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The bombing of Mandalay was conducted as part of the Japanese conquest of Burma and was one of many Burmese cities, towns, and ports subject to air raids by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service and Thai Phayap Army Air Force during the Pacific theater of World War II. Mandalay suffered its first air raid on February 19, 1942, when Japanese bombers attacked the city. Later on, the city suffered one of the most devastating air raids on April 3, 1942. That night, Japanese bombers dropped incendiary bombs, creating a huge firestorm. About three-fifths〔Denis Richards, ROYAL AIR FORCE 1939-1945 VOLUME 2 THE FIGHT AVAILS, HMSO 1955. p.66〕 of the wooden houses and the former homes of Burmese kings was destroyed, and an estimated 2,000 civilians killed.〔Clodfelter, Michael (2002). Warfare and Armed Conflicts- A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1500–2000 2nd Ed.. ISBN 978-0-7864-1204-4. Page 553〕 The official Royal Air Force history described the raid as "particularly devastating" because the firefighting equipment was destroyed and that "thousands" of the inhabitants perished.〔 It was said that a city that had taken a thousand years to build was destroyed in an hour. Clare Boothe Luce, the wife of Henry Luce, publisher of ''Time'' and ''Life'' magazines, and then a reporter in Burma, visited Mandalay two days later after the bombing. She wrote:
==See also== *Civilian casualties *Civilian casualties of strategic bombing *Firebombing 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bombing of Mandalay (1942)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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