The Last Mission - An Eye Witness Account by Jim B. Smith: The B-29 Raid That Ended WWII

by Jim B. Smith

The Last Mission " by Jim B. Smith An Eyewitness Account... The B-29 Raid That Ended WWII

Genres: History, Military Fiction, War, Nonfiction

359 pages, Hardcover

First published August 15, 1994

About the author

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Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is based on the memoir of a radio operator, Smith, who was involved in the final U.S. bombing mission of WWII, a memoir much expanded by coauthor McConnell to take into account the final days of the Japanese government and military before their surrender on August 15 of 1945.

As it happened, there was an attempted right-wing military coup against the Imperial authority. The attempt failed. This book attributes the failure to the blackout which was ordered in Tokyo as a result of the aforementioned final bombing mission. Such a claim is, of course, impossible to prove although certainly that dark night made things more difficult for many. Notwithstanding, this is a decent account of the Japanese decision to surrender. It also presents the most substantive argument I've ever seen in favor of Truman's decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima.

[Martin Koenigsberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone knows how the Great Pacific War, WWII in the East, ends, right? The US with their B-29s drops two Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki- and the Japanese surrender. It's that simple...... NOT. Actually the last days of Japan, were an agony of violence and starvation, with constant death from the sky - and a seething turmoil of interior Japanese Politics. First there was a faction hoping that Russian would not enter the war- and some how they could actually win. Then when that was dashed- there was a large faction who simply could not accept surrender. To counter the coming Invasion of the home islands (My Father was slated to land 5-9 days after D-day for that one-yikes), they had a plan to make the homeland as costly as Iwo Jima and Okinawa had been- with even more Kamikaze content. It was a HUGELY complex dance of efforts, passions and politics that came together in a strange way, as this taut tick tock of the last days shows in agonizing detail.
In fact- the Japanese Council of War dithered and tried to add nuance to every bit of language they could. Even after the Emperor had made his wishes known- to stop putting his people and warriors through the hail of death that war with Industrial America had become. And then there is the Coup Plot that adds even more intrigue into the mix. Jim Smith, the co-Author of this book was a a crewman on a bomber that flew one of the last regular B-29 Missions of the war- a long one to destroy an Oil Refining complex in Northern Japan, the last extant and possibly in the path of Russian advances. As they flew past Tokyo, they tripped the Blackout Warning for the city- throwing just enough entropy into the dodgy coup plotter's plans to render them almost useless. It's a really interesting tale, all the more so because about half the characters committed Seppuku -ritual samurai suicide- within a five day period of these events and were not available for further discussion. The detail is minute in this book- and its a lot of fun- but I am not sure if I totally agree with the Authors as to the ferocity with which the Japanese would executed their vaunted "Ketsu-Go' defense plan. I think that the starvation (American Submarines were still actively torpedoing off ALL the local shipping that fed Japan )might have really put a dent in that plan. But the read is gripping -even if there is a little bit of embellishment around the edges.
This is a fine book for a junior reader- those above about 11 should be capable of understanding the nuances- and be able to deal with the discussion of the damage done in these raids. For the Gamer/Modeller/military Enthusiast - this is a great resource. I think that this book works for those readers on two levels. It's a great way to understand the shear complexity of World War II- the mixture of Industrialization, Politics and Human Efforts - AND its a font of game details, cool scenarios (Coup games can be fun) and great ideas for a myriad of dioramas. I think all the reader groups I review for will like this book- on several levels.

[Gage Mcnally · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Last Mission by Jim B.Smith is well thought out and can teach you a lot about World War II and Japans surrender.Jim was a radio operator in the air force who was part of the B-29 bomber boomerang which was his plane along with his crews.The book opened up a new perspective on Japan's surrender and how they didn't surrender after the first atomic bomb dropped by the Enola Gay.The idea was that after the first bombing the emperor had recorded a surrender but a small group of officers could not stand for surrendering so there plan was to get the tape and destroy it as well as capture the emperor and keep him as prisoner.I never really knew why the Japanese didn't surrender after the first bomb but this book gives me an idea on what might have happened.

[Lozza · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read. And scary how close the Japanese came to not surrendering in August 1945 and finally ending WW2 in the Pacific.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Last Mission is about with the last few days of the war against Japan in August 1945. A lot of the book is concerned with the dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the turmoil within the Japanese government following this in their decision to surrender, and the attempted coup that occurred to try and prevent this. The author was an aircrew member in the final bombing mission that inadvertently disrupted the coup, hence the title. The what-if consequences of a successful coup are examined. The events leading up to the attempted coup have been covered by many books before, some of which have been drawn from in the copious references supplied in support of the many facts stated, added to which you have the personal element in a crewmans recollection from the missions of the B-29B Superfortress ‘Boomerang’. Fascinating.

[Stephen Kozeniewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really intriguing book. It's sad but the Japanese palace intrigue which is just pure research is absolutely riveting while the bomber mission stuff which the authors actually lived through is just kind of ho-hum.

[Kenneth Flusche · Rating 5 out of 5]

pretty good WW II Book, makes you re-think the what ifs