The night hell fell from the sky

David McNeill

doi:10.1017/S1557466005001464

The night hell fell from the sky

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025

David McNeill

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March 10 is the 60th anniversary of one of the great forgotten atrocities of World War 2: the fire-bombing of Tokyo which killed over 100,000 people

Saotome Katsumoto was 12 when he heard the familiar rumble of B-29 bombers.

“It was a midnight air raid, but unlike anything we had experienced before. The planes flew in very low, so low you could see the fires reflected in their undercarriages, and they dropped mostly incendiaries. The fires started everywhere and we tried to fight them, but there was a strong, northerly wind fanning the flames. All around me people were on fire, writhing in agony.”

Type: Research Article
Information: Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , March 2005 , e3

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1557466005001464 [Opens in a new window]
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