Anniversary

[medo]

Today (6th August) is 55 years since the first atomic bomb exploded and .......


Medo

[Snuffy!]

55 years, and no doubt, more to come...

[BFlurie]

Look @ this site:
http://www.enviroweb.org/issues/nuke...phr/index.html

[Warthog]

Yikes. What a 55 years...

Warthog

[barry glisson]

how many remember why it was dropped? barry

[krusty the klown]

.... to see what would happen?

[Dave_H]

To win the war.

[Fingers]

"The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. They have been repaid many fold."

[OuTpaTienT]

And thank God it was dropped. Naturally everybody wishes it wasn't necessary. But those with the wisdom know exactly why it was (more correctly "they were") dropped.

Those who so blatantly flaunt their ignorance of history just see it as a "bad" thing...and it is. But here, in real life, sometime bad things need to happen in order to prevent worse things.

Of course I wasn't personally in the war rooms when the plans were made. I have a pretty good hunch though it wasn't "to see what would happen". Unbelievable. **+AH4-edit: sugar coated just a bit+AH4-**

[This message has been edited by OuTpaTienT (edited 08-06-2000).]

[chipbgt]

Those video clips were amazing.

[krusty the klown]

That's a funny reply, Outpatient.

[BFlurie]

Chipbgt, if you follow some of those links, you'll get to nuclear weapons DESIGN, with diagrams, cut-aways, & physics explanations. Very interesting from an engineering viewpoint.

[krusty the klown]

Hmmm... yes. "Thank God it was dropped" Jesus, that's scary.

What?

Let's see... UN troops are sent in to Yugoslavia because 'war crimes' are being committed. We are appalled about the mass extintion of Jewish people by Adolf Hitler. But yes, thank God an atomic weapon of mass destruction was used. The deliberate targeting of civilians is generally referred to as a war crime.

It would be a mistake to suppose that the fate of Japan was settled by the atomic bomb. Her defeat was certain before the first bomb fell and was brought about by overwhelming maritime power.

Volume VI of History of the Second World War. Winston Churchill.

It was unnecessary to drop the two atom bombs on Japan in August 1945, and I cannot think it was right to do so .... the dropping of the bombs was a major political blunder and is a prime example of the declining standards of the conduct of modern war.

History of Warfare. Field Marshall Montgomery.

It is my opinion that the use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender because of the effective blockade and the successful bombing with conventional weapons ... In being the first to use it, we adopted an ethical standard common to the Dark Ages. I was not taught to make war in this fashion, and wars cannot be won by destroying women and children.

Written by Truman’s Chief of Staff, Admiral Leahy.

Japan was at that very moment seeking some way to surrender with minimum loss of face.It wasn’t necessary to hit them with that awful thing

Written by General Eisenhower.

The extent to which you delude yourself that your views are the only correct ones and the way you justify this by rediculing the views of others never ceases to amaze me.

[BFlurie]

Krusty, your knowledge seems impressive, but is incomplete. The American military, taking back the Pacific Islands from the Japanese, were shocked by the suicidal determination they demonstrated. They simply wouldn't be taken prisoner, despite being outgunned. A small island w/several thousand defenders would require the Americans to use many times that number of soldiers to retake -- at an appalling death rate. Imagine what this translated into when the military planners were making plans to invade Japan itself! The prospect of that level of loss of life on both sides was beyond belief -- several years of bitter fighting & millions of dead on each side. And the Allies were desperately trying to contact the Japanese authorities, offering them reasonable terms of surrender. The Japanese simply refused to acknowledge. These were the facts facing President Truman & the military at the time -- and already after 4 yrs of the worst war in history, and the growing realization that Russia was now going to be an adversary in Europe (and possibly invade Europe again!). Under these conditions, Truman really had little choice.

[Warthog]

BFlurie is totally right.

They were a very proud people who would fight to the death. They even had "kamikaze" (suicide) bombers who were so loyal to the Emperor that they would crash themselves and plane into ships. An invasion was very necessary if the bomb had not been used. Sure, the bomb was mean, but it ended the war for all involved with far fewer Japanese casualities than an invasion would have produced.

Warthog