Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Bombing of Tokyo (10 March 1945)

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The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Article promoted by Biblioworm (talk) via MilHistBot (talk) 05:30, 4 June 2018 (UTC) « Return to A-Class review list[reply]

Bombing of Tokyo (10 March 1945)[edit]

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Nominator(s): Nick-D (talk)

Bombing of Tokyo (10 March 1945) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

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The bombing of Tokyo in the early hours of 10 March 1945 was the single most destructive air raid of World War II, including the two nuclear bomb attacks. A total of 279 B-29 heavy bombers dropped a vast number of incendiary bombs which had specifically been designed to start uncontrollable fires on one of the most densely populated urban areas in the world. The weak Japanese air and civil defences had no chance against this force. Driven by strong winds, a firestorm rapidly developed which destroyed much of the city within hours. Civilians who didn't, or were unable to, flee had little chance of survival. It's generally believed that 90,000 to 100,000 people were killed, and another one million made homeless. And this was just the start of the firebombing campaign against Japanese cities which continued until the end of the war.

I've long been annoyed that we didn't have an article specifically on this attack, and took matters into my own hands and created it earlier this year. Surprisingly, as far as I can see it's the first article focused on this raid on any language Wikipedia. It passed a GA review in April, and I'm hopeful that the A-class criteria are also met. Thank you in advance for your comments and suggestions. Nick-D (talk) 10:58, 12 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Comment: Check that all details in the infobox are sourced - eg the number of anti-aircraft guns. Nikkimaria (talk) 16:40, 12 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

That's sourced in the second para of the 'Japanese defenses' section. Regards, Nick-D (talk) 00:55, 13 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, okay, I was looking for the exact number not the addition. Fair enough. Nikkimaria (talk) 02:14, 13 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Support: G'day, Nick, a pretty awful aspect of the war, to be honest, and not very uplifting to read. That said, the article is very well done, IMO. I have a few suggestions: AustralianRupert (talk) 11:11, 13 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

  • there appears to be a mix of US and Australian English, e.g. "defence" or "defense", "antiaircraft" or "anti-aircraft", "authorised", "finalised", but also "labor" etc
  • in the Works consulted section, suggest adding a page range for the Coox chapter in Cooling?
  • same as above for Selden?
  • some isbns are hyphenated, and others are not
    • Standardised on no hyphens (as I figure that people only ever copy and paste ISBNs into online systems) Nick-D (talk) 10:38, 14 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • is there an OCLC number for the Monography No. 157
  • the infobox mentions 14 aircraft destroyed, but in the article it says "Japanese gunners shot down 12 B-29". Did I miss two others somewhere else?
    • The next sentence notes that two of those damaged were written off as a result Nick-D (talk) 10:38, 14 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
      • For some reason I read that differently when I looked at this last. Sorry, yes that seems fine. Regards, AustralianRupert (talk) 02:27, 17 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • "LORAN systems the B-29s used to navigate was more" --> " LORAN systems the B-29s used to navigate were more"
  • "Tokyo on the night of 29/30 November": it might pay to include the year here
  • "pilots deciding to abort the fight due to anxiety about their prospects of surviving the mission": not sure if this is covered elsewhere, but were there any consequences to these combat refusals?
    • The source doesn't say unfortunately. Various other sources note that morale in XXI Bomber Command was pretty fragile throughout much of the air campaign against Japan, but I haven't seen any discussion about the results of refusals. Given how mechanically unreliable the B-29 was, I imagine it was pretty easy for pilots to convincingly manufacture a reason to abort. Thanks a lot for your comments - I agree that the article is heavy going to read, and it was pretty bad to write as well. Nick-D (talk) 10:38, 14 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
      • No worries, yes that seems quite possible. Thanks for your efforts. Regards, AustralianRupert (talk) 02:27, 17 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Support I completed the GA review for this article last month and looking at the changes since then, am satisfied that it meets the criteria for A-Class. Cheers, Zawed (talk) 08:21, 20 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for those comments. Nick-D (talk) 08:24, 20 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Support

Looks good to me. The only suggestion I have is to move note 1 into the text, but it's up to you. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 05:55, 28 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Comment by Indy beetle[edit]

Just wondering, there are two potential COMMONNAMES for this event, Operation Meetinghouse and Great Tokyo Air Raid. Why choose the more ambiguous "Bombing of Tokyo (10 March 1945)"? -Indy beetle (talk) 03:25, 24 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Because neither name is dominant. The event tends to be referred to as the 'Bombing of Tokyo' or similar, despite it only being part of a much broader campaign against the city. Operation Meetinghouse tends to be used only in military history works published in the US, and the Great Tokyo Air Raid in works focused on the Japanese perspective, and even then it's not dominant. Nick-D (talk) 10:29, 24 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

G'day Nikkimaria would you mind checking the licensing of the images used? Cheers, Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 09:20, 2 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Image review

  • File:Tokyo_kushu_1945-4.jpg: possible to translate the source information?
    • Done (AGF that the Japanese-language editors looked into this correctly. It seems highly probable that the photo would have been published during or soon after the war as stated). Nick-D (talk) 23:49, 2 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • File:Dwelling_of_Remembrance_memorial_in_Yokoamicho_Park_October_2008.jpg: suggest including creator/designer if known. Nikkimaria (talk) 12:38, 2 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    • I looked into this, but couldn't find it. The best I could find is that the local government commissioned it. Thanks for the review Nikki. Nick-D (talk) 23:49, 2 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
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