Posted on 08/06/2005 8:53:54 AM PDT by pabianice
Sixty years ago, US President Harry Truman ordered the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It was a weapon of unprecedented power, and one that changed the face of warfare and international politics forever.
On August 6, 1945, lessons begin at the National Technical University on the outskirts of downtown Hiroshima, as always, at 8 a.m. Math is first up in the lesson-plan for the day, and Keijiro Matsushima is gazing out the window, bored. The lanky, fatherless 16 year-old is the only member of his family still in Hiroshima: His brothers are off with the Imperial Navy fighting the Americans and the British, and his mother is staying with her parents in the countryside. She is afraid of an air attack, because Hiroshima, a city built mainly of wood, is one of the few major Japanese cities that hasn't been bombed to smithereens by the American air force.
But Matsushima, who is studying mechanical engineering, must remain in the city. Like all young Japanese men, he is required to help out in the country's munitions factories when not in school. And so he's sitting in his chair by the stairwell wall, listening to the instructor discuss problems of differential calculus, when he suddenly sees the silvery-white bombers of the US Air Force appear in the clear blue summer sky.
The boy is surprised not to hear air-raid sirens. Suddenly, a gleaming light fills the classroom. A "reddish-orange flash" bright "as the sun" prompts him to dive beneath his desk. He places his hands over his eyes and his thumbs into his ears -- doing exactly what he has been told to do to protect himself in an air raid.
But nothing can protect him against what happens next.
"I had the feeling that the explosion happened right next to me," he says today of the deafening blast, an explosion so massive that it could be heard even 160 kilometers away. Hot air singes the skin on his face and the pressure from the blast presses his body against the floor.
The roof of the building collapses into the classroom, hurtling shards of glass through the room like bullets. The young man calls for help. After a while -- he can't recall how long -- he pulls himself from the wreckage and goes outside. It's as quiet as a graveyard...
ping
But the Germans weren't as brainwashed as the Japanese were. Germans surrended in droves when the US Army entered Germany, there was limited resistance. Now on the Eastern Front, the Germans did fight the Bolsheviks with everything they had because they knew their fate would be much worse.
---The boy is surprised not to hear air-raid sirens. Suddenly, a gleaming light fills the classroom. ---
And look the light seems to be spelling something out!
"The war is over, Tojo!"
Or the March 8-9, 1945 firebombing of Tokyo. Around 16 square miles of the city was destroyed and over 100,000 people were killed (more than at Hiroshima). Leftists rarely (if ever) mention it. .....probably because their hero (FDR) was still alive and in office at the time.
German nuclear research had been the reason for the creation of the Manhattan Project. The driving force behind the scientists’ work was the fear of Nazi Germany possessing a weapon that could allow them to win the war and perhaps conquer the world. Many of these men had left Germany before the war began and knew what could come of a Nazi atomic bomb. Considering the fact that German was the possible nuclear rival, why was it ignored when considering nuclear planning? Even today, no adequate explanation has ever been found as to why the military and civilian leadership did not seriously consider Germany as an atomic target. In 1943, when atomic attacks were first discussed, there was no guarantee that the war in Europe would even be close to being concluded by the time an atomic bomb was ready.
One possible explanation comes out of the May 1943 meeting of Groves, Bush, Conant, and several other military personal. "The point of use of the first bomb was discussed and the general view appeared to be that its best point of use would be on a Japanese fleet concentration in the Harbor of Truk [in the Pacific, north of New Guinea]. General Styer suggested Tokyo but it was pointed out that the bomb should be used where, if it failed to go off, it would land in water of sufficient depth to prevent easy salvage. The Japanese were selected as they would not be so apt to secure knowledge from it as the Germans would be.” (Records of the Manhattan Engineer District, 1943) As can be inferred from Groves’ statement, the fear was the bomb could be a dud and recovered intact by the Germans. Groves and the other planners in the MED did not want to risk providing the Germans with the very thing that the United States feared they were actively working to acquire. Also, this could be looked at as an early form of nuclear deterrence. If Germany did posses an atom bomb before the war ended, the U.S. could not be sure if the Germans would use it. The Germans surely would have calculated the risks of being the first to use such a powerful weapon and how the Allies would respond. If the U.S. had dropped an atomic bomb on Germany and had the Germans possessed one or more of their own, the result could have been the nuclear annihilation of Paris or London. While there are not any known documents, memos, or plans for the use of atom bombs on Germany, speculation has always continued about that possibility.
Would the United States have been more inclined to use atomic weapons in Europe if the Germans had obliterated our Normandy invasion forces with some type of radiological or chemical weapon? If the war had continued on into late 1945 or 1946 with no obvious end in sight, would the United States have used nuclear weapons to bring Germany to its knees? If the purpose of the nuclear attacks on Japan was to save Allied lives and bring the war to a quick end, then it must be assumed that the United States would have used atomic weapons in Europe if the war looked to drag on for several more years. Come late 1945 or 1946, USAAF B-29 Superfortresses or B-32 Dominators carrying atom bombs, could have easily darkened the skies over Germany. Fortunately for Germany, the war ended before such a decision had to be made.
Where is the article detailing the Bataan March, told from the GI's point of view? Or the Rape of Nanking as narrated by a Chinese widow? Heck, just a retelling of Pearl Harbor would be refreshing.
Oh, that's right. Only the Allies were the bad guys in that war.
You are a German hater! Germany quit over 60 years ago. For 60 years people like you have spewed hatred for anything German. This hatred comes mostly from the USofA. The German population, that did not participate in the war, have come to recent your filth (their word). Where is your hatred for the Japanese? Where is your hatred for the Italians? Get the picture? Probably not. The Germans have had enough, they are not going to take it anymore.
Me, I am an English heritage American.
That's quite apart from the number of Americans who would have died...a lot of us wouldn't be here because our fathers or grandfathers would have been killed in the invasion.
Agreed. The theoretical work in the US for the bomb started in the late 30's, and Roosevelt authorized the industrial work in the early 40's because of fear that Germany would get it first. I've read that what spurred the US team was always the race with the Krauts. They just collapsed too fast for its employment against them, which I don't think Truman would have had any problem ordering after our troops liberated Buchenwald, Belsen and Dachau.
No thanks, it's macromedia garbage. Nothing but trouble.
Maybe Spiegel has it confused with the proximity fuse. The Navy didn't allow that to be used over land until the
about the time of the Battle of the Bulge, iirc.
Previous solitary planes were doing weather recon, rather than dropping bombs. I guess the Japanese thought they
were photo recon.
Hey Germany we've kicked your self important asses twice.
STFU or we will do it again.
(we've got lots of H bombs now)
Regards
America
Ah, the subtle "Raiders of the Lost Ark" storyline.
Tune in next week..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.