Posted on 08/06/2006 6:59:07 AM PDT by AirBorn
1945: US drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima
The first atomic bomb has been dropped by a United States aircraft on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. President Harry S Truman, announcing the news from the cruiser, Augusta, in the mid-Atlantic, said the device contained the equivalent of 20,000 tons of TNT and was more than 2,000 times more powerful than the largest bomb used to date.
An accurate assessment of the damage caused has so far been impossible due to a huge cloud of impenetrable dust covering the target. Hiroshima is one of the chief supply depots for the Japanese army.
The bomb was dropped from an American B-29 Superfortress, known as Enola Gay, at 0815 local time. The plane's crew say they saw a column of smoke rising and intense fires springing up.
We found the Japanese in our locality were not eager to befriend us - after all, they had not long ago had the most fearful weapon of all time dropped on their doorstep
People's War memories »
The President said the atomic bomb heralded the "harnessing of the basic power of the universe". It also marked a victory over the Germans in the race to be first to develop a weapon using atomic energy.
President Truman went on to warn the Japanese the Allies would completely destroy their capacity to make war.
The Potsdam declaration issued 10 days ago, which called for the unconditional surrender of Japan, was a last chance for the country to avoid utter destruction, the President said.
"If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the like of which has never been seen on Earth. Behind this air attack will follow by sea and land forces in such number and power as they have not yet seen, but with fighting skill of which they are already aware."
The British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, who has replaced Winston Churchill at Number 10, read out a statement prepared by his predecessor to MPs in the Commons.
It said the atomic project had such great potential the government felt it was right to pursue the research and to pool information with atomic scientists in the US.
As Britain was considered within easy reach of Germany and its bombers, the decision was made to set up the bomb-making plants in the US.
The statement continued: "By God's mercy, Britain and American science outpaced all German efforts. These were on a considerable scale, but far behind. The possession of these powers by the Germans at any time might have altered the result of the war."
Mr Churchill's statement said considerable efforts had been made to disrupt German progress - including attacks on plants making constituent parts of the bomb.
He ended: "We must indeed pray that these awful agencies will be made to conduce peace among the nations and that instead of wreaking measureless havoc upon the entire globe they become a perennial fountain of world prosperity."
Thanks, apparently that a-bomb had no name (?).
And as pointed out the pipeline would have been churning out more of them just as fast as they could. All the components were in place and they could turn out about two a month.
There were four bombs built with uranium that we got from Canada. There was only one test.
There were more in the pipeline and we did continue to build them until the 1946 test at Bikini Atoll when we abandon atom for nuclear.
Hanford was turning out enough plutonium to produce one bomb a week. Maybe no more Little Boy's but we could have produced a multitude of Fat Man.
With the exception of the bomb Tibbets had sent the B-29’s to pick up, it is likely the targets for the remaining atomic bombs wouldn’t have been cities. (There weren’t that many left intact anymore.) That bomb was likely destined for Kokura which was actually the primary target for Bock’s Car. The remainder very well might have been used in the tactical role rather than the strategic role.
Of course with taking out those two cities we had taken out much of Japan's ability to rebuild.
The other three cities that were considered for atomic bombing were Kyoto, Kokura and Niigata.
LOL! I never claimed to be Miss Cleo.
Quoting from my senior thesis:
When Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson was shown the list of selected targets, he immediately focused on Kyoto. Stimson was adamant that it be removed from the target list. Groves explained that it would be the best target because of its large geographical size and population of more than one million. This would allow for easy measuring of the blast effects because it was so large and not separated by any significant bodies of water. Kyoto also had a large industrial infrastructure that was without doubt producing war materials. Nevertheless, Stimson was not going to allow Kyoto to be used as an atomic target. “The reason for his objection was that Kyoto was the ancient capital of Japan, a historical city, and one that was of great religious significance to the Japanese.” (Groves 1962, 273-274)
Even though Stimson had put Kyoto off limits, Groves continued to attempt to persuade him otherwise. While Stimson was at the Potsdam conference, Groves tried yet again to have Kyoto designated the primary target. The message that came back, this time from President Truman, stated Kyoto would not be touched. That telegram saved Kyoto from any risk of being an atomic target but almost caused it to be burned to ashes by conventional fire bomb raids. With Kyoto removed from the list of atomic targets, it was no longer protected from General LeMay’s B-29's which were starting their fire bombing campaign against Japan. When General Groves realized this, he contacted General Hap Arnold who insured that Kyoto would technically remain on the target list even though it was no longer being considered for atomic attack. (Groves 1962, 274-276) A replacement was needed now that Kyoto was removed from the list of targets. In its place, the city of Nagasaki was chosen but as a Class B Target. (Groves 1962, 309-310) An irony of the Manhattan Project is that it developed and deployed a weapon that could destroy a city with a single blast but in the process saved Kyoto and several other Japanese cities from destruction by B-29 fire bomb raids. Every city on the list would survive the war except the two destroyed by the atomic bombs.
***Another event that happen on this date.First use of the electric chair in the United States (1890)***
Let's see, Thomas Edison promoted DC electric while Westinghouse promoted AC current.
Edison set up the first electric chair in AC to prove AC was too dangerous to use.
It took several tries to kill the prisoner, causing some reporters to flee the area.
AC won and that is why we use Ac today instead of DC. AC was also changable for long distance travel using transformers to up the voltage.
But I said it was considered and it was. Like you say it was taken off the list but if Japan had not surrendered who knows? It might have been put back on.
For sure one more city would have been gone. How many after that we can only speculate.
The Augusta served as FDR's & Truman's flagship, and carried quite a few other notables in its day (Omar Bradley and his staff at Normandy). Served in both the Pacific and Atlantic, at Operation Torch and Overlord. A storied ship.
Looks like Made In USA is 'pulling a Rooters' on us to keep us on our toes! ;>)
figgured it was just a misclick... 8^)
In one version of the Enola Gay Tibbets is muted on Sweeney's performance and in another he rips him as incompetent and a screwup.
Best regards,
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