The Decision to Drop

The Decision to Drop

Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally at 2:41 a.m., May 7, ending World War II in Europe. At midnight May 8, the guns stopped firing. The Pacific war with Japan, who was Germany’s ally, continued.

U. S. President Harry S. Truman, English Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin met in Potsdam, Germany between July 17 and August 2, 1945, to discuss strategies to end the war in the Pacific.

The decision to use atomic weapons against Japan emerged at the end of this conference. When the Potsdam Conference opened, the news of the successful test at Trinity Site, New Mexico, had reached President Truman. The bomb was now a reality. President Truman’s first action was to call together his chief advisors for their opinion on whether the bomb should be used. The consensus was that it should, but that the military plans for invasion should also proceed because it was not known what physical or psychological effects the new weapon might have.
The United States, the Soviet Union and Britain approved military plans for invasion and drafted a declaration to be sent to the Japanese demanding unconditional surrender. On July 26, 1945, the Potsdam Declaration was broadcast to the Japanese by the Allied forces. The Japanese government decided that a reply should await the result of peace overtures to the Soviets. Prime Minister Suzuki announced to the world on July 28 that he would ignore the ultimatum.

The first nuclear weapons were dropped during World War II.

Little Boy was the first nuclear weapon used in warfare. It exploded approximately 1,800 feet over Hiroshima, Japan, on the morning of August 6, 1945, with a force equal to 13,000 tons of TNT. Immediate deaths were between 70,000 to 130,000. Little Boy was dropped from a B-29 bomber piloted by U.S. Army Air Force Col. Paul W. Tibbets. Tibbets had named the plane Enola Gay after his mother the night before the atomic attack.

Fat Man was the second nuclear weapon used in warfare. Dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945, Fat Man devastated more than two square miles of the city and caused approximately 45,000 immediate deaths.

Major Charles W. Sweeney piloted the B-29, #77 that dropped Fat Man. After the nuclear mission, #77 was christened Bockscar after its regular Command Pilot, Fred Bock. While Little Boy was a uranium gun-type device, Fat Man was a more complicated and powerful plutonium implosion weapon that exploded with a force equal to 20 kilotons of TNT.

The B-29 Bomber that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.

U.S. Army Air Forces Col. Paul W. Tibbets piloted the B-29 bomber that dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. The bomber was named Enola Gay after Tibbets’ mother. Tibbets chose to use her name because she had supported his decision to become a pilot.

Loaded, the Enola Gay weighed 65 tons and carried 7,000 gallons of fuel and a four-ton bomb. After the bomb was dropped, Tibbets said: “Would I do it again? Give me conditions and circumstances similar to those that prevailed in 1945, and I would not hesitate. I feel that, at that point in time, it was the only thing to do. I am convinced that the use of the two weapons prevented an invasion that would have cost more Japanese lives than did the bombs, not to mention the American lives or the added billions of dollars that would have been expended.”

Airplane Commander Charles Sweeney piloted the Bockscar to Nagasaki. Major Charles W. Sweeney was the commander of the B-29 bomber that dropped the Fat Man atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945. The bomber was nicknamed Bockscar. It was named after its regular command pilot, Frederick Bock. Bock’s car was used in four additional non-atomic combat bombing missions over Japan in July and August 1945.

The atomic bomb Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Although the bomb Little Boy was ready for use on August 2, 1945, bad weather delayed dropping it over Japan. At 8:15 on the morning of August 6, 1945, a large portion of the city of Hiroshima was destroyed when Little Boy was dropped. Of a population of 256,000, approximately 70,000 people died immediately. Approximately half of the city had been leveled.

Japan surrendered five days after the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. With its large harbor and many hills, Nagasaki was known as the San Francisco of Japan. The atomic bomb, Fat Man, was dropped over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. In a city of about 173,000, 45,000 people were killed instantly. Many of those whose task it was to make the decision to use the weapon were quite hopeful about the psychological effect the use of the bomb might have upon the Japanese government and its people. Some, among them Arthur Compton and General Leslie Groves, wanted to capitalize upon that effect by dropping two bombs as quickly as possible. This, they advised President Truman, would imply to the Japanese that the U.S. had many bombs that it was prepared to use. They had begun to hope that invasion of Japan would not be necessary. Five days after the bombing of Nagasaki, on August 14, 1945, Japan surrendered.
Emperor Hirohito said: “I have given serious thought to the situation at home and abroad and have concluded the continuing the war means destruction for the nation and a prolongation of bloodshed and cruelty in the world. I cannot bear to see my innocent people suffer any longer…The time has come when we must bear the unbearable. I swallow my tears and give my sanction to the proposal to accept the Allied proposal on the basis outlined by the Foreign Minister.”

Harry Truman Becomes President
(April 12, 1945)
The ultimate decision became President Truman’s, following the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In March 1945, Henry Stimson, Secretary of War, had informed President Roosevelt that the bomb would be ready for testing in July.

Military Considerations
(June, 1945)
During the bloody struggle to take the Philippines and Okinawa, President Truman and his military were concentrating on an invasion of Japan. The U.S. Navy was cruising off the Japanese coast and submarines were patrolling the Sea of Japan. Those in power in Tokyo were making plans for a house-to-house resistance to any invasion. Japan had over 5 million men under arms, of which 2 million were stationed on the home islands. Based upon the dogged resistance at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the allies determined that as many as 500,000 to one million allied soldiers would die if the invasion, scheduled for November 1, 1945 took place.

The Potsdam Proclamation
(July 26, 1945)
The Potsdam Declaration was broadcast to the Japanese by the Allied Forces. The demands of the Declaration created a crisis in Japan.

Prime Minister Suzuki
(July 28, 1945)
The Prime Minister announced he would ignore the proclamation.

Interim Committee Formulates Policy
(April through June 1945)
A committee of scientific, corporate, military and government leaders was formed by Secretary of War Stimson to formulate policy on “the whole field of atomic energy, in its political, military and scientific aspects.” The committee’s major function was to determine if the bomb should be used with or without warning. On June 1, 1945, the Interim Committee submitted its report to President Truman after agreeing unanimously:

- The bomb should be used against Japan as soon as possible.
- It should be used against a military target.
- It should be used without prior warning.
- The First Bomb

President Truman held off for a few more days the final orders that would result in the use of the bomb.