The bombing of Britain was an attempt by the Germans to make the British surrender. The campaign was called “The London Blitz.” The campaign lasted from September 1940 until May 1941 and was carried out by the German Luftwaffe. More than one million homes are estimated to have been damaged or just completely leveled. Parts of the city such as the East End suffered the worst during the attack. Even with the sheer destruction, Great Britain withstood the entire attack and would not give in to the Germans. Not surrendering did come with a price though, an estimated 20,000 people died during the raids. Great Britain then served as a front for the Allies to attack and plan from.
Bombing of Dresden
Dresden was the seventh largest city in Germany in World War II and it was a very important industrial center for the German war machine. This city experienced one of the harshest bombing raids of the Second World War. From October 1944 to April 1945, the Royal Air Force and the United States Air Force dropped more than 3,900 tons of bombs on the city. Around 15 square miles of the city were completely devastated by the firestorm and the bombs themselves. When the German press released the death-toll amounts they said there were around 200,000 deaths, but that number now is known to be not true and the real amount of deaths is around 25,000 total deaths.
Bombimg of Berlin
With Germany being the main Axis force in Europe, its capital, like Great Britain’s was subject to a massive bombing campaign. This campaign lasted basically the entire war, with the Americans and British bombers attacking the city day and night sometimes. The city was subject to a bombing strategy known as “area bombing” or the bombing of civilian and housing targets. In total the bombing of Berlin lasted from 1940 up until the surrender of Germany in 1945. It is estimated that between 20,000 and 50,000 German citizens lost their lives during this campaign and many more lost their homes.
Bombing of Tokyo
As the United Stated drew closer to Japan, the Americans started to bomb Japanese cities, especially the capital, Tokyo. Before this, the Americans had bombed Tokyo after the Pearl Harbor attacks but these raids had little military gain, they were more of a morale booster. But starting in November 1944, the United States Air Force started to massively bomb the Japanese capital. The new B-29 Super Fortress bombers were used heavily during these raids. Of the total bombs dropped on Tokyo, almost 90% of those were dropped from B-29s. In total, the Americans dropped 1,700 tons of high explosive bombs on the city destroying around 286,000 buildings. An estimated 100,000 plus Japanese citizens were killed during the bombing campaign.