Aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

[G-DDT]

I'm very interested in getting a hold of the writings of George Weller, to read every detail of what he recorded there.

[archfan]

Bringing this discussion back for a moment to the purpose of this board, I wonder if people know that parts of the Hiroshima bomb were made in Detroit? One of a few personal associations I have with the atomic bombs [[despite having been born several years after the events) is the claim of my grandfather, a journeyman tool and die man, to have worked on what he later came to know were parts of the bomb itself.

Also, as I understand it, the large diffusers for separating uranium were made at Chrysler's Lynch Rd. plant, and sent down to a large diffuser plant in Oak Ridge TN. Planning and engineering work was done, in secret, downtown on the upper floors of the old Sanders Building at 1525 Woodward.

Thank you, Al, for your earlier, very articulate post.

Here's a link to an expanded description of Chrysler's role in the Manhattan project: http://www.allpar.com/history/military/a-bomb.html

[lpg]

How nice of you to harass random tourists with your views on WW2. Were they discussing this matter in English so you could understand what they were talking about, or did you just assume that all Japanese people have exactly the same feelings about these things [[and would duly communicate your feelings to their fearless leader)?

The comment was made to my wife. Would it have made you feel better if my father had perished in an invasion ?

[noise]

The comment was made to my wife. Would it have made you feel better if my father had perished in an invasion ?

What does your father have to do with the tourists' comments?

[ndavies]

Let's also not forget both Germany and Japan had atomic bomb programs. They wouldn't have thought twice about using it on us. They wouldn't have stopped at 2.

Luckily we got there first.

[lpg]

What does your father have to do with the tourists' comments?

Everything...They were talking as if Japan was a victim of the war.

[gnome]

In war good people do terrible things. That is why you avoid going to war at all costs.

But Japan was warned. Repeatedly. Their leaders are to blame for the deaths by A Bomb.

[GPCharles]

They were talking as if Japan was a victim of the war.

The Japan that invaded Manchuria in 1931?
The Japan that invaded China in 1937?
The Japan that killed 2-300,000 civilians within 60 days after they conquered Nanking in 1937, i.e. The Rape of Nanking?

Note - this was all before war broke out in Europe in September 1939. The League of Nations protested and Japan walked out of the meeting, never to return.

[noise]

Everything...They were talking as if Japan was a victim of the war.

Perhaps their view was influenced by the number of civilian casualties. Those losses are far greater than the loss of any particular, or even all, US servicemen.

Which is not to defend the actions of Japan.

[EastsideAl]

The Japan that invaded Manchuria in 1931?
The Japan that invaded China in 1937?
The Japan that killed 2-300,000 civilians within 60 days after they conquered Nanking in 1937, i.e. The Rape of Nanking?

Note - this was all before war broke out in Europe in September 1939. The League of Nations protested and Japan walked out of the meeting, never to return.

All true. And you could definitely pile a lot more on top of that. But it's also true, as noise says above, that hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians were killed by U.S. bombing, and many thousands more maimed for life, for a crime no worse than just being in the wrong country at the wrong time.

It's also pretty likely that the people lpg spoke to were either not alive yet or were children at the time of WW2. So I very much doubt that they would have had any role whatsoever in the fate of his father 70 years ago.

[SDCC]

The American Heroes Chanel [[AHC) had an interesting 2 hour program last Saturday titled ”How We Built The Bomb”. It’s one of my favorite channels, many war specials. As a history major, I found this program enlightening and making and dropping the bomb was absolutely necessary.

[lpg]

All true. And you could definitely pile a lot more on top of that. But it's also true, as noise says above, that hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians were killed by U.S. bombing, and many thousands more maimed for life, for a crime no worse than just being in the wrong country at the wrong time.

It's also pretty likely that the people lpg spoke to were either not alive yet or were children at the time of WW2. So I very much doubt that they would have had any role whatsoever in the fate of his father 70 years ago.

Correct. The people who overheard my comment to my wife were probably in their mid-20's. If there are any lessons to be learned from this is the fact that politicians start wars, but the suffering is done by people who would just prefer to live their lives in peace.

[Ray1936]

Replicas of Fat Man and Little Boy. Little Boy, a U-235 Bomb, was used on Hiroshima; while Fat Man, a plutonium bomb, was used on Nagasaki. In 1945, these photos would have been top secret for years to come. Anyway, the intent of my original post was just to express the memories of a 1945 nine-year old boy. That much is true.

[JBMcB]

Everything...They were talking as if Japan was a victim of the war.

I know a guy who lived in Japan for a while. This is pretty much what they are taught in school over there. The atrocities committed in China/Korea/Singapore/et al are basically whitewashed from their history. The atomic bombs are covered in great detail.

[lpg]

Replicas of Fat Man and Little Boy. Little Boy, a U-235 Bomb, was used on Hiroshima; while Fat Man, a plutonium bomb, was used on Nagasaki. In 1945, these photos would have been top secret for years to come. Anyway, the intent of my original post was just to express the memories of a 1945 nine-year old boy. That much is true.

Pictures taken at the Air Force Museum in Dayton ?

[p69rrh51]

I have sometimes pondered why the Hiroshima bomb was dropped on a civilian target as opposed to a purely or largely military target such as a major army base, something like a Fort Hood today, followed with a pause and a message of, 'surrender now or your cities will regretably be next'. Once we used that weapon as purely a terror device we surrendered all future moral high ground.

Yet I reluctantly understand the mood of the times. The fire-bombings of Tokyo and Dresden were deadlier in lives lost and didn't lead to surrender. Morality is an early victim of war and the Japanese military was a vicious and amoral enemy with the blood of million on its hands. Their never-surrender ethic and kamikazes make the 9/11 attackers and ISIL / El Qaeda look like milk toast in comparison and we only had two bombs. We saw the opening for a knock-out punch, and it worked.

Lowell, Hiroshima was intentionally left intact during the war so the damage caused by the bomb to be assessed on a pristine city. Also the one south eastern Michigan connection I know of. I have my great uncle's Los Alamos ID card from the Manhattan Project. He was a professor at the University of Michigan and was involved with the project from the beginning. My mom talks about the brand new electric refrigerator he and my great aunt purchased for their summer cottage during the war that was filled with butter at a time when everything was rationed.

[SDCC]

Lowell, Hiroshima was intentionally left intact during the war so the damage caused by the bomb to be assessed on a pristine city. Also the one south eastern Michigan connection I know of. I have my great uncle's Los Alamos ID card from the Manhattan Project. He was a professor at the University of Michigan and was involved with the project from the beginning. My mom talks about the brand new electric refrigerator he and my great aunt purchased for their summer cottage during the war that was filled with butter at a time when everything was rationed.

So much to be proud of, those theoretical physicists that were at Los Alamos were the preeminent scientists of their time. Given the monumental task to create and build this gadget [[they didn’t call it a bomb – but rather a gadget) knowing that failure would mean the end of life as Americans knew it.

[Honky Tonk]

WOW, Ray, You really need to clean some of that stuff out of your garage......

[EastsideAl]

knowing that failure would mean the end of life as Americans knew it.

In what sense? Despite the post-Pearl Harbor panic on the west coast [[including Japanese-American internment) there was never any actual danger of a Japanese invasion or attack on the U.S. mainland. Even Hawaii was beyond the practical reach of the Japanese navy, and was never attacked again after Pearl Harbor.

Once the Battle of Midway ended with a conclusive U.S. victory it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the U.S. would win the war in the Pacific theatre. The only questions were how long it would take and how many lives it would cost.

As I said above, I am of a mind that the atomic bombs saved lives, both American and Japanese, by bringing a swift end to the war. Probably hundreds of thousands of lives, although of course the exact number is unknowable. But to say that a failure to build workable bombs would have somehow imperiled "life as Americans knew it" seems more than a little bit of a historical stretch to me.

[SDCC]

In what sense? Despite the post-Pearl Harbor panic on the west coast [[including Japanese-American internment) there was never any actual danger of a Japanese invasion or attack on the U.S. mainland. Even Hawaii was beyond the practical reach of the Japanese navy, and was never attacked again after Pearl Harbor.

Once the Battle of Midway ended with a conclusive U.S. victory it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the U.S. would win the war in the Pacific theater. The only questions were how long it would take and how many lives it would cost.

As I said above, I am of a mind that the atomic bombs saved lives, both American and Japanese, by bringing a swift end to the war. Probably hundreds of thousands of lives, although of course the exact number is unknowable. But to say that a failure to build workable bombs would have somehow imperiled "life as Americans knew it" seems more than a little bit of a historical stretch to me.

The race to build this gadget had to do with Germany, not Japan. America was in a race against the Nazi’s – Germany had a year head start, some historians would say maybe a two year head start. Then low and behold Germany surrendered. The race was to beat Germany in building a super bomb. As it turned out, Germany was nowhere near as far along with their experiments as we feared they may have been. There was a fear that American cities would be nuked if Germany was successful.

[Ray1936]

WOW, Ray, You really need to clean some of that stuff out of your garage......

So the wife keeps telling me......

[Jimaz]

By National Geographic. Total duration 46 minutes:

• Part 1/3
• Part 2/3
• Part 3/3

This program tells the second-by-second story of a moment that changed the world forever: the dropping of the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945. Through the eyes of those in the air and on the ground, including the last interview with the weapons test officer who armed the bomb, we'll experience the events as they unfolded that tragic day.

[JBMcB]

Pictures taken at the Air Force Museum in Dayton ?

That's what it looks like. That place is amazing. I have a picture of my son standing in front of a gigantic B41 nuclear bomb casing. He was nervous-looking because he noticed that all the other bombs on display were tagged 'disarmed' except for that one.

[Honky Tonk]

That's what it looks like. That place is amazing. I have a picture of my son standing in front of a gigantic B41 nuclear bomb casing. He was nervous-looking because he noticed that all the other bombs on display were tagged 'disarmed' except for that one.

You should have told him to tap on it to hear if it sounds hollow.

[canuck]

You should have told him to tap on it to hear if it sounds hollow.

Atom bombs are a blast.