アジア太平洋戦争末期、東京は米軍のB-29爆撃機による空襲を数回経験している。最も語られているのは3月9日未明、日付けが10日に変わった直後に開始されたものだ。米軍ではそれまでの目視照準による精密爆撃から、カーティス・ルメイが主張したレーダー照準爆撃による市街地目標に変更された。それまでの爆撃と異なり、戦前に日本で活動していた建築家によって再現された日本の住宅実験家屋を使ってその効果が実証された焼夷弾が大々的に使われたのはその前月下旬の神田空襲だったといわれていて、冬の風が吹くだろうと予測されたこの日に大規模空襲が実行に移されたともいわれている。
完全に非戦闘員の大量殺戮を狙ったこの空襲の成果は連合軍の中ではすぐさま共有されたようで、オーストラリアのThe Sydney Morning Heraldもこの空襲を報じている。当時、この新聞は日曜日が休刊だったために掲載されたのは翌日、12日（月）である。
RECORD ATTACK ON TOKYO - Big Area Ablaze
NEW YORK, March 11 ( A.A.P.).— Reconnaissance photographs taken 12 hours after the record raid on Tokyo by 300 Super-Fortresses yesterday show that the destruction covers 15 square miles of the centre of the city.
One reason for the vast destruction was the use of a new type incendiary bomb designed specially for Japan.
It consists of a 500lb cluster which opens at about 5,000 feet to release individual six-pound bombs filled with jellied petrol, each of which spreads burning petrol over a radius of 30 yards.
The force which carried out the raid was the greatest fleet of Super Fortresses ever assembled — numbering 300 — and dropped the largest bomb-load per aircraft ever carried by the 21st Bomber Command. It was also the first all-incendlary raid on Tokyo. The raid lasted for an hour and a half and the anti-aircraft fire was intense.
The day selected for the raid was the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Mukden in the Russo-Japanese War, which Japan was to celebrate "despite the present grave situation." The main target area was a ten mile square in the heart of Tokyo, containing about one million inhabitants.
Tokyo Radio announced yesterday that fire broke out in the Imperial Household Department but was brought under control.
INDUSTRIAL TARGETS Two Super-Fortresses were lost.
The Commander of the 21st Air Force, Lieutenant-General Lemay, said that the target was entirely burned and that the fire had left nothing but twisted, tumbledown rubble.
The area of destruction, he said. included the Ueno railway station, the Rising Sun petroleum terminal, the Ogura oil Company, the Nisshin spinning mill, the Japan Machine Industry, the Maranouchi telephone exchange, the Kanda market, and the Hattori Company's works.
In addition, hundreds of small business establishments directly concerned with war industry, many important administration buildings, and thousands of home industries were wiped out.
"I believe that all those under my command have shortened the war by their participation in this single operation," he said.
Returning crews reported that the smell of the burning Japanese capital rose thousands of feet and came in the bomb doors.
SOOT ON PLANES
A correspondent representing the combined American Press who went on the raid said: "We ploughed through huge smoke clouds billowing miles over the city. The conflagration was so great that the underside of the plane was blackened by soot.
The Russian news agency "Tass" reports that Tokyo newspapers failed to publish yesterday.
Dismissing the probability of 1,000 bomber raids on Tokyo, the "New York Times" correspondent at Guam says that big bombers are arriving in the Marianas every day to join their sisters in the family headed by "Tokyo Rose," which made the first Tokyo visit last November.
A 20th Air Force communique says that a medium force of Super-Fortresses from India returned to Kuala Lumpur yesterday and bombed the railway yards in this vital communications centre in the Malay Peninsula.
Tokyo Radio reported that Super-Fortressed from the Philippines yesterday raided the Kiirun area in north Formosa. It claimed that one Super- Fortress was damaged.
300機にのぼる空飛ぶ要塞B-29（ウィッキペディアでは329機とも）が新型の焼夷弾を雨あられと浴びせたわけだ。当初の計画の空爆地域は100万人が暮らす10平方マイルを対象にしていたようだけれど、実際に焼けたのは15平方マイルだったと報告している。この日が日露戦争の奉天会戦から40年だったなんてことも書いている。
まるで無差別爆撃に対して後ろめいた思いがあるのだろうか、この地域にはこんな企業や軍需産業や、その下請け企業があるといった正当なターゲットなのだとでもいうような発表記事になっている。
火災は相当な規模で、従軍したAPの記者によるとB-29の腹部にはべっとりと煤が付いていたそうだ。ソ連のタス通信によると東京では翌日新聞が発行されていなかったなんてことまでここには書いてある。
事実かどうか知らないけれど、この記事にはこの爆撃によるB-29の被害は2機だったことが書かれているから、多分米軍の発表がそうだったということだ。
