334 B-29 SuperFortresses with 2,000 tons of incendiaries bomb Tokyo. Between 130,000 and 200,000 people die. The use of area bombing with 2.7 kg M69 magnesium-phosphorus incendiaries in clusters of 38 bombs was considered after unsuccessfully testing the precision bombing technique so tenaciously defended in Europe. Japan is not Germany: there are thousands of very small businesses, and the urban structure is made up of wooden and bamboo houses. The effect of the incendiaries on Tokyo is terrible: first, two pathfinder planes drop 12 tons of incendiaries on two trajectories intersecting at 90 degrees, forming an immense cross of fire visible to subsequent waves of bombers from 100 km away. A fire forms with a 5km front and temperatures exceeding 200°C, causing the canals to boil. People who throw themselves into the fires to escape die an even more atrocious death. Over the next four months, 57 other Japanese cities will suffer a similar fate.
