|
The strain of war had begun to affect Japanese civilians from an early point, primarily due to food shortages. The Japanese had to begin rationing only a year after invading China (1938). The strain of the War in China was bad enough, but then the Pacifc War following Pearl Harbor significantly added to it. The Japanese almost immediately acquired the vast resources of Southern Resource Zone (SRZ). This could have supplied their war industry and fed their people. Only the Japanese Maru (merchant) fleet was inadequate for the task. Supplying far-flung bases throughout the vast Pacific was a daunting task. The Americans could do it,especially with the new Liberty Ships, the Japanese were hard pressed. The Maru fleet was adequate for peace time, but not for war--especially the Pacific War with the need to transport large quantities of material across the vast stretches of the Pacific Ocean. Thus shortages grew and increasingly affected life on the home front. The American submarine campaign campaign, got off to a slow start, but by late-1943 began to wreak real damage on the Marus and serious shortages began to affect the Japanese war economy. This meant both raw material for the war industries as well as food for the civilian population. The American submarine campaign meant that their victories in the Pacific and Southwest Asian would not benefit civilians or aid the war economy. The American submarine campaign would not only create shortages, but by the end of the War would bring the Japanese people to the brink of starvation. But there were still no significant civilian loss of life. The loss of the Marianas, however, was a game changer. It meant that the United States could begin the Strategic Bombing Campaign (June-July 1944). One of the many faulty assumptions made by the Japanese military when they launched the war in China (1937) and the Pacific War (1941) was that the Japanese Home Islands were invulnerable and could not be bombed. This assumption was valid enough based on existing 1941 technology. But of course the crucible of war is a catalyst for technological innovation--especially for an economy as large and dynamic as that of the United States. And less than 3 years after Pearl Harbor, the Americans had the B-29 Super Fortress-which the Japanese began to refer to as the B-San. This meant that for the first time, Japanese civilians faced not only shortages, but death and destruction from the skies. While distance had made Japanese cities hard to get to, they were in fact the most vulnerable cities in the world. This began (June 1944), but was largely ineffectual until several months later after air strikes from the Marianas were launched with revised tactics (March 1945). The wood and paper construction of residential areas surrounding the war factories were essentially vast tinder boxes. And American bombers began tp methodically reducing those cities and the people within them to glowing ash heaps -- even before dropping the two atomic bombs (August 1945). Civilian casualties resulting from military action, mostly the strategic bombing campaign totaled about 0.5 million people. Another 0.5 million civilians may have perished from malnutrition and related diseases. In World War II terms, these are relatively small numbers. They are limited because Japan began evacuating children from the cities (late-1944). And then when the bombing began in earnest, people began fleeing the cities.
Navigate the CIH World War II Section:
[Return to Main Japanese World War II casualty page]
[Return to Main Japanese World War II page]
[Return to Main World War II country page]
[Return to Main World War II Pacific campaign page]
[About Us]
[Biographies]
[Campaigns]
[Children]
[Countries]
[Deciding factors]
[Diplomacy]
[Geo-political crisis]
[Economics]
[Home front]
[Intelligence]
[POWs]
[Resistance]
[Race]
[Refugees]
[Technology]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Return to Main World War II page]
[Return to Main war essay page]
