Improbable though it may sound, from late 1944 through the spring of 1945, the Japanese launched more than 9,000 balloons from their nation's eastern shores...One balloon, for example, managed to cut through power lines leading from the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. A resulting power outage that was quickly restored may sound insignificant; however, that particular dam provided power to a factory in Hanford, Wash., which was secretly manufacturing plutonium for use in the atomic bombs destined for Japan.
Though I dislike censorship, I think the evidence supported it in 1945.
7 comments:
99 red balloons? how terrifying.
Do you think that information was widely censored, or more like it was a secret project and thus not widely known? I only knew about it because I was watching a WWII documentary on the history channel once and they mentioned it...
I don't know enough about the dissemination of the information to say whether the deaths could have been prevented. The statement in my post was that I would have censored this information if someone had put me in charge of determining whether to do so. I think more deaths would have occurred if the news was not censored, and the Japanese might have launched millions of the balloons. I'm basing this statement on my knowledge of how the Japanese treated captured civilians in China, Korea and the Philippines during WWII.
It makes more sense when I read the article.
Is censorship in regards to exploding balloons well and alive?
Given the number of armed conflicts in progress, I would've expected at least one group to utilize a strategy encompassing this and other unconventional attacks.
Re: using this tactic, I don't think this tactic is effective under most circumstances, and I cannot think of a modern conflict where the tactic would be useful.
Useful --- not particularly. Yet rockets with no control systems (for aim) are being used. I'd hypothesize that with some weather study, one could release balloons with just as much accuracy and greater range. Depending on the goal, military scores or harrassment of a population, one could make a case for future study.
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