162 people were killed and over 400 were injured, including at a school in Upper North Street School in Poplar where a bomb struck during school hours.
21st June 1919: The German High Seas naval fleet is scuttled at Scapa Flow
21st June 2019
9th March 1945: USAF begin Operation Meetinghouse, the firebombing of Tokyo in the most destructive bombing raid in history
- 9th March 2026
- Tagged as: Air Raid, America, Firebombing, Firestorm, Japan, LeMay, Operation Meetinghouse, Second World War, Tokyo, United States, USA, USAF, World War 2, World War II
Approximately 300 B-52 bombers dropped thousands of tons of incendiaries over the eastern districts of Tokyo, causing firestorms that overwhelmed firefighting efforts and killed around 100,000 people, with many more injured.
The four people killed in the air raids were all civilians, which served as a stark message about the changing nature of warfare in the 20th Century.
The destruction of Dresden was extensive, with vast areas of the city reduced to rubble. While some argue the attack was a necessary military operation to disrupt German supply lines and weaken morale, others contend that the scale of destruction and the civilian toll were disproportionate, particularly given the advanced stage of the war and Germany’s declining capacity to resist.
Historians now generally accept that up to 300 civilians were killed directly in the bombing of Guernica, although it’s likely that many more – perhaps as many as 1,700 – died from their injuries.
HistoryPod Extra: The Myth of Gavrilo Princip’s Sandwich
28th June 2015
11th November 1918: WW1 Armistice of Compiègne is signed
11th November 2025
11th November 1918: WW1 Armistice of Compiègne is signed
11th November 2025
1st September 1939: Nazi Germany invades Poland
1st September 2018
9th November 1989: East Germany opens the Berlin Wall
9th November 2019