Evening star., 1945-03-10
7 okyo
Continued From First Page.)

remained over Tokyo to observe re-
suits. He told ground crewmen al
the takeoff he would return, at II
am. He checked in at 10:01--to bt
greeted exultantly by both Gen. Le-
may and Gen. Norstad.
There is no comparison with any
of our previous attacks-it seemed
at least SO times as devastating,
Gen. Power said.
The general checked each fresh
blossom of flame by dotting with a
red pencil chart he held in his lap
He handed it to Gen. Lemay. The
chart literally was streaked with
color-which extended beyond the
originally plotted mile
sector
Raid Called Successful.
Gen. Lemay conferred briefly with
Gen. Power, turned to newsmen and
stated fatty:
This looks like the most success
full attack we have made to date -
Then he cautioned: Don't get too
enthusiastic until we see the pho
tographs."
The Imperial Palace was at the
edge of the chart which Gen
Power handed Gen. Lemay. 1t was
menaced by flames but apparently
was not burned, he reported, point
ing out on his chart that fire did
not quite reach it.
Corpl. Leon White, Jacksonville
Fla, gunner on one of the B-29s,
said the fire seemed to be spread
Ing eastward across the Sumida
River, which formed natural
boundary of the target area.
Few of the pilots and crewmen
returning to Guam saw enemy fight
ters in the air, although men in
the lead plane, pifoted by Capt. Ed
Russell, Stamford, Tex, watched
some night fighters take off shortly
after the first of the raiders struck
Antiaircraft was described as light
by the earliest crews to reach Tokyo
Super Forts Unhampered.
Sergt. Warren Sephton Patchogue,
Long Island, New York, heard the
Tokyo radio tell the japanese that
night fighters were driving the
raiders off-but the Super Forts
were not hampered.
There was no official comment on
the fact that this was an all-in-
cendiary raid or whether it might
indicate change from strategic to
area bombing An officer quoted
Gen. Lemay: "A fight is fight-it
you see an opening to take it,
The bombing was visual. Clear
weather prevailed over the target
Fires were visible for IS miles-then
were lost to sight because of thick
eping weather offshore.
Super Forts from Saipan, Tinian
and Guam participated. This was
the first announced use of Guam as
a B-2o base. Gen. Norstad said ad-
ditional bases for the superbombers
would be constructed in the Mari
anas as the 21st Command built up
to 1,0o0-plane raids.
Japs Built Fire Alleys.
The japanese, anticipating in
cendiary attacks, had built 81 miles
of wide fire alleys and had the city's
firebreak project about 70 ner cent
complete, Associated Press Core
spondent Vern Haugland reported
However, pilots accounts indicated
the fire spread rapidly across these
alleys-some of them Ito yards wide
To fight fires, the japanese built
reservoirs 30 to 100 yards apart irl
the cleared fire alleys. Tall struc-
lures gave fire watchers excellent
vantage points. Fifty-yard wide
strips surrounding several factories
were cleared of all houses in some
congested areas.
Business, commercial and govern
ment districts which might be hare
hit by effects of the inferno border
the target area on the west ane
south. Army and Navy administra.
tive planning headquarters also art
"a nearby areas.