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During World War II, the US considered using “bat bombs” against Japan. The plan involved releasing thousands of bats with incendiary devices and timers to start fires in Japanese cities. The idea was proposed by a dentist and was seriously considered, but ultimately abandoned in favor of the atomic bomb.
The idea of using “bat bombs” against Japan in retaliation for the December 1941 sneak attack on Pearl Harbor may seem ludicrous, but, for a time, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was in favor of the plan, and military experts Americans worked on a prototype. The theory was that a bomb casing could contain thousands of hibernating bats, each equipped with an incendiary device and a timer. Had all gone as planned, countless Mexican free-tailed bats would have been released upon Japanese cities, roosting in gutters and attics and starting thousands of small fires.
An Invasion of Bats:
Lytle S. Adams, a Pennsylvania dentist who was an acquaintance of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, proposed the idea in January 1942 after a vacation in New Mexico, where he learned of bats in Carlsbad Caverns.
The idea, later known as Project X-Ray, was seriously considered. Louis Fieser, the inventor of military napalm, designed small incendiary devices that bats could carry.
After extensive testing over several years, at a cost of approximately $2 million USD, it was determined that bat bombs would not be ready until mid-1945. At that point, the atomic bomb was considered a more expedient option for bring about the end of the war.
