The Day the World Went Nuclear Read online

  To MacArthur’s way of thinking, there are three ways for America to knock out Japan: a naval blockade followed by an invasion; a naval blockade followed by massive aerial bombing; or a straight-up beach invasion. As an army officer and a general committed to commanding the largest military force in history, MacArthur refuses to concede that naval and air forces should determine the outcome of the war. Paranoid by nature and creating conflicts where they might not otherwise exist, MacArthur thinks the other two services are aligned in a conspiracy to prevent his army from getting the glory.

  Foolishly, MacArthur is openly antagonistic to Admiral Chester Nimitz, his naval equal in rank and power, calling his tactical strategies “just awful.” The navy, MacArthur believes, wants to “control all overseas positions after the war, using the Marines, and using the Army as a sort of home guard.”

  Nonetheless, he needs the sailors and flyboys. His invasion needs air support, called Operation Coronet in the plans. The cornerstones of Operation Olympic are the ongoing preinvasion aerial bombardment of Japan’s industrial sector and the obliteration of Japan’s navy by the ships and planes of a U.S. Navy carrier task force. After that, MacArthur’s Sixth Army will deliver the decisive blow with its landing on Kyushu.

  The general has confided in friends that he believes the Japanese will surrender by September 1, but reports indicate that the enemy is spoiling for a fight.

  The timing of Operation Olympic is also in grave danger. An invasion is more than just the act of sending men ashore; soldiers need to be fed, armed, and cared for in case of injury. MacArthur is awaiting the arrival of troops from Europe as well as stockpiling weapons, ammunition, landing vessels, food, and hospital supplies. He cannot attack for four to five months at the earliest, giving the Japanese even more time to prepare.

  The confident tone of other recently intercepted Japanese communiqués makes one thing certain: the enemy’s determination to slaughter Americans will only increase during this lull.

  Hundreds of ships of the U.S. fleet gather at Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands to prepare for a preinvasion bombardment of Japan. Foreground to background are the aircraft carriers USS Wasp, USS Yorktown, USS Hornet, USS Hancock, USS Ticonderoga, and USS Lexington. [National Archives]

  CHAPTER 25

  MANILA, PHILIPPINES

  August 1, 1945

  GENERAL CARL “TOOEY” SPAATZ arrives in Manila to meet with General Douglas MacArthur. The newly appointed commander of U.S. Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific has been flying for most of the last five days, traveling 8,500 miles from Washington, D.C., to Honolulu to Guam and on to Manila. Spaatz is here not of his own volition but because he was ordered to brief MacArthur by General Thomas Handy, acting as army chief of staff while General George Marshall was in Potsdam with the president.

  A man of average height, the fifty-four-year-old Spaatz was present in Reims, France, when the Germans surrendered on May 7, 1945, and is now posted to the Pacific to facilitate a similar situation with the Japanese. But his first order of business will be ensuring the deployment of the atomic bomb. Handy gave Spaatz the order verbally, but Spaatz refused to take the assignment unless given instructions in writing. “Listen, Tom,” Spaatz told Handy, aware that he could be tried for war crimes if held personally liable for the loss of life that will ensue. “If I’m going to kill 100,000 people, I’m not going to do it on verbal orders. I want a piece of paper.”

  Handy protested that putting such an order in writing compromised security. Even Harry Truman has refused to affix his signature to any order connecting him with the dropping of the A-bomb. But Spaatz insisted. Finally, Handy caved. “I guess I agree, Tooey,” the acting chief of staff admitted. “If a fellow thinks he might blow up the whole end of Japan, he ought to have a piece of paper.”

  Handy signed the order, but it was actually written by General Leslie Groves of the Manhattan Project.

  It is, perhaps, the most important directive in world history.

  General Spaatz wants MacArthur to know about the atomic bomb before it is dropped. As Groves later comments, “If the weather had been suitable, the bomb would have been dropped before MacArthur had ever been informed by Spaatz, which would have been quite surprising.”

  Spaatz, a man known for his curt speech pattern and matter-of-fact planning, is weary as he greets MacArthur. For a moment the two men speak casually. Spaatz is not used to the tropical heat; he sweats through his uniform. And yet the weight of what he must tell the general compels him so much that he cannot rest until he hands MacArthur the A-bomb order.

  “I didn’t try to explain it,” Spaatz will later recall. “I just handed it to him and thought that he would ask me lots of questions, but instead he talked about that letter for about five minutes and the rest of the hour proceeded to expound the theories of atomic energy to me.”

  The order begins specifically: the first “special bomb” will be dropped as soon after August 3, 1945, as weather will permit visual bombing on one of the targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata, or Nagasaki.

  Secondly: “Additional bombs will be delivered on the above targets as soon as made ready by the project staff. Further instructions will be issued concerning targets other than those listed above.”

  The third clause is a warning: “Dissemination of any and all information concerning the use of the weapon against Japan is reserved to the Secretary of War and the President of the United States. No communiques on the subject or releases of information will be issued by Commanders in the field without specific prior authority. Any news stories will be sent to the War Department for special clearance.”

  The final directive of the order is specifically targeted at Spaatz: “It is desired that you personally deliver one copy of this directive to General MacArthur and one copy to Admiral Nimitz for their information.”

  Nimitz, whose Pacific Fleet is headquartered in Guam, has already read the order.

  So it is that General Douglas MacArthur is the last to know about Japan’s doom. He scribbles his initials—“MACA”—in the right margin to verify that he has received the one-page document.

  General MacArthur is not alone among United States military leaders in initially opposing the bomb. Generals Hap Arnold and Dwight Eisenhower have objected in top secret circles, as have Admiral William D. Leahy, Rear Admiral Lewis L. Strauss, Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy, and Assistant Secretary of the Navy Ralph A. Bard. The consensus of these men is that the atomic bomb is too destructive and too many civilians will be killed.

  Those in favor of the A-bomb attack, such as Secretary of War Henry Stimson and the U.S. Army chief of staff, General George C. Marshall, are more closely tied to the White House than to actual combat operations in the field.

  But MacArthur’s displeasure runs much deeper than that of the other dissenters.

  The general is a brilliant tactician. He also has a deep understanding of Japanese culture, believing that the nation will never completely surrender and cooperate with an ensuing national occupation unless Emperor Hirohito is allowed to remain in power after the war ends.

  But there is a harsher truth.

  MacArthur is so determined to command Operation Olympic that he downplays projected casualties in communications with Marshall. In a cable to the general, meant for the eyes of President Harry Truman, he assured them that losses would be less than a hundred thousand men.

  “Your message arrived with thirty minutes to spare,” Marshall cabled back to MacArthur, “and had determining influence in obtaining formal presidential approval for Olympic.”

  But now, Operation Olympic will never happen. Douglas MacArthur understands that his dream of conquering the nation of Japan by leading a ground invasion is over.

  This is a cruel blow for MacArthur. Convinced of his own military genius, MacArthur has openly disparaged fellow army generals Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton, stating that they “made every mistake that supposedly intelligent men could make.” In an intervi
ew with the New York Herald Tribune in November 1944, MacArthur went on to say, “The European strategy was to hammer stupidly against the enemy’s strongest points.” With “just a portion of the force” given to Patton in North Africa, MacArthur bragged, he “could have retaken the Philippines in three months.”

  General Douglas MacArthur does not want to bomb the Japanese—he wants to crush them up close and personal.

  To his mind, that kind of victory would make him immortal.

  CHAPTER 26

  HIROSHIMA, JAPAN

  August 3, 1945 • 7:30 A.M.

  THE ANGRY DRONE OF B-29 bomber engines is not an unusual sound for the people of this densely populated port city. On a heavily overcast morning, air-raid sirens once again announce the arrival of the silver behemoths, thundering overhead unopposed at an elevation of twenty thousand feet. Since Hiroshima has not been bombed during the war, most citizens think the sirens are just another false alarm. There is no stampede to take refuge in the bomb shelters.

  But this raid is different. It is rush hour in Hiroshima, and as commuters on their way to work by streetcar, bicycle, and bus can clearly see, bombs are tumbling out of the warplanes, soon to inflict the same horrific damage on Hiroshima that has been visited on almost every other major city in Japan.

  Pre-attack mosaic view—marked SECRET—of Hiroshima, Japan. This image is made up of many smaller images that fit together to give a picture of the area. [National Archives]

  Until today, this city located on the Ota River delta has been spared, even as B-29 raids have systematically destroyed most of Japan. Major cities like Tokyo were bombed first. Now General Curtis LeMay is directing his bombers toward secondary targets, such as Toyama, a hub for ball-bearing and aluminum production. Two days ago, 173 B-29s literally leveled Toyama by dropping 1,466 tons of conventional and incendiary bombs on the city. No home or industry was left undamaged, with one estimate showing 99.5 percent of Toyama wiped off the map.

  The August 1 attacks focused on Japan’s ability to transport men and matériel. The Army Air Forces’ Fifty-Eighth Bomb Wing obliterated the rail hub of Hachioji. The 313th Bomb Wing decimated the rail hub of Nagaoka, and the 314th vaporized the tiny rail center of Mito.

  Since the Tokyo firebombings in March, the full scope of LeMay’s aerial attacks has emerged: One million Japanese have died or been wounded in sixty-six targeted cities. Ten million more have been made homeless.

  But as the B-29s open their bomb bay doors over Hiroshima this morning, it is not fire that falls from the sky. Instead, unarmed five-hundred-pound canisters hurtle toward the ground. At four thousand feet, an altitude charge automatically opens them. Hundreds of thousands of four-by-eight-inch slips of paper, the LeMay bombing leaflets, are released into the sky and flutter to the ground.

  “Civilians!” they read in Japanese. “Evacuate at once!

  “These leaflets are being dropped to notify you that your city has been listed for destruction by our powerful air force. The bombing will begin within seventy-two hours.

  “This advance notice will give your military authorities ample time to take necessary defensive measures to protect you from our inevitable attack. Watch and see how powerless they are to protect you. Systematic destruction of city after city will continue as long as you blindly follow your military leaders whose blunders have placed you on the very brink of oblivion. It is your responsibility to overthrow the military government now and save what is left of your beautiful country.

  “In the meanwhile, we encourage all civilians to evacuate at once.”

  One week ago at the Potsdam conference, President Harry Truman issued a simple warning that if Japan did not surrender immediately, it would face “prompt and utter destruction.” It was the last line of the Potsdam Declaration, a joint proclamation by the United States, Great Britain, and China defining the terms for Japanese surrender. Many citizens throughout Japan know of this ultimatum because American radio broadcasts have delivered it in Japanese.

  Thousands of these leaflets were dropped from B-29s over Japan to warn that cities would be bombed to total destruction. [Los Alamos National Laboratory]

  As the leaflets reach the ground, the people of Hiroshima open them to see aerial photographs of five B-29s unleashing scores of bombs on Japan. Circles line the bottom, each representing a city that has been targeted. B-29s have been dropping these leaflets on cities all over Japan for more than a week.

  By any estimate, Hiroshima is a perfect target. Japanese authorities are so convinced of this that they have already evacuated almost a hundred thousand citizens to safer locations.

  Hiroshima is entirely flat and just a few feet above sea level, meaning that an explosion will expand outward with maximum effect. The city is also the headquarters of Japan’s Second Army, whose twenty-five thousand soldiers will be vital to thwarting an American invasion. In addition, Hiroshima possesses a massive armament storage depot. It is a thriving port and communications hub.

  As American B-29s pass over the city, then out over the Sea of Japan, and return to their bases in the Mariana Islands six hours away, the people of Hiroshima are left to wonder what the leaflets really mean.

  CHAPTER 27

  TINIAN, MARIANA ISLANDS

  August 3, 1945

  ON THE ISLAND OF TINIAN, 1,500 miles southeast of Hiroshima, final preparations for the dropping of the atomic bomb are in place. Today might have seen the B-29 crews release the bomb known as Little Boy instead of warning leaflets. But a typhoon approaching Japan made flying conditions less than ideal.

  Little Boy has been ready to go for three days. The five-ton explosive device rests on a special trailer, covered in canvas to conceal its appearance. All Little Boy lacks to be activated are the four cordite charges that will initiate the explosion. These will not be secured in the bomb until the B-29 carrying it to Hiroshima has taken off, just in case the plane crashes on the runway.

  The pilot flying the bombing mission is Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, a thirty-year-old career officer who was born in Quincy, Illinois. Tibbets has flown forty-three combat missions over German-occupied Europe and North Africa. He has been flying the B-29 since its debut in 1943. At this moment, the aircraft he will fly has no catchy name, no artwork emblazoned across its nose. Right now, it is known only by the number painted on its fuselage: 82.

  Tibbets was personally selected by General Leslie Groves to lead the elite detachment of pilots who will drop atomic weapons on Japan. He has been practicing the bombing for weeks, flying out over the Pacific with a dummy version of Little Boy and dropping it in the ocean. Now Tibbets is waiting on the weather. The skies have to be clear enough over Hiroshima to visually see the target and deploy the bomb.

  The final word will come from General Curtis LeMay, who will inform Washington that he has given the order for Tibbets to take off. “Firm decision is expected at 050400Z,” reads a top secret telegram to the War Department.

  Colonel Tibbets knows it is almost time. “The actual and forecast weather were almost identical,” he will later remember.

  “So we got busy.”

  Colonel Paul Tibbets waves from the cockpit of Enola Gay before takeoff on August 6, 1945. [National Archives]

  CHAPTER 28

  IMPERIAL PALACE TOKYO, JAPAN

  August 3, 1945

  IN TOKYO, EMPEROR HIROHITO is not concerned. The words “prompt and utter destruction” delivered by President Harry Truman have not resonated with the emperor. Like his latest prime minister, Kantaro Suzuki, he believes those words to be recycled rhetoric—yaki naoshi—from previous meetings among Allied leaders. So he ignores Truman’s ultimatum, still believing that the Soviet Union will help broker a peace to his liking with the West—completely oblivious to the fact that Soviet leader Joseph Stalin is just five days away from invading Japanese-held Manchuria.

  At a point when Hirohito’s nation desperately needs him to show wisdom and discretion, the emperor is being delusional.

  M
itsumasa Yonai, minister of the Imperial Japanese Navy. [Mary Evans Picture Library]

  Meanwhile, Hirohito’s cabinet and the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War are holding a joint session. The topic of debate is whether or not any surrender is permissible. They have argued the matter for more than a week, with no conclusion in sight.

  Like their divine emperor, this group of politicians and military leaders believe that Truman will not follow through on his demand of unconditional surrender. Time, they believe, is on their side. In a statement to the world’s media on July 27 the Japanese formally rejected any notion that they will accede to Truman’s demands. Later that day, Prime Minister Suzuki holds a press conference to reiterate those sentiments, stating that “the only alternative for us is to be determined to continue our fight to the end.”

  Joining their emperor in delusion, the Japanese leadership believe they still control their destiny.

  As Navy Minister Mitsumasa Yonai states about Truman’s promise of total annihilation: “America is beginning to be isolated. The government therefore will ignore it.

  “There is no need to rush.”

  CHAPTER 29

  NORTH FIELD TINIAN, MARIANA ISLANDS

  August 4, 1945 • 3:00 P.M.

  CRADLING A KAYWOODIE BRIAR pipe in his left hand, Colonel Tibbets, the commander of America’s nuclear strike force, strides past a cordon of armed guards, hurrying into the Quonset hut that will serve as today’s briefing room. Tibbets is obsessively punctual, and today is no exception. The meeting is due to start at precisely 3:00 P.M. As he pushes into the crowded room, he is not a second late.