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 1943-February 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.

• 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.

1. Tokyo (November 1944-August 1945) – 100,000-plus killed