Why Hiroshima? After the blitz of London and the bombing of various German cities, it was no longer a problem in peoples' minds to bomb civilian areas during war. Hiroshima was Japan's seventh largest city and it had not been bombed as much as the other major cities of Japan. It had factories that made war materials and it was also the headquarters of the Japanese Second Army. The American government did not think there were Allied prisoners of war in the area, but it was wrong. In the center of the city was Hiroshima Castle, where 23 American prisoners of war were incarcerated. The second choice for a target was Kokura, an industrial center and arsenal, or Nagasaki, a port city.
On July 31, Truman ordered the military to drop the bomb as soon as the weather would permit. The President ordered Secretary of State Stimson to carry out the orders so that military objectives, soldiers, and sailors would be the targets. Only military targets were to be hit, not women and children. The orders given by Truman show how little anyone knew about the bomb's capability for widespread destruction. When the bomb was detonated over Hiroshima, 70,000 men, women, and children lost their lives instantly — none of them were military targets. In the months to follow, another 50,000 died of injuries and radiation poisoning. Looking down from the Enola Gay, the aircraft that dropped the bomb, the co-pilot, Robert Lewis, wrote in his journal, "My God, what have we done?"
Three days later, a second bomb — this time an implosion bomb costing $400 million to develop — was dropped on Nagasaki. It has been estimated that this bomb killed an additional 70,000 people. Ironically, Emperor Hirohito had already decided to surrender before the second bomb was even dropped.
American soldiers celebrated, downed all the beer they could find, and danced upon hearing that the bomb had been dropped on Japan. They were relieved that they would survive the war. One million troops had already been called up to begin the final assault and invasion of Japan, and it was estimated that as many as 20,000 Americans would have died in the first month of fighting. There was great relief throughout the Allied world.
