Target Tokyo

Archival Summary & Scope

Following the devastation of Pearl Harbor, the Doolittle Raid in April 1942 was America's first daring counterstrike against Japan. Led by Jimmy Doolittle, sixteen U.S. Army bombers launched from the USS Hornet to hit targets in Tokyo. A crucial propaganda victory for the U.S. and a catalyst for the Battle of Midway, the raid also unleashed brutal Japanese retaliation on China, claiming an estimated 250,000 lives through atrocities and biological warfare. This gripping account details Doolittle's leadership, the airmen's harrowing crashes, captures, torture, and desperate escapes, along with the roles of key figures like Chiang Kai-shek. Based on newly unearthed records and survivor interviews, this authoritative history reexamines one of World War II's most celebrated yet controversial operations, revealing its full human cost.