Why didn't the United States choose Tokyo to drop atomic bombs on Japan?

19411On February 7th, the Japanese navy attacked Pearl Harbor, the Pacific base of the US Navy, and the US immediately took a series of retaliatory actions, including developing nuclear weapons.

Atomic bombs are expensive. At that time, the United States only built three atomic bombs. Except for 1, the other two ships were immediately transported to the Tianning Island base of the US Pacific Fleet.

Here is the Mariana Islands, which mainly consists of four islands: Saipan, Tinian, Rota and Guam. The islands were ruled by Spain for 300 years, occupied by Japan during World War II, and belonged to the United States after World War II. The territory of the United States is not all in North China, and the United States is not far away. These four islands are now the closest holiday resorts for American tourists.

At this time, the European battlefield of World War II has ended, and Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945. All Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk, and the navy and air force ceased to exist. A small number of Japanese troops retreated to the island and fought like trapped animals. It can be said that the US military is almost catching turtles in a jar, and bombing Japan can force Japan to surrender with fewer casualties. However, the US military still decided to use the atomic bomb to retaliate against the attack on Pearl Harbor four years ago.

Hiroshima was the selected city for the first bombing by the US military, and there were two alternate locations, Kokura and Nagasaki.

At that time, the missile could not locate the target accurately. Bombers usually fly at low altitude, and the location and time of throwing are judged by the naked eye and technology of the pilot. But the atomic bomb is so powerful that if it is thrown at low altitude, the plane may not escape. Therefore, throwing an atomic bomb must be at an altitude of about 10,000 meters, so that the distance between the explosion point of the atomic bomb and the plane must be more than 10,000 meters to fly safely. The disadvantage of high landing point is that it is difficult for pilots to locate accurately with the naked eye. At that time, the lethality of atomic bombs was far less than now. If it deviates from more than ten kilometers, it will explode in the suburbs, which will have little impact.

On August 6th, 1945, three meteorological observation planes took off from Tianning Island to observe in Hiroshima, Kokura and Nagasaki to avoid dropping bombs in places with thick clouds or rainy and windy weather.

In the clear sky of Hiroshima and Wan Li, the American B-29 bomber dropped the atomic bomb at a height of 9632 meters. 43 seconds later, the atomic bomb exploded at an altitude of 600 meters from the ground.

If the atomic bomb explodes on the ground, the building will block the shock wave and radiation, and its power will be greatly reduced. If the atomic bomb explodes at high altitude, the same effect is not good, and the best effect is five or six hundred meters from the ground.

Hiroshima was almost razed to the ground by this atomic bomb explosion, and about 200,000 people died, because countless people were affected by radiation. 1994, the Asian Games was held in Hiroshima, Japan, announcing to the world that the people of Hiroshima survived tenaciously under the atomic bomb.

On August 9, 1945, the US B-29 bomber set off again, targeting Kokura. However, the weather in big warehouse is very bad, and the visibility is very low. The pilot circled over the warehouse for a long time, and three bombing attempts failed, so that there was not enough fuel to return to Tianning Island.

The pilot then turned to Nagasaki, where the weather was fine. The American B-29 bomber dropped the atomic bomb at a height of 9000 meters. After 60 seconds, the atomic bomb exploded at an altitude of 503 meters above the ground. The atomic bomb explosion caused more than ten thousand deaths in Nagasaki 10. After the throwing, due to the lack of fuel, the pilot flew south to Okinawa and returned to Tianning Island after refueling.

1945 August 15 noon 12, that is, nine days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and six days after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender and the end of World War II.