Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles $Revision: 1.6.2.17 $; site ea.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!ea!mwm From: mwm@ea.UUCP Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Was WWII Japan close to developing l Message-ID: <22400024@ea.UUCP> Date: Sun, 21-Oct-84 04:11:00 EDT Article-I.D.: ea.22400024 Posted: Sun Oct 21 04:11:00 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 24-Oct-84 03:16:26 EDT References: <2@uwvax.UUCP> Lines: 43 Nf-ID: #R:uwvax:-200:ea:22400024:000:2071 Nf-From: ea!mwm Oct 21 03:11:00 1984 /***** ea:net.politics / uwvax!myers / 12:28 pm Oct 14, 1984 */ Got this in the mail today; is it really from Truth? >I think you have simplified matters. It is a known fact to those >learned in military history that Japan was on the verge of perfecting >their own nuclear arsenal. Due to an intelligence error Hiroshima was >destroyed. When it was discovered that the actual research labs were >in Nagasaki, we were lucky we had another bomb. Remember now, this >wasn't the 1980's. No, it isn't from truth; it probably hasn't been anywhere near the place. Towards the end of WWII, the USA, England, Germany & Japan were all working on A-bomb projects. The US was the only country that made any real progress. England and Germany were trying to figure out how to get a running reactor into the air (if you think that's bad, the people on project manhattan had trouble trying to build a barrel for thin man that met mil. spec., and could be gotten into the air!). The Japanese may have been the best off theoretically, but it didn't make any difference - they didn't have the materials/capability to build a bomb. The target for the initial bomb were (in order of preference): Kokura Arsenal, Hiroshima, Niigata, Kyoto, and Nagasaki. Kyoto was dropped from the list due to its historical and religious significance to the Japanese. It was *not* dropped from the list of cities reserved for the bomb, specifically so it would not be destroyed. Given that Hiroshima was a secondary choice, I don't think it was bombed due to an "intelligence error." The above information comes from a paper I put together on those two bombings about a decade ago. As is normal in historical research, it is possible that something has turned up since then that invalidates part of the findings. The bibliography from the paper is: Anders, Gunther: Burning Conscience Batchhelder, Robert C.: The irreversible decision Groves, Leslie R.: Now it Can Be Told Lamont, Lansing: Day of Trinity As a side note, Leslie Groves was the commanding officer of the Manhattan Project.