Japan's Manhattan Project
It's not known by many, and never mentioned by Hiroshima/Nagasaki "peace activists", but Imperial Japan had its own version of the American Manhattan Project. In fact, the History Channel will air a documentary on August 16 making the case that a nuclear device was tested on an island off Korea on August 12, 1945 - six days after "Little Boy" devastated Hiroshima. Professor Robert Wilcox of Bowling Green State University will present evidence of a Japanese atomic test, while his colleague, Dr. Walter Grunden, will argue the opposing view.
Suppose Truman had decided to drop Little Boy on Tokyo Bay in an attempt to cow the Imperial Japanese into surrender. Suppose further that the attempt failed, leaving the US with only one atomic device (Fat Man), which was dropped on Hiroshima when the Tokyo Bay demonstration didn't have the desired effect.
Historically, the Japanese did not surrender until after the Nagasaki bombing. One devastating atomic attack was not enough to make them throw in the towel. That means that an unsuccessful Tokyo Bay demonstration followed by the Hiroshima bombing probably would have made an invasion necessary.
In the event that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not induce surrender, the US invasion of Japan was planned for the Fall of 1945, giving the Japanese scientists several more months to build atomic devices. Likewise, the United States could have stockpiled more atomic bombs.
What would the world look like today if an invasion of Japan resulted in multiple atomic explosions directed at the Japanese homeland by us, and against our troops by the Japanese?
BOWLING GREEN, O.—In his 1985 book, “Japan’s Secret War,” Robert Wilcox contends Japan successfully tested a nuclear device on Aug. 12, 1945—six days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and three days after the attack on Nagasaki.What if President Harry S. Truman had been more like Bill Clinton and less like Ronald Reagan?
Suppose Truman had decided to drop Little Boy on Tokyo Bay in an attempt to cow the Imperial Japanese into surrender. Suppose further that the attempt failed, leaving the US with only one atomic device (Fat Man), which was dropped on Hiroshima when the Tokyo Bay demonstration didn't have the desired effect.
Historically, the Japanese did not surrender until after the Nagasaki bombing. One devastating atomic attack was not enough to make them throw in the towel. That means that an unsuccessful Tokyo Bay demonstration followed by the Hiroshima bombing probably would have made an invasion necessary.
In the event that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not induce surrender, the US invasion of Japan was planned for the Fall of 1945, giving the Japanese scientists several more months to build atomic devices. Likewise, the United States could have stockpiled more atomic bombs.
What would the world look like today if an invasion of Japan resulted in multiple atomic explosions directed at the Japanese homeland by us, and against our troops by the Japanese?
posted by Bluto at 1:46 PM
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