America's retaliation on Japan after Perl Harbor left most of Japan, their army, and resources extremely bleak. The Japanese Government knew they had to retaliate and strike the mainland of the United States, but they did not have the resources, or did they?
Starting in December of 1944 and ending April of 1945, Japan sent almost 9,000 balloons across the Pacific Ocean intended for the main land of the United States.
These balloons were engineering marvels with 35 sand bags, 4 incendiary devices, and 1 33lb. anti personnel bomb. Japan chose the winter months for this launch, since that is when the jet stream would carry them completely across the ocean.
Originally, the U.S. Government thought they these were launched by submarine, but they later determined that the launch site was main land Japan. They determined that Japan launched them since the sand in the sand bags came from a beach in Japan.
The purpose of the attack was to cause panic and chaos among the American people in hopes to slow down the U.S. Military.
The U.S. Government put a censorship on the media for reporting the balloon sightings or landings so that Japan would not be aware if their attack was successful or not. Although this was a good move to keep the information away from Japan, the Security of the American public was jeopardized. Most Americans did not realize what was happening and were not aware of the dangers of the balloons.
300 of the balloons have so far been accounted for landing in Continental North America from Alaska to Mexico and as far East as Michigan. Some actually performed they way they were designed and created massive forest fires in the Northwest.
The only reported deaths were those of a Reverend's wife and 5 children she was with on a picnic after Sunday service. The Revered Archie Mitchell of the Christian Alliance Church took his wife Elsie (who was 26 years old and 5 months pregnant) and 5 other children out to a lake for a picnic. When the preacher was parking the car, he heard his wife say, "Hey, look what we found," then there was a massive explosion. All five children and the wife were killed. These are the only reported civilian WWII victims on U.S. soil.
Sources:
http://b-29.org/MISC-files/winds-of-war/winds-war.html
https://getpocket.com/a/read/891544247
http://www.history.com/news/attack-of-japans-killer-wwii-balloons-70-years-ago
http://onetuberadio.com/2015/05/15/japanese-fu-go-fire-balloons-of-ww2-part-1/
http://www.radiolab.org/story/pictures-fu-go/
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