Why was nagasaki bombed

The third choice, Nagasaki was a port city located about miles from Kokura. It was larger, with an approximate population of , people, and some major military facilities, including two Mitsubishi military factories.

Nagasaki also was an important port city. Like Kokura and Hiroshima, it had not suffered much thus far from American conventional bombing. After the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, workers on Tinian island labored intensely to put the finishing touches on the Fat Man bomb and prepare it for use. This was a plutonium implosion device of far greater complexity than the Little Boy bomb used at Hiroshima, which used uranium in a fairly conventional explosive mechanism.

The scientists and ordnance experts at Los Alamos had agonized for years over how to use plutonium in an atomic weapon, and Fat Man was the result. The decision to use Fat Man just days after the explosion of Little Boy at Hiroshima was based on two calculations: the always-changeable Japanese weather—the appearance of a typhoon or other major weather event could force deployment to be postponed for weeks—and the belief that two bombings following in quick succession would convince the Japanese that the Americans had plenty of atomic devices and were ready to keep using them until Japan finally surrendered.

Reports of approaching bad weather convinced the Americans to drop the next bomb on August 9. In its belly was Fat Man, and the atomic bomb was already armed. Charles W. Sweeney flew the plane, accompanied by the usual pilot, Capt. Frederick C. The Enola Gay took part in the mission, flying weather reconnaissance. Over Kokura, clouds and smoke from nearby bombing raids obscured visibility.

The Americans could see parts of the city, but they could not site directly on the city arsenal that was their target. He then headed for his secondary target: Nagasaki. But, Japan refused to do this unconditionally. At the beginning of August, Japan made a "negotiated peace" offer to the Allied front but it was not accepted. Hiroshima was destroyed by the atomic bomb dropped on Aug.

In a message on Aug. While the Americans announced that the death toll from the atomic bombings was ,, the Japanese said it was close to half a million.

Survivors called "Hibakusha," suffer from cancer, disfigurement, and hard-to-treat diseases. The Hibakushas, whose numbers have dwindled, deliver a message on giving up nuclear weapons at commemorations held every August. The atomic bomb, considered the breaking point of the war, forced Japan to surrender and led to a watershed in international relations.

This book explores how five teenagers survived Nagasaki. Thousands more people would die in the coming days and weeks from their injuries and the ravages of radiation poisoning. He died a week after the attack. In the 75 years since the attack, Nagasaki has been rebuilt and is once again a flourishing port. Memorials to those lost on August 9, , can be found all over the city.

Descended from Japanese Catholics who were forced to hide their faith, Sachiko Matsuo would later say how witnessing the destruction of the city and of Urakami Cathedral, located just 1, feet from ground zero, was devastating.

Today the house of worship has been restored, and masses are said there to remember the fallen of August 9, The Sanno Shinto Shrine, located about half a mile from the hypocenter, was reduced to ash by the bomb. Burned black and split open, the camphor trees outside it initially were believed lost—but a few years after the blast, new growth began to appear.

Today these camphor trees are thriving with a thick canopy of healthy green leaves and tangled branches. Factors as mercurial as the weather—or where the U.

Secretary of War vacationed—shaped the destiny of Nagasaki and the people living there. Hiroshima's survivors struggle with memories of the nuclear attack. Much like the camphor trees outside the Sanno Shrine, they have come back to life over the past 75 years to tell their stories of that day. Like the trees, the survivors are living examples of both the horrors of nuclear war and the power of resilience. All rights reserved. Twists of fate made Nagasaki a target 75 years ago The Japanese port was not the U.

Two camphor trees guard the entrance to the Sanno Shinto Shrine roughly a half mile from where the atomic bomb exploded over Nagasaki. Heat and debris from the blast stripped the tree bare and split the trunks in two. Although considered dead at the time, within months new buds emerged from the scorched branches. Today the trees stand as living, natural monuments to the bombing. Hiroki Kobayashi is a Tokyo based photographer who concentrates on cultural issues and is a regular contributor to National Geographic.

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