Nagasaki

Japanese city that was the target (on August 9, 1945) of the second U.S. atomic bomb dropped in World War II. The bombing effectively ended the war because Japan surrendered within days.

Three days before the bombing of Nagasaki, the United States dropped the world's first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. Most U.S. military and government leaders felt that a single bomb would be sufficient to convince Japan to surrender. However, when the bombing of Hiroshima did not produce an immediate Japanese response, the decision was made to drop a second bomb. In addition, the Los Alamos scientists who developed the bomb wanted to determine whether a uranium-or plutonium-based bomb worked better. The Little Boy bomb dropped on Hiroshima used uranium; the Fat Man bomb destined for Nagasaki used plutonium.

Nagasaki was not the first choice of targets for Fat Man. Although it had major shipbuilding facilities and a military port, it was bombed five times in the preceding year, so the impact of the atomic bomb would be obscured by the already damaged condition of the city. Also, Nagasaki was spread over hills and valleys and broken by waterways. The three primary targets for the second bomb were Kokura, Kyoto, and Nigata. Kyoto dropped off the list because it was a sacred city to many Japanese, and the United States feared that bombing it would only stiffen Japanese resistance. After Nigata was eliminated because it was too far away, the choice came down to Kokura. However, on the day of the raid, the weather over Kokura was too cloudy to sight the target properly. Bock's Car, the B-29 bomber carrying Fat Man, then headed for Nagasaki, which was also clouded-over. A last-minute break in the clouds allowed the bomb to be dropped.

The devastation at Nagasaki was almost as terrible as that at Hiroshima. Fat Man obliterated an area 2.3 by 1.9 miles square. Reports of deaths varied according to different sources. The 1953 U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey estimated 35,000 dead, 60,000 wounded, and 5,000 missing because of the bomb. The Japanese in 1960 cited a figure of 20,000 dead and 50,000 wounded. A later report by the Nagasaki Prefectural Office claimed that the bombing resulted in 87,000 deaths and the destruction of 70% of the industrial zone. Because Nagasaki was a frequent target of American bombers, the residents became somewhat casual in their response to air raid warnings. As a result, people did not seek shelter as early or as urgently as they might otherwise have, and many more lives were lost than necessary. On the other hand, Nagasaki's hilly and broken topography helped limit the amount of damage and the spread of fires.

The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain controversial. Defenders of the bombings cite the massive casualties—some estimates predicted a million lives—that an invasion of Japan would have cost. Critics claim that the weapons were too horrific and that nothing justified their use on civilians. They argue that the United States should have targeted military facilities or an unoccupied site as a demonstration of the bomb's power. Many opponents are especially critical of the decision to drop a second bomb after the destruction of Hiroshima. Proponents respond by pointing out that the bombing of Hiroshima did not [Page 488]force Japan to surrender, which necessitated dropping another bomb. Although the controversy is unlikely to be settled, the bombing of Nagasaki remains the last time nuclear weapons were used in combat.

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