Victory and Beyond |
Atomic ConquestThe Allies were well aware of the high cost in military and civilian casualties that would certainly be the result of an invasion of Japan. In July the Potsdam Declaration by the USA, Britain and China warned Japan of her 'utter destruction' should she refuse to surrender unconditionally. But Japan refused and warned darkly of the probable fate of the many thousands of Allied prisoners-of-war in captivity there should the land of Nippon be invaded. On 6th August 1945 the first atom bomb to be used in 'anger' was dropped on Hiroshima from an American Superfortress. The mushroom cloud that arose that morning was the dreadful outcome of the conflict unleashed by Hitler six years before; mankind would ever after live in fear of nuclear war. This most destructive of all weapons had more explosive power than 20,000 tons of TNT and was over 2,000 times more powerful than the largest bomb so far used. It caused very heavy casualties yet Japan still made no move to surrender, even fighting a strong naval engagement. So a second atomic bomb was dropped at Nagasaki on 9th August, with even more dreadful effect. It forced the Japanese to discuss capitulation and a delegation met MacArthur on the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Japan signed the surrender documents, formally ending the 1939-1945 War on 2nd September 1945--six years and a day after it began. |
The text on this page has been taken from Courage Remembered, by Kingsley Ward and Major Edwin Gibson.
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