The Race To Build The Atomic Bomb - WW2 essay - Isabella Todisco 10F
On the 16th of July 1945, the Manhattan project, America's effort at building an atomic bomb for attack on Japan, was successfully detonated for the first time during a test in Alamos, New Mexico. The President of the United States at the time, President Truman, refused to risk the massive amount of lives that may be lost on both sides, should the allies attack the Japanese home islands.
Below is a map of Japanese territory during the war in mid 1942:
Selecting where to drop the bombs
Truman ordered the usage of new technology. Scientists working at an American base presented them with two weapons, while their military groups sought out uranium to produce a third. J. Robert Oppenheimer, a bright physicist also known as 'the father of the atomic bomb', designed the Bomb and lead 3,000 people to build and operate the bomb.
English: Superfortress B-29 Enola Gay, the aircraf...
Tibbets in 2003
Colonel Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay, wavi...Between the 10th and 11th of May 1945, Oppenheimer and a few members of his team devised a list of cities, which would act as suitable targets for atomic attacks on Japan. The group eventually narrowed it down to just 4 targets: Hiroshima, Kyoto, Yokohama and Kokura.
Hiroshima was picked to be used as the first target because of both its military and industrial values. As a military target, Hiroshima housed a major army base, which sheltered the Japanese 5th division and the 2nd army headquarters. Hiroshima was also a highly important port in the south of Japan and a major communications center.
Another factor of Hiroshima being chosen for the first target, is the huge mountains surrounding it. It was thought that when the bomb blast went off, the mountain would crumble and fall and create even more destruction in the...