The Firebombing of Tokyo - Episode 416

This week Seth and Bill take a deep, and horrifying, dive into Mission number 40 from the Marianas and 21st Bomber Command, codenamed Operation MEETINGHOUSE. The raid that occurred on the night of March 10, 1945, was the single deadliest air raid in all of human history.

Faced with failure after failure and the mounting pressure of a Japanese Home Island invasion, General Curtis LeMay took drastic measures to deliver a knockout blow to Japan with his B-29s. Throwing everything that had been ingrained in his training for years out the window, LeMay sends his B-29s in at 5,000 feet at night armed with incendiary bombs to flatten a 12-square-mile area of Tokyo. The raid that took place, and the firestorm that ensued, accounted for over 110,000 Japanese lives in a six-hour period. Tune in and hear what the team has to say about the one raid that changed the way the United States Army Air Forces fought the war against Japan.

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