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China: The bodies of Chinese civilians killed during the Japanese bombing of the provisional Chinese capital of Chongqing, July 1941

China: The bodies of Chinese civilians killed during the Japanese bombing of the provisional Chinese capital of Chongqing, July 1941

The bombing of the Chongqing was part of a terror bombing operation conducted by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service and the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service. A conservative estimate places the number of bombing runs at more than 5,000, with more than 11,500 bombs dropped, mainly incendiary bombs.

The targets were usually residential areas, business areas, schools, hospitals and other non-military targets. These bombings were aimed at demoralising the Chinese government, which had moved the capital to Chongqing because it was more inaccessible to Japanese ground forces, or as part of the planned Sichuan invasion. Chongqing, Sichuan, July 1941.

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