Two atomic bombs destroyed the Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when two U.S. planes dropped them from above. The bombs, Little Boy and Fat Boy, were intended to end World War II. The annihilation left by Fat Boy, over Nagasaki, made Japan decide to withdraw from the war, thus ending it. The U.S. Navy never authorized the salvage of the USS Arizona was because it is considered a war grave. USS Arizona was destroyed due to a magazine explosion after being hit by a Japanese bomb (Doc A). The few critical hours in the early morning of December 7th, 1941 determined the future course of the world. It is remarkable how the events of that day came together in perfect unison to produce the future that we know and live in. It is for this reason
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US Intelligence knew the Japanese planned an all out defense of their homeland. The Japanese were recalling troops from mainland Asia. They were building fortifications and mining the harbors. They were preparing the civilian population to go down fighting. Recent experience had forewarned military commanders that no amount of naval and aerial bombardment would have significant effect on entrenched Japanese positions. Unlike Europe which had been fighting and surrendering for centuries, it was believed that the Japanese would not surrender. Iwo Jima, being much closer to Japan, the P-51 fighter aircraft could be stationed there to escort the bombers to and from the targets (Doc E). And later, to roam freely on their own to attack infrastructure at low altitude. The Enola Gay’s crew was over 8 miles away when the bomb detonated, so they wouldn't have seen any of the destruction. Even reconnaissance planes were initially unable to see the destruction due to the enormous amounts of smoke caused by the fires, and dust brought up by the bomb. (Doc G) Before the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was the burning of Tokyo. Operation Meetinghouse, the early March 1945 raid on Tokyo that involved hundreds of B-29s dropping bombs from low-altitude at night, killed roughly 100,000 people. As with all statistics on the damage caused by strategic bombing during World War II, there are debatable points. It is listed as the most single deadly air raid of all time. So it is understandable that many people point to Tokyo whenever people want to talk about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The practice of targeting civilian areas with massively destructive aerial bombing had already been done before. And to some, the atomic bombs were just a refinement of the art of area
US Intelligence knew the Japanese planned an all out defense of their homeland. The Japanese were recalling troops from mainland Asia. They were building fortifications and mining the harbors. They were preparing the civilian population to go down fighting. Recent experience had forewarned military commanders that no amount of naval and aerial bombardment would have significant effect on entrenched Japanese positions. Unlike Europe which had been fighting and surrendering for centuries, it was believed that the Japanese would not surrender. Iwo Jima, being much closer to Japan, the P-51 fighter aircraft could be stationed there to escort the bombers to and from the targets (Doc E). And later, to roam freely on their own to attack infrastructure at low altitude. The Enola Gay’s crew was over 8 miles away when the bomb detonated, so they wouldn't have seen any of the destruction. Even reconnaissance planes were initially unable to see the destruction due to the enormous amounts of smoke caused by the fires, and dust brought up by the bomb. (Doc G) Before the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was the burning of Tokyo. Operation Meetinghouse, the early March 1945 raid on Tokyo that involved hundreds of B-29s dropping bombs from low-altitude at night, killed roughly 100,000 people. As with all statistics on the damage caused by strategic bombing during World War II, there are debatable points. It is listed as the most single deadly air raid of all time. So it is understandable that many people point to Tokyo whenever people want to talk about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The practice of targeting civilian areas with massively destructive aerial bombing had already been done before. And to some, the atomic bombs were just a refinement of the art of area