80 Years Ago, Monday, 6 August 1945

80 years ago saw the first use of a nuclear weapon in anger.  It took a second bomb, delivered in rapid succession, to convince Japan to surrender.  While the bombs wrought tremendous death and destruction, in the end, their use spared countless more lives by circumventing the massive casualties on both combatants and Japan’s civil population had the invasion proceeded.  It also prevented famine from ravishing the Japanese home islands in the winter of 45/46 which would have happened with either an invasion or a blockade.  And they also spared the lives of millions of Asians living under the brutal occupation in Southeast Asia, the East Indies and China.  Using the bombs was the least bad of horrific choices of how to end the Asia-Pacific War.

US NAVY

PACIFIC—USAAF B‑29 "Enola Gay" (509th Composite Group) drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Honshu; USN Commander William S. Parsons is the weaponeer on this mission.

            TG 95.3 planes, from escort carriers Lunga Point (CVE‑94), Makin Island (CVE‑93) and Cape Gloucester (CVE‑109) (Vice Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf) strike enemy shipping in Tinghai Harbor, China.

            Carrier Intrepid (CV‑11)'s air group bombs Japanese installations on Wake Island as the ship is en route from Pearl Harbor to join TF 38 in the western Pacific.

            TF 58 planes damage Japanese Coast Defense Vessel No.37 and small minelayer/net layer Kyosai east of Nojimazaki,34°52'N, 139°58'E.

            Submarine Bugara (SS‑331) comes across British submarine HMS Sleuth and four Japanese junks. Bugara, in display of Anglo‑American cooperation, assists the British boat by sinking two of the enemy craft by gunfire, 06°51'N,101°44'E.

            Submarine Bullhead (SS‑332) is sunk, probably by Japanese Army aircraft (73d Chutai), off Bali, Java Sea, 08°20'S,115°42'E.

            USAAF B‑25s and P‑51s (Far East Air Force) attack Japanese shipping in Tsushima Strait, sinking merchant cargo ships No.7 Shintai Maru and Kowa Maru five miles east of Tsuno Jima, 34°26'N, 129°16'E.

            USAAF mines sink Japanese merchant cargo ships No.2 Chokai Maru off Fushiki Light, 38°49'N, 137°04'E, Isojima Maru in south channel of Kammon Strait, 33°56'N, 130°56'E, and No.2 Kozan Maru at 33°53'N, 132°00'E.

            Japanese auxiliary minelayer Kinjo Maru and auxiliary net layer Kosei Maru, are damaged by aircraft, near Kujukuruhama.

 

US ARMY AIR FORCE

FOURTEENTH AF—10 P‑51’s and P‑47’s damage 10 locomotives between Tehsien and Suchow and 5 around Anyang, Kaifeng, and Loyang, and lightly damage bridges N of Chihsien and S of Houmachen. “

FEAF—Okinawa‑based aircraft pound target.s on Kyushu. 150‑plus P‑47’s and A‑26’s fight bad weather to hit the primary, Miyakonojo. 170‑plus B‑24’s, B‑25’s, and P‑47’s hit Kagoshima as secondary tat. 60‑plus B‑25’s and P‑51’s attack shipping and ground targets of opportunity in Tsushima Strait area and in N Ryukyus. P‑51’s operating in area between Kyushu and Korea bomb airfield and strafe numerous targets of opportunity on Saishu Island. P‑47’s bomb Anjo on Tanega Island. Other aircraft, operating individually or in pairs, hit various targets of opportunity on S Korea coast, in Inland Sea, S Honshu, W Shikoku Island, throughout the N Ryukyus, and in Shanghai area. B‑24’s pound resistance pockets on Negros Island.

TWENTIETH AF—The world’s first atomic attack takes place. At 0245 Col Paul W Tibbets pilots the B‑29 Enola Gay off the runway at North Field, Tinian. At 2‑min intervals, 2 observation B‑29’s follow Maj Charles W Sweeney’s Great Artiste and Capt George W Marquardt’s No 91. At 0915 (0816 Japan time) the atomic bomb is released over Hiroshima from 31,600 ft. It explodes 50 secs later. More than 80 per cent of the city’s buildings are destroyed and over 71,000 people (Japanese figures; US figures say from 70,000 to 80,000) are killed. The Enola Gay lands on Tinian at 1458, followed within the hour by the 2 observation planes.

VII FC—Almost 100 fighters from Iwo Jima attack airfields and military installations at 6 locations throughout general area around Tokyo.

 

US ARMY

JAPAN—B–29 drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

GUAM—Final details for operation against Fort Bayard are worked out on Guam between representatives of the China and the Pacific Theaters.

 

US MARINE CORPS

Tinian-based B-29 drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima.