[TomSmedley]

The aiming point on that Sunday morning was the Nagasaki cathedral. In less than a minute, these American Christians did what Japanese shintos had been unable to do in three centuries: they obliterated the worshipping Christian community in that city.

[dfwgator]

How many Christians died at Pearl Harbor or the Bataan Death March, or in the Rape of Nanking. And how many would have been slaughtered by the Japanese had we not dropped Fat Man and Little Boy?

[COEXERJ145]

The aiming point on that Sunday morning was the Nagasaki cathedral. In less than a minute, these American Christians did what Japanese shintos had been unable to do in three centuries: they obliterated the worshipping Christian community in that city.

Actually the assigned aiming point was missed by miles as Nagasaki was covered in clouds. Bock's Car had enough fuel for only one pass before heading for Okinawa. If they couldn't drop visually (as required by their orders) they were going to drop by radar. However, the bombardier found a hole in the clouds and released the weapon. It actually landed in the industrial area of the city which was in a valley. Because of this, the number of dead was much lower than at Hiroshima even though Little Boy had a yield of 12.5 Kilotons while Fat Man had a yield of ~21 Kilotons.

[blau993]

Interesting comment. The nuns who taught me something they called "history" when I was a kid always harped on that point as proof that the Protestant leaders in the US deliberately chose Hiroshima and Nagasaki as targets for the atomic bombs in order to wipe out Catholicism in Japan. I didn't buy it then either.

[The_Republican]

Oh please.

What about the Germans? Do you regret their loss too?

Would it be OK if Only Shintos were obliterated?

[A.A. Cunningham]

The aiming point on that Sunday morning was the Nagasaki cathedral.

Urban legend. By the way, 9 August 1945 was a Thursday, not a Sunday. To think that Charles Sweeney, the Roman Catholic pilot of Bocks Car, made three passes over the primary target, Kokura, instructed Beahan not to drop the bomb because of cloud cover, then flew to Nagasaki, placing himself, his crew and the airplane at additional extreme risk, and then had the bombardier pick out the Catholic Cathedral through the overcast just so the relatively few number of Catholics living in Nagasaki prefecture could be "obliterated" is absurd. Your tin-foil hat is too tight.

Incidentally, the name of the Catholic Cathedral in Nagasaki was and still is Urakami Cathedral.