Hiroshima and… Kokura?
How circumstance and sloppiness saved a Japanese city and doomed Nagasaki to destruction
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The two names will be linked forever in history as the only two cities to suffer the devastation of an atomic attack.
What many people don’t know is that Nagasaki only suffered its terrible fate because of a string of errors and chance events during the Americans’ bombing mission on August 9, 1945. This resulted in the Americans’ initial target, Kokura, being spared, dooming Nagasaki to its unfortunate place in history.
After the attack on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, the Americans had one more atomic bomb ready for use. This one, utilizing plutonium rather than uranium, was even more powerful — it was the “Fat Man,” not the“ ”Little Boy.” American leaders made the decision to use it only three days after Hiroshima in order to force a quick and unconditional Japanese surrender.
Historians have questioned the wisdom of rushing to use a second bomb. Had the Americans waited a bit, the Japanese government may have been willing to surrender after the Soviet Union declared war on them, without seeing another city demolished.
But the Army Air Force was focused on more practical matters. There would be good weather for a bombing run on…
