Project X-Ray & The Bat Bombs of World War II

Dark Histories

Ben Cutmore

History

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Amid the chaos of World War II, a secret project emerged from the depths of military innovation—Project X-Ray. It was an idea so strange, so deceptively simple, it bordered on madness: an army of bats, each carrying a hidden firestorm. Under the cover of night, they would infiltrate enemy cities, vanishing into eaves and rafters—silent and unseen. Without warning, flames would erupt from the shadows, consuming everything in their wake. Designed to spread fear as much as fire, the plan was as terrifying as it was eccentric and most would have been excused for believing it could surely never work. But then, if necessity was the mother of invention, bravery was surely the mother of success, and as the world found out in 1945, the war effort needed something bold. SOURCES Couffer, Jack (1992) Bat Bomb: World War II’s Other Secret Weapon. University of Texas Press, TX, USA. Alperovitz, Gar (1995) The Decision to use the Atomic Bomb. Harper Collins, London, UK. Ham, Paul (2011) Hiroshima Nagasaki. Harper Collins, London, UK. McNichols, Charles L and Carus, Clayton D. (1942) One Way to Cripple Japan: The Inflammable Cities of Osaka Bay. Harper's, June 1942, pp. 29-36. NY, USA. Trimble, William F. & Lewis, David (1988) Lytle S. Adams, the Apostle of Nonstop Airmail Pickup. Technology and Culture, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Apr., 1988), pp. 247-265. The Johns Hopkins University Press, USA. ------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at [email protected] or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:31.7	Hello, this is Matt and McKinley from History Dispatches.
0:37.7	We are the father-son duo bringing you the weird, the wild, the wacky, and the craziest tales from across time.
0:43.3	From the Ice Bowl to the Great Heathen Army.
0:45.9	And the head of Oliver Cromwell.
0:47.6	The same head they kept on a pike for three years?
0:50.2	Yep, all here on History Dispatches.
0:52.8	New episodes every weekday. Find out more at History Dispatches. New episodes every weekday. Find out more at
0:55.5	history dispatches.com or wherever you get your podcast app. Amid the chaos of World War II,
1:02.8	a secret project emerged from the depths of military innovation, Project X-ray. It was an idea
1:08.7	so strange, so deceptively simple, that it bordered on madness.
1:13.6	An army of bats, each carrying a hidden firestorm. Under the cover of night, they would infiltrate
1:19.1	enemy cities, vanishing into the eaves and rafters, silent and unseen. Without warning,
1:25.6	flames would erupt from the shadows, consuming everything in their weight.
1:29.2	Designed to spread fear as much as fire, the plan was as terrifying as it was eccentric,
1:34.1	and most would have been excused for believing it could surely never work.
1:38.3	But then, if necessity was the mother of invention, bravery was surely the mother of success,
1:44.4	and as the world found out in 1945,
1:46.9	the war effort needed something bold.
1:49.7	This is Dark Histories,
1:50.9	where the facts are worse than fiction.
	...

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