The Bombing of Tokyo | Night of the Black Snow

War is destructive, and it has plagued humanity throughout history. The decision to engage in war carries significant consequences for the ordinary people caught in the midst of a conflict they have no control over.

On March 9th, 1945, the United States Air Forces carried out the largest bombing raid in history on Tokyo, Japan

The attack was code-named “Operation Meetinghouse” by the USAAF and is known as the “Great Tokyo Air Raid” in Japan. (“Bombing of Tokyo (10 March 1945) — Wikipedia”)

The bombing, which involved the use of napalm, resulted in the deaths of between 80,000 and 100,000 civilians. Later called the “Night of the Black Snow,” because of the ash, Operation Meetinghouse destroyed over a quarter of Tokyo and left an estimated one million people homeless.

This bombing — which came before the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima but was no less destructive-was a turning point in the way that the USAAF conducted bombing raids. It saw them switch from the less successful approach of precision bombing to a more indiscriminate approach.

The use of napalm — a highly flammable gel that sticks to everything it touches and burns at high…