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INTERNATIONAL DESK
The Other
Bomb
NAGASAKI,
Japan
T. OTHER
atomic
bomb- the one that ended the war in Asia
and t he last so far to be used in
anger-exploded over the city of N agasaki
at l l :02 a.m. on the morning of August 9,
1945, just a few yards from where I am
writing these words.
The story of the second bomb is not as well
known as the first atomic attack on Hiroshima.
This is what happened.
In August of 1945 the Second World War was
nearly over. Mussolini's Italy had bcen knocked out
two years before. Nazi Germany collapsed and
surrendered in early May. Of the three Axis powers
only the Japanese Empire remained, and its days
were numbered. But sorne in Japan were urging the
nation to battle on- to the last man if necessary.
In 1945 research in nuclear physics was in its
infancy, but even before the war it had been realized
that the energy released in splitting the atom could
produce a weapon of devastating power. Scientists in
America, Britain , Russia, Germany and Japan were
racing to be the first to make the bomb. Scientists
in America won (if "won" is the word to use), and
by 1945 the new president, Har ry Truman, was
notified that an awesome new weapon was ready. He
made the decision that it should be used to br ing an
end to the war in the Pacific. He reasoned that even
though this new weapon would wreak awful
destruction, even more J apanese and American lives
would be lost in a conventional invasion of the
Japanese mainland.
" A Rain of Ruin "
The first atomic bomb was dropped over Hiroshima
on August 6. The city was destroyed and 100,000
people perished. The day after, President Truman
28
warned the J apanese leaders that America had a
weapon that "harnessed the basic power of the
universe."
If
they did not now acccpt the Allied
terms of surrender, they could expect "a rain of ruin
from the air the like of which has never been seen
on this earth."
Three days later a second bomb was flown to the
Air Force base on the island of Tinian. This was a
plutonium bomb, more sophisticated than the
uranium device that had been dropped on
Hiroshima.
lt
was potentially more destructive and,
what was more ominous, other bombs of this type
were moving along the production line. Sorne had
speculated that as many as 50 bombs would be
needed to finish the war. Thus, with the advent of
the plutonium bomb, America was in a position to
launch a sustained nuclear attack on J apan.
The plutonium bomb was loaded into the bomb
bay of a specially modified B-29 bomber nicknamed
"Bock's Car," early in the morning of August 9.
The crew assembled under the command of Major
Charles Sweeney while the chaplain offered a brief
prayer for success. Then Bock's Car lumbered into
the air with its lethal cargo and headed for J apan.
But things began to go wrong. Even before takeoff it
was found that because of a faulty pump severa!
hundred gallons of the S-29's fue! load could not be
used, greatly reducing the ftying time. Then, nearing
Japan, one of the two observation planes accompanying
Bock's Car failed to meet the rendezvous over the
island of Yokushima. Major Sweeney waited for about
half an hour, then, aware of his reduced fuel capacity,
proceeded to the pr imary target.
This was the industrial town of Kokura, on the
northeast coast of the island of Kyushu. Kokura had
many factories manufacturing weapons and mi litary
The PLAIN TRUTH