Despite what his name suggests, American Lieutenant Colonel
James Doolittle did a whole lot for the Western Allies in the Second World War,
planning and participating in one of the most audacious aerial raids in all of human history,
among other things. In this video, we're going to focus on said raid, providing you
with an overview of the operation and some of the messed-up things that went down as a result of it.
An eye for an eye, an attack on Japan for the attack on Pearl Harbor. After Imperial Japan
pulled a fast one and bombed the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in December 1941,
American morale, understandably, took a bit of a hit, and as we've discussed in a previous video,
soldier and civilian morale can quite literally decide the outcome of just about any war. To boost
their country's morale after Pearl Harbor, the high-ups of the US started concocting a recipe
for a revenge. While the wheels were somewhat in motion before he was onboarded, Lieutenant
Colonel James Doolittle, a Top-Gun-level pilot and aeronautic wizard, took charge of the operation
early in 1942, using his mad skills and know-how to prepare a dish the Japanese would never forget.
The plan was to lay waste to Honshu, Japan, with carrier-based American bombers, demonstrating to
the Japanese that their home islands were not, in fact, safe on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
To achieve this, however, Doolittle had to overcome a plethora of logistical challenges.
Firstly, to increase the range of the attack, Doolittle needed to figure out where the bombers
would land after they delivered their payloads. While a location inside the Soviet Union was
considered, it ended up not working out because the USSR and Japan were bound to a neutrality
pact at the time. Ultimately, Doolittle came to an agreement with the Chinese, who would
allow the bombers to touch down in China, refuel, and go on their way. Such a route meant that the
bombers would have to fly some 4,400 kilometres or 2,750 miles, and all without fighter escorts.
Doolittle's next task was to figure out which model of bomber would best suit the job,
which included delivering a 910-kilogram or 2,000-pound bomb load. Ultimately, he settled
on North American B-25B Mitchell medium bomber, of which he employed 16 in total. But as they were,
the B-25s wouldn't have been able to make the journey, so Doolittle had to figure out what the
planes needed and what they could go without. To detail just a few changes, the bombers were
equipped with additional fuel tanks which almost doubled their fuel capacity, while features such
as the lower gun turret and liaison radio set were taken out. When the bombers were ready to roll,
they were arranged on the deck of the American Yorktown-class aircraft carrier USS Hornet,
taking up the space that fighter planes would usually occupy. As Hornet couldn't deploy
fighters of its own, it met up with a naval task force — comprised of the carrier USS Enterprise,
four cruisers, and eight destroyers — shortly after it departed San Francisco early in April
1942. On board USS Hornet were a total of 80 airmen who would physically conduct the raid,
James Doolittle among them. He wasn't about to sit back and let his men do the dirty work.
Venturing into Japanese-controlled waters, everything went pretty smooth for the task force
until the morning of the 18th of April, when they were spotted by a Japanese patrol craft when they
were still about 1,200 kilometres or 750 miles east of Japan — or about 310 kilometres or 200
miles short of where they had intended to let fly the B-25s. After the task force blew the patrol
craft to hell, Doolittle decided he wouldn't risk it. He and his fellow airmen saddled up,
then set off just above the waves on their way to Japan, where sweet vengeance awaited them.
About six hours later, they arrived over Honshu, where it was midday, and started dropping bombs on
military personnel and civilian workers just trying to enjoy their lunch. In retaliation,
the B-25s copped some flak from AA guns and a handful of enemy fighters, but not one of them
went down. Not yet, anyway. With their bomb bays empty, all but one of the 16 bombers steered for
China. The odd crew out was *super* low on fuel, and steered towards the USSR instead,
where they were arrested. As for the bulk of the bombers, after a ten-hour flight, they
either crash-landed or bailed out somewhere over China, where fate had its way with their crew.
Despite the sheer audacity of the Doolittle Raid, the bombers did stuff-all damage to Honshu,
relatively. Around 50 Japanese people — military personnel and civilians included — were killed,
while a further 400 were injured, and the damage done to Japanese infrastructure was
negligible. The true blow fell on Japanese morale, which plummeted when the Japanese people realised
their home islands were not, in fact, beyond the reach of the American hornets they'd pissed
off when they kicked the nest back in December. Additionally, with the home islands revealed as
vulnerable, the Japanese withdrew some of their forces from other operations to stand in defence
of Japan proper. Japanese morale plummeted even further when the US task force that delivered
and escorted the B-25s managed to evade the Japanese 2nd Fleet and make it back to safe waters
entirely unscathed. On the other side of the coin, American morale skyrocketed. For many,
the United States had landed a stiff jab, after which a knock-out combo would surely follow.
But what about their airmen, and what would Japan do now that their hornets' nest had been kicked?
All in all, 69 of the 80 Doolittle Raid airmen, James Doolittle included, eventually made it back
home or to the next fight, while the remaining 11 either perished or became prisoners of war.
Of these 11 men, two drowned after their B-25s crashed into the ocean, while a third man lost his
life trying to bail out over China. Eight crewmen were captured by the Japanese after they landed,
with three of them getting executed and a fourth man dying in captivity. The remaining
four POWs were eventually repatriated. Every man, dead or alive, was awarded the Purple Heart
or the Distinguished Flying Cross, respectively, and every safe return only bolstered American
morale. As for James Doolittle, he received the Medal of Honor and a sweet promotion.
But in regards to a price paid for the Doolittle Raid,
11 casualties hardly compares to what the Chinese ended up paying simply for helping the Americans.
While they had other motivations, a big part of what inspired the Japanese to carry out Operation
Sei-go or the Zhejiang Jiangxi campaign was revenge for China's smallish role in the Doolittle
Raid. From the 15th of May to the 4th of September 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army brought ruin to
the people of Jiangxi, China, killing as many as 70,000 Chinese military personnel and 250,000
civilians, an estimated 10,000 when they were searching for the downed American airmen alone.
If that wasn't bad enough, the Japanese biological and chemical warfare unit Unit 731 participated in
Operation Sei-go, leaving a trail of disease in their wake. It was during this operation,
of course, that those aforementioned eight American POWs were captured.
Reflecting on the Doolittle Raid in July 1942, James Doolittle himself said, "It was hoped
that the damage done would be both material and psychological. [...] The psychological results,
it was hoped, would be the recalling of combat equipment from other theaters for home defense
thus effecting relief in those theaters, the development of a fear complex in Japan, [...] and
a favorable reaction on the American people." With those goals in mind, it might be said that the
Doolittle Raid was a success. When you consider Operation Sei-go, however, it might be a little
harder to throw around a word like "success." But we're interested to hear what you think.
Do you believe the Doolittle Raid was a success? If so, why? Lastly,
had you even heard of Operation Sei-go before this video? Please share your thoughts in the comments.