Had you heard of the Dolittle Raid before? Were you surprised by the repercussions?

The author talks about the Dolittle Raid, during which a small number of B-25s bombed targets in Japan, landing in China afterwards. Japanese troops killed 200,000 to 250,000 Chinese civilians in retaliation. Had you heard of this raid before? Were you surprised by the repercussions?

I had heard of the Dolittle raid, but not its aftermath. I was stunned by the repercussions!

I know history classes can't cover everything, but as I get older I continue to be surprised at how little I learned about some aspects of the subject. It seems like the U.S. was always portrayed as heroic, and certainly we were, but when I was growing up I don't think we ever learned about the flip side of the coin. I didn't learn about the Japanese internment, for example, until Snow Falling on Cedars was published in 1994! It troubles me that our country seems so intent on perpetuating this myth of the perfect society while being so willing to bury the bad things we've done. "Those who forget history..."

Like Kimk I had heard of the Dolittle Raid, but not the repercussions. The number of Chinese civilians killed, like the number of innocent Jewish people killed by the Nazis, is almost impossible to comprehend. I did, however, learn about the Japanese internment in school. I do not agree that our country seems intent on perpetuating this myth of a perfect society. Every country, every society, every citizen has made mistakes, but I think as a citizenry, we try to do things right; and we do pretty darn good compared to other countries of the world.

Yes, but did not know how the Chinese suffered as a result. I was fortunate to have been born in 1942 to older parents--they told me and my sister about the internment camps, which are now being referred to as concentration camps by historians. They also told us of Dolittle and many other aspects of the world during the War having lived at the time. They also lived during the First World War so that, too, was spoken about at home. When I mentioned the Japanese Camps to one of my history teachers she did not believe that it had happened!!

Yes, but I, too, didn't realize how much the Chinese suffered as a result.

teacher reader, you really got that right.

I had heard of the Dolittle Raid and was completely unaware of the repercussions. The Japanese were ruthless killers in defense of their country and way of life.

I agree with KimK. We always have to come out smelling like roses! I think everyone over the age of 60 has heard about the Doolittle raid, but I'll bet only 1% heard anything about the aftermath. I sure didn't! BIden said that we did a great job organizing the exit from Afganistan. did he not see the photos??

I had heard of it, but didn't know the details. So I learned something new.

I had read about the Dolittle Raid and seen a couple of movies about it. I did know about the repercussions of it having read an excellent book, The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang, about 20 years ago. This book describes in detail the atrocities visited on the Chinese people by the Japanese army. Sadly, the author died by suicide two years after its publication.

Thank you BuffaloGirl for recommending the Rape of Nanking. I just read a summary of the book and will definitely need to read this book.