Hiroshima 70th Anniversary

[1966efc]

Hugely difficult subject with no easy answers.

I wonder if ethics should be a compulsory part of every science course.

 

[Titus Bramble]

There was a program on Channel 4 last week called 'The day the bomb fell' (I think). It showed interviews with some of the Americans involved and some of the survivors from the city.

Harrowing but at the same time I couldn't turn it off. When they start explaining what happened when the bomb fell it's a miracle anyone survived.

Probably still on channel 4 catchup.

 

[dandydan]

More people were killed in one night of firebombing over Tokyo on 9th March but nobody bothers about that.

 

[Whistlin' Dixie]

More people were killed in one night of firebombing over Tokyo on 9th March but nobody bothers about that.

I agree - But in fairness that wasn't with a nuclear weapon was it? I doubt many in Tokyo died from radiation poisoning & other after-effects.

 

[AndyC]

More people were killed in one night of firebombing over Tokyo on 9th March but nobody bothers about that.

And how many German civilians died the night we firebombed Dresden ?

 

[1966efc]

Goes without saying that people are odd. Give a person a can of petrol and tell him the government has ordered him to burn the nearest infant school to the ground and (you'd hope) he'd refuse. Put the same person in a plane, however, ...

 

[dandydan]

And how many German civilians died the night we firebombed Dresden ?

It was over 2 days and nights with the yanks bombing during the day.
Depends on who's figures you use the accepted version is 25,000 gobbels stuck an extra 0 on the end.

 

[Whistlin' Dixie]

And how many German civilians died the night we firebombed Dresden ?

And refugees? IIRC more died in the firestorm in Hamburg than did Dresden, but Dresden gets headlines because of the refugees.

Academic anyway - poor sods are all dead. Just shows the futility of war really.

 

[Deggo]

Poetic justice.......just ask the lads who were made to dig their own graves before leaning over them to have their heads removed or those worked to death of near death at the hands of a sadistic shower of c*unts

 

[Tramps_mate]

It was war. It was deemed necessary at the time.

 

[Tramps_mate]

It was war. It was deemed necessary at the time.

 

[ToffeeDoug]

It was war. It was deemed necessary at the time.

I remember a documentary from many years ago saying that these two cities were 'spared' from the large-scale American bombing that was happening at the time, so that the military and their associated scientists could assess the full impact of the atom bombs when they were dropped. Part-necessary, part-experiment?

 

[Tramps_mate]

I remember a documentary from many years ago saying that these two cities were 'spared' from the large-scale American bombing that was happening at the time, so that the military and their associated scientists could assess the full impact of the atom bombs when they were dropped. Part-necessary, part-experiment?

All I'm saying was, its the past. Nothing can be changed now..

 

[Tramps_mate]

Poetic justice.......just ask the lads who were made to dig their own graves before leaning over them to have their heads removed or those worked to death of near death at the hands of a sadistic shower of c*unts

And much much worse than that...

 

[RAFUH]

Just listening to this on NPR this morning about how and why Hiroshima was chosen.

http://www.npr.org/2015/08/06/429433621/why-did-the-u-s-choose-hiroshima

"The minutes of this committee were declassified years ago — and they show it considered some far less deadly targets. The initial list included a remote military installation and Tokyo Bay, where the bomb would have been detonated as a demonstration.​

But the target committee decided those options wouldn't show the world the power of the new bomb.​

"They want people to understand that this is something different, and so picking a place that will showcase how different it is, is very important," Wellerstein says......​

The committee settled on two "psychological" objectives of the first atomic bombing: to scare the Japanese into unconditional surrender and to impress upon the world the power of the new weapon.​

That second goal was especially important to the researchers choosing the target. The atomic bomb was still top secret, but the scientists had an even more frightening secret. Within a few years, they expected to have a "super-bomb": the hydrogen (or thermonuclear) bomb. At the time, they believed H-bombs on top of missiles could destroy the world.​

Physicist Edward Teller wasn't on the committee, but a letter he wrote sums up the anxiety of the bomb builders:​

"Our only hope is in getting the facts of our results before the people. This might help to convince everybody that the next war would be fatal. For this purpose actual combat use might even be the best thing."​

The target committee decided the A-bomb had to kill. At the time, American bombers were already firebombing many cities, killing tens of thousands."​