At 3:57am, a US Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber named The Bockscar lifted off from an airstrip in the Pacific Ocean's Northern Mariana Islands, carrying a 10,800 pound plutonium core, implosion-type nuclear bomb, code-named "Fat Man".

 

Approximately 8 hours later, over the cloudy skies of Nagasaki, Japan, the B-29 dropped the bomb at just after 11:00:am local time. The bomb exploded approximately 2 miles from its intended target, exploding at an altitude of approximately 1,600 feet above the city. The bomb delivered an explosive payload equal to approximately 21 kilotons of TNT, with an immediate blast area measuring approximately 3/10th of a mile across. At ground level, the fireball is approximated to have reached temperatures upwards of 18,000 F°, completely incinerating everything within its footprint. The initial blast killed an approximate 40,000 Japanese, and injuries and resulting effects of radiation are estimated to have killed as many as 40,000 more.

 

 

 

 

 

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Three days earlier, on August 6, 1945, a US Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber named The Enola Gay had taken off from the same airstrip in the Northern Mariana Islands, carrying a 9,700 pound enriched uranium core, gun-type nuclear bomb, code-named "Little Boy".

 

This bomb had been dropped at approximately 8:15am local time over Hiroshima, Japan. This bomb detonated within 15 meters of its intended target, exploding at an altitude of approximately 2,000 feet above the city. Little Boy's explosive payload was equal to approximately 13 kilotons of TNT, with an immediate blast area measuring approximately 2/10th of a mile across. At ground level, the fireball's temperature was estimated to to have reached temperatures over of 12,000 F°. The initial blast was so devastating that many of the people within its reach were completely incinerated, leaving only their human shadows on adjacent objects where their bodies had managed to lessen the explosion's initial heat:

 

 

The initial blast at Hiroshima is estimated to have killed approximately 65,000 Japanese, and although exact numbers are not as clear, injuries and resulting effects of radiation are estimated to have killed as many as 100,000 more.

 

Hiroshima was necessary. Nagasaki was overkill.

Hiroshima was necessary. Nagasaki was overkill.

 

After Hiroshima, didn't the Allies demand a surrender and the Japanese Empire refused vowing to continue fighting?

Less than 4 months prior, on April 12, 1945, Harry S. Truman had been sworn in as the US President, having previously served as Vice President to Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had died earlier that day of a cerebral hemorrhage suffered at his personal resort in Warm Springs, Georgia.

 

Truman had not been as well-informed about the nuclear bomb and its top secret development in the Manhattan Project as his predecessor. After being given more information on the nuclear project, Truman quickly developed an committee, The Interim Committee, to advise him on the potential usefulness of nuclear weapons. At 5:30am on July 16, 1945 in the desert at Algamardo, New Mexico, a nuclear test-bomb, code-named "Trinity" was suspended from a 100 foot steel tower and detonated.

 

On July 16th, President Truman was present at the Potsdam Conference in Potsdam, Germany, which was now occupied by Russian military forces following Germany's unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945. United States Secretary of War Henry Stimson and President Truman were wired a telegram from Stinson's adviser George L. Harrison containing a full report of the Trinity detonation, and were informed that the results of Trinity's detonation "seem satisfactory and already exceeded expectations".

 

Ten days later, on the evening of July 26, 1945, the 13-point Potsdam Declaration was released to all international press, and via Swiss intermediary diplomats and by radio broadcast to the Japanese. By demand of the conference leaders, US President Harry Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and President of The Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek the thirteenth and final point of the declaration stated plainly that: "We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action. The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction."

 

The same day, the US Air Force dropped over 5 million leaflets over 33 Japanese cities issuing a warning. The leaflets stated:

 

"

Read this carefully as it may save your life or the life of a relative or friend. In the next few days, some or all of the cities named on the reverse side will be destroyed by American bombs...

 

...unfortunately, bombs have no eyes. So, in accordance with America’s humanitarian policies, the American Air Force, which does not wish to injure innocent people, now gives you warning to evacuate the cities named and save your lives.

 

...

You can restore peace by demanding new and good leaders who will end the war. We cannot promise that only these cities will be among those attacked but some or all of them will be, so heed this warning and evacuate these cities immediately

"

 

On July 28, 1945, the Japanese government rejected the joint declaration, offering a response of mokusatsu, a Japanese word meaning "to ignore and to treat with silent contempt". Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki was quoted as saying, "My thinking is that this joint declaration is virtually the same as the earlier declaration. The government of Japan does not consider it having any crucial value. We simply mokusatsu surs. The only alternative is for us to be determined to continue our fight to the end."

 

In less than two weeks' time of Premier Suzuki's response, almost 200,000 Japanese citizens and military laid dead or dying from the two single-most powerful displays of military weaponry ever used in warfare in the history of the earth.

 

At 10:00pm local time on August 9, 1945, the evening following the bombing of Nagasaki, US President Harry S. Truman delivered a radio address from the White House. The address was just over 4,000 words in length, but can be summed up succinctly in a three sentences, 73 words in length, somewhere near the end of President Truman's broadcast:

 

"

Having found the bomb we have used it. We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare. We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans.

"

 

24 days later, aboard the USS Missouri, a US battleship floating in the Tokyo Bay, Japanese foreign minister Mamoro Shigemitsu signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender at 9:04am, agreeing to Japan's unconditional surrender. It was then signed by Yoshijiro Umezu, Japan's Chief of the Army General Staff, and US General Douglas McArthur, the Supreme Commander for Allied Powers. There were 9 more signatory parties, further representing the United States, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. At 9:22am local time, the time of the final signature, the Second World War was officially brought to an end.

After Hiroshima, didn't the Allies demand a surrender and the Japanese Empire refused vowing to continue fighting?

 

I've read that, following Hiroshima, the Japanese Imperial Command did send wires accepting the terms. Allegedly, those telegrams were never received, or ignored.

After Hiroshima, didn't the Allies demand a surrender and the Japanese Empire refused vowing to continue fighting?

 

I don't believe there was ever a formal demand issued by the Allied Forces between the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings aside from propaganda campaigns continued by the Allied Forces. The Potsdam Declaration was the mandate. Japan was expected to agree to its terms.

 

Japan's Supreme Council For The Direction Of The War, which consisted of the Japanese Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of War, the Minister of the Navy, the Chief of the Army General Staff and the Chief of the Navy General Staff, was known to have been discussing the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, but there is little hard evidence of the discussion. Some of the testimony in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (the equivalent of the Nuremberg Trials for the Japanese government and war officials) provided evidence that there was a minority of members within the Supreme Council that had favored agreeing to the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, but I don't know exactly which members were suggested to have favored surrender prior to the Nagasaki bombing.

 

There was a second pamphlet dropping campaign by the US Air Force between the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings that stated:

 

TO THE JAPANESE PEOPLE:

America asks that you take immediate heed of what we say on this leaflet.

We are in possession of the most destructive explosive ever devised by man. A single one of our newly developed atomic bombs is actually the equivalent in explosive power to what 2000 of our giant B-29s can carry on a single mission. This awful fact is one for you to ponder and we solemnly assure you it is grimly accurate.

We have just begun to use this weapon against your homeland. If you still have any doubt, make inquiry as to what happened to Hiroshima when just one atomic bomb fell on that city.

Before using this bomb to destroy every resource of the military by which they are prolonging this useless war, we ask that you now petition the Emperor to end the war. Our president has outlined for you the thirteen consequences of an honorable surrender. We urge that you accept these consequences and begin the work of building a new, better and peace-loving Japan.

You should take steps now to cease military resistance. Otherwise, we shall resolutely employ this bomb and all our other superior weapons to promptly and forcefully end the war.

EVACUATE YOUR CITIES.

To me, the first one got their attention and the second drove the point home.

 

I'm not going to feel guilty of dropping either or criticize those that decided to do so, but am thankful we produced the bombs first.

Even after the second bomb Japan's military leaders wanted to continue the war.

Even after the second bomb Japan's military leaders wanted to continue the war.

Why? What was their purpose?

Great thread, @Colonels Wear Blue! I am enjoying the history refresher.

Just as we blame the Germans and Hitler's regime for the Holocaust, how do the Japanese feel about Americans?

Just as we blame the Germans and Hitler's regime for the Holocaust, how do the Japanese feel about Americans?

 

They love Americans. I believe Koreans and the Japanese don't really like each other.

They love Americans. I believe Koreans and the Japanese don't really like each other.

I always felt that the Japanese like Americans as well. My parents lived on an Air Force base in Misawa, Japan for 2 years and I got the chance to visit them. The people were great!

 

But today, reflecting on CWB's history lesson, I'm curious how the pendulum swung from hate to love.

I always felt that the Japanese like Americans as well. My parents lived on an Air Force base in Misawa, Japan for 2 years and I got the chance to visit them. The people were great!

 

But today, reflecting on CWB's history lesson, I'm curious how the pendulum swung from hate to love.

 

I'm curious also. Especially since I was in Japan on the 70th anniversary of Hiroshima. In my many trips to Japan I have never been uncomfortable around anyone Japanese and have been welcomed by everyone I have been around in Japan. If they don't like Americans they hide it extremely well.

Why? What was their purpose?

 

Don't know their reasoning as they knew it was futile.