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To: Hebrews 11:6

MacArthur did not need to know, as he would have no operational authority over the activities of 509th Composite Bomb Group. Apparently all information about the Manhattan Project was disseminated by one-on-one oral briefing, and only to those people who needed to know. Captain McVay of the USS Indianapolis did not know what she was carrying to Tinian. Only Col. Tibbets knew what the Enola Gay had in her bomb bay when they took off on August 6, none of the crew knew.

In military circles outside of Gen. Groves staff, it was a very short list of military officers who knew. And why should they have known? Nobody knew the bombs would actually work; not even the scientists who designed them. (They were pretty sure the Uranium bomb would “work,” but they had no idea what the yield would be. The Plutonium bombs were a guess until Trinity.) The military had to plan to finish the war as though there were no atomic weapons.


42 posted on 05/27/2015 5:52:00 PM PDT by henkster (Do I really need a sarcasm tag?)
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To: henkster; Hebrews 11:6
Washington communicated with field commanders by classified cable. No one working in those code rooms would be cleared for knowledge of Manhattan. So, the only way to communicate way by sending briefers overseas to personally brief the person in secret.

I read somewhere that Marshall discussed the issue of dropping the bomb with Ike and Bradley when visiting them but it was not an authoritative source. I don't know why they would be in the loop. No need to know there, but Marshall did seem to value their counsel.

43 posted on 05/27/2015 6:01:18 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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