Top 10 Devastating Bombings in
WWII
10. Osaka (March-August 1945) –
10,000 killed
• A total number of 274 American B-29 heavy bomber airplanes
attacked Osaka on the first night.
• Napalm and incendiary cluster
bombs were aimed at civilian
housing by the low-flying
bombers
9. Kassel (February 1942-March 1945)
– 10,000 killed
• The city was targeted heavily, largely because
of its important military-industrial sites: the
Fieseler aircraft plant, Henschel tank-making
facilities, railway works and engine works
were all based there.
8. Darmstadt (September 1943February 1944) – 12,300 killed
• Bombers intentionally spread their bombs
over as wide an area as possible, targeting the
medieval city center where the houses were
constructed from wood.
7. Pforzheim (April 1944-March 1945)
– 21,200 killed
• The inner city areas were more or less
completely depopulated and the town
ravaged as a result of explosions and deadly
burning phosphorus materials.
6. Swinoujscie (12 March 1945) –
5,000-23,000 killed
• Following the end of the war, Swinoujscie –
formerly known by its German name of
SwinemŸnde – was repopulated by Poles, and
has remained part of Poland ever since.
5. London (September 1940-May
1941) – 20,000 people killed
• The London Blitz – from the German word
“blitzkrieg,” meaning “lightning war” – is, for
British citizens, at least, the scene of some of
the defining images of the Second World War.
4. Berlin (1940-1945) – 20,000-50,000
killed
• The German capital endured a prolonged
period of strategic bombing that lasted for
almost the entire duration of the war.
3. Dresden (October 1944-April 1945)
– 25,000 killed
• Dresden, Germany’s seventh biggest city at
the time of the Second World War, and an
extremely important industrial centre,
experienced one of the most severe bombing
campaigns seen anywhere up to that point in
time.
2. Hamburg (September 1939-April
1945) – 42,600 killed
• In total, 9,000 tons of bombs were dropped in
an operation of such scale and force that
mainland Europe had never seen the like of it
before – nor has indeed since.
1. Tokyo (November 1944-August
1945) – 100,000-plus killed
• Around 1,700 tons of bombs fell on the city,
destroying an estimated 286,358 buildings –
made largely of wood and paper – and killing
an estimated 100,000 citizens or more in the
resulting firestorms.