"Dave Kearton" wrote:

"Gernot Hassenpflug"
wrote in message
Well no, as pointed out by other posters. But
my question is, was
| Kyoto the primary target for the 2nd bombing
mission that eventually
| devastated Nagasaki, as I have read in one
report on the internet. I
| always thought Kyoto was not bombed due to
the efforts of a certain US
| diplomat (?) who IIRC is actually buried in
Kyoto.... maybe a myth.
|
| From my reading, I thought that Hiroshima
was the primary target due
| to the concentration of military installations
and command
| centers. Nagasaki was chosen because of the
naval base
| installations. I don't know how true the allegations
are that a city
| with modern concrete structures (Hiroshima)
vs one with mostly
| traditional housing (Nagasaki) were chosen.
Please correct my mistaken
| impressions!
|
| As far as a further mission is concerned,
I thought that in the event
| of a third mission, not Tokyo but Sapporo
was to be targetted. How far
| did plans for a third mission go, I did not
find out even if there was
| enough fissionable material on hand to make
another bomb immediately,
| or whether that would have taken further weeks
or perhaps months.
|
| Any useful references would be appreciated,
Google was not exactly
| conclusive and this is not my subject, hence
I am not able to judge
| the quality of the references easily.
|
| Many thanks,
| Gernot
| --
| G Hassenpflug * IJN & JMSDF equipment/history
fan


According to "Ruin from the air" Sphere books
Ltd


Kyoto was favoured by General Groves as a target
because it was a big city
that "must have been involved with war work"

Groves had it placed on the reserved target
list for this reason.
Given that Kyoto was the ancient capital of
Japan, prior to Tokyo, it was
an important cultural city, whose destruction
may not have the effect on
Japanese morale that was desired.

After the war, Leslie Groves claimed he had
put Kyoto on the target list ,
to protect it against conventional bombing.




Works for me....




Cheers

Dave Kearton





These were the targets as per the order given to Gen. Carl Spaatz, who
was the CO of the Strategic Air Force Pacific: Hiroshima, Kokura, Nagasaki,
Niigata. Additional targets were to be selected later if more than four bombs
needed to be dropped.
Tokyo was practically worthless as an atomic target by this time.
Regarding Kyoto: Groves wanted to hit Kyoto, but Secretary of War Stimson
overruled him on this and had it taken off the list, and Truman agreed. Groves
wanted to reinstate Kyoto if more bombs were necessary after the first four.


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