Episode 534: The Manhattan Project Part II - A Numbers Game
Last Podcast On The Left
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The History of Incendiary Bombs
Most incendiary bombs in World War II contained small sticks of white phosphorus called bomblets. Once the big bomb hit the ground, it would ignite these bomblets starting fires so hot that they could melt metal and rock. This would create fire storms so hot that the pilots dropping the bombs from thousands of feet above were nearly suffocated by the heat. The nighttime British firebombing of Hamburg in 1943 killed 45,000 civilians, mostly old people, women and children.
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