Following the devastating March 9-10 firebombing of Tokyo that killed over 100,000 people, US Army Air Forces turned incendiary raids toward other major Japanese industrial cities including Nagoya, home to Mitsubishi aircraft factories. The shift to low-altitude, nighttime incendiary bombing of urban areas, pioneered under General Curtis LeMay, marked a deliberate strategic turn toward attacking Japan's civilian population centers and war production simultaneously.
Following the devastating March 9-10 firebombing of Tokyo that killed over 100,000 people, US Army Air Forces turned incendiary raids toward other major Japanese industrial cities including Nagoya, home to Mitsubishi aircraft factories. The shift to low-altitude, nighttime incendiary bombing of urban areas, pioneered under General Curtis LeMay, marked a deliberate strategic turn toward attacking Japan's civilian population centers and war production simultaneously.