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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.
Next Posting: The Decision to Drop the Bomb
Previous Posting: From the Trinity Site to Hiroshima
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8:21 am 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….
5:35 pm on August 8th, 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
[...] is the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki: Remembering Nagasaki (ROK Drop Blog, August [...]
12:04 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
[...] Previous Posting: Remembering Nagasaki [...]
11:27 am on June 15th, 2008 6
[...] Next Posting: Remembering Nagasaki [...]
4:03 am on July 26th, 2008 7
I don't feel for the NAGASAKI or HIROSHIMA…., if this bombing was'nt done, then japan wud have dominated many other countires, like they did to china, pearl habour etc.., a right whack at the right place at a right time…,
8:37 am on August 8th, 2008 8
[...] that played a critical role in eventually ending World War II. I highly recommend everyone read my prior posting about the dropping of the bomb on Nagasaki. Likewise I highly encourage everyone to read my prior [...]
11:05 pm on August 11th, 2009 9
Killing innocent civilians is a war crime regardless of circumstances. I would call this as Genocide of mass proportion.
11:25 pm on August 11th, 2009 10
If dropping the atomic bombs were genocide than the Japanese committed a far greater genocide on the people of China.
12:21 am on August 12th, 2009 11
You say that like it's a BAD thing.
Someday I'll be able to pass judgment on people who had fought from Pearl Harbor to Okinawa, and were on their way over from the battlefields of Europe to fight against the Japanese, but I will have to work on being THAT sanctimonious.
Here's to those who risked their lives- and to those who gave their lives- to defeat the Japanese.
And to hell with the naysayers.
10:26 am on August 12th, 2009 12
The same number of civilians, if not more, died in one day in the firebombing of German cities, but it wasn't an atomic bomb so it's more easily forgotten about.
The bottom line is that GI Korea in Post #9 is correct: Far more civilians were killed in the most brutal of ways by the Japanese and Germans than by the Allies.
5:32 am on August 17th, 2010 13
This is just personal opinion, but I think part of the reason that those cities were targeted was because they were untouched by the war and we had to see how much damage would occur. Fire bombing Tokyo created more damage and casualties, but it would have been hard to assess how effective the bombs really were. In hindsight, I think we should have used them on Okinawa. It would have saved thousands of American lives in that battle, plus the majority of casualties would have been from the Japanese military. But, there was also the added psychological effect of such destruction on the motherland. Anyone who comdemns those bombings is doing so from the safe distance of several generations and no threat to themselves or their country.
7:16 am on August 17th, 2010 14
Here is what one American survivor had to say, Chief Dukes, a good representative of all Air Force First Sergeants.
http://www.us-japandialogueonpows.org/Stolen%20Va…