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Atomic Bombings of Japan

On August 6, 1945 the crew of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay", piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets, dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan.  Japan did not surrender.

Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay" "Enola Gay" on Tinian in the Marianas Islands

Atomic Bomb Explosion Hiroshima Ruins

On August 9, 1945 Major Charles W. Sweeney piloted the B-29 Superfortress "Bockscar" from the island of Tinian with Fat Man - the only remaining atomic bomb America had at the time. The mission: detonate the bomb over the city Kokura. Due to cloud cover over the city, Bockscar diverted to the secondary target of Nagasaki, a major industrial city.  The bomb was released and detonated above Nagasaki at 11 a.m.

Charles W. Sweeney and the crew of the "Bockscar", two days after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. The cockpit of the B-29 "Bockscar" Additional views of the Bockscar's cockpit

The photographs below are of the B-29 Bockscar on display at the United States Air Force National Museum in Dayton, Ohio.  The nose art was added after the atomic bombing mission.

Click the image to see the larger photograph:

The United States had done some atomic bomb testing as a result of the Manhattan Project started in June 1942, and had only two atomic weapons available in August 1945: Little Boy and Fat Man.

The two bombs were constructed of different materials and used different explosive devices.  A Little Boy atomic bomb was released over Hiroshima. This bomb was constructed with uranium, weighed in at 9,000 pounds, and produced an explosive force of roughly 20,000 tons of TNT.

 
Little Boy

The Fat Man atomic bomb, used over Nagasaki, was constructed with plutonium, weighed in at 10,000 pounds but also had an explosive force of roughly 20,000 tons of TNT.  Fat Man's explosive yield was the same as that of Little Boy but due to the terrain, Fat Man produced less damage from the bomb.  The terrain around Hiroshima is relatively flat whereas Nagasaki's terrain is hilly.

Fat Man
Source of bomb information: Literature at the United States Air Force National Museum.

Using the Atomic Bomb Saved Lives

President Harry Truman announced the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.  On August 9, 1945, a second atomic bomb exploded above Nagasaki. The Japanese officially surrendered on August 15, 1945.  President Truman announced Japan's unconditional surrender to the Allied Forces.

Prior to August 1945, the United States was making progress in her fight against Japan but casualties on both sides were high and the invasion of mainland Japan had not even started.  So few people know about the atomic bomb, American military strategist had developed a plan for the invasion of Japan, code named Operation Downfall. The operation consisted of two successive operations: Operation Olympic and Operation Coronet. Operation Olympic was scheduled to begin on November 1, 1945 and Operation Coronet would commence on March 1, 1946.  Operation Downfall became unnecessary when Japan unconditionally surrendered after the atomic bombings.

Today, some people question President Harry Truman's decision to use atomic weapons. The assertion typically is the Japanese were about to surrender and/or the use of the atom bomb was cruel and inhumane because of the number of casualties.  Even if the Japanese were considering surrender, they were not considering "unconditional surrender". While diplomacy was attempted, people would be dying.  At the time, the use of the atomic bomb was not controversial³.  With the shear destructive power of one atomic bomb and the visual impact of the mushroom cloud, one can understand how it now captures so much attention, but more people died and more property was damaged with the use of conventional ordinance.

Consider the effects conventional and incendiary (i.e. fire bombs) bombing inflicted on enemy cities during the war. Dresden, Germany, a city of minimal military significance, was heavily bombarded from February 13 through April 17, 1945, killing between 35,000 and 135,000 people¹.  Heavy conventional, incendiary bombing raids were not isolated to Europe.  A three-day bombing raid on Tokyo, Japan starting on March 9, 1945 killed at least 83,800 people and wounded more than 160,000 people².  Japan claimed more than 130,000 people dead².  The bombings and the subsequent fires destroyed approximately 16 square miles of the city - 40 percent of the city's area and 267,000 buildings!² The United States lost only 14 aircraft and this type of bombing was conducted over other Japanese cities during the next few months².  Incendiary bombs were used on 60 cities between November 1944 and July 1945 resulting in approximately 800,000 casualties and deaths⁶.  The use of the atomic bomb "against Hiroshima and Nagasaki produced fewer casualties in each case than the Tokyo attack."².

Also consider what was happening on the domestic front in Japan. Japan had an army of two million soldiers, 8,000 aircraft some of which would be used by Kamikaze attacks against U.S. ships. Allied casualties from the invasion of Japan varied widely, from 250,000 to a million and even greater losses for the Japanese. This was based in part on the ferocity the Japanese fought in previous Pacific battles on small islands such as Saipan, Okinawa, and Iwo Jima.  In 1945, in preparation for the imminent invasion of their home islands, the Japanese government began mobilizing almost all citizens for an all-out defense. On March 23, 1945, Japan formed the Patriotic Citizens Fighting Corps allowing all men ages 16 to 60 and all women ages 17 to 40 to be called upon under the Volunteer Enlistment Law¹¹.  Civilians were trained using spears and other sharp instruments. A mobilized high school girl, Yukiko Kasai was given an awl (a small pointed tool for piercing holes in leather and other soft material) and was told "Even killing just one American soldier will do."¹¹.  Since Japan could not provide uniforms for the civilians allowing civilians to be distinguished from soldiers and that Japan was calling for all civilians to fight, all civilians would effectively became targets for the invading forces. In a July 21 report, at least one intelligence officer for the U.S. Fifth Air Force stated "The entire population of Japan is a proper military target...There are no civilians in Japan¹¹.  On March 27, 1945, Public Law Number 30 mobilized all Japanese citizens¹¹.  All schools except for grades one through six were suspended¹¹. 

President Truman likely considered other factors as well such as the dollar cost of the effort, the number of Americans who might die or be injured, and the ferocity in which the Japanese had defended their small islands. One such small island was Iwo Jima.  The battle for this small island in February 1945 cost the lives of 6,800 and injured over 28,000 Americans⁹.  The death toll for Japan was worse. Over 21,000 Japanese troops were killed⁹.  (To learn more about the battle for Iwo Jima and the carnage inflicted by both sides, click here.) Another one of Japan's small, but strongly defended islands was Okinawa, an island more than 400 miles from mainland Japan.  During the Okinawa campaign, code-name Operation Iceberg, 12,000 Americans were killed and 36,000 wounded⁸.  Japanese losses were greater - at least 100,000 dead⁸.  Many committed suicide.   There was valid concern and belief among American officials the Japanese resolve to defend their motherland would be greater than what occurred in Okinawa where it took almost three months to subdue the defenders. The casualties the United States would incur should she invade the Japanese mainland would be even worse.

The death toll estimates from the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki vary.  The number of deaths from the actual bombing of Hiroshima varies from 70,000 deaths⁴ to 100,000⁵ deaths. The blast from the atomic bomb burned 4.4 square miles¹⁰ destroying or damaging almost all of the city's 76,000 structures⁵.  For Nagasaki, the number of deaths totaled 39,000 people¹⁰.  By 1950, the deaths attributed to the atomic bombings were 200,000^{5 and 6} in Hiroshima and 140,000⁷ in Nagasaki (not counting the many wounded and residual injuries).  Although these deaths and casualties were tragic, they were the deaths of the enemy. Not one American life was lost in the two atomic bombings. Concluding the war quickly by using the atomic bombs, Truman likely saved the lives of tens of thousands of people on both sides of the war.

Citations:
1 The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Micropedia Ready Reference, Volume 4, 15th Edition, copyright 2007, "Dresden", page 221.
2 Peter Rainbow, "Raid on Tokyo, 1945". In Tucker, Spencer C., gen. ed. Encyclopedia of American Military History. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2003
3 Brian C. Melton  "Decision to Deploy the Atomic Bomb". In Tucker, Spencer C., gen. ed. Encyclopedia of American Military History. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2003.
4 The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Micropedia Ready Reference, Volume 5, 15th Edition, copyright 2007, "Hiroshima", page 943.
5 Rodney P. Carlisle, "Hiroshima" Encyclopedia of the Atomic Age. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2001.
6 GlobalSecurity.org and the paper "Tainted Decision: The Atom Bomb and America's Decision to End World War II" by Major Lee T. Wyatt, III, United States Army, Command and Staff College, Education Center, Marine Corps Development and Education Command, Quantico, Virginia  22134, March 25, 1986), page 8.
7 GlobalSecurity.org and the paper "Tainted Decision: The Atom Bomb and America's Decision to End World War II" by Major Lee T. Wyatt, III, United States Army, Command and Staff College, Education Center, Marine Corps Development and Education Command, Quantico, Virginia  22134, March 25, 1986), page 26.
8 The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Micropedia Ready Reference, Volume 8, 15th Edition, copyright 2007, "Okinawa", page 900.
9 The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Micropedia Ready Reference, Volume 6, 15th Edition, copyright 2007, "Iwo Jima", page 446.
10 The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Macropedia Volume 21, 15th Edition, copyright 2007, page 853.
11 Richard B. Frank, "Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire, Random House, 1999, pages 188 and 189.