Japanese Fire Bombing

As World War II was coming to an end, the U.S. was searching for a way to finish the war with Japan. The U.S. went about doing this by first dropping 2,000 tons of flammable bombs on Tokyo, Japan on March 9th, 1945. As a result of these fire bombings, between 80,000 to 130,000 innocent Japanese civilians were killed, which was the worst single firestorm in history. After this overwhelming event occurred, Japan didn’t chose to surrender unconditionally; however, the U.S. was well aware that Japan was already largely defeated due to the fire bombings. The U.S. was ready to potentially invade Japan, but an invasion of Japan couldn’t begin for another three months, so the U.S. had an opportunity to wait and see if Japan would surrender before

The U.S. used this type of welfare to end the lives of many Japanese civilians in order to potentially end the war. This all begun on March 9th, 1945 when the U.S. sent warplanes to Japan that dropped 2,000 tons of flammable bombs on Tokyo. The damage that these firebombs caused were so devastating that almost about 16 square miles in and around the Japanese capital was greatly consumed by the fire. The firebombs were the most effective in downtown Tokyo suburb of Shitamachi. Many survivors of the firebombs called this town the “paper city” due to how quickly it was set on fire when the bombs were released. It also destroyed the light industries that were in the town. This was a major downturn for the Japanese because the light industries produced the war materials that were used for aircraft factories. As a result of the fire bombs, between 80,000 to 130,000 Japanese lives were killed. There were so many burned bodies that the odor of the burning flesh made the bomber pilots use oxygen masks to keep them from not vomiting and getting sick. This tragic attack lasted a little more than three hours. This event was essential because it was the worst single firestorm in recorded history. The devastation continued for Japan because within the matter of months, the U.S. would drop two atomic bombs in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and

This made the U.S. think of another to way to end the war with Japan. The U.S. thought the best way to end the war was by dropping an atomic bomb on Japan, which was the world’s first atomic bomb to be used in welfare. On August 6th, 1945 at 8:15 A.M. the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The B-29 was about 9000m above the surface and the atomic bomb feel for 43 seconds before exploding. The atomic bomb exploded 580m above the ground. As the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, it caused a massive shock wave and radiation that killed more than 100,000 Japanese citizens instantly. When the atomic was released it also created a fireball that began to spread out across the city of Hiroshima. After this tragic event occurred, Japan still had not surrendered to the U.S. unconditionally. Only three days later after the destruction of Hiroshima, on August 9th, 1945 at 11:00 A.M. the U.S. would then drop another atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Nagasaki, which killed thousands more innocent people. In total deaths of both the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, around 300,000 people were killed. These horrific events affected Japan so significantly that it caused them to surrender to the United States on August 14th, 1945. However, even after the dropping the atomic bombs, another 97,000 people died from radiation-related illness as a