Operation 102: Storm Over Chungking

September 4, 2015 PE Matt 0

Despite mounting perhaps the longest and most sustained bombing campaign against a single city, the Japanese had failed to force China out of the war. Operations 100 and 101 had caused tremendous destruction to Chungking’s […]

Operation 100: The Bombing of Chungking

May 23, 2015 PE Matt 0

The tri-city of Wuhan fell to the Japanese invaders in October 1938. The invaders, believing that the Chinese would capitulate with the fall of their temporary capital, were surprised to see Chiang Kai-Shek and the rest of […]

Damaged Kanoya G3M

April 3, 2015 PE Matt 0

Damaged Kanoya G3M 1 Image 1 of 6 The crew of a Kanoya Type 96 pose in front of their crash-landed bomber, Matsuyama, Formosa, August 14th 1937. A gallery showing a damaged Kanoya G3M bomber […]

Bombers Over China

March 25, 2015 PE Matt 0

After the debacle that was the initial bombing campaign against China, the 1st Rengo Kokutai was forced to take stock. So many bombers had been lost to enemy fighters and anti-aircraft fire that a radical […]

Mitsubishi G3M Type 96 “Nell”

February 24, 2015 PE Matt 0

The origins of the Type 96 bomber, later codenamed “Nell” by the Americans, lay in Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto’s plans for attacking enemy battleships and land installations in the far reaches of the Pacific. The new […]

Trans-Oceanic Bombing of China, 1937

February 7, 2015 PE Matt 0

In mid-July 1937, with the situation in China clearly heading towards a broader conflict, the newly formed First Combined Air Group (1st Rengo Kokutai) had been deployed to support Japanese forces operating in-country.  The group […]