Air raids on Japan by the Allies in World War II caused extensive destruction and casualties; the most commonly cited estimates are 333,000 killed and 473,000 wounded. During the first years of the Pacific War, these attacks were limited to the Doolittle Raid in April 1942 and small-scale raids on military positions in the Kuril Islands starting in mid-1943. Strategic bombing raids began in June 1944 and were greatly expanded in November. The raids initially attempted to target industrial facilities, but from March 1945 onwards were generally directed against urban areas. Aircraft flying from aircraft carriers and the Ryukyu Islands also frequently struck targets in Japan during 1945 in preparation for an Allied invasion planned for October. In early August, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were struck and mostly destroyed by atomic bombs. Japan's military and civil defenses were not capable of protecting the country, and the Allied forces generally suffered few losses. The bombing campaign was one of the main factors in the Japanese government's decision to surrender in mid-August 1945. Nevertheless, there has been a long-running debate over the attacks on Japanese cities, and the decision to use atomic weapons has been particularly controversial.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_raids_on_Japan

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

626:

During the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Prince Li Shimin led his forces to assassinate his rival brothers, Crown Prince Li Jiancheng and Prince Li Yuanji, in a bloody palace coup for the imperial throne of the Tang dynasty. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuanwu_Gate_Incident

1816:

The French frigate Méduse ran aground off the coast of today's Mauritania, with the survivors escaping on a makeshift raft, which was depicted in Théodore Géricault's painting The Raft of the Medusa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raft_of_the_Medusa

1937:

Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart

1962:

The first Walmart store, now the largest retailer in the world, opened in Rogers, Arkansas, US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmart

1997:

The Thai baht rapidly lost half of its value, marking the beginning of the Asian financial crisis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Asian_financial_crisis

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

geodesy: Scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation of earth, its gravitational field and geodynamic phenomena (polar motion, earth tides, and crustal motion) in three‐dimensional, time‐varying space. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/geodesy

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Nothing is harder, yet nothing is more necessary, than to speak of certain things whose existence is neither demonstrable nor probable. The very fact that serious and conscientious men treat them as existing things brings them a step closer to existence and to the possibility of being born.   --Hermann Hesse https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_Hesse