The US military archives revealed that if the Japanese had not surrendered the 15 August of the 1945, they would have been hit with a third even more powerful nuclear attack. If the third attack had not bent Japan, the US would have launched another twelve nuclear bombs.
The documents, published during the commemorations on the occasion of the 70 anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima the 6 August and Nagasaki the 9 August, show the determination of the States in forcing Japan to an unconditional surrender. In the spring of 1945, the US military set up a special committee to identify the major Japanese cities to be nuclearized.
"Even after the first two nuclear attacks, they could continue to fight. For them there is no surrender: either death or glory "
The nuclear attacks were shared by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who participated in talks with allied leaders Harry S. Truman, the new American president and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in Potsdam, in July of the 1945. The consent to the atomic attack was authorized following the success of the "Trinity" test.
According to the committee, a single atomic bomb could also have destroyed Japan's infrastructure and avoided a terrible invasion that would certainly have caused huge losses among the allies. The cities identified for the nuclear attack were Kyoto, Hiroshima, Yokohama, Kokura, Niigata and Tokyo. Among the criteria for target selection, there was also the integrity of cities not affected by conventional bombing. In this way the effects of a nuclear attack could have been assessed.
Tokyo, despite the bombings suffered, remained a valid option for a while. The presence of the Emperor Hirohito, considered useful to negotiate the surrender, saved the city from the atomic. It was decided, therefore, the objectives to the south of the country in view of a possible invasion.
Kyoto, identified by the Committee for its strategic importance, was spared after the intervention of War Secretary Henry Stimson, who spent his honeymoon in the Japanese city. That important cultural center - said Stimson - it must not be destroyed.
On August 6th of the 1945, the B-29 bomber, Enola Gay, dropped its uranium bomb equivalent to TNT's 12 kilotons, called "Little Boy", on Hiroshima. Three days later, another B-29, the Bockscar, took off for Kokura with a plutonium bomb called "Fat Man", with a power of TNT's 20 kilotons. Again, there were problems. That bomb had to be dropped on Korura and not on Nagasaki. The bad weather of those hours, however, prompted the crew to bomb Nagasaki, the second option for the "Fat Man". Both combined attacks killed more than Japanese 200.000.
Archival documents show that a third bomb was being assembled in Tinian, in the Mariana Islands, with a main plutonium nucleus arriving from the United States. It was also confirmed that the United States started a nuclear bomb production line for another twelve bombs to be dropped throughout Japan. The third bomb would have been dropped on the 19 1945 with twelve other attacks that would have occurred between September and October. The 15 August, however, while the plutonium was now on its way to Tinian, Japan surrendered and the cargo returned to the United States.
