History UsefulNotes / AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki

In an instant, the bomb killed 70–80,000 people, including 20,000 Japanese military personnel and 20,000 Koreans, and destroyed nearly 48,000 buildings (including the headquarters of the 2nd General Army and Fifth Division, Hiroshima Castle, which had been built in the late 1500s and stood for nearly 350 years). Contrary to popular imagination, "Little Boy" did not strike the ground and then detonate like a conventional bomb. It exploded midair (at about 1850 feet above the ground), and thus the force of the explosion radiated [[SphereOfDestruction in all directions]] -- including down, directly over the Shima Surgical Clinic.[[note]]Crosswinds caused the bomb to deviate by about 800 feet from the Aioi Bridge but, given the power of the bomb itself, the results were the same regardless.[[/note]] Only reinforced concrete structures could withstand the force of the blast and only a few such buildings had been built during the war years. Many individuals out in the streets were vaporized by the light and heat of the blast, and countless more who were "lucky" enough not to be vaporized were simply ''pulverized'' into oblivion by the shockwave that came an instant later. Others became covered by third degree burns on their exposed flesh-- not from its heat, but from the light of the explosion. Those wearing clothing had the patterns of their clothes seared into their skin. Anyone unfortunate enough to be looking in the general direction of the blast was either temporarily or permanently blinded by its light. 90% of the doctors and nurses in the city were killed by the blast-- the others needed to come together to try and save the people injured by this revolutionary new weapon. (Dr. Kaoru Shima, owner and head of the Clinic which unintentionally became Ground Zero, only survived because he was in the countryside examining a farmer's pregnant wife.) Another of the survivor of the bomb was Doctor Terufumi Sasaki. A young man at the time, he quickly took stock of the horrific state of the survivors and began to not just treat them, but more importantly, [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture document their condition and the effectiveness of the treatments that the Hiroshima medical teams provided.]] Much of what we know today about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_radiation_syndrome Acute Radiation Syndrome]] comes from Dr. Sasaki's notes. The majority of people within 2,000m (~1 mile) of the blast and not shielded behind concrete walls would succumb to Acute Radiation Syndrome and die within a month. \\

In an instant, the bomb killed 70–80,000 people, including 20,000 Japanese military personnel and 20,000 Koreans, and destroyed nearly 48,000 buildings (including the headquarters of the 2nd General Army and Fifth Division). Contrary to popular imagination, "Little Boy" did not strike the ground and then detonate like a conventional bomb. It exploded midair (at about 1850 feet above the ground), and thus the force of the explosion radiated [[SphereOfDestruction in all directions]] -- including down, directly over the Shima Surgical Clinic.[[note]]Crosswinds caused the bomb to deviate by about 800 feet from the Aioi Bridge but, given the power of the bomb itself, the results were the same regardless.[[/note]] Only reinforced concrete structures could withstand the force of the blast and only a few such buildings had been built during the war years. Many individuals out in the streets were vaporized by the light and heat of the blast, and countless more who were "lucky" enough not to be vaporized were simply ''pulverized'' into oblivion by the shockwave that came an instant later. Others became covered by third degree burns on their exposed flesh-- not from its heat, but from the light of the explosion. Those wearing clothing had the patterns of their clothes seared into their skin. Anyone unfortunate enough to be looking in the general direction of the blast was either temporarily or permanently blinded by its light. 90% of the doctors and nurses in the city were killed by the blast-- the others needed to come together to try and save the people injured by this revolutionary new weapon. (Dr. Kaoru Shima, owner and head of the Clinic which unintentionally became Ground Zero, only survived because he was in the countryside examining a farmer's pregnant wife.) Another of the survivor of the bomb was Doctor Terufumi Sasaki. A young man at the time, he quickly took stock of the horrific state of the survivors and began to not just treat them, but more importantly, [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture document their condition and the effectiveness of the treatments that the Hiroshima medical teams provided.]] Much of what we know today about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_radiation_syndrome Acute Radiation Syndrome]] comes from Dr. Sasaki's notes. The majority of people within 2,000m (~1 mile) of the blast and not shielded behind concrete walls would succumb to Acute Radiation Syndrome and die within a month. \\

* ''Film/Godzilla1954'' centers its entire plot around this and it is a re-enactment of the atomic bombings of both cities in the guise of a giant monster movie. The atomic bombings still happened and the devastation of Tokyo by Godzilla's wrath clearly invokes the imagery of a nuclear bomb dropped and gives AnAesop that is most unsubtle.

As of 2024, the event holds the title, for better or worse, of the only time nuclear weapons have been deployed against targets in wartime, though it was not the ''first'' nuclear detonation, which goes to the Trinity Test of July 1945.

As of 2023, the event holds the title, for better or worse, of the only time nuclear weapons have been deployed against targets in wartime, though it was not the ''first'' nuclear detonation, which goes to the Trinity Test of July 1945.

On August 6th, 1945, at 8:15 a.m. on an already hot summer morning, four B-29 Superfortresses of the 509th Composite Group (a secret and highly-specialized unit trained to fly B-29s modified to carry atomic ordnance as part of Project Silverplate) appeared in the skies high above Hiroshima. One of them, 44-86292 ''Enola Gay'', held ''Little Boy'' in her bomb bay. Air raid sirens initially went off, but seeing the small flight of American planes (initially a single weather reconnaissance plane, Captain Claude Eatherly's ''Straight Flush'', followed by the strike package consisting of the ''Enola Gay'' and two additional B-29s carrying cameras and airborne instrumentation) and taking it for a scouting mission, the all clear was sounded. Just as people were emerging from their air raid shelters, ''Enola Gay'' Bombardier Major Thomas Ferebee placed the bombsight's crosshairs over the Aioi Bridge, a unique T-shaped bridge that was essentially right in the middle of the city, and released "Little Boy" into the slipstream. A small chute deployed from the tail of Little Boy, slowing it down and allowing ''Enola Gay'' and her accompanying aircraft time to leave the area, and the bomb's arming system went active, sending out radar signals from antennae on the "Little Boy"'s outer casing, pinging and counting down the altitude to a preset height of detonation.\\

On August 6th, 1945, at 8:15 a.m. on an already hot summer morning, four B-29 Superfortresses of the 509th Composite Group (a secret and highly-specialized unit trained to fly B-29s modified to carry atomic ordnance as part of Project Silverplate) appeared in the skies high above Hiroshima. One of them, 44-86292 ''Enola Gay'', held ''Little Boy'' in her bomb bay. Air raid sirens initially went off, but seeing the small flight of American planes (initially a single weather reconnaissance plane, Captain Claude Eatherly's ''Straight Flush'', followed by the strike package consisting of the ''Enola Gay'' and two additional B-29s carrying cameras and airborne instrumentation) and taking it for a scouting mission, the all clear was sounded. Just as people were emerging from their air raid shelters, ''Enola Gay'' Bombardier Major Thomas Ferebee placed the bombsight's crosshairs over the Aioi Bridge, a unique T-shaped bridge that was essentially right in the middle of the city, and released "Little Boy." \\

[[FourIsDeath 44.4]] seconds later, "Little Boy" detonated.\\

The choosing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima as the targets was almost a chance event, as there were four potential cities that could be targeted. In particular, Kokura was the intended target for the second bomb (and had been the backup target for the first), [[ButterflyOfDoom but Nagasaki was attacked instead because of poor visibility over Kokura]]. This has resulted in Kokura being known as a lucky city. As for Hiroshima, many officials had actually been in support of bombing Kyoto, due to its industrial significance, but the city was removed from the target list due to its historical, religious and cultural importance to the Japanese people.[[note]]The removal was mostly the work of one Henry L. Stimson, the Secretary of War at the time, who appealed directly to President Truman to get Kyoto removed. Stimson’s exact reasons for doing so are unclear—popular legend claims he spent his honeymoon there, but this [[https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2023/07/24/henry-stimson-didnt-go-to-kyoto-on-his-honeymoon/ is false]]; he did spend some time in Kyoto with his wife in 1926, but other than some praise of the city's sights, there's nothing to indicate his affection for the city was enough that he wanted to spare it the destruction from the bomb. The most common consensus is that Stimson did indeed recognize the importance of the city to Japanese culture, and that it would be ''very'' hard to break bread with the Japanese if the Allies destroyed the cultural equivalent to their New York City or Paris.[[/note]] Thus, Hiroshima was chosen as the first atomic bombing target.

Hiroshima was a city of significant military importance. It happened to have been selected as the headquarters for Field Marshal Shunroku Hata, who was to command the defense of the entirety of Southern Japan for the Allied invasion. It was also a hub for transportation, logistics, and communications, as well as having some of the last remaining war production factories in the country. At the time of the bombing, roughly 350,000 people were still in Hiroshima, believing that perhaps their relatives in America had successfully petitioned the government to spare the city.

The choosing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima as the targets was almost a chance event, as there were four potential cities that could be targeted. In particular, Kokura was the intended target for the second bomb (and had been the backup target for the first), [[ButterflyOfDoom but Nagasaki was attacked instead because of poor visibility over Kokura]]. This has resulted in Kokura being known as a lucky city. As for Hiroshima, many officials had actually been in support of bombing Kyoto, due to its industrial significance, but the city was removed from the target list due to its historical, religious and cultural importance to the Japanese people.[[note]]The removal was mostly the work of one Henry L. Stimson, the Secretary of War at the time, who appealed directly to President Truman to get Kyoto removed. Stimson’s exact reasons for doing so are unclear—popular legend claims he spent his honeymoon there, but this [[https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2023/07/24/henry-stimson-didnt-go-to-kyoto-on-his-honeymoon/ is false]]; he did spend some time in Kyoto with his wife in 1926, but other than some praise of the city's sights, there's nothing to indicate his affection for the city was enough that he wanted to spare it the destruction from the bomb.[[/note]] Thus, Hiroshima was chosen as the first atomic bombing target.

While the fears of a nuclear weapon being used by the Nazis were certainly not unjustified, ironically, they never came close to completing one thanks to their own self-defeating nature. Due to their antisemitic laws, the Nazis forced out many of Europe's top physicists who were Jewish or had married Jews or simply felt solidarity for the Jews. This brain drain greatly hampered the Nazi nuclear program while at the same time helping the Manhattan Project. Not only that, but the Nazis largely dismissed Nuclear Physics as a whole because they considered it “Jewish Science” and they refused to use the (correct) ideas and discoveries simply because they were discovered by scientists who were Jews, including Einstein; thus, whatever meager nuclear programs the Nazis did support were forced to rely on the aryan sciences, which were completely incorrect & tainted by their ideology. Werner von Heisenberg, one of Germany's leading physicists, ultimately came to the conclusion that building a bomb was impossible, and Hitler eventually lost interest which meant a lack of funding and resources. British commando raids on German heavy water facilities in Occupied Norway also set their project further back.

While the fears of a nuclear weapon being used by the Nazis were certainly not unjustified, ironically, they never came close to completing one thanks to their own self-defeating nature. Due to their antisemitic laws, the Nazis forced out many of Europe's top physicists who were Jewish or had married Jews or simply felt solidarity for the Jews. This brain drain greatly hampered the Nazi nuclear program while at the same time helping the Manhattan Project. Werner von Heisenberg, one of Germany's leading physicists, ultimately came to the conclusion that building a bomb was impossible, and Hitler eventually lost interest which meant a lack of funding and resources. British commando raids on German heavy water facilities in Occupied Norway also set their project further back.

The Japanese counterplan to '''Downfall''' was Operation '''Ketsugō'''. Because of the home islands' naturally mountainous geography, there are only a handful of beaches in the archipelago that would have been suitable for any Normandy-Scale amphibious invasion, not to mention said invasion would need to be located at the shortest distance possible from the staging base on Okinawa to resupply effectively. As such, it wasn't hard to guess where the invasion would take place, and Japan began moving more and more troops to southern Kyushu. While the Japanese knew they had no hope of winning the war, they hoped that they could make invasion of the Home Islands too costly for the Allies to attempt. Even at this late stage, Japan retained around 10,000 aircraft. Most would be used as Kamikazes, what the Japanese military then called "Special Attacks" -- if for no other reason than their inexperienced pilots weren't good for much else. The vast majority of Japan's aces had already been killed. Attempting to dog-fight with the Americans, who had greater experience, flew far more capable aircraft, and vastly outnumbered the Japanese, was useless. During the Battle of Okinawa, the Japanese Navy had launched 1500 Special Attacks, achieving a hit-rate of around 11% and wounding or killing more than 10,000 U.S. Navy personnel. At Kyushu, due to more favorable terrain, the Japanese hoped for a hit rate of 17%. Furthermore, they would target troop carriers as they ferried men to the beaches, rather than the heavy navy ships, increasing casualties even further. Some Japanese planners optimistically hoped that the Kamikaze forces alone could destroy 1/3 or more of the invasion force ''en route'' to the beaches. [[note]]Unfortunately for the Japanese, the Americans had anticipated this tactic, and if the invasion had gone ahead were planning to launch a 'dummy' invasion force of landing ships ahead of the main invasion, devoid of ground troops but outfitted with an excess of AA-weaponry. [[/note]]\\

The Japanese counterplan to '''Downfall''' was Operation '''Ketsugō'''. Because of the home islands' naturally mountainous geography, there were only a handful of beaches in the archipelago that would have been suitable for any Normandy-Scale amphibious invasion. As such, it wasn't hard to guess where the invasion would take place, and Japan began moving more and more troops to southern Kyushu. While the Japanese knew they had no hope of winning the war, they hoped that they could make invasion of the Home Islands too costly for the Allies to attempt. Even at this late stage, Japan retained around 10,000 aircraft. Most would be used as Kamikazes, what the Japanese military then called "Special Attacks" -- if for no other reason than their inexperienced pilots weren't good for much else. The vast majority of Japan's aces had already been killed. Attempting to dog-fight with the Americans, who had greater experience, flew far more capable aircraft, and vastly outnumbered the Japanese, was useless. During the Battle of Okinawa, the Japanese Navy had launched 1500 Special Attacks, achieving a hit-rate of around 11% and wounding or killing more than 10,000 U.S. Navy personnel. At Kyushu, due to more favorable terrain, the Japanese hoped for a hit rate of 17%. Furthermore, they would target troop carriers as they ferried men to the beaches, rather than the heavy navy ships, increasing casualties even further. Some Japanese planners optimistically hoped that the Kamikaze forces alone could destroy 1/3 or more of the invasion force ''en route'' to the beaches. [[note]]Unfortunately for the Japanese, the Americans had anticipated this tactic, and if the invasion had gone ahead were planning to launch a 'dummy' invasion force of landing ships ahead of the main invasion, devoid of ground troops but outfitted with an excess of AA-weaponry. [[/note]]\\

On the 6th and 9th of August [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII 1945]], the [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks US forces]] destroyed the UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with UsefulNotes/{{nuclear weapons}}, which resulted from the [[UsefulNotes/RobertOppenheimer Manhattan Project]]. This was done to:

There were proposals among the scientists for a public non-military demonstration of their new weapon, to show the Japanese what the Allies were now capable of without the need for civilian deaths. However, due to a number of reasons, such as concerns the bomb wouldn't work at all (they were very expensive and already used one in a test, which confirmed it ''could'' work) and also squandering the element of surprise which was seen as vital in getting them to surrender, not to mention that the Japanese and their own scientific community might consider it to be a trick of some sort, this was dismissed. Two atomic bombs were quickly readied at Los Alamos and sent to the Pacific for immediate use. It was now simply a matter of where they would fall.

There were proposals among the scientists for a public non-military demonstration of their new weapon, to show the Japanese what the Allies were now capable of without the need for civilian deaths. However, due to a number of reasons, such as concerns the bomb wouldn't work at all (they were very expensive and already used one in a test) and also squandering the element of surprise which was seen as vital in getting them to surrender, not to mention that the Japanese might consider it to be a trick of some sort, this was dismissed. Two atomic bombs were quickly readied at Los Alamos and sent to the Pacific for immediate use. It was now simply a matter of where they would fall.

In the 1930s, chemists and physicists in America and Europe made spectacular leaps in the study of atoms, creating an entirely new field of science. In 1938, nuclear fission was achieved by Otto Hahn, Fritz Strassmann, Lise Meitner, and Otto Robert Frisch; fission is when an atom is split apart and this causes the release of a massive amount of energy. Scientists already began to imagine the application of this new breakthrough on a much larger scale.

In the Potsdam Declaration, the Americans did attempt to provide one last way out for the Japanese. The official wording of the text called for the unconditional surrender of the ''armed forces'', rather than of Japan as a whole.[[note]]This was different than Germany because as the war progressed, the distinction between the civilian and military leadership vanished as Hitler became exclusively focused on directing the war rather than governing, and with his suicide, the military was left as the only body of authority in the country. Japan still mantained a distinct civilian leadership.[[/note]] This was intended to suggest that America would be open to allowing the Emperor to maintain his place as head of state if they surrendered now. Unfortunately, this had the opposite effect. The Japanese viewed the softening of the surrender demand as a sign that America had grown weary of the fighting and were beginning to bend. If they simply held firm, then America would acquiesce to all of their demands. American military intelligence had long broken Japan's diplomatic codes and so was able to read cables from Tokyo to their embassies in neutral countries, while Japan maintained "silent contempt" in their contact with America. Based on this, no surrender was imminent or apparent.

Knowing very well how close they were to total defeat, the Cabinet was split between those who wanted to surrender and those who wanted to fight to the death. The latter were a smaller group, but the former faction was evenly split between those who wanted to surrender ''now'' and those who wanted to [[InsistentTerminology "negotiate an end to the war."]] In any case, peace negotiations were ongoing throughout 1945, but they followed a familiar pattern, with the Japanese insisting on totally unrealistic conditions while the Americans continually refused anything less than unconditional surrender. The Japanese insisted upon the retention of the Emperor as Supreme Head of State and the retention of his political power, that there would be no occupation, that Japan would retain ''integral territory'' (this meant territory such as Korea and UsefulNotes/{{Taiwan}}), that Japanese disarmament would not be controlled by the Allies, and that it would try its own war criminals. The Japanese government was deeply divided, but a decision to surrender could only be made by Emperor Hirohito, and he was still under the dominant influence of the military. Most of the military leadership was determined to fight on and defend the home islands against invasion. Japan still occupied most of China and large parts of South-East Asia and had 2 million men under arms. In any case, Truman had no way of knowing what Japan's leaders were thinking. Japan chose to ignore the Potsdam Declaration of 26 July, which warned of "prompt and utter destruction" if it did not surrender. The Americans saw no reason to give Japan any leeway. Germany had already surrendered unconditionally-- so must Japan. This mindset was in part a result of the ending of [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI WWI]] - where the Central Powers negotiated an end to power and escaped occupation. This resulted in the development of the "stab-in-the-back" narrative in Germany: that the Army was undefeated in the field and would have won the war had the country not been "sold out" by socialists and Jews. This served as fuel for the Nazi's rise to power. This time, the Allies wanted no ambiguity. Both powers must admit defeat, surrender without conditions, and accept occupation.\\

Knowing very well how close they were to total defeat, the Cabinet was split between those who wanted to surrender and those who wanted to fight to the death. The latter were a smaller group, but the former faction was evenly split between those who wanted to surrender ''now'' and those who wanted to [[InsistentTerminology "negotiate an end to the war."]] In any case, peace negotiations were ongoing throughout 1945, but they followed a familiar pattern, with the Japanese insisting on totally unrealistic conditions while the Americans continually refused anything less than unconditional surrender. The Japanese insisted upon the retention of the Emperor as Supreme Head of State and the retention of his political power, that there would be no occupation, that Japan would retain ''integral territory'' (this meant territory such as Korea and UsefulNotes/{{Taiwan}}), that Japanese disarmament would not be controlled by the Allies, and that it would try its own war criminals. The Japanese government was deeply divided, but a decision to surrender could only be made by Emperor Hirohito, and he was still under the dominant influence of the military. Most of the military leadership was determined to fight on and defend the home islands against invasion. Japan still occupied most of China and large parts of South-East Asia and had 2 million men under arms. In any case, Truman had no way of knowing what Japan's leaders were thinking. Japan chose to ignore the Potsdam Declaration of 26 July, which warned of "prompt and utter destruction" if it did not surrender. The Americans saw no reason to give Japan any leeway. Germany had already surrendered unconditionally-- so must Japan. This mindset was in part a result of the ending of [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI WWI]]. Germany had developed a "stabbed-in-the-back" narrative following their surrender in 1918, that the country had been "sold out" by its civilian leadership even though the military was never "defeated" in the field. UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler had jumped on the myth to create a narrative that it was the Jews/the communists/the social democrats/etc... who had done so to fuel a desire to go to war. The Allies wanted (and got) total surrenders from Germany and Japan to squash flat any further attempt at creating this narrative that might lead to WW3 down the line.\\

The choosing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima as the targets was almost a chance event, as there were four potential cities that could be targeted. In particular, Kokura was the intended target for the second bomb (and had been the backup target for the first), [[ForWantOfANail but Nagasaki was attacked instead because of poor visibility over Kokura]]. This has resulted in Kokura being known as a lucky city. As for Hiroshima, many officials had actually been in support of bombing Kyoto, due to its industrial significance, but the city was removed from the target list due to its historical, religious and cultural importance to the Japanese people.[[note]]The removal was mostly the work of one Henry L. Stimson, the Secretary of War at the time, who appealed directly to President Truman to get Kyoto removed. Stimson’s exact reasons for doing so are unclear—popular legend claims he spent his honeymoon there, but this [[https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2023/07/24/henry-stimson-didnt-go-to-kyoto-on-his-honeymoon/ is false]]; he did spend some time in Kyoto with his wife in 1926, but other than some praise of the city's sights, there's nothing to indicate his affection for the city was enough that he wanted to spare it the destruction from the bomb.[[/note]] Thus, Hiroshima was chosen as the first atomic bombing target.

The Japanese counterplan to '''Downfall''' was Operation '''Ketsugō'''. Because of the home islands' naturally mountainous geography, there were only a handful of beaches in the archipelago that would have been suitable for a Normandy-Scale amphibious invasion. As such, it wasn't hard to guess where the invasion would take place, and Japan began moving more and more troops to southern Kyushu. While the Japanese knew they had no hope of winning the war, they hoped that they could make invasion of the Home Islands too costly for the Allies to attempt. Even at this late stage, Japan retained around 10,000 aircraft. Most would be used as Kamikazes, what the Japanese military then called "Special Attacks" -- if for no other reason than their inexperienced pilots weren't good for much else. The vast majority of Japan's aces had already been killed. Attempting to dog-fight with the Americans, who had greater experience, flew far more capable aircraft, and vastly outnumbered the Japanese, was useless. During the Battle of Okinawa, the Japanese Navy had launched 1500 Special Attacks, achieving a hit-rate of around 11% and wounding or killing more than 10,000 U.S. Navy personnel. At Kyushu, due to more favorable terrain, the Japanese hoped for a hit rate of 17%. Furthermore, they would target troop carriers as they ferried men to the beaches, rather than the heavy navy ships, increasing casualties even further. Some Japanese planners optimistically hoped that the Kamikaze forces alone could destroy 1/3 or more of the invasion force ''en route'' to the beaches. [[note]]Unfortunately for the Japanese, the Americans had anticipated this tactic, and if the invasion had gone ahead were planning to launch a 'dummy' invasion force of landing ships ahead of the main invasion, devoid of ground troops but outfitted with an excess of AA-weaponry. [[/note]]\\

* Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the inevitable endpoint of the decision by the Japanese military, made as early as 1930, to launch wars of aggression in the Asia-Pacific - first against China, then against the US, Britain, France and the Netherlands via their Asian possessions. Japan's wars of aggression in China (1931-45) took something like twelve million lives. The Pacific War (1941-45) took about another 10 million. Japan had already suffered 3 million dead before Hiroshima. Supporters of the bombings say that the moral point is clear: countries that launch wars of aggression are responsible for all that follows, including deaths of their own population.
* It might be argued that Japanese civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not responsible for the crimes of their rulers. In a sense that is true, although there wasn't much opposition in the 1920s and '30s to the increasing military dominance of Japan's government, and Japan's early successes in the war were widely popular. But it ignores the reality of modern war, which is fought not between professional armies but between fully mobilised nations. Japan and Germany had to be defeated by destroying their industrial and logistical capacity through air attacks, as well as defeating their armed forces in the field. (And it's worth noting that Japan, unlike Germany, was never decisively defeated in the field - it was the destruction of Japan's cities that persuaded it to surrender.)

The Allied plan was Operation '''Downfall'''. It was to consist of two parts. The first part entailed the capture of Kyushu, Japan's southernmost major island. Once this was secure, it would be used as a staging area to support an invasion of Honshu, with Allied forces sailing straight into Tokyo Bay and landing forces on the Kanto Plain. The scale of the operation was enormous. Had it gone ahead, it would have been the largest amphibious assault in military history. The current record holder for that title is the Normandy Landings in Europe, involving 150,000 Allied troops from bases 100 miles away. '''Downfall''' called for seven times that number, with almost a million personnel, and supply lines stretching thousands of miles across the Pacific. The largest and most powerful battle-fleet ever assembled would support them. At the heart of this fleet would be 42 aircraft carriers, with over ten thousand carrier-based aircraft. \\

The United States was not enthusiastic about the prospects for Operation '''Downfall'''. Everything the United States had seen up to this point in the war pointed to a fanatical, even suicidal, hostile population that would continue to resist at almost any cost. Thus far only small islands had been taken. The Home Islands were projected to be much harder. Casualty estimates, both historical and contemporary, vary wildly but almost all reckon on hundreds of thousands of American casualties and possibly up to 10 million Japanese.\\

The Japanese answer to '''Downfall''' was Operation '''Ketsugō'''. Because of the home islands' naturally mountainous geography, there were only a handful of beaches in the archipelago that would be suitable for a Normandy-scale amphibious invasion. As such, it wasn't hard to guess where the invasion would take place, and Japan began moving more and more troops to southern Kyushu. While the Japanese knew they had no hope of winning the war, they hoped that they could make invasion of the Home Islands too costly for the Allies to attempt. Even at this late stage, Japan retained around 10,000 aircraft. Most would be used as Kamikazes, what the Japanese military then called "Special Attacks" -- if for no other reason than their inexperienced pilots weren't good for much else. The vast majority of Japan's aces had already been killed. Attempting to dog-fight with the Americans, who had greater experience, flew far more capable aircraft, and vastly outnumbered the Japanese, was useless. During the Battle of Okinawa, the Japanese Navy had launched 1500 Special Attacks, achieving a hit-rate of around 11% and wounding or killing more than 10,000 U.S. Navy personnel. At Kyushu, due to more favorable terrain, the Japanese hoped for a hit rate of 17%. Furthermore, they would target troop carriers as they ferried men to the beaches, rather than the heavy navy ships, increasing casualties even further. Some Japanese planners optimistically hoped that the Kamikaze forces alone could destroy 1/3 or more of the invasion force ''en route'' to the beaches. [[note]]Unfortunately for the Japanese, the Americans had anticipated this tactic, and if the invasion had gone ahead were planning to launch a 'dummy' invasion force of landing ships ahead of the main invasion, devoid of ground troops but outfitted with an excess of AA-weaponry. [[/note]]\\