Posted on 08/09/2008 3:50:28 AM PDT by abb
On this day in 1945, a second atom bomb is dropped on Japan by the United States, at Nagasaki, resulting finally in Japan's unconditional surrender.
The devastation wrought at Hiroshima was not sufficient to convince the Japanese War Council to accept the Potsdam Conference's demand for unconditional surrender. The United States had already planned to drop their second atom bomb, nicknamed "Fat Man," on August 11 in the event of such recalcitrance, but bad weather expected for that day pushed the date up to August 9th. So at 1:56 a.m., a specially adapted B-29 bomber, called "Bock's Car," after its usual commander, Frederick Bock, took off from Tinian Island under the command of Maj. Charles W. Sweeney. Nagasaki was a shipbuilding center, the very industry intended for destruction. The bomb was dropped at 11:02 a.m., 1,650 feet above the city. The explosion unleashed the equivalent force of 22,000 tons of TNT. The hills that surrounded the city did a better job of containing the destructive force, but the number killed is estimated at anywhere between 60,000 and 80,000 (exact figures are impossible, the blast having obliterated bodies and disintegrated records).
General Leslie R. Groves, the man responsible for organizing the Manhattan Project, which solved the problem of producing and delivering the nuclear explosion, estimated that another atom bomb would be ready to use against Japan by August 17 or 18-but it was not necessary. Even though the War Council still remained divided ("It is far too early to say that the war is lost," opined the Minister of War), Emperor Hirohito, by request of two War Council members eager to end the war, met with the Council and declared that "continuing the war can only result in the annihilation of the Japanese people...." The Emperor of Japan gave his permission for unconditional surrender.
I have stood on the exact spot and in that rebuilt church.
Where did you hear that? It was an industrial area
Probably here at FR; however, Amazon books gets a great many references from Google, and here are two others:
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/WWII/feature0283.asp
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_35_41/ai_n15341010
Another footnote:
"...Survivors from the Catholic community--the bomb had fallen on Nagasaki's Catholic district and cathedral--..."
Yeah, but what would be taught would be how evil the US was to use such a terrible weapon on civilians, with no mention of the millions of lives that were saved.
In fact, Christianity was sealed in Nagasaki in the blood of martyrs. On a hill not far from the epicenter of the blast of Nagasaki, is a hill where about 20 Japanese were crucified on orders of Tokugawa (the Shogun at the time) for not renouncing Christianity. In that group, were little Japanese children, too, each nailed to their own smaller crosses overlooking the city.
Some people have absolutely no class, even freepers.
1597. Although I had the shogunate wrong. It was Toyotomi who ordered this.
I am as always envious of your travels in Japan.
On this day still no one recognizes that the Japanese lives saved by the bomb were in the Millions.
And that their losses could have been on a scale of ten to every one of ours had we invaded.
As cruel as it was the reality of what might have been if Operation Olympus had proceeded is lost on many. The planners at the time were estimating 300,000 to 700,000 allied casualties—and up to 2,000,000 Japanese casualties for the first phase of the operation.
Imagine a world where “Made in Japan” didn’t happen.
My dad would have been a new infantry draftee private in Coronet and/or Olympic. Against fierce Japanese resistance, he might not have made it. The atom bomb probably made me possible.
LLS
Derserves to be repeated.
Every war has developed newer technologies to kill people. Nuclear weapons are too indescriminate to use in populous nations.
The fact so many here gloat over the deaths of thousands of innocents should be reviled. It makes you look like the jihadists that celebrated when the Twin Towers fell.
Was the dropping necessary? It saved American lives. The bomb had been developed, it would be used. EVERY weapon developed gets used, especially in a time of war.
Yes, the Christians of Japan were the group most in opposition to the phony “religion” of militarism in Japan. It’s too bad Nagasaki’s number came up.
boooooooooooooooommmmmmp !!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bockscar
Kokura was the primary target, but when Bockscar arrived at its rendezvous point off the coast of Japan the third aircraft of its flight (the photo ship Big Stink) was not present. After fruitlessly waiting 40 minutes, Sweeney and Bock proceeded to Kokura but found it obscured by clouds. Sweeney had orders to drop the atomic bomb visually if possible, and after three unsuccessful passes over Kokura, conferred with weaponeer Commander Frederick Ashworth (USN). They agreed to strike the secondary target, Nagasaki.[7]
http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/macarthur%20reports/macarthur%20v1/ch13.htm
The details of Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan.
The two bombs saved a million lives.
Indeed. And just suppose we had them a year earlier. No Battle of the Bulge or Market Garden. No Iwo Jima or Okinawa. No Communist domination of Eastern Europe for two generations.
Very poor taste IMO.
One of the most horrific days in the history of mankind, necessary but horrific.
I simply do no agree. There's no telling how many tinpot dictators were suitably impressed by this display of military power. Do you really believe the Communists would have refrained from aggressive military action against us had we not shown our willingness to use these weapons?
The two bombs ended the war Japan started, and saved millions of Japanese who would have fought to the death to resist the invasion.
For wanton mass murder, Nanking comes to mind.
I am not in any disagreement with any of your points. I am simply saying that such a huge loss of life on a general population center is horrific.
Were there a way for all the deaths to have been Japanese military, I would be calling for the fireworks stands to be open each year for the occasion.
Sadly though, that was just not possible.
Another thing. If we don't take off the kid gloves and show the Islamists just how ruthless a people we can be, the terror attacks will NEVER stop.
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