Where is this cite/quote from? Not only is is polite to give sources, it’s pretty much a legal requirement.
Did you “borrow” this from William C Roberts?
Note that he’s hardly a noted historian, and he gives no source for that.
Note that Truman considered Hiroshima a “miliary target” and wiki and other experts agree.
*"The weapon is to be used against Japan between now and August 10th. I have told the Sec. of War, Mr. Stimson, to use it so that military objectives and soldiers and sailors are the target and not women and children. Even if the Japs are savages, ruthless, merciless and fanatic, we as the leader of the world for the common welfare cannot drop this terrible bomb on the old capital or the new [Kyoto or Tokyo].
“He [Stimson] and I are in accord. The target will be a purely military one and we will issue a warning statement [known as the Potsdam Proclamation] asking the Japs to surrender and save lives. I’m sure they will not do that, but we will have given them the chance. It is certainly a good thing for the world that Hitler’s crowd or Stalin’s did not discover this atomic bomb. It seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered, but it can be made the most useful.”*
After hearing how many civilians died, Truman ordered no more Atomic bombs to be used on cities.
I can’t find any sources that say Hiroshima was “saved” for A-bombing, per se. Yes, after the Target Committee met on May 28th, the Army was ordered to leave Hiroshima alone, but the bombing had already been going on for over a year (but the firebombing didn’t start until early 1945, just a few months before). In other words, pure luck and having lots of rivers saved Hiroshima until May 28th. No one even thought about what targets to A bomb until then. But do note the massive firebombings had only been going on for a few months by then.
wiki "Marshall asked Groves to nominate specific targets for bombing, subject to approval by himself and Stimson. Groves formed a Target Committee in April 1945 chaired by himself, that included Farrell, Major John A. Derry, Colonel William P. Fisher, Joyce C. Stearns and David M. Dennison from the USAAF; and scientists John von Neumann, Robert R. Wilson and William Penney from the Manhattan Project. The Target Committee met on April 27; at Los Alamos on May 10, where it was able to talk to the scientists and technicians there; and finally in Washington on May 28, where it was briefed by Tibbets and Commander Frederick Ashworth from Project Alberta, and the Manhattan Project’s scientific advisor, Richard C. Tolman.[61]
The Target Committee nominated four targets: Kokura, the site of one of Japan’s largest munitions plants; Hiroshima, an embarkation port and industrial center that was the site of a major military headquarters; Niigata, a port with industrial facilities including steel and aluminium plants and an oil refinery; and Kyoto, a major industrial center. The target selection was subject to the following criteria:
The target was larger than 3 mi (4.8 km) in diameter and was an important target in a large urban area.
The blast would create effective damage.
The target was unlikely to be attacked by August 1945. “Any small and strictly military objective should be located in a much larger area subject to blast damage in order to avoid undue risks of the weapon being lost due to bad placing of the bomb.”[62]
These cities were largely untouched during the nightly bombing raids and the Army Air Force agreed to leave them off the target list so accurate assessment of the weapon could be made. Hiroshima was described as “an important army depot and port of embarkation in the middle of an urban industrial area. It is a good radar target and it is such a size that a large part of the city could be extensively damaged. There are adjacent hills which are likely to produce a focusing effect which would considerably increase the blast damage. Due to rivers it is not a good incendiary target.”[62]"
(shortened for clarity)
Interesting find. Thanks for posting it.
“It is certainly a good thing for the world that Hitler’s crowd or Stalin’s did not discover this atomic bomb.” This is a very important point that is often overlooked by the “blame the U.S. first” crowd.
Can there be any doubt that Hitler or Stalin or Imperial Japan would have used atomic bombs (or dirty bombs) to rule the world? The U.S. used two atomic bombs to end a world war that had resulted in so many deaths that the best estimates place the total between 60 and 80 MILLION people. So many people died that exact numbers are impossible to determine but “give or take 20 million” is a big gap.
Hitler, or rather his scientists, had not only discovered how to make a bomb, they were busy working on building a reactor to make the material for one. Or to just spread core material over England as a weapon of mass destruction.
The US and the British prevented this from happening.
Both the Germans and the Japanese had the necessary materials to make “dirty bombs”. And the Abwehr knew about the American’s atomic bombs because they had agents with access to the Russians’ information on the US atomic efforts.
Read all about the Norwegian Heavy Water Sabotage!
To make my self clear. Colibri has it right ,Tokyobayer has put the cart before the horse. Dues to a few factors, mainly that is wasn’t suited for firebombing, Hiroshima hadn’t been heavily hit. Thus, it was targeted for the A bomb (also as it was considered a “military target”). After they picked it for a target, yes, it was 'reserved".
That episode of Hogan’s Heroes was awesome.
I still laugh because the German scientists didn’t realize you could build a reactor with regular water as a moderator. Or use graphite.
Yeah. Sorry about that. That’s what I get for posting when I’m seriously pissed off about something else.
It is strange, though. It seems to me that far more people have nuanced views of the European war, but then fall into cliches about the Pacific war. Or maybe I just notice them more.
Shaking in my boots here! Please don’t tell on me. Pretty, pretty, pretty please!
Or, better yet! Tell them that although I had carefully shown it was a quote, I overlooked getting the cite on it. I’m sure that their lawyer are going to come after me in full force!
If you can get their attorneys to write up a letter, have them send it to me in the email account under my user name. I’ll be waiting for it.
Scare quotation marks? Accusations of plagiarism? Fun stuff!
You’re a smart person, right? You can do better than this, I know. Try again!
In my opinion (and note the forum we are in) that is self-serving bullshit. You don’t drop it in the middle of a city and say that it’s not intended to be targeted on women and children.
I never claimed that Hiroshima had been saved before the targeting meeting. It was saved after that date.
Hereare a list of cities which had been bomber by the end of May from the time of the initial attack on Tokyo.
Note the number of cities firebombed. Five. However, note thenumber of cities attacked by August.
[quote]
Name of Japanese city firebombed, percentage of the city destroyed and equivalent in size to the following US city.
Yokohama 58 Cleveland
Tokyo 51 New York
Toyama 99 Chattanooga
Nagoya 40 Los Angeles
Osaka 35.1 Chicago
Nishinomiya 11.9 Cambridge
Siumonoseki 37.6 San Diego
Kure 41.9 Toledo
Kobe 55.7 Baltimore
Omuta 35.8 Miami
Wakayama 50 Salt Lake City
Kawasaki 36.2 Portland
Okayama 68.9 Long Beach
Yawata 21.2 San Antonio
Kagoshima 63.4 Richmond
Amagasaki 18.9 Jacksonville
Sasebo 41.4 Nashville
Moh 23.3 Spokane
Miyakonoio 26.5 Greensboro
Nobeoka 25.2 Augusta
Miyazaki 26.1 Davenport
Hbe 20.7 Utica
Saga 44.2 Waterloo
Imabari 63.9 Stockton
Matsuyama 64 Duluth
Fukui 86 Evansville
Tokushima 85.2 Ft. Wayne
Sakai 48.2 Forth Worth
Hachioji 65 Galveston
Kumamoto 31.2 Grand Rapids
Isezaki 56.7 Sioux Falls
Takamatsu 67.5 Knoxville
Akashi 50.2 Lexington
Fukuyama 80.9 Macon
Aomori 30 Montgomery
Okazaki 32.2 Lincoln
Oita 28.2 Saint Joseph
Hiratsuka 48.4 Battle Creek
Tokuyama 48.3 Butte
Yokkichi 33.6 Charlotte
Uhyamada 41.3 Columbus
Ogaki 39.5 Corpus Christi
Gifu 63.6 Des Moines
Shizuoka 66.1 Oklahoma City
Himeji 49.4 Peoria
Fukuoka 24.1 Rochester
Kochi 55.2 Sacramento
Shimizu 42 San Jose
Omura 33.1 Sante Fe
Chiba 41 Savannah
Ichinomiya 56.3 Sprinfield
Nara 69.3 Boston
Tsu 69.3 Topeka
Kuwana 75 Tucson
Toyohashi 61.9 Tulsa
Numazu 42.3 Waco
Chosi 44.2 Wheeling
Kofu 78.6 South Bend
Utsunomiya 43.7 Sioux City
Mito 68.9 Pontiac
Sendai 21.9 Omaha
Tsuruga 65.1 Middleton
Nagaoka 64.9 Madison
Hitachi 72 Little Rock
Kumagaya 55.1 Kenosha
Hamamatsu 60.3 Hartford
Maebashi 64.2 Wheeling
However, by August, it would have been attacked. They were hitting far smaller cities and more minor targets by that point.
Yup it was reserved after it was picked as a target. Coliri was wrong in his statement that it had not been targeted because of limitations of flight distance. That is completely erroneous, as I pointed out above.