Invasion of Japan set for 1 November Estimates of casualties were extremely high considering how hard the Japanese would fight to defend their homeland Estimates ran as high as a million for the Allies and 10 million for Japan. Purple Heart is a medal given to any soldier wounded while serving. The US military is still using Purple Hearts they made in anticipation of the invasion of Japan.

Manhattan Project Top secret project to build the first atomic bomb Eventually employed 130,000 people and cost $2 Billion. 1st A-bomb test Alamogordo NM – 16 July 20,000 tons of TNT – picture a train with 200 box cars, each filled with tnt.

Dropping the Bomb Late July Truman asked Japan to surrender – rejected Truman had to decide whether to use the atomic bomb or not The Allies would have defeated Japan without the Bomb. The question was how many lives would it cost?

6 Aug – Little Boy dropped on Hiroshima

Colonel Paul Tibbets and the crew of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb.

Little Boy

Hiroshima before the bomb Hiroshima after the bomb

The bomb missed the target by about 800 yards It exploded over the city center at a height of 1,900 feet The blast destroyed one square mile and fires destroyed four square miles. About 90,000 people died, most on the first day

Japan again asked to surrender – no response Russia declared war on Japan 9 Aug – Fat Man dropped on Nagasaki August 14th – Emperor Hirohito agrees to surrender

Side note – USS Indianapolis After delivering parts and the uranium for Little Boy (the first atomic bomb), she was torpedoed in the Philippine Sea. She rolled over and sank within 12 minutes. She took 300 of her 1200 crewmen with her

The remain 800 were left in shark infested waters for four days Although the Indiapolis had sent a distress call, no one responded Additionally the Navy hadn’t noticed that the Indianapolis was over due in port.

The survivors of the sinking suffered from dehydration and starvation as they floated in the ocean for four days By the time they were accidentally discovered, there were only 320 left alive This was the worst loss of life in the entire history of the US Navy.

2 Sept – Japan signs surrender on board USS Missouri

Beginning and End USS Missouri next to the Arizona Memorial

Many nations in Asia use 2nd of September as their nations birthday because so many were under control of Japan. With the signing of the Surrender documents WWII officially comes to a close. September 2nd was VJ Day The costliest war in human history was over.

Post Script Nuremburg Trials – Nazi leaders were put on trial for war crimes. First time in history leaders were held responsible for war. There were also trials in Japan.