A Torch to the Enemy

Caidin's book focuses on the dramatic air raid of March 1945 on Tokyo. Sixteen square miles of densely-populated area were completely burnt out, and some 80,000 people (some say as many as 250,000 people) were killed. The area destroyed and possibly the death toll exceed that of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima months later. The morality of carpet bombing has often been questioned, but Martin Caidin makes it clear that virtually every Japanese home in Tokyo had some form of war-related industry in the form of lathes, workshops, etc. The attack is graphically described. The wood-and-paper homes caught fire and burned out of control in no time. The crowding of these tinderboxes enabled the fire to spread catastrophically, thus rendering any manner of fire-fighting out of the question. The account includes some Japanese eyewitnesses. One of them describes the early stages of the attack. A B-29 flew overhead, and some little specks (incendiary bombs) fell out of it. A short time later, a glow could be seen in the sky over the spot where the specks had landed. Within a minute, open flame could be seen in that area. But this was miles away. That Japanese eyewitness could not imagine that the fire would spread to the location of his home, and that he would barely escape with his own life. The area destroyed included Honjo ward. Some Japanese civilians sought refuge in the Sumida River.

The morality of carpet bombing has often been questioned, but Martin Caidin makes it clear that virtually every Japanese home in Tokyo had some form of war-related industry in the form of lathes, workshops, etc. The attack is graphically described. The wood-and-paper homes caught fire and burned out of control in no time. The crowding of these tinderboxes enabled the fire to spread catastrophically, thus rendering any manner of fire-fighting out of the question.

A Torch to the Enemy vividly describes the Fire raid on Tokyo. The reader is taught how the Air Force decided to quit precision bombing and use carpet boming. Then the book goes on the take th reader in the middle of the raid with the B-29 crews, and then the horror of the fire in Tokyo. The spread of the fire, the gruesome pictures, and the statistics included on all the carpet bombings give all readers a picture of the real horrific aspects of war. Many people only remember the atmoic bombings, but this book sheds light on the successful and terrible fire bombings that occurred before the atomic bomb was dropped.