75 years ago today (Hiroshima bomb)

[Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese]

You can argue the necessity or moraloty of this and whether it was right.

Whay tou cannot argue is that if any message was needed the Japanese got it and Nagasaki 3 days later was a war crime

As was most of our bombing of Germany. We have the luxury of sitting here in freedom to ponder this though.

 

[mosssideblue]

You can argue the necessity or moraloty of this and whether it was right.

Whay tou cannot argue is that if any message was needed the Japanese got it and Nagasaki 3 days later was a war crime

Not sure it was mate. Japan hadn't got the message and continued to fight on. It was only after the second bomb, did sense prevail.

 

[MillionMilesAway]

As far as I know. Nagasaki wasn't the intended target. The planes were looking to hit Fukuoka - a far more important place then and now - but the weather was poor. Nagasaki was on the route back.

 

[urban genie]

Not sure it was mate. Japan hadn't got the message and continued to fight on. It was only after the second bomb, did sense prevail.

Japan were already on the way to surrender, the day before Nagasaki the USSR agreed to join the land invasion and that had tipped the scales to a majority of thier leadership wanting to surrender.

The fact that they were given no time to even discuss it, USSR ally with the US and the bomb being dropped is one of the issues of why it is a crime.

Also the fact many in the US military at the time wanted to do it to partly test a higher yield A bomb, and commented after thay are lucky it missed the target of the mitaubishi works as the casualty rate would have made Hiroshima look tiny.

A few factors were in play

US reluctance to the USSR getting any reach into Japan
Testing a bigger bomb.
The reluctance to Bomb Kyoto scheduled originally and to be 5 days after hiroshima.


Yes some in Japan were not ready to surrender but then they were given 3 days and preliminary info on the effects of Horishima to decide, doing it so quickly after is the crime.

 

[NeilYoungIsBack]

I remember reading about one young Japanese factory worker who survived the Hiroshima bomb and returned home to be with her parents, who lived in Nagasaki. She survived that bomb too. (I think it was a woman but it might have been a teenage boy, I cant quite remember).

This short video summarises the Battle of Okinawa the outcome of which many historians believe influenced the decision to drop the first bomb. Interestingly, the US Navy suffered more deaths than the Army or Marines because of the vast number of kamikaze attacks.

 

[mosssideblue]

Japan were already on the way to surrender, the day before Nagasaki the USSR agreed to join the land invasion and that had tipped the scales to a majority of thier leadership wanting to surrender.

The fact that they were given no time to even discuss it, USSR ally with the US and the bomb being dropped is one of the issues of why it is a crime.

Also the fact many in the US military at the time wanted to do it to partly test a higher yield A bomb, and commented after thay are lucky it missed the target of the mitaubishi works as the casualty rate would have made Hiroshima look tiny.

A few factors were in play

US reluctance to the USSR getting any reach into Japan
Testing a bigger bomb.
The reluctance to Bomb Kyoto scheduled originally and to be 5 days after hiroshima.


Yes some in Japan were not ready to surrender but then they were given 3 days and preliminary info on the effects of Horishima to decide, doing it so quickly after is the crime.

Fair enough mate, you clearly have more insight than I have. I am a firm believer though that the use of such weapons at the time has prevented further world wars and will continue to do so.

 

[Ardwick Green Blue]

I went to visit Hiroshima Peace park a couple of years a go which was harrowing. The Japanese government send a letter each month/week/ day (can't remember which) asking the US Government to disarm their nuclear weapons.

The bomb acted as a miniature sun in the sky just above Hiroshima. Let's hope a weapon like this is never used again.

Japan wasn't a peaceful nation prior to the bombs being dropped on them. It had invaded countries even before WWII & it was brutal by any standards. Judging Japan then and Japan now is pointless navel gazing. The atomic bombs cost lots of Japanese lives but saved at least as many in occupied countries and in Allied troops lives.

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

You can argue the necessity or moraloty of this and whether it was right.

Whay tou cannot argue is that if any message was needed the Japanese got it and Nagasaki 3 days later was a war crime

No, we can argue it because you're wrong.

 

[Big Swifty]

What of the Allied fire-bombing of Dresden in Feb 1945, when tens of thousands of civilians were roasted alive, just to crush the spirit of German resistance, when there was no strategic or military objective to be gained other than a show of force. Morally it was at least as bad as Hiroshima, though the implications for future wars were perhaps less far-reaching.
No wonder Bomber Harris is not everyone's hero.

 

[Blue Maverick]

Was there to be a third bomb if they hadn’t surrendered?