RARE WWII 1943 USAAF B-29 Strategic Navigation Mission Map China Burma & Japan

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RARE WWII 1943 USAAF B-29 Strategic Navigation Mission Map China Burma & Japan:
$1650.00

Comes with C.O.A.

Printed in June of 1943 this incredibly rare WWII Pacific Theater aerial navigational mission map titled “CHINA AND JAPAN” is a '“FIRST EDITION” United States Army Air Force strike map with a very rare print count. This U.S. Army Pacific operational navigation map was used for the strategic aerial bombardment missions and other aerial strikes against the Japanese forces in CHINA, BURMA, and the MAINLAND JAPAN from 1943 to 1945. This map was used for planning and strategic navigation during these aerial raid attacks and heavy bombardment missions against the towns of first, second importance (as noted in legend). The map shows rare altitude tints of the region as well as a very detailed legend showing other strategical targets.

Tactical air forces supported the ground forces in theMediterraneanandEuropean theaters, where the enemy found alliedair supremacya constant frustration. In the war against Japan, GeneralDouglas MacArthurmade his advance along withNew Guineabyleap-frogginghis air forces forward and usingamphibiousforces to open up new bases. The AAF also supported AdmiralChester Nimitz'saircraft carriersin their island-hopping across theCentral Pacificand assisted Allied forces inBurmaand China.

Arnold directly controlled theTwentieth Air Force, equipped with the new long-range B-29 Superfortresses used for bombing Japan'shome islands, first from China and then from theMarianas. Devastated byfire-raids, Japan was so weakened by August 1945 that Arnold believed neither theatomic bombnor the plannedinvasionwould be necessary to win the war. The fact that AAF B-29sdropped the atomic bombsonHiroshimaandNagasaki, nevertheless, demonstrated what airpower could do in the future. TheStrategic Bombing Surveyprovided ammunition for the leaders of the AAF in the postwar debates over armed forces unification and national strategy.

The first of the long-range bombing raids on the Japanese home islands took place as early as 28 Nov 1944, mainly from the newly constructed airfields in the Mariana Islands. In Jan 1945, American General Curtis LeMay took over the 20th and 21st Bomber Commands, merging them into the XX Air Force. The XX Air Force immediately took on the task of bombing Japanese naval and air bases from high altitudes, though most of the early attacks achieved relatively little.

In the spring of 1945, the B-29 Superfortress bombers were transferred to the XXI Bomber Command based at Guam, Mariana Islands. With increased scale, intensity, and frequency, the bombing campaign began to rain considerable destruction on Japanese cities. Tokyo, being the Japanese capital, received a greater share of attention from American bombers.

Alliedforces conducted manyair raids on JapanduringWorld War II, causing extensive destruction to the country's cities and killing between 241,000 and 900,000 people. During the first years of thePacific War,these attacks were limited to theDoolittle Raidin April 1942 and small-scale raids on military positions in theKuril Islandsfrom mid-1943.Strategic bombingraids began in June 1944 and continued until the end of the war in August 1945. Allied naval and land-basedtactical air unitsalso attacked Japan during 1945.

Considering that it might also be necessary for them to invade Japan proper, the Allies drew up new plans in mid-1943. The main offensive, it was decided, should be from the south and from the southeast, through thePhilippinesand throughMicronesia(rather than from the Aleutians in the North Pacific or from the Asian mainland). While occupation of the Philippines would disrupt Japanese communications with the East Indian isles west ofNew Guineaand with Malaya, the conquest of Micronesia, from the Gilberts by way of the Marshalls and Carolines to the Marianas, would not only offer the possibility of drawing the Japanese into a naval showdown but also win bases for heavy air raids on the Japanese mainland prior to invasion.