why was hiroshima chosen as the bombing site

Targeting was finalized on July 25, 1945: Hiroshima, Kokura, Nilgata, Nagasaki. [91] The atomic bomb was still top secret, but the scientists had an even more frightening secret. This is the fifth post in our series “‘My God What Have We Done:’ The Legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”. Historians say the United States picked it as a suitable target because of its size A. Hiroshima was a major Japanese military hub with factories, military bases and ammunition facilities. Shaded regions indicate the city's most devastated sectors. In May 1945, the committee issued their recommendations. Hiroshima’s weather report for August 6 showed a clear day and plans moved forward. Ultimately U.S. Secretary of War Henry Stimson persuaded Truman to take Kyoto out of consideration as it was Japan’s cultural center and a cherished city. hide caption. U.S. strategists wanted to flatten an entire city with a single atomic bomb: Hiroshima was the right size. They wanted the full force of the bombs to be seen. Ultimately U.S. Secretary of War Henry Stimson persuaded Truman to take Kyoto out of consideration as it was Japan’s cultural center and a cherished city. The bomb, code named " Little Boy ", possessed a force equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT. Internal deliberations and weather conditions ultimately led the U.S. to use a nuclear weapon on Hiroshima and, later, Nagasaki. NPR's Geoff Brumfiel has the story of why that city was chosen as a target. He says that in the spring of 1945, the military convened a target committee, a mix of officers and scientists, to decide where the bomb should fall. "If you put a bomb like this in the middle of it, you end up destroying almost the entirety of the city.". Rushay said that Hiroshima was one of four potential targets and that Truman left it up to the military to decide which city to strike. Three days later the U.S. released another on Nagasaki, devastating the city and ushering in the nuclear age. The Hiroshima bomb was ready awaiting suitable weather on July 31st, and the Nagasaki bomb was used as soon after the Hiroshima bomb as it was practicable to operate the second mission. Kyoto was another ideal target: it had a population that amounted to 1,000,000 people, it was a major industrial center, and it was Japan’s intellectual center and former capital. It destroyed 16 square miles and 100,000 people. Nagasaki, another important port, was chosen as its replacement. Hiroshima was chosen as the primary target since it had remained largely untouched by bombing raids, and the bomb's effects could be clearly measured. he asks. It would be horrible. The war ended. Why the atomic bombing of Hiroshima would be illegal today By Katherine E. McKinney , Scott D. Sagan , Allen S. Weiner , July 1, 2020 In his first radio address after the bombing of Hiroshima, President Harry S. Truman claimed that “[t]he world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE: The name Hiroshima is so tied to the atomic bomb that it's hard to imagine there were other options. "Hiroshima is compact," Wellerstein says. But they wanted it to be horrible, to end the war and to try to stop the future use of nuclear bombs. A. Hiroshima was a major Japanese military hub with factories, military bases and ammunition facilities. The first target city chosen was Hiroshima, which had an important port on southern Honshu and was headquarters of the Japanese Second General Army with 40,000 military personnel in the city. Yokohama was an urban area that had escaped attack so far and hosted important industrial activities, including aircraft manufacturing, docks and oil refineries. After the conclusion of the World War II in 1945, the relations between Japan and the US worsened, especially as Japanese forces decided to take an aim at Indo-china with the intention of capturing the oil-rich areas of the East Indies. At the time, American bombers were already firebombing many cities, killing tens of thousands. Kokura, the intended target for the second bombing, was spared only because the city was suddenly covered by a cloud on August 9. Should you be just displaying the bomb, without killing anybody?" Three days later the U.S. released another on Nagasaki, devastating the city and ushering in the nuclear age. The committee settled on two "psychological" objectives of the first atomic bombing: to scare the Japanese into unconditional surrender and to impress upon the world the power of the new weapon. Over the next few weeks, Global Zero will explore what led to the bomb’s development, the consequences of its use, and where we’ve come since those fateful days in August. These are questions that were yet to be decided, says Alex Wellerstein, a historian at the Stevens Institute of Technology. Should it be a military installation? Based on three qualifications, “a large urban area of more than three miles in diameter…capable of being damaged effectively by the blast and…likely to be unattacked by [August 1946]”. "They want people to understand that this is something different, and so picking a place that will showcase how different it is, is very important," Wellerstein says. Hiroshima’s weather report for August 6 showed a clear day and plans moved forward. Nagasaki’s sky was also hazy, but visibility briefly cleared. The minutes of this committee were declassified years ago — and they show it considered some far less deadly targets. This firebombing took place overnight on March 9 and 10, 1945. Hiroshima was chosen as a target also because it had mountains around it that would help concentrate the effects of the bomb on the city. But in early 1945, the U.S. was still months away from building its first bomb and certainly didn't know what to hit. That second goal was especially important to the researchers choosing the target. "It did have that effect on the decades that followed," says Robert Norris, a longtime arms control advocate and fellow with the Federation of American Scientists who also studied the history of the first bombings. On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped a nuclear weapon on Hiroshima, Japan – the first time such a catastrophic weapon was ever used in conflict. Why was Hiroshima bombed? It was an important center of storage, communications, and assembly of soldiers. As in Hiroshima, most of the victims were civilians, including many children and elderly. In the minds of the people who dropped the bombs, the more damage the better. stipulated the U.S. Air Force would deliver the first bomb “after around August 3, 1945 on one of the targets” as the weather permitted. AP > The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki The Selection of the Target Some of the most frequent queries concerning the atomic bombs are those dealing with the selection of the targets and the decision as to when the bombs would be used. In May 1945, the committee issued their recommendations. A giant column of smoke rises after the atomic bomb attack over Nagasaki (AP) The city of Nagasaki in southern Japan is marking the 75th anniversary of the US atomic bombing. The target committee decided the A-bomb had to kill. At 11.02am, the Bockscar dropped a 4.5-ton (10,000-pound) plutonium bomb dubbed Fat Man from 31,500ft (9,600 metres). They chose Hiroshima. The residents of Hiroshima decided to keep this tragic reminder of war intact. At the time the bombs were going to be dropped, Tokyo had already been devastated by Operation Meetinghouse. Nagasaki was devastated instead. On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped a nuclear weapon on Hiroshima, Japan – the first time such a catastrophic weapon was ever used in conflict. Hiroshima was chosen because it had not been extensively bombed and was an important military base. Our next post marks the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima with an account of the bombing and its immediate devastating effects. But they wanted it to be horrible, to end the war and to try to stop the future use of nuclear bombs. It was the second nuclear bomb dropped by the US, three days after the attack on Hiroshima. There were factories and other facilities there. Nagasaki was bombed because the primary target, the city of Kokura was hidden under cloud cover. Nagasaki was an important port city, and the first alternate target. 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