Editing Bombing of Tokyo (section)

===Operation Meetinghouse===
{{main|Bombing of Tokyo (10 March 1945)}}
[[File:Tokyo 1945-3-10-1.jpg|thumb|A birds-eye view over the Ningyōchō district of [[Nihonbashi]] following Operation Meetinghouse]]
On the night of 9–10 March 1945,<ref>{{cite web |last=Crane |first=Conrad C. |url=https://www.pbs.org/thewar/detail_5229.htm |title=The War: Firebombing (Germany & Japan) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602225435/http://www.pbs.org/thewar/detail_5229.htm |archive-date=2 June 2017 |publisher=[[PBS]] |access-date=24 August 2014}}</ref> 334 B-29s targeted the Shitamachi neighborhood of Tokyo in a low-altitude bombing raid. Ultimately, 279 bombers dropped 1,665 tons of bombs on the city. The ordnance consisted mostly of {{convert|500|lb|kg|adj=on}} E-46 [[Cluster munition|cluster bombs]], which released 38 [[napalm]]-carrying [[M69 incendiary|M69 incendiary bomblets]] at an altitude of {{convert|2000|-|2500|ft|m|abbr=on}}. The M69s punched through thin roofing material or landed on the ground; in either case they ignited 3–5 seconds later and regurgitated a jet of flaming napalm. A smaller number of [[M47 bomb|M47 incendiary bombs]] were also dropped; the M47 was a {{convert|100|lb|kg|adj=on}} jelled-gasoline and white phosphorus bomb, designed to ignite upon impact. Within the first two hours of the raid, rapidly spreading fires had overwhelmed the Japanese authorities' firefighting capabilities.{{sfn|Bradley|1999|pp=34–35}} The first B-29s to arrive dropped bombs in a large X pattern centered in Tokyo's densely populated working class district near the docks in both [[Koto, Tokyo|Koto]] and [[Chūō, Tokyo|Chūō]] [[Special wards of Tokyo|city wards]] on the water; follow-on aircraft simply aimed near this flaming X. Individual fires caused by the bombs swiftly coalesced into a general [[conflagration]], which would have been classified as a [[firestorm]] if not for prevailing natural winds gusting at {{convert|17|to|28|mph|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rodden |first1=Robert M. |last2=John |first2=Floyd I. |last3=Laurino |first3=Richard |issue=May 1965 |url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=AD0616638 |title=Exploratory Analysis of Firestorms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008110454/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=AD0616638&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf |archive-date=8 October 2012 |journal=Stanford Research Institute |pages=39, 40, 53–54 |publisher=Office of Civil Defense, Department of the Army, Washington D.C.}}</ref> Approximately {{convert|15.8|sqmi|ha|-1}} of the city were destroyed and some 100,000 people are estimated to have been killed.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/17724/page5/ |first=Freeman |last=Dyson. |title=Part I: A Failure of Intelligence |work=Technology Review |date=1 November 2006 |publisher=[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] |access-date=9 March 2008 |archive-date=2 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302153101/http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/17724/page5/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://japanfocus.org/products/details/1581 
 |first=David |last=McNeill |title=The night hell fell from the sky' |work=Japan Focus |date=10 March 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205060418/http://japanfocus.org/products/details/1581 |archive-date=5 December 2008 }}</ref> A total of 282 out of 339 B-29s launched for "Meetinghouse" reached Tokyo, 27 of which were lost due to being shot down by Japanese air defenses, mechanical failure, or being caught in massive updrafts caused by the fires below.{{sfn|Morgan|Powers|2001|p=314}}

The Operation Meetinghouse firebombing of Tokyo on the night of 9 March 1945 was the single deadliest air raid of World War II,<ref name="deadliest">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2011/03/0309incendiary-bombs-kill-100000-tokyo/ |title=9 March 1945: Burning the Heart Out of the Enemy |date=9 March 2011 |magazine=Wired |publisher=Condé Nast Digital |access-date=8 August 2011}}</ref> causing more destruction than the bombings of [[Bombing of Dresden in World War II|Dresden]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ellsworth.af.mil/News/story/id/123192125/ |title=This month in history: The firebombing of Dresden |author=Technical Sergeant Steven Wilson |date=25 February 2010 |work=[[Ellsworth Air Force Base]] |publisher=[[United States Air Force]] |access-date=8 August 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929013643/http://www.ellsworth.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123192125 |archive-date=29 September 2011  }}</ref> and [[Bombing of Hamburg in World War II|Hamburg]], and even [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] as single events.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/bombings-worse-nagasaki-hiroshima/ |title=Bombings Worse than Nagasaki and Hiroshima |first=Laurence M. |last=Vance |date=14 August 2009 |work=The Future of Freedom Foundation |access-date=8 August 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0310-08.htm |title=1945 Tokyo Firebombing Left Legacy of Terror, Pain |first=Joseph |last=Coleman |date=10 March 2005 |agency=Associated Press |publisher=CommonDreams.org |access-date=8 August 2011 |archive-date=3 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103023353/http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0310-08.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>