Thursday, August 9, 1945. Bombing Nagasaki.

Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki reported to the Japanese government that the entry of the Soviet Union into the war "makes the continuance of the war impossible." 

Emperor Hirohito called the Supreme Council together and tried to make the military leaders accept the proposed surrender. At about 0300 hours, the meeting breaks up with nothing decided other than a cautious sounding of the possibilities of peace through Sweden and Switzerland.

The next atomic mission took off 47 minutes later, with none of this known, of course, to the Allies.

0347: The B-29 Superfortress Bockscar took off from Tinian with the plutonium bomb Fat Man aboard, for the target city of of Kokura. 

The plane's crew for the mission was the one normally assigned to The Great Artiste, which was being flown by the crew normally assigned to Bockscar.  Major Charles W. Sweeney piloted the plane, being the only pilot to fly in both atomic missions.  The planes themselves had multiple crews.

The plane was named for Fred Bock, the pilot, on this mission, of The Great Artiste.

Sweeney later wrote a controversial account of both missions, which was contested by other participants.

0351 and 0353:  Great Artiste and Big Stink lift off from Tinian. The Enola Gay, as a weather spotting plane, and Laggin’ Dragon were already airborne.  The Enola Gay was not crewed by the crew that had flown on the Hiroshima mission.

0400: Fred Ashworth armed the Fat Man atomic bomb.

1044 Bockscar arrived at Kokura, but haze obscured the target and made it too difficult to locate the drop point.

1132:  Sweeney made the decision to turn for the secondary target, Nagasaki, 95 miles south of Kokura.

1158: Upon arrival over Nagasaki, cloud cover allowed for only one drop point, several miles from the intended target. Bombardier Kermit Beahan releases the Fat Man atomic bomb on that point.  The dropping expended the last of the US's nuclear arsenal at the time.

1202 (11:02am in Nagasaki) Fat Man explodes 1,650 feet above the city, killing between 40,000 and 75,000 people.  The geography of Nagasaki prevented the blast from being as deadly as it had been at Hiroshima.

2230: All aircraft returned to Tinian.

The Soviet Union invaded Manchuria.

Mongolia declared war on Japan.

Chinese paratroopers are dropped on the Canton-Hankow rail line.

Last edition:

Wednesday, August 8, 1945. Japan conditionally accepts the Potsdam Declaration. The USSR declares war on Japan.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Espionage, Genghis Khan, Harry S. Truman, Japan, Manchuria, Mongolia, Nuremberg Trials, Operation August Storm, Potsdam Conference, USSR, Weapons, World War Two

Wednesday, August 8, 1945. Japan conditionally accepts the Potsdam Declaration. The USSR declares war on Japan.

The Japanese Supreme War Council agreed to accept the Potsdam Declaration contingent upon the preservation of the Japanese Monarchy.

The Soviet Union declared war on Japan, making the declaration proactive as to midnight, August 9.

The declaration stated:

On Aug. 8, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the U.S.S.R. Molotoff received the Japanese Ambassador, Mr. Sato, and gave him, on behalf of the Soviet Government, the following for transmission to the Japanese Government:

After the defeat and capitulation of Hitlerite Germany, Japan became the only great power that sill stood for the continuation of the war.

The demand of the three powers, the United States, Great Britain and China, on July 26 for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces was rejected by Japan, and thus the proposal of the Japanese Government to the Soviet Union on mediation in the war in the Far East loses all basis.

Taking into consideration the refusal of Japan to capitulate, the Allies submitted to the Soviet Government a proposal to join the war against Japanese aggression and thus shorten the duration of the war, reduce the number of victims and facilitate the speedy restoration of universal peace.

Loyal to its Allied duty, the Soviet Government has accepted the proposals of the Allies and has joined in the declaration of the Allied powers of July 26.

The Soviet Government considers that this policy is the only means able to bring peace nearer, free the people from further sacrifice and suffering and give the Japanese people the possibility of avoiding the dangers and destruction suffered by Germany after her refusal to capitulate unconditionally.

In view of the above, the Soviet Government declares that from tomorrow, that is from Aug. 9, the Soviet Government will consider itself to be at war with Japan.

Following the war American critics often viewed this as the USSR rushing in to grab the spoils, something the Soviets were certainly not against, but in fact the Western Allies had been asking for the Soviets to declare war on Japan for some time, and had confirmed this intent as recently as Potsdam.  The timing of it, moreover, is not something the USSR could have rushed, due to the necessity to stage troops in Asia for Operation August Storm, it's invasion of Manchuria.

A war with the USSR was one of Japan's single biggest fears during the Second World War. For that matter, a Japanese attack on the Soviet Union was one that the USSR had initially dreaded, but which it new it was safe from due to the intelligence activities of Richard Sorge.

Radio Tokyo gave a full report on the bombing of Hiroshima, accusing the United States of barbarism, stating that the US had used methods that; "have surpassed in hideous cruelty those of Genghis Khan."

It's an interesting analogy in that Japan was never invaded by the Mongols, a point of pride and myth in Japan.

Truman issued a radio broadcast threatening to destroy Japan with atomic bombs. At the time, the US had exactly one atomic bomb left, and one under production, both of the "Fat Man" type.

Working on the bomb that would be dropped on Nagasaki, August 8, 1945.

The Nuremberg Charter was issued establishing the laws and procedures by which the Nuremberg Trials.

Last edition:

Tuesday, August 7, 1945. Fallout.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Aircraft, Army, Heroes, Hiroshima Japan, Japan, Josip Broz Tito, Operation Downfall, Operation Silverplate, press, Radio, technology, U.S. Air Force, World War Two, Yugoslavia