RE8 produced a report on May 25, 1945, two weeks after the German surrender, titled “Area Attack Against Japan,” recommending that since everything easily combustible had already been burned down, Bomber Command should use 4,000-pound blast bombs to destroy any urban areas or industrial targets still standing. From previous analysis carried out on the vulnerability of Japanese housing, it was calculated that each bomb would destroy more than ten built-up acres, whereas in Germany the figure had been only 1.5.
