On March 17th, 1945, three hundred and thirty-one American B-29 bombers launched a firebombing attack against the city of Kobe, Japan. Approximately 8,841 of the city's residents were killed in the resulting firestorms, which destroyed an area 3 square miles in size and included 21% of Kobe's urban area. At the time, the city covered an area of 14 square miles. More than 650,000 people had their homes destroyed, and the homes of another million people were damaged.
On June 5th of that same year, Kobe was bombed again. Incendiaries dropped from 473 bombers destroyed 4.4 square miles of the city.
See also
References
Books
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- Werrell, Kenneth P (1996). Blankets of Fire. Washington and London: Smithsonian Instituion Press. ISBN 1-56098-665-4.
