Just to make it clear: the firebombing of German cities full of civilians, and the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were gravely immoral. It doesn't matter if it had shortened the war or not (which is dubious anyhow). This is true even though the German state itself targeted civilians at a massive scale, and systematically destroyed entire cities along with its populace (most famously Warsaw). I'm going to assume that this is perfectly obvious to anyone with sufficient moral clarity (which rules out utilitarians).
