Nagasaki – The Forgotten Bomb

In the final year of World War II, the Allies called for the unconditional surrender of the Imperial Japanese armed forces in the Potsdam Declaration on 26 July 1945, the alternative being “prompt and utter destruction”. Japan ignored the ultimatum.

On 6 August, a ‘Little Boy’ atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, The devastation wrought at Hiroshima was not sufficient to convince the Japanese War Council to accept the Potsdam Conference’s demand for unconditional surrender. Prime Minister Suzuki reiterated the Japanese government’s commitment to ignore the Allies’ demands and fight on.

Three days later, August 9, a second atomic bomb, a ‘Fat Man’ was dropped on Nagasaki.

The effects of the atomic bombings killed between 90,000 and 146,000 people in Hiroshima and 39,000 and 80,000 people in Nagasaki; roughly half occurred on the first day.