Carpet bombing Carpet bombing , also known as saturation bombing , is a large aerial bomb ing done in a progressive manner to inflict damage in every part of a selected area of land . The phrase evokes the image of explosions completely covering an area , in the same way that a carpet covers a floor . Carpet bombing is usually achieved by dropping many unguided bomb s . In contrast to precision bombing , it is not aimed at a small target , such as a bunker , an airfield , or a military unit . One of its uses is the aerial bombing of cities . The term " obliteration bombing " is sometimes used to describe especially intensified bombing with the intention of destroying a city or a large part of the city . The term " area bombing " refers to indiscriminate bombing of an area , and also encompasses cases of carpet bombing , including obliteration bombing . It was used in that sense especially during World War II . Early history . One of the first cases of carpet bombing was by the German Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War against Republican infantry during the Battle of El Mazuco ; in this case the targeted troops were dispersed on rocky slopes and the Condor Legion learned that carpet bombing was not very effective in such terrain . During World War II . In the European Theatre , the Rotterdam Blitz was a aerial bombardment of Rotterdam by the 90 bombers of the German Air Force on 14 May 1940 , during the German invasion of the Netherlands . The objective was to support the German assault on the city , break Dutch resistance and force the Dutch to surrender . Despite a ceasefire , the bombing destroyed almost the entire historic city centre , killing nearly nine hundred civilians and leaving 30 , 000 people homeless . The destructive success of the bombing led the " Oberkommando der Luftwaffe " ( OKW ) to threaten to destroy the city of Utrecht if the Dutch Government did not surrender . The Dutch capitulated early the next morning . As the war progressed , the British built up RAF Bomber Command , which was capable of delivering many thousands of tons of bombs onto a single target , in spite of heavy initial bomber casualties in 1940 . The bomber force was then wielded by Arthur Travers Harris in an effort to break German morale and obtain the surrender which Douhet had predicted 15 years earlier . The United States joined the war and the USAAF greatly enforced the campaign . Many cities , both large and small , were virtually destroyed by Allied bombing . W . G . Sebald ' s book , " On the Natural History of Destruction " , comments on the carpet bombing of German cities and asks why it does not play a larger part in the German national consciousness , and why virtually no German authors have written about the events . Despite the lack of literary coverage , a style of film shot amongst the urban debris and depicting the gritty lives of those who had to rebuild the destroyed cities called the rubble film , developed in the years after the end of World War II . Carpet bombing was used as close air support ( as " flying artillery " ) for ground operations . Massive bombing was concentrated in a narrow and shallow area of the front ( a few kilometers by a few hundred metres deep ) , closely coordinated with advance of friendly troops . The first successful use of the technique was on May 6 , 1943 , at the end of the Tunisia Campaign . Carried out under Sir Arthur Tedder , it was hailed by press as Tedder ' s bomb - carpet ( or Tedder ' s carpet ) . The bombing was concentrated in a four by three mile area preparing the way for the First Army . This tactic was later used in many cases in Normandy Campaign , for example in Battle for Caen . In the Pacific War , carpet bombing was used extensively against Japanese civilian population centers , such as Tokyo . On the night of March 9 – 10 , 1945 , 334 B - 29 Superfortress es heavy bombers were directed to attack the most heavily populated civilian sectors of Tokyo . In just one night , over 100 , 000 of the population had burned to death from a heavy bombardment of incendiary bombs , comparable to the wartime number of U . S . casualties on the entire Pacific theater . Another 100 , 000 Japanese were left homeless . These attacks were followed by similar ones against Kobe , Osaka , and Nagoya , as well as other sectors of Tokyo , where over 9 , 373 tons of incendiary bombs were dropped on civilian and military targets . By the time of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki , light and medium bombers were being directed to bomb targets of convenience , as most urban areas had been already destroyed . In the 9 - month long civilian bombing campaign , over 580 , 000 Japanese civilians died .