Eighty years since the Tokyo firebombing, survivors still tell of the unthinkable atrocities of one of the deadliest air raids in history. On the evening of March 9-10, 1945, waves of American B-29 bombers rained napalm-filled incendiary bombs over Tokyo, reducing the city to ashes and killing an estimated 80,000 people. The raid, designed to cripple Japan’s war capabilities, stranded thousands of civilians in a sea of fire.
Survivors of the holocaust speak of the disorder and desperation as firestorms consumed wooden buildings, pushing residents to scramble into rivers and canals for refuge. Some were killed by the choking heat, while others looked on in horror as entire families were destroyed. Survivors remember the apocalyptic scene, with burned corpses and a city reduced to rubble by morning.
Historians observe that the Tokyo firebombing was more lethal than the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, although it is discussed less frequently. The sheer scale of the fires, fueled by highly combustible wooden buildings, resulted in massive casualties within a single night, one of the darkest events of World War II.
As Japan looks back at the tragedy, survivors still tell their tales to ensure that the atrocities of war never fade from memory. The firebombing stands as a bleak reminder of the war cost of war, calling for future generations to work towards peace and reconciliation in an all-too-painfully-remembered war-torn world.
