MCMXLV

[ASCLEPIADES]

This is the famous Seizo Yamada Pic taken from aprox. seven kms. ENE to ground zero some 15 minutes after Little Boy detonation at 08:15 local time VIII Ides Sextilis MCMXLV (UTC 23:15 Nones Sextilis), 62 years ago.

 

 

...More than a thousand words.

Edited August 6, 2007 by ASCLEPIADES

[Nagelfar]

Sadly you are correct. On a brighter note, the 15th is not far off.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve!

 

At least for me, war is not sad.

It's tragic.

 

So far, presumably never so much people died in so little time as during Little Boy's detonation.

 

So far; it's probably only a matter of time and improved mass destruction weapons.

 

Little Boy clearly contributed a lot to Japan's surrender; I'm not so sure about Fat Man. At the less, Terror is an extremely powerful persuasive method. The degree of that contribution will always be disputed. BTW, both A-bombs also contributed significantly to Russian and communist advance in China and Korea.

 

The A-bombs were intended primarily for the Germans; they simply surrendered too soon. Given the cost of the Manhattan Project, it would have been interesting if the Japans had done the same.

 

I have no doubt that Roosevelt or any other American leader would have taken the decision to use such expensive and powerful weapons given Truman's circumstances... or, BTW, Prince Suzuki, Hiro Hito, Hitler, Stalin, Churchill, Caesar, Hannibal or Scipio.

 

I think the main ethic problem is the magnitude of life destruction and not its velocity. Apparently, there were more deaths by conventional bombing either in Japan or Germany (and probably also in Vietnam) than those attributed to Little Boy and Fat Man, not to talk about Caesar at Gaul or Timur in India.

 

Mutual Assured Destruction strategy appears to be still operational at the post-Cold War era; the obvious question is for how long.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve!

 

The strategy behind Little Boy at Hiroshima may be disputable; the strategy behind Fat Man at Nagasaki three days later (VIII Ides Sextilis MCMXLV, at 11:01 local time) was simply an enigma.

 

In fact, Nagasaki was the secondary target; Kokura was saved only by bad weather (ironically, the weather at Nagasaki was even worse). For commander CW Sweeney, it was a relative failure, because using a bigger weapon (21 kilotons of Fat Man vs. 13 of Little Boy) he got lesser victims than his chief Paul Tibbets at Hiroshima by any account.

 

Were the Japs still not tenderized enough? (Apparently, there were other A-bombs waiting their turn).

 

Was Nagasaki position (a western port of Kyu-shu island) particularly valuable for the defense against the projected invasion (Operation Olympic)? If so, why was it a secondary target?

 

Was it done to impress the Russians? (If so, it apparently worked the wrong way).

 

Was it dropped for not wasting contributor's money?