish town of Clydebank was razed by German bombers. The first news that people in the nearby city of Glasgow heard of it was when survivors started walking in from Clydebank.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
I think that Mikhail Kalashnikov--the designer of the AK-47--really lucked out when he designed that famous assault rifle.
Despite his denials, I still believe that Kalashnikov may have seen captured examples of the Sturmgewehr 43 and 44 weapons that the Germans used during World War II and applied some of the German weapon concepts into the AK-47. But the AK-47 incorporated one thing that made it famous: its firing chamber mechanism was designed to be extremely reliable even in the worst conditions of mud, snow and high humidity. The result was a superb weapon, one that was much-lauded for its extreme reliability and reasonable accuracy in the long-barrel versions.
Meanwhile, the M16 was designed to such tight tolerances that it made the weapon quite susceptible to firing chamber jamming in poor operating conditions, as the Americans found out much to their chagrin in the mud and high humidity of Vietnam. That's why the M16 evolved into the much more reliable M16A1, which had a number of design changes to improve its reliability under poor conditions.
By the way, the appearance of the M16 made to Soviets want to develop an assault rifle that used smaller caliber ammunition; the result was the AK-74, another outstanding weapon, though one that was developed surprisingly with some opposition from Mr. Kalashikov, who thought going to the 5.45 mm calibre cartridge wasn't such a good idea.
This is /., so I'll trot out the trite quotes.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
There is an annual canoe tournament between Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and US Navy Seals. To the best of my knowledge, the US Navy Seals has never finished better than fourth despite carrying better and more expensive equipment than any other participant nation.
Would be interesting to have the Russian Spetsnaz participate in that tournament as well, for nothing else than to demonstrate how easily they would win I suppose.
Mod me as troll and see if I care...
Swedish, but resident in the UK since 1996.
Of course, the Canadians didn't have the same level of resistance on their beach that the Americans experienced on Omaha beach - so your point that the Canadians were somehow 'better' is false.
However, they would have their own trial taking Caen (was supposed to be taken on D-Day - but wasn't secured for 6 weeks, I believe) - running up against SS Panzer units in a drawn out slugfest that ended up leveling the city and bloodying the Canadians badly.
Later, the Canadians would make a name for themselves during intense fighting in Holland, earning the 3rd Canadian division the name 'Water Rats'.
Everyone who fought on the Allied side in WWII should be commended for their sacrifices, regardless of what country they come from. Taking some isolated situation out of the context of history, and trying to use that to bolster a falacious argument does not do them justice.
Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
Yeah, lets not forget that Russia lost more people in WW2 than every other country combined.
He who knows not and knows he knows not is a wise man. He who knows not and knows not he knows not is a fool.
The war was a bit more substantial than we heard in the press regards domestic deaths. There were several locations where U-Boats shelled both costs, At Battery Park in New York is a monument to the war on the east coast with a name or two (Thousands) that were killed by German actions near or on shore.
These myths and the argument for security are just nuts. The internet has ended any such secrets. I do think some wisdom in presenting is in order but frankly the day of doing something secretly is OVER!
My parents witnessed one of the Jap bombs hit a hillside in S. San Francisco and set it ablaze. During the war much in the way of massive forrest damage was done by these bombs. My family includes parties who fought the fires.
All of this stuff is like the Bush Administration's current cry that "The story is just not getting out" on the rising economy. Well people get notice every week or two of the facts and it's called a paycheck. You can lie all you want but the paycheck tends to bring in the truth. Why do these people never get the story streight? Propaganda is not going to work for long. It matters little what Bush or Kerry says on the economy, the paychecks will carry the truth right to the door of the voters.
In the modern world not telling a story is often much more dangerous than telling it. This old way of thinking that secrets are valuable is generally just not useful.
I for example knew (by working in my garden and looking up into the sky seeing aircraft passing the local airport) at least 10 hours before US forces landed in Haiti recently and a good 24 hours before the media got the story. I told family at the time! Telling me that they were not going at that time would have made a liar or fool of the party trying to tell me otherwise.
The Russians who kept every secret well would not let any clues to their people about the Afghanistan situation out. Well the people got the bodies and death notices and were visited by comrads of the slain. The effect was much worse than just reporting the facts would have been. Americans are trying to run a Russian model here and it will not work. It will not even work in Russia.
Never Politically Correct ~ I prefer the facts If you don't like what I say, get a life, or comment yourself.
Interesting! There is also an annual NATO competition which typically involves an amphibious landing followed by a two day trek through snow (all of these events happen at a high latitude like Greenland, Iceland, or Scandanavia) to "rescue" a hostage being kept at a base in the mountains.
En route to, or at the base, the teams are met with full on resistance (every once in a while someone is killed and just about every time someone is seriously injured). Once the hostage has been "rescued" there is another two day trek back to the pickup rendez-vous which requires swimming over one mile from shore in freezing water and strong tides to a vertical recovery point.
The U.S. SEALS have never failed to win this competition!
Yeah.. Reminds me of the joint training operation between Swedish armed forces and NATO forces in the mountain range between Sweden and Norway (was told this by my Captain when doing military service).
A platoon of 'Mountain Seals' (Fjälljägare) from Sweden (probably Arvidsjaur) captured the whole company of NATO troups (Seals outnumbered about 6:1) in less than 24 hours. Gives me SOOOO much faith in NATO troupes I positively glow.
I suppose it just goes to show that having significant financial backing doesn't automatically make good soldiers.
Swedish, but resident in the UK since 1996.
As one who has contributed significantly to the Wikipedia article on the War of 1812, I need to clarify this. It was the British forces, not Canadian militia, who landed in Maryland, defeated the DC militia at Bladensburg, burned the public buildings, and then moved to take Baltimore. At Baltimore the landing force was soundly defeated at North Point, and the ship force could not crack Ft. McHenry, so they withdrew.
The Canadian militia performed very well, but they, like the American militia, faced problems when dealting with regular soldiers. General Winfield Scott and Jacob Brown led a regular US column into Ontario in 1814, mauling both Canadian and British forces at Chippewa. The British victory at Lundy's Lane in July 1814 was due more to Scott and Brown's wounding and the horrific casualty rate on both sides. The American forces actually took the Canadian and British guns, but were too weak to stay. They then mauled the Canadian militia at Fort Erie, Ontario, and moved back over the Niagara, guaranteeing a stalemate in the Northern campaign.
The War of 1812 was one of those rare wars where both sides accomplished much of their war goals. The US did not annex Canada, but the gateway to the Southwest opened up, enabling us to move westward into Spanish/Mexican territory. The British began to give American positions more respect internationally, including a preference to negotiate agreements rather than fight. Canada became a nation, though Quebec and the Red River settlements were both problematic. There are reasons why both nations celebrate it as a victory, though technically it was a draw.
Nyekulturniy... Proudly confusing readers and editors since 1981!
'Nuff said.
In 1940, an anti-aircraft barrage balloon was ripped loose by a storm and drifted to Sweeden. The drifting steel wire caught on a power cable and shut down most of Stockholm's metro system. From this came the idea for Project Outward.
The balloons were much smalled than the Japanese Fugos as they only needed to cross the North Sea. Each carried an incendary bomb intended to start forrest fires or a trailing steel wire intended to short-out and destroy power grids. Several tens of thousand were launched from Harwich in eastern England from 1941 to 1944. AFIK, no serious fires were ever started but at least one German power station was overloaded and destroyed.
Full details are in The Moby Dick Project: Reconnaissance Balloons over Russia by Curtis Peebles. This book mainly deals with the Cold-War American Genetrix spy balloons but has a chapter on the Fugos and Project Outward.
Not exactly the pinnacle of the science of precision bombing. Can't really see it catching on.
Imperial Japan intended to switch from incendiary payloads to biological payloads. Anthrax spores, fleas infested with plague. Imperial Japan committed thousands of atrocities in China researching these weapons. And by "atrocities" I don't mean the modern definition of humiliation and emabarassing photos, I am using the real definition of the word as in dropping infested fleas on a village, when the plague took hold sending doctors to "help" the sick, and performing live vivisection (cutting into living animals for scientific research) without anesthesia on these victims back at the lab. A secondary delivery system developed was using submarine launched aircraft. A ceramic bomb casing was used so that a smaller explosive charge could be used to disperse infected fleas, the smaller charge permitted more fleas to survive. I think San Diego or San Francisco were early targets, but I am not sure. The atomic bombings preempted these attacks. You may debate whether the atomic bombs or the Russian invasion of Manchuria prompted the surrender, but the atomic bombings left little doubt in the minds of those researching a biological attack on the US what our response would be.
Unfortunately the US let those involved with the atrocities in China go. These criminals traded their excellent notes for their freedom.
The balloon delivery is still feasible today. "Funny" is the last thing anyone with half a brain would label your comment.