The Second World War’s strangest weapon
STORY BY PAIGE JASMINE GILMAR
At the end of the Second World War, Japan dreamt up one of the most bizarre weapons of early 20th-century warfare. It launched 9,000 of them across the Pacific Ocean from November 1944 to April 1945 and the idea was as unexpected as it was inefficient; it had created the balloon bomb.
They aren’t often seen as dangerous weapons, but Japanese balloon bombs, called Fu-Go, were diabolical—at least in theory. Carrying a 33-pound fragmentation shell, the device was meant to cause widespread fire, essentially aiming to wreak havoc on American morale and the North American war effort when delivered in great numbers. Only 10 per cent of them reached the continent, however. And on Jan. 12, 1945, a teenager spotted one of the floating bombs near Regina, the first of eight to land in Saskatchewan.
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Royal Canadian Legion, US Branch #25 