The U.S. bombing campaign in Cambodia under Lon Nol dropped how much tonnage relative to that dropped on Japan?

• A. About the same
• B. Four times the tonnage dropped on Japan
• C. More than Japan but less than twice
• D. Ten times the tonnage dropped on Japan

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is comparing the scale of bombing between two theaters: Cambodia in the late 1960s–early 1970s and Japan in World War II. The Cambodian campaign, especially under Lon Nol and with heavy B-52 sorties, involved a massive amount of ordnance over a relatively short period. Estimates place the total tonnage dropped in Cambodia at around seven million tons, which is roughly four times the about two million tons dropped on Japan during World War II. So, even though the Cambodian bombing lasted a shorter time and covered a narrower area, its intensity and overall quantity of bombs were greater, making it about four times larger in tonnage. This reflects how the U.S. prioritized interdiction in Cambodia to disrupt paths and bases used by opposing forces, leading to exceptionally heavy air campaigns in that theater.