Japans Imperial Palace in WW2 (1 Viewer)

[gk5717]

Was watching a documentory last night about the final days in the war in the Pacific and got to wondering was the Imperial Palace of Emporer Hirohito ever bombed?
It doesn't look like it. Why would we not bomb it? All that Japan did to the U.S. in WW2.
Anybody have info on this?
Gary

 

[binder001]

As I understand it the Emperor and the Place were not to be bombed - probably for fear of creating a martyr. I do believe that a bomb or two did fall on the Palace grounds. It is my understanding that the Germans did not deliberately target Buckingham Palace either - either a rumor or German bombers couldn't hit the broadside of a barn in broad daylight. I can't say I fully understand it. His Imperial Japanese Majesty would have made a good "ground zero" for the 509th Bomb Group.

Gary B.

 

[Combat]

I read that it was destroyed during the war.

 

[L Flowers]

Imperial Palace and emperor were left alone...unconditional surrender was not necessarily unconditional. US knew they would need him and so Emperor was allowed to stay even though McCarthur governed post-war Japan. As the Japanese called it.."preservation of the throne."

Five Japanese cities also not bombed by conventional weapons...Nagasaki, Hiorshima, Kyoto, Yokohama and Kokura were all left free of conventional bombing so the effects of the A-bomb could be studied.

 

[Combat]

"The Imperial Palace was not spared destruction during World War II from heavy bombardment. Most of the wooden structures burned down, including the main palace. It was from the basement of the library constructed out of concrete where Emperor Showa declared the capitulation of Japan in 1945."

 

[L Flowers]

I am not saying no bombs fell there at all but the policy was it was not to be targeted and it was not intentionally targeted.
Some good reading on the bombing of Japan can be found in "Code-Name Downfall".
The Imperial Palace was damaged on the 25-26 May bombing raids due to flaming debris from the burning city hurdled across the moats surrounding the palace. 27 buildings were destroyed in less than four hours and 28 members of the Imperial staff were killed.
According to the There were no more raids on Tokyo until August 8th. There was a deliberate but unauthorized effort to bomb the Imperial Palace. A B-29 named Straight Flush was under the impression they were using a new bomb they called a "pumpkin" bomb which was in actuality a stand in for "fat man" a-bomb. When their primary target was obscured by clouds, the pilot took a vote of the crew on a suggestion by one the members on whether they should bomb the palace. That was also obscured by clouds and they dropped it by radar..missing the palace.

 

[theBaron]

Hi, Larry, does the book say what happened to the crew as a result of their target of opportunity decision? I'm curious to know if they caught heck for violating the official policy (I can imagine that they did).

Prost!
Brad

 

[L Flowers]

It states, "The bomb missed the palace and upon returning to Tinian, the crew was severely rebuked. The news of the attack reached the Tinian HQ via a Tokyo radio newscast."