How are Targets Selected for Atomic Bombing?

Every few months we read about some psychopath in America going on a murder spree before killing himself.  The victims are random. They simply happen to be at the ill-fated place at the time of massacre. Sometimes the venue of the multiple-murders is spontaneously decided as well.

Professional terrorists, on the other hand, give considerable thought to the targets they plan to hit. The venue selection is an outcome of ruthless logic.

This week’s diary is a historical account of how, and why, Hiroshima and Nagasaki came to be the targets for the only two atomic weapons ever used.

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Einstein letter gets the Atomic ball rolling

The atomic history begins with a letter dated 2 August 1939 by Albert Einstein to Franklin Roosevelt, the American president.

It’s often believed scientists invent for the sake of science, and then others – politicians or businessmen – abuse the inventions. Alternatively, politicians set an agenda (for example, sending man on the moon), and ask the scientific community to work on the brief. With atomic bombs, neither was the case. A renowned scientist, representing a group of refugee scientists, took the initiative and approached a politician. Einstein the pacifist urged Roosevelt to create a structure of administrators and physicists working together on nuclear chain reactions. Einstein believed Germany may reach there before, and wanted United States to develop the weapon for defence. (As a Jew, he was blacklisted in Germany.) Within less than a month, on 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland to officially start the Second World War.

As a response to Einstein’s letter, a Uranium committee with a budget of six thousand dollars was formed in October 1939.  The politicians may have confused the smallness of atom as a substance and the size of budget required to make it react. Anyway, the Uranium committee got the atomic ball rolling.

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The Manhattan project

Progress of the World War II and news of nuclear research from Europe may have convinced Roosevelt of the urgency and scale required.  The project – later named the “Manhattan Project”, employing 130,000 people and with a budget of two billion dollars – held its first meeting on 6 Dec. 1941. By a spooky historical coincidence, on the following day, Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, killing 2500 Americans. On 8 Dec. 1941 America declared war on Japan. The massive rallying of the American population behind the President, the enormous public hatred towards the enemy, and the overall emotional aftermath of Pearl Harbour were comparable to another surprise attack on America that was to take place sixty years later. Pearl Harbour united the divided nation.

Two men in their prime were key in the Manhattan project structure. General Leslie Groves, in his forties, was its military head and the overall project leader. His drive and energy, military experience, organisational ability and unwavering confidence gained for the project the speed and support it required. Robert Oppenheimer was the scientific director, who later came to be known as the ‘father of the atomic bomb’. Born to wealthy Jew German immigrants, Oppenheimer was one of the most brilliant physicists in the country. In his late thirties at the time of appointment, he had varied interests outside physics. Philosophy, poetry and religion interested him. At Berkley, he had learnt Sanskrit and read some Hindu scriptures in original.

The scientific process is, unfortunately, very lengthy. More so, when it must be carried out in secret. It was only three years later that Groves and Oppenheimer began feeling optimistic they had succeeded in developing earth’s loudest gadgets.

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A tumultuous month

In April, 1945 all of a sudden things began to happen. The long serving Roosevelt died on April 12. Mussolini was killed on April 28. Hitler committed suicide on May 1. In three weeks, three major war powers had lost their heads.  On May 7, Germany surrendered officially, and the war in Europe ended. Harry Truman, the vice-president, succeeded Roosevelt as the President of the United States. Both Truman and Roosevelt belonged to the Democratic Party. Curiously, Truman – until he became America’s President – was not made aware of the Manhattan project.

You have here a 61-year old man who on becoming the President is told his country has secretly developed, after toiling for over three years, miraculous toys.

We don’t know if the toys work unless we use them. Could you, Mr President, please sanction urgently their use? Before it’s too late?

Truman must have been of a decisive nature. He quickly chose to throw the A- bombs on Japan. The decision was taken in less than a month since his becoming America’s president. It was taken in less than a month since his learning the secret. Not known if Roosevelt would have taken such a decision, but that was irrelevant. Roosevelt was dead. Einstein’s letter to him had recommended creating defence against Nazi Germany. The Germans had surrendered and by now it was confirmed they didn’t have atomic bombs. The war in Europe was over. Testing the new toys on Japan was the best available option. The “Japs” were a different race anyway. It’s easier to loathe people from other races. Many American military men referred to Japs as “monkeys in trousers”. Time was running out. If the bombs were not used, the 2 billion $ gamble would be investigated and debated for a long time to come. Bombing must happen before the Japanese surrendered. Leslie Groves, Harry Truman and every patriotic American who knew of A-bombs hoped the opportunity to test them would not slip.

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And the Winner is…

On 10/11 May, 1945, the target committee comprising of a general, a colonel, a captain, a major and nine nuclear scientists gathered in the office of Dr Oppenheimer.

One Dr Stearns described his meticulous work on target selection. The committee agreed the following criteria for the targets:

(a) They be important targets in a large urban area of more than three miles in diameter.

(b) They be capable of being damaged effectively by a blast.

(c) They are unlikely to be attacked by August, the projected month of bombing.

(d) They should obtain the greatest psychological effect against Japan.

(e) They be spectacular enough to be internationally recognised.

The committee agreed the weapon will not be used against any strictly military target.

[In 1939, the British Prime Minister Chamberlain had told his parliament. “His majesty’s government will never resort to deliberate attack on women and children, and on other civilians for the purposes of mere terrorism.” Though Churchill as ally was to approve the atomic bombing, no British was part of the target committee.

A few years later Harry Truman was to write in his published memoirs: “The final decision of where and when to use the atomic bomb was up to me. Let there be no mistake about it. I regarded the bomb as a military weapon and never had any doubt it should be so used. In deciding to use the bomb, I wanted to make sure it would be used as a weapon of war in the manner prescribed by the laws of war. That meant I wanted it dropped on a military target.”]

In May 1945, the target committee decided the target will not be small and strictly military, because god forbid if the bomb were to miss the target, the expensive weapon would be wasted. Three years of hard work turning futile in a matter of seconds.

Kyoto was the unanimously agreed first choice. It was the cultural centre of Japan. It had about 2000 Buddhist and Shinto temples, palaces, gardens and beautiful architecture. A former capital of Japan, it was now an urban industrial area with more than one million people living in it. People were moving to Kyoto as other parts of Japan were getting destroyed. Kyoto was not yet firebombed. (Tokyo was disqualified since it was extensively bombed anyway. Tokyo firebombing in March 1945 had killed 100,000 as a result of firestorms).

As the target committee mentioned in the minutes “from the psychological point of view there is the advantage that Kyoto is an intellectual center for Japan and the people there are more apt to appreciate the significance of such a weapon as the gadget.” [Presumably it meant people who will survive are more apt to appreciate the significance: R.]

Kyoto met all the criteria. It was an ideal target. The Manhattan committee members, with great enthusiasm and excitement, visualised the day when their first baby would be dropped on this intellectual city.  Kyoto received the AA status – the primary A-bomb target. Gen. Groves approved it. What remained now were the execution plans.

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Secretary of War

United States of America, a constitutional democracy rather than a military dictatorship, prefers that critical decisions are taken by civilians and not military. General Groves, head of the Manhattan project, was therefore made to report to a civilian boss – Henry Stimson.

Henry Stimson (born 1867), a lawyer by profession, had the singular distinction of serving as the Secretary of War in both the world wars. He was a conservative republican. Stimson maintained a diary on the Manhattan project which has been de-classified since. An excerpt of an entry dated 1 June 1945 reads:

“Then I had in General Arnold and discussed with him the bombing…… in Japan. I told him of my promise from Lovett that there would be only precision bombing in Japan…… I wanted to know what the facts were. He told me that the Air Force was up against the difficult situation arising out of the fact that Japan, unlike Germany, had not concentrated her industries and that on the contrary they were scattered out and were small and closely connected in site with the houses of their employees; that thus it was practically impossible to destroy the war output of Japan without doing more damage to the civilians……than in Europe. He told me, however, that they were trying to keep it down as far as possible. I told him there was one city they must not bomb without my permission and that was Kyoto.”

The target committee continued to support Kyoto as the primary target, and Gen. Groves kept arguing with his boss for the next six weeks.

In his diary on 21 July, 1945 Stimson wrote:

“Massage and dinner, and then in the evening about ten-thirty two short cables came…… indicating that operations would be ready earlier than expected, and also asking me to reverse my decision…… [Gen. Groves requested again to make Kyoto the primary a-bomb target: R.]. I cabled, saying I saw no new factors for reversing myself but on the contrary the new factors seemed to confirm it.”

Three days later, on 24 July, in his meeting with Truman, Stimson emphasised that

 “……the bitterness which would be caused by such a wanton act [destroying Kyoto: R.] might make it impossible during the long post-war period to reconcile the Japanese to us in that area rather than to the Russians.”  

Truman agreed. On 25 July, an order was signed to use the atomic bomb with a tender name “Little Boy” as soon after August 3 as weather permitted. The primary target was – the city of Hiroshima.

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Pu follows U

The “Little Boy” dropped on Hiroshima at 08:15 am on 6 August 1945 succeeded in killing instantly 80,000 people. (By the end of the year, another 60,000 were to die of injuries and radiation poisoning.) The Americans were jubilant. Victories are in numbers. Except the negligible matter of Hiroshima getting wiped out instead of Kyoto, everything had gone exactly as per plans. Not even suicide pilots were needed for the mission. (Unfortunately, as many as 11 Americans – war prisoners – got killed in Hiroshima. They would be grieved over and monuments built to commemorate their stunning sacrifice.)

The “Little Boy” was gone, and a “Fat Man” waited in the wings. (Little Boy was a Uranium weapon, Fat Man plutonium based. Fat Man with a diameter of 5 feet was twice as wide as Little Boy with a diameter of 28 inches; hence the names). Buoyed with the success of the Uranium A-bomb, the Americans were keen to test the Plutonium-based weapon. They prayed silently against any premature surrender by the Japanese.

On the morning of 9 August, the air force bomber Bockscar carrying the Fat Man took off for the second mission. The target given was the ancient castle-town in Japan – Kokura. 

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Clouds the Spoilsport

09:20 am on 9 Aug 1945: Bockscar, after flying for more than six hours arrived at Kokura. To the disappointment of the crew, the city was covered with clouds. The plane rotated on top of Kokura three times, hoping for the clouds to clear up. A snag developed in the fuel transfer pump meant the plane didn’t have access to all its fuel.

10:02: Kokura unfortunately was still covered with clouds. Fuel must be conserved. The weather looked bad. The plane couldn’t possibly keep on making runs on top of Kokura. Reluctantly, it was decided to head to Nagasaki, a back-up, 95 miles south of Kokura.

10:46: The plane arrived at Nagasaki, which goddamn it, was also covered with clouds. This was truly frustrating. The instructions in case the clouds remained, were for the plane to fly back to Okinawa, and dispose of the a-bomb in the ocean. Major Sweeney, the pilot, could not imagine wasting a whole expensive plutonium bomb in the ocean. During the two runs on top of Nagasaki, the clouds still prevented any action. Americans cursed their luck and prayed at the same time.

11:00: The prayers of the flying Americans were answered. The cloud cover briefly cleared up. The Fat Man was dropped. At two minutes past eleven, it exploded generating an estimated 7000 degrees Fahrenheit heat, and 625 miles per hour winds.  

The bomb instantly killed 70,000 and injured 60,000.

Both missions were resounding accomplishments. On 14 August, 1945 the Japanese Emperor Hirohito surrendered. The Second World War was over.

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Clouds

Clouds saved Kokura and their clearing up doomed Nagasaki.

What saved Kyoto?

It transpired that the Secretary of War Henry Stimson had had his honeymoon in Kyoto. So many fond memories were attached to that place. Using the privilege of his position, Stimson kept striking Kyoto out of the target list under various pretexts.

Clouds saved Kokura. (In Japanese, there is an idiom now: Kokura’s luck)

Sentimentality of a powerful American spared Kyoto.

Ravi