Mitsubishi G3M, part three

 

The Mitsubishi G3M was a land-based medium bomber that was used for the first during the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 where it made great use of its long range. On 14th August 1937 forty-two G3M2 together with seven Hiro G2H and escorted by twelve Nakajima A4Ns and twelve Mitsubishi A5M fighters belonging to the 2. Rengo Kokutai (formed itself by the 12th and 13th kokutais) took off from their bases on western Japan, crossed the East China Sea and bombed the cities of Hangchow and Kwanteh, in China and performed, among other actions, terror bombings on coastal and inland targets in China, including bombings during the Battles of Shanghai and Nanjing. 

The bombers and their escorts were often engaged in combat by Curtiss Hawk III and Boeing P-26 fighters of the Chinese Air Force in the early periods of the war. As the war kept going on, the Japanese set up airfields in occupied China, where many bomber kokutais operated from in the strategic carpet bombardment campaigns of the Chinese mainland, taking advantage of its long range (4.400 km - 2.700 milles) as the distances in that war were considerably longer. Most notably, it was involved in the round-the-clock bombing of the city of Chongqing where the type took part from February 1938 until 1941 when the Pacific War started as that city was used for operative bomber training and testing of new types.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_G3M

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Chongqing

3. http://all-aero.com/index.php/contactus/53-planes-l-m-n-o/6919-mitsubishi-g3m--ka-15--l3y