19459–10 March 1945 · Sumida and Kōtō, Tokyo

Firebombing of Tokyo

Tokyo Memorial Hall and its pagoda-style tower among trees in Yokoamichō Park — Photo: Hyppolyte de Saint-Rambert. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

On the night of 9–10 March 1945, 279 American B-29 bombers flew low over Tokyo and dropped incendiaries on the crowded wooden districts east of the Sumida River. The firestorm killed more than 90,000 people, most of them civilians, and left about a million homeless. It remains the deadliest single air raid in history, more destructive than either atomic bomb.

Military & Battlefields
Social History
Tokyo, Japan

Sites

Site 1: Tokyo Memorial Hall, Yokoamichō ParkMemorial hall holding the ashes of victims of the 1923 earthquake and 1945 raid.Map ↗
Site 2: Center of the Tokyo Raids and War DamageSmall museum built from survivors' testimony and objects.Map ↗