* Frederick L. Ashworth flew with Sweeney in Bockscar and was responsible for arming the bomb. * The primary target was the city of Kokura. Nagasaki was the secondary target. * Bockscar’s reserve fuel tank was not pumping fuel correctly so the plane could not make use of the extra 600 gallons. * About 40,000 people died in this mission.
President Truman announced the first bomb to be dropped at 10:30 am on August 6th, 1945 (“The Atomic Bomb & End of WWII” 1). In Hiroshima 90,000-166,000 people died, and in Nagasaki 60,000-80,000 died (“Atomic Bomb” 1). From both of the bomb dropped in each town only some building remained standing simply for the reason that they were reinforced by concrete (1). Out of all the survivors Eizo Nomura was the closest known survivor of the bomb, he was 560 feet away from where the bomb hit (1). It was hard for people to believe this guy survived, although he was in a reinforced building its still amazing that he managed to survive.
In other words, the moral issues to not use nuclear warfare fails to meet the argument for dropping the bomb and changes the subject from the immediate decision to the long-term consequences of the decision (Truman Library). But even if one grants the point about fear of annihilation, it is not clear that the world has fundamentally changed nor that the whole world is always in danger of nations from time immemorial. For example, ancient Rome sacked Carthage, plowed it under and salted the earth (Sherrow 72). Medieval and modern religious wars have annihilated millions. More recently, there was Hitler's genocidal six-million-death final solution to the Jewish problem, and the Communists' ten of millions of mass murders continue to this day.
The Japanese military had already shown an unwillingness to surrender throughout the war, and this feeling was made famous by their infamous use of suicide pilots, called kamikazes. They had 5,000,000 troops scattered throughout the Pacific Theater of Operations, and an American invasion of the Japanese homeland would have lasted until late 1946 at the least, resulting in no less than 1,000,000 American deaths, according to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson (Keene, Cornell, O’Donnell, 712). Although such an invasion was the initial plan of action, after testing of the Manhattan project in New Mexico was completed, the Atomic Bomb seemed to be a quicker solution to an already drawn out war. Towards the end of WWII America was faced with a dilemma. The Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor using Kamikaze pilots and were showing no signs of regret for it or any signs of not continuing these kinds of attacks.
At the time, revenge, geopolitics and an expensive project that could not be allowed to simply rust away, meant the atomic bomb had to be hastily deployed “in the field” in order to see its power and aftermath – though little was known about radiation and its effects on humans. The price to keep the USSR in check was steep: the use of a weapon of mass destruction that caused around 200,000 deaths (most of them civilians) and massive suffering through radiation. However, it did not stop the USSR from creating the same weapon within four
They attacked them and were able to split the Germans. As the war continued, both sides began to use aircraft to drop bombs on the enemy’s location. The first planes that were used for bombings only could carry small attacked from the ground. By the end of the war, faster long-range bombs were built that could carry a much
Castle Bravo was a dry device which reduced the size and weight greatly. The bomb weighed a total of 23,500 pounds. The test was the first deliverable device which paved the way for creations of more effective weapons, including nuclear weapons that could be delivered by aircraft. Designers of the nuclear weapon miscalculated the yield of the device, causing nuclear fallout and critical contamination throughout the islands. Scientists predicted the yield to be four to six megatons and were shocked when Bravo produced a 15 megaton yield making it two times the expected yield.
The Decision When Harry Truman learned of the success of the creation of nuclear weapons, he was faced with the most difficult decision in history. The capacity to end the war with Japan was in his hands, but it would involve unleashing the most terrible weapon ever known. Truman ultimately had to decide if the gains from ending the war would outweigh the destruction from ordering the bombs and leading the world into the nuclear age. After very careful deliberation Truman made the right decision on ordering the use of the atomic bomb. The decision prevented millions of American casualties, millions of Japanese casualties, and served as a deterrent to the USSR expansion.
Technology and the kinds of savage warfare conducted by the American and enemy forces during World War II both played a crucial role in determining the outcome of the war. The war began with most armies utilizing technology that had changed little from World War I, and in some cases, had remained unchanged since the 19th century. The war began with cavalry, trenches, and World War I-era battleships, but within only six years, armies around the world had developed jet aircraft, ballistic missiles, and even atomic weapons by one. The best jet fighters at the end of the war easily outflew any of the leading aircraft of 1929, such as the Spitfire Mark I. The early war bombers that caused such carnage would almost all have been shot down in 1945,
August 6, 1945 and August 9, 1945 were days in history like no other. Only one country in history has ever used an atomic bomb against another nation; the United States of America. Code named the Manhattan Project, the atomic bombs were being developed to use against Japan towards the end of World War II. The United States was completely justified in dropping the bombs on Japan. Japan was near defeat, but many question how close Japan was to surrender (Jennings).