The atomic bombing of Nagasaki
The city of Nagasaki during World War II was one of the largest sea ports on the southern island of Kyushu. Along with the seaports the city was also home to many important industrial companies. During the course of the war for whatever reason the city had escaped the B-29 bombings that were ravaging other areas of Japan. However, on August 9, 1945 the bombing the city received would more than make up for the prior lack of bombing.
On August 9, 1945, the crew of the American B-29 Superfortress “Bockscar,” flown by Major Charles W. Sweeney and carrying the nuclear bomb nicknamed “Fat Man,” found their primary target, Kokura, and it was obscured by heavy clouds. After three runs over the city and running low on fuel Major Sweeney decided to head for the secondary target, Nagasaki.
The aftermath of the Nagasaki bombing.
At 11:02, a break in the clouds over Nagasaki allowed the bombardier, to visually sight the target. The weapon, containing a core of 8 kg of plutonium-239, was dropped over the city’s industrial sector. It exploded 1,540 feet above the ground between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works, in the south, and the Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works (Torpedo Works), in the north, the two main targets in the city.
Some 75,000 of Nagasaki’s 240,000 residents were killed, followed by the death of at least as many from resulting sickness and injury.
Nagasaki before and after the bombing
I haven’t had a chance to travel to Nagasaki, but I would really like to in the future. The city actually has a very colorful history despite the nuclear bombing. The city was the first port to be visited by and opened up to European traders in the late 1500’s.
A very interesting book about this period of time and the city of Nagasaki is the book Samurai William, by Giles Milton. Judging by the above picture the city appears to have remarkably recovered since the atomic bombing. The big question is if the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary? That is something we will look at tomorrow.
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3:21 pm on August 8th, 2007 1
GI Korea, please enjoy your stay in Nagasaki, if you have a chance. It’s a beutiful city with long history, not only the atomic bombing in the WW II, as you wrote.
Recently, it turns out two Netherlands POWs were also dead in Nagasaki. So far, the Netherlands never have demanded any compensation from Japan. Instead of compensation, their relatives agreed to send portraits of those unfortunate soldiers to Nagasaki in order to mourn the atomic bomb victims.
What a diffrence from the Koreans!
Oh, I have no intension to insult … Netherlanders….
12:35 am on August 9th, 2007 2
I highly recommend a visit to Nagasaki. It’s a beautiful and friendly town, and quite accessible from Pusan with a JR Beetle/Kyushu Pass combo.
1:51 pm on August 9th, 2007 3
7:04 am on August 10th, 2007 4
Ignorant comments from people like Muruneko astonishes me. While it is true that there are a lot of issues that I don’t agree with the Korean public, Muruneko obviously has no idea what he/she is talking about.
During the war Japan brought many Korean conscripts to both Hiroshima and Nagasaki to work as forced labor. According to recent estimates, about 20,000 Koreans were killed in Hiroshima and about 2,000 died in Nagasaki. It is estimated that one in seven of the Hiroshima victims was of Korean ancestry. For many years Koreans had a difficult time fighting for recognition as atomic bomb victims and were denied health benefits. Though such issues have been addressed in recent years, issues regarding recognition lingers.
How can you compare the death of two POW’s to roughly 22,000 civilians that were killed?
11:25 am on June 15th, 2008 5
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11:27 am on June 15th, 2008 6
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