WWII

1. Chapter 8 (Part I)

3.  As of December 8, 1941, war had come only to Japan; despite
the “back door to war” theory, Roosevelt did not ask for a
declaration of war against Germany.
 To have responded to a Japan attack on Pearl Harbor with a
request to declare war in Europe would have aroused opposition
both in Congress and among the American people.
 It would be Adolf Hitler who would decide the issue.
 On December 11, Germany and Italy formally declared war on the
United States.
 This mistake brought the United States, Great Britain, and the
Soviet Union into a coalition against him – virtually assuring
another German defeat.

4.  Pearl Harbor was only the beginning – a series of even more
disastrous Allied defeats followed in rapid succession.
 Admiral Yamamoto promised that his surprise attack on the
Pacific Fleet would give Japan six months to establish an
unbeatable position in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
 Japanese conquests in Southeast Asia and the Pacific
included:
 Guam – December 9, 1941
 Wake Island – December 23, 1941
 Hong Kong – December 26, 1941
 the Philippines – March 12, 1942

6.  The Japanese faced their most formidable challenge in the
Philippines.
 Phase I: Clark Field near Manila
 The Japanese won superiority of the air by bombing Clark Field and
destroying U.S. fighters while they attempted to refuel.
 Phase II: Invasion of Lingayen Gulf (north) and Albay Gulf
(south)
 Douglas MacArthur’s forces now faced powerful invaders from both
north and south.
 He commanded 31,000 regular American troops that were poorly
equipped and a Philippine army of 102,000 that were inadequately
trained.
 Towards the end of the invasion, MacArthur was left with only
two options:
 Withdraw into the mountains and use guerilla warfare tactics.
 Make a stand at the Bataan peninsula.

7. MacArthur’s trademark
corncob pipe was made by
the Missouri Meerschaum
Company, who made his
pipes to his specifications.
MacArthur served as the
president of the American
Olympic Committee during
the 1928 Summer Olympic
games in Amsterdam.
On April 5, 1964,
MacArthur died at Walter
Reed Army Medical Center
of biliary cirrhosis.

9.  MacArthur’s troops held the Bataan peninsula for over three
months, which gave the American public a morale boost following
Pearl Harbor and the succession of defeats.
 On March 12, Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to carry out Plan
Orange, which called for him to leave the Philippines and to
travel to Australia.
 “I came through and I shall return.”
 What was the perception of Douglas MacArthur?
 The American public was eager to accept him as a larger-than-life
figure.
 American troops referred to him as “Dugout Doug” because he was
well fed and safely hidden on an outside fortified island.
 Additionally, in the three months of fighting, he only made one
visit to the Bataan peninsula.

10.  American and Filipino forces surrendered to Japanese forces on
April 9, 1942.
 The Japanese expected to take no more than 25,000 prisoners, but the
actual number was well over 75,000.
 As a result, many of the captives were forced to walk sixty-five
miles from Mariveles, on the southern end of the peninsula, to the
railhead at San Fernando, where they would be directed into
overcrowded boxcars to be shipped to the prison camp.
 The men were divided into groups of approximately 100 and each
group typically took five days to complete.
 The marchers made the trek in intense heat and were subjected to
harsh treatment by Japanese guards.
 Thousands died from disease, mistreatment, and starvation.
 5,000-10,000 Filipinos and 600-650 Americans were lost during the
Bataan Death March.

14.  By far one of the most ambitious mission during the war
occurred on April 18, 1942.
 Under the leadership of Lt. Colonel James Doolittle, sixteen
air force B-25 bombers took off from the U.S.S. Hornet (700
miles southeast of Japan) and bombed Tokyo and several other
Japanese cities.
 Although the raid did little damage, it provided a psychological lift
for the American people and shocked the Japanese, who had seen
their sacred homeland violated by the enemy for the first time.
 Believing the air raid had been launched from Midway Island,
approval was given to Admiral Yamamoto’s plans for an attack
on Midway.

15. Prior to the raid, Doolittle
wired the peace medals that
the Japanese ambassadors
gave Cordell Hull to a 500-lb
bomb.
Doolittle received the
Congressional Medal of Honor
from President Roosevelt for
planning and leading the raid
on Japan.
In 1985, Doolittle was
promoted to the rank of full
General of the U.S. Air Force;
he was pinned by Ronald
Reagan and Barry Goldwater.

18.  The tide of battle in the Pacific turned dramatically when
Japan suffered a series of setbacks between May and
December 1942.
 The most spectacular of these were:
 Battle of the Coral Sea (May)
 Battle of Midway (June)
 A series of bitter engagements in the waters off the Solomon
Islands (August-November)
 By the end of 1942, Japan was clearly on the defensive.

19.  In early May, the Japanese began operations to fortify Port
Moresby, New Guinea but for the first time America was in a
position to challenge them.
 This was a part of a larger maneuver called Operation Mo, which
was meant to isolate Australia and New Zealand from the U.S.
 On May 3, the Japanese occupied Tulagi without opposition.
 Meanwhile, the major invasion expedition headed southward from
Rabaul towards Port Moresby under the protection of naval units.
 During May 7-8, American and Japanese forces met in the
Battle of the Coral Sea.
 This was the first naval engagement in history in which the
opposing ships never came within sight of each other.
 Carrier-based planes provided all the firepower.

21.  Tactically, the battle was a draw because each fleet inflicted
roughly equal punishment but the United States won a
strategic victory because the Japanese called off the landing at
Port Moresby.
 The Americans lost the U.S.S. Lexington and the U.S.S. Yorktown
was seriously damaged.
 The Japanese lost the Shoho and the Shokaku, a participate in the
Pearl Harbor attack, was seriously damaged.
 The Battle of the Coral Sea was not decisive but it clearly
marked a shift in momentum.

22.  The truly decisive battle came about in the air and waters
around Midway Island.
 Yamamoto assumed that American naval forces would
intervene in strength if Japan threatened Midway.
 This would give Japan the opportunity for its Combined Fleet to
finish the job it had started with the Pearl Harbor attack – the
destruction of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

23. Japan
 Admiral Chuichi Nagumo
 4 heavy carriers:
 Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu, and
Soryu (all participates in
the Pearl Harbor attack)
 2 light carriers
 7 battleships
 15 cruisers
 44 destroyers
America
 Admiral Raymond A.
Spruance
 3 heavy carriers:
 U.S.S. Enterprise, U.S.S.
Hornet, and U.S.S.
Yorktown (repaired in 72
hours instead of 72 days)
 8 cruisers
 15 destroyers

24. Historians state that
Spruance’s performance in
the Battle of Midway was
superb… and that he
emerged as one of the
greatest admirals in
American naval history.
Spruance was nicknamed
“electric brain” for his
calmness in moments of
supreme crisis.

26.  Nagumo’s fleet came within 250 miles of Midway on June 4.
 It launched an attack damaging installations on Midway and
destroyed seventeen American aircraft.
 In addition, he sent out recon planes to search for any American
ships that might be in the area.
 As the Japanese prepared for a second attack, a recon plan
finally spotted elements of the Pacific Fleet.
 Before Nagumo could react to the unwelcomed news, wave
after wave of American torpedo planes attacked the Japanese
carriers.
 U.S. dive bombers scored several hits on the Soryu, Akagi, and
Kaga.
 Only the Hiryu remained but it joined the three others on the
bottom of the ocean floor after the U.S.S. Yorktown fell.

28.  The Battle of Midway was a decisive victory for two reasons:
 It restored the naval balance in the Pacific.
 It marked the end of Japan’s initiative on the high seas.
 The Japanese not only squandered four heavy carriers but also
lost 253 planes and their most skilled pilots.
 Neither their carrier force nor their naval air power ever recovered
from this blow.
 The Japanese navy would henceforth play a defensive role.
 To the Americans, Midway was the beginning of relentless
advance toward total domination of the Pacific.

29.  American forces launched their first offensive move in the
southern Solomon Islands.
 Initially, American leaders intended to retake Tulagi and
neighboring Gavutu, but when they discovered that enemy
troops had landed on a nearby island and were constructing an
airstrip, they altered their approach.
 The new strategy, termed Operation Watchtower, focused on
seizing control of the air field and occupying Guadalcanal only
to later take the Solomon Islands and Rabaul.
 This little-known island, Guadalcanal, became the site of a
desperate struggle that lasted for six months.

31.  On August 7, 1942, 11,000 Marines under the command of
Major General Alexander Vandegrift secured a beach head at
Guadalcanal.
 The land and sea forces were so slim and so quickly assembled
that Operation Watchtower earned the nickname “Operation
Shoestring.”
 Its remote location and chronic shortage of shipping made
Guadalcanal a logistical nightmare.
 The Marine landing surprised the Japanese defenders and
they offered no opposition and withdrew into the jungle.
 They even abandoned their airstrip, which the Americans seized
and renamed Henderson Field (after Major Loften R. Henderson, a
Marine pilot who died at Midway).

32. Vandegrift was the first U.S.
Marine to hold the rank of
four-star general while on
active duty.
The main street that runs
through Camp Pendleton is
named Vandegrift Blvd in his
honor.
Vandegrift holds an honorary
degree of Doctor of Military
Science from the Pennsylvania
Military College and honorary
degrees of Doctor of Law from
Harvard, Brown, Columbia,
etc…

35.  Once the Japanese recovered from their initial shock, they set
out to dislodge the Marines from the island.
 The Japanese recognized that Guadalcanal would become a crucial
point in the Pacific war.
 The Imperial Navy controlled the sea around the island and
frequently bombarded the Marines and Henderson Field with
artillery at night time.
 These nocturnal naval missions were dubbed the “Tokyo Express.”
 On August 18, 917 Japanese troops under the command of
Colonel Ichiki landed on Guadalcanal.

36.  On August 21, Ichiki ordered his regiment to assault the
Marines’ position with a simple bayonet charge.
 This would be the first major Japanese land offensive on
Guadalcanal.
 Numerous Marines nicknamed this charge the Battle of Alligator
Creek (Battle of Tenaru).
 Vandegrift’s Marines were able to flank the assault and push
Ichiki’s regiment back to the sea.
 It is here that the Marines came to understand the Bushido code.
 Of the 917 that landed on just three days earlier only 128 escaped
death.
 Ichiki committed ritual suicide – such was the defeat and
humiliation that he and his regiment had experienced.

39.  Reinforcements under the command of General Kawaguchi
launched savage attacks against the defensive perimeter that
the Marines had established around Henderson Field.
 During the night of September 13, they repeatedly tried to
break through a position that became known as Bloody Ridge.
 The Marines resisted each attack, killing over half of the attacking
force and suffering heavy causalities themselves.

41.  Meanwhile, Japanese and American fleets fought a series of
six major naval engagements between August and November.
 The most notable were the battles of Savo Island and
Guadalcanal.
 The Battle of Savo Island (August 8-9) is considered one of the
worst defeats ever suffered by the American Navy.
 The Battle of Guadalcanal (November 12-15) saw the loss of the
light cruiser, U.S.S. Juneau, which included the loss of the five
Sullivan brothers.
 On February 9, 1943, the Japanese abandoned Guadalcanal
fearing that the Empire could not continue to bare the losses
on land and sea.

43.  Guadalcanal was an abominable place to fight a war.
 Despite continued fanatical Japanese attacks, the Marines
held out night after night, week after week, and month after
month.
 Fresh forces finally relieved the exhausted garrison in December.
 Guadalcanal was in many respects as much of a turning point
as Midway.
 The Americans had taken the initiative on land and the Japanese,
who had staked a great deal at stopping the first Allied offensive,
had failed.
 The Japanese had lost their reputation for invincibly in land
warfare and naval might.

44.  The grim struggles in the Pacific only increased American
hatred for the Japanese.
 The nature of the assault on Pearl Harbor, which most
Americans referred to as a “sneak attack,” and incidents like
the Bataan Death March and Nanking massacre contributed
to the American image of the Asian enemy.
 Additionally, Americans were outraged when a Japanese court
condemned eight U.S. airmen to death for their participation in the
Doolittle raid.
 Only three were actually executed and the other five had their
sentences commuted to life in prison.
 These examples of Japanese brutality mixed with American
prejudice of Asians created a hatred far more powerful than
that of the Germans or Italians.

45.  Despite the magnitude of Nazi crimes against the Jews and
other peoples, Americans tended to distinguish between good
and bad Germans rather than brand the entire population as
brutal.
 Cartoonists habitually portrayed them as rats, snakes, insects, and
monkeys or apes.
 Virtually every American called them “Japs” or “Japes.”
 Admiral Halsey was quoted in Newsweek that the “only good Jap
is one who’s been dead for six months.”
 Americans saw the Japanese as far different from other
peoples: savage, bloodthirsty, and beyond rehabilitation.

47.  Unfortunately as part of our rush to unity, paranoia blossomed
in the form of an irrational fear of the Japan living in the
United States.
 Fear of invasion and sabotage led to demands that Japanese-
Americans be interned in camps for the duration of the war.
 Roosevelt succumbed to political pressures and in February
1942, signed Executive Order 9066.
 E.O. 9066 allowed the U.S. military to declare parts of the United
States as military areas and thereby exclude specific groups of
people from them.

51. A WAR OF SAVAGE
HATRED
 Fred Korematsu, an American-born man of Japanese descent,
knowingly defied the order to be relocated, was arrested, and
convicted.
 By 1944, his case reached the steps of the United States Supreme
Court in what became known as Korematsu v. U.S.
 The Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that the exclusion
orders of E.O. 9066 were constitutional.
 Thus the U.S. government had the right to exclude and forcibly
move people from designated areas based on their race.
 Essentially, the protection of the country from espionage is more
important than a citizen’s individual rights.

52. Korematsu was rejected by
the U.S. Navy in 1940
when ordered to report for
military duty due to
stomach ulcers; instead, he
became a welder to
contribute to the war effort.
To commemorate his
journey as a civil rights
activist, California began in
2011 to observe “Fred
Korematsu Day of Civil
Liberties and the
Constitution” on January
30.

53.  From 1943 to 1945, the war in the Pacific turned steadily
worse for Japan.
 America, on the other hand, transformed its vast industrial
potential into actual production of ships, planes, and other
weapons on a scale that Japan’s smaller industrial base could
not even approach.
 The only question that needed to be answered was the
question of strategy: how do we go about defeating Japan?
 American military leaders did agree that a more gradual approach
was the most preferable.

56.  In April 1943, the Joint Chiefs of Staff opted for a two-pronged
strategy:
 A naval thrust through the Central Pacific – Marshall, Caroline,
and Mariana islands.
 MacArthur’s drive through the Southwest Pacific → the northern
coast of New Guinea → thrust through the Philippines → Japan.
 Both offensives employed an island-hopping technique.
 This involved capturing islands then moving several hundred miles
to other objectives, followed by another leap and then another.
 In the process, the two offensives would bypass Japanese-held
islands, which was meant to keep them guessing as to where the
next blow would come, and this made it more difficult to
concentrate their forces effectively.

58.  Once the Americans had gained effective control over the
Marshalls, they bypassed the Caroline Islands and leap
forward to the Marianas.
 Their objectives were Saipan, Tinian, and Guam, which
contained the three largest Japanese strongholds in the
Marianas.
 The seizure of the Marianas was of great importance.
 The Marianas lay only 1,200 miles from Japan.
 Allied planners could launch an assault on the Philippines to the
west and could thrust towards the Bonin Islands (700 miles from
Japan).
 Allied planners could establish air bases from which long-range
bombers could attack Japanese cities.

60.  On June 15, two Marine divisions landed on the southwest
shore of Saipan, but did not secure the beach head until
nightfall.
 During the next few weeks, with the help of army
reinforcements, the Marines fought their way north to the
main Japanese garrison.
 On July 6, Nagumo and Saito took their own lives in an effort
to encourage their troops to make a final attack.
 This assault occurred over the next two days in the form of suicidal
charges.

62.  There was one more gruesome chapter that remained in the
Battle of Saipan – the mass suicide of 8,000 civilians in the
final hours of the battle.
 The civilians…
 threw themselves off cliffs on the northern tip of the island.
 touched off grenades against their bodies.
 simply walked into the ocean to drown.

64.  As the Marines were pushing north on Saipan, an even more
dramatic struggle took place in the skies over the Philippine
Sea.
 This is the portion of the Pacific between the Marianas and the
Philippines.
 On June 19, Admiral Ozawa launched an air strike but
American radar alerted the American task force of the enemy’s
approach.
 U.S. fighters intercepted the Japanese planes fifty miles to the
west.
 This dogfight pitted experienced American pilots against
inexperienced Japanese pilots.

66.  The Japanese launched a total of four mass attacks on
American task forces but very few fighters were able to
penetrate the American fighter screen.
 Japanese fighters inflicted minor damage to one battleship;
however, their own losses were staggering.
 Of the 373 planes that engaged in the battle, 275 were shot down.
 The Battle of the Philippine Sea was so one sided that it earned
the nickname “the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.”
 In addition, two American submarines sank the carriers Shokaku
(veteran of the Pearl Harbor raid) and Taiho (largest carrier in the
Japanese Navy).

67.  The loss of the Marianas and the disastrous Battle of the
Philippine Sea shattered all Japanese hope of winning the war.
 American engineers began transforming the airfields of the
Marianas to accommodate the new B-29 Superfortress
bombers.
 These bombers had the range and capacity to bring death and
destruction on a massive scale to the cities of Japan.
 The United States was now in a position to strike and retake
the Philippines.

69.  After securing a series of bases, MacArthur focused his
attention on the re-conquest of the Philippines.
 The Joint Chiefs of Staff endorsed MacArthur and Nimitz’s
proposal of a landing at Leyte Gulf and set October 20 as the
invasion date.
 American forces landed at three points along the coast and by
nightfall secured a substantial beach head.
 Early the next day, MacArthur and a small party waded
ashore in knee-deep water.
 This became one of the most famous photos of the war.
 By October 23, American forces had captured two airfields and
liberated Leyte’s capital.

71.  The Imperial Navy made their way through the congested
waters of the Philippines and headed for Leyte Gulf from two
directions.
 Force A aimed for the Sibuyan Sea and San Bernardino Strait.
 Force C aimed at re-assaulting Leyte Gulf.
 Their mission was to destroy the American transports and
supporting warships.
 These American vessels included Admiral William Halsey’s Task
Force 38 and the U.S. Seventh Fleet.

73. Halsey is the descendent of
U.S. Senator Rufus King, a
delegate to the Continental
Congress and a signer of
the Constitution.
His slogan, “hit hard, hit
fast, hit often” became a
catchphrase for the Navy.
While most high-ranking
officers preferred the
command of Admiral
Spruance, every common
sailor preferred the
command of Halsey.

74.  Leyte Gulf was a decisive battle but for the U.S. Navy and
dealt the death blow to the Japan’s naval power.
 Four heavy carriers, three battleships, six heavy and four light
cruisers, and nine destroyers littered the ocean’s floor.
 In addition, 500 planes were lost.
 Shortly before the end of the three day struggle, the Japanese
introduced a new weapon - the kamikaze.
 Kamikaze means “divine wind.”
 The Kamikaze Special Attack Corps was a suicide unit composed of
pilots who deliberately crashed their bomb-laden planes into
American ships.

75.  MacArthur chose Lingayen Gulf, the site of the major
Japanese landing in 1941, as his invasion target on Luzon.
 American forces landed on January 9, 1945.
 After consolidating a beach head, American forces slowly
pushed north and secured Clark Field by the end of January.
 On February 3, American troops moved into Manila and
occupied three POW camps and liberated 8,500 Americans.
 Many of these POWs were on the verge of starvation and suffering
from malaria, dysentery, and other diseases.
 Manila experienced widespread devastation and its population
suffered horribly (100,000).
 The last of the fighting did not end until March 3.

78.  Before MacArthur’s forces had taken Manila, Nimitz launched an
invasion in the Central Pacific on the small volcanic island of Iwo
Jima.
 Iwo Jima means “Sulfur Island.”
 The island, less than five miles long and two and a half miles wide
across its widest point, was littered with bubbling sulfur pits, which
created an inescapable unpleasant smell.
 Instead of sand, the island consisted of volcanic ash, which made it
difficult to walk on and impossible to run on.
 Mount Suribachi, a 550 foot dormant volcano, dominated the
island’s narrow southern end.
 The wider northern end possessed numerous caves, which the
Japanese reinforced with concrete and turned into pill-boxes and
bunkers.

82.  The Joint Chiefs of Staff set the original invasion date for
January 2, but the slow conquest of Leyte delayed the assault
until February 19.
 The postponement enabled the Japanese to reinforce their garrison
to 21,000 troops.
 General Kuribayashi was aware of earlier Japanese defeats
and chose to not contest the invasion; instead, he waited until
the Marines landed on the exposed beaches to rake them with
murderous fire.
 Kuribayashi had waited too long to begin his bombardment and too
many troops, tanks, and other equipment had landed.
 Although causalities were alarming, the Marines were able to
secure the narrowest part of the island, isolating Mt.
Suribachi.

85.  Despite fierce opposition, the Marines inched their way up the
slopes of Mt. Suribachi and by February 23, a Marine patrol had
reached the top.
 Soon thereafter, Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal
captured a picture as four Marines hoisted an American flag on
top the mountain.
 This became an another iconic photo of the war.
 The six Marines were:
 Sergeant Michael Strank
 Corporal Harlon Block
 Pvt. 1st Class Ira Hayes
 Pvt. 1st Class Franklin Sousley
 Pvt. 1st Class Rene Gagnon
 Pharmacist’s Mate 2nd Class John Bradley

88.  As on other islands, flamethrowers and TNT proved to be the
surest weapons against powerful Japanese defenses.
 The struggle continued for weeks as the Marines cleared all
but two pockets on the most northern part of the island.
 Fighting ended one month to the day of the flag raising on Mt.
Suribachi – March 23.
 U.S. forces lost almost 6,000 and over 17,000 suffered wounds.
 Virtually the entire Japanese garrison, including Kuribayashi,
perished.

90.  Iwo Jima was only one of two enemy islands that Admiral
Nimitz planned to take in 1945.
 The other was Okinawa.
 Okinawa contained airfields and two excellent anchorages
thus becoming the ideal base for an invasion of Japan.
 The assault began on Easter Sunday, April 1.
 General Ushijima planned to deploy the same strategy as
Kuribayashi did on Iwo Jima.
 Acknowledging that he could not defend all of Okinawa, he chose to
abandon the northern portion of the island.
 Ushijima chose to make his stand in the two southern towns of
Naha and Shuri.

92.  On April 9, Army troops collided with Ushijima’s 120,000
garrison.
 By the end of May, American troops had forced the enemy back
to its last ring of defenses.
 It would be another month before the Americans would overcome
the Japanese resistance.
 Again, America paid a heavy price for Okinawa.
 Over 12,000 killed and 36,000 wounded.
 For the first time, several thousand Japanese soldiers actually
surrendered.

95.  On August 2, 1939, Albert Einstein wrote to Roosevelt
explaining the potential power of nuclear weapons and the
possibility of Nazi Germany developing such weapons.
 Einstein’s letter set into motion the political process that
culminated in the development, construction, and testing of the
first nuclear bomb.
 It’s a simple as: E = mc²
 In 1940, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to pool resources and
created a special unit of Army engineers, headed by General
Leslie Groves, that would create the atomic bomb.
 This ultra-secret undertaking was code-named the Manhattan
Project.

96. Time magazine named
Einstein “Person of the
Century” on December 31,
1999.
In 1921, Einstein won the
Noble Peace Prize in
Physics for his theory on
photoelectric effect.
Hitler regarded Einstein as
public enemy number one
while Einstein loathed the
idea of haircuts and socks.

98. In 1941, Groves was given the
responsibility of overseeing the
construction of the War
Department’s future home, the
Pentagon.
Groves was initially
disappointed with his
command of the Manhattan
Project, preferring a combat
assignment instead.
In 1948, Groves retired from
the Army after acknowledging
that he would never hold a
position as important as the
one held during the
Manhattan Project.

99.  In every known nucleus, with the exception of uranium, the
nuclear strong forces dominate, holding the atom together.
 If the uranium atom becomes elongated or stretched then it
becomes unstable.
 This is initiated when the uranium atom is hit with a neutron.
 The splitting of the atom is called nuclear fission.
 The most complicated issue of making an atomic bomb is
producing ample amounts of “enriched” uranium to sustain a
chain reaction.
 At the time, uranium-235 was very difficult to extract.

101.  Converting uranium ore to uranium metal is 500:1 with over
ninety-nine percent being uranium-238, which is useless for an
atomic bomb.
 To complicate the matter, U-238 and U-235 isotopes are nearly
identical in their chemical makeup.
 Only a mechanical process can separate them.
 Thus a massive enrichment lab/plant was constructed at Oak
Ridge, Tennessee.
 Oak Ridge was relatively close to Norris Dam and its utilities, the
first dam built by TVA under FDR’s New Deal.
 The low population kept the facilities an official government secret.
 The spacious land allowed the government to build the uranium
separating facility, K-25, covering forty-four acres (the world’s
largest building at the time).

105.  Between 1939 and 1945, $2 billion was spent on the development
of “the Gadget.”
 Two atomic bombs were created: one using uranium and the other
using plutonium.
 235U + neutron → fission fragments + 2.4 neutrons + 192.9 MeV
 239 Pu + neutron → fission fragments + 2.9 neutrons + 198.5 MeV
 On July 16, 1945, the United States detonated the first atomic
bomb in the White Sands desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
 As the explosion created a huge fireball and a mushroom cloud of
smoke, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer said:
 “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky;
that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One. … I am Death,
Shatter of Worlds ” (Bhagavad-Gita).

107. For his role in the Manhattan
project, Oppenheimer is often
referred to as the “father of the
atomic bomb.”
After the war, he became the
chief advisor for the U.S.
Atomic Energy Commission
and used his position to lobby
for international control of
nuclear proliferation.
During the Cold War,
Oppenheimer was declared a
Communist sympathizer and
lost all political standing in the
United States.

108.  From mid-July to early-August, Harry Truman, Josef Stalin,
and Clement Attlee met in Germany at the Potsdam
Conference.
 With all attention focused on Japan, the Allies issued a joint
declaration on July 26 that called for Japan to surrender or
face “complete and utter destruction.”
 On August 6 at 8:15 a.m., Colonel Paul Tibbets, Jr. at the
controls of a B-29, named Enola Gay, dropped a 9,000-pound
atomic bomb on Hiroshima (Little Boy).
 Co-pilot Robert Lewis noted in the official flight log, “My God!”
 The explosion reached an altitude of 55,000 feet and virtually sixty
percent of the city disappeared.
 100,000 persons died instantly and many more died later from the
effects of radiation.

110. The B-29 Superfortress
that Tibbets flew over
Hiroshima was personally
selected by him while it
was still on the assembly
line.
Tibbets formally named his
B-29 the Enola Gay after
his mother.
Tibbets replaced the
regularly scheduled aircraft
commander, Robert A.
Lewis, the morning of the
now famous mission.

115.  Truman warned Japan that unless they surrendered, more
cities would experience the same horror.
 Nagasaki was the next target city.
 On August 8, Stalin declared war on Japan, following Nazi
Germany’s defeat, as promised at Yalta.
 The next day, Major Charles W. Sweeney flew the Bockscar
over Nagasaki and dropped the second more powerful bomb
(Fat Man).
 The north end of the city was destroyed in less than one second
and 35,000 were killed instantly.
 The combination of the two atomic bombs and the Soviet
Union’s entry into the war in the Pacific convinced many in
Japan to surrender.

121.  On August 10, the Japanese government accepted the Potsdam
declaration with one exception.
 The exception asked that Hirohito, the emperor, could retain his
position.
 The next day, the Allies accepted Japan’s proposal with one
condition of their own.
 Hirohito must subject his authority to an Allied supreme
commander of occupation forces.
 Many Japanese military officials remained faithful to the
Bushido code of death before dishonor and committed suicide
prior to the signing of the formal surrender.

122.  When the announcement of Japan’s surrender reached
America, one of the most spontaneous celebrations in history
erupted.
 To the American people August 14, 1945, was Victory in Japan
Day or V-J Day.
 On September 2, the Japanese formally signed a document of
surrender aboard the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
 General MacArthur, whom Truman had appointed as Allied
supreme commander, presided.