B29 - "Necessary Evil"

"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