Video: 'WORLD WAR 2 AIR RAIDS ON TOKYO - PART 2' (Mar. 9-10, 1945 at 3:43)
(Saturday, March 10, 1945, 12:08 a.m.-2:48 a.m. Japan Standard Time; part of the Pacific War during World War II) — In the deadliest air assault in history, hundreds of American B-29 Superfortresses swept over Tokyo early this morning, unleashing a torrent of incendiary bombs that set vast sections of the Japanese capital ablaze.
Estimates indicate that more than 100,000 people were killed, the majority of them civilians, and over a million were left homeless in the most destructive single air attack ever recorded.
The raid, code-named Operation Meetinghouse, was carried out by 279 of the giant bombers from bases in the Marianas.
Dropping incendiary bombs from low altitudes, the aircraft ignited a firestorm that rapidly consumed entire districts of the city. The flames spread with such intensity that many residents were unable to escape, while strong winds turned Tokyo’s wooden homes and businesses into an uncontrollable inferno.
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American military officials described the attack as a strategic move to cripple Japan’s war production and hasten the end of the conflict.
The bombing targeted the city’s eastern industrial and residential districts, including densely populated neighborhoods where workers for key war industries resided. Though Japanese air and civil defenses responded, they proved largely ineffective.
Fourteen B-29s were lost in the operation, with 96 airmen unaccounted for.
Survivors of the raid reported harrowing scenes of devastation. The firestorm reached temperatures exceeding 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, creating hurricane-like winds that pulled people into the flames.
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Thousands perished in the streets and along the city’s canals, where they sought refuge from the heat but succumbed to suffocation or drowning. Entire families were lost as the flames overtook homes before occupants could flee.
The raid represented a dramatic shift in American bombing tactics. Previously, the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) had focused on precision strikes against industrial targets, but these efforts yielded limited results.
This morning’s operation marked the first large-scale firebombing campaign against a Japanese city, and officials indicate that similar tactics will continue in the coming weeks.
In Washington, military strategists defended the attack as a necessary measure to weaken Japan’s ability to continue the war. However, the sheer scale of civilian casualties has already sparked debate among observers, with questions arising over the morality of targeting heavily populated urban areas.
