2008 Woodie Awards
Bombing tactics just as devastating as nuclear war
By: Evan Sweetman
Issue date: 11/16/06 Section: Opinion/Editorial
Nuclear warfare is all fun and games until someone loses a major population center. Now that I've got your attention, and presumably your blood pressure up a bit, let's set a few facts straight on military history. During my four years at Webster, I've heard some pretty interesting theories about the "atrocity" of using nuclear bombs on Japan spouted by liberal and conservative alike and frankly, facts need to be clarified. While it wasn't the best thing to do, in the same war there were equally as atrocious acts committed by the Allied forces during World War II.
In any argument waged about nuclear war, the first volley usually made is that it was a horrible thing to drop nuclear bombs. The bomb, "Little Boy," was the one dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in World War II.
A better argument would be to refer to Fat Man, the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, three days later. The safe argument put forth in regards to Fat Man is whether we learned nothing from dropping the first bomb? The apparent answer would be a simple and resounding yes. The United States ignored the devastation caused by the first atomic bomb. On the other hand, Hirohito, then-emperor of Japan, didn't respond in the manner that the United States had hoped - surrendering.
Two other cities were planned as targets, but Truman only wanted military sites to be bombed, according to the Web site http://www.dannen.com, which contains several documents regarding the bombing in the months and days leading up to the dropping of the bombs.
Now, compare Hiroshima and Nagasaki to Dresden, Germany, and Tokyo. This is where the reader pauses for a second and asks; "What do Dresden and Tokyo have to do with anything?" Simply put, they were both targets of fire bombing in World War II. Fire bombing was a strategy used by the United States where aircraft drop bombs blindly on a city at night.
This approach, used by the U.S. and U.K. militaries in Dresden in World War II, caused the near total annihilation of the city. As Len Deighton described in his book "Bomber," several waves of bombers were sent in. In the book, it was explained that the first wave of bombers was sent to blow roofs off buildings and cause basic structural damage. The second wave dropped incendiary bombs designed to set fire to the exposed timbers of the buildings. The third wave was either the result of time-delayed bombs or another bombing run meant to disrupt emergency services from responding to fires and injured civilians. As the fires burned, the heat would cause a firestorm, engulfing the entire city.
Tokyo suffered similar damage, but the fires were aided by the large amount of wood and paper used in many buildings. Both Dresden and Tokyo had casualties similar to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although no definite death toll for the Dresden bombings can be given, it has been estimated that between 25,000 and 100,000 people were killed according to http://news.bbc.co.uk. The bombing of Tokyo left approximately 100,000 dead, according to the Civil Rights Foundation. These techniques were a calculated attack on a city, meant to wreak havoc and cause terror.
It may seem as though I am trying to downplay the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but I certainly agree those were tragic events and can be argued one way or another. The difference is simply that the intended targets for the nuclear bombs were purely military - although that is not what actually got bombed - whereas the intended targets for fire bombing raids in Europe and Japan were civilian.
A look into the top members of the Manhattan Project, the program at Los Alamos, N.M., where the nuclear bomb was invented, will show they felt similarly.
Robert Oppenheimer, the lead scientist on the Manhattan Project, quoted text from the Bhagavad Gita by saying, "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds" after the first detonation of an atomic bomb.
Evan Sweetman, a senior journalism major, is a staff writer for The Journal.
In any argument waged about nuclear war, the first volley usually made is that it was a horrible thing to drop nuclear bombs. The bomb, "Little Boy," was the one dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in World War II.
A better argument would be to refer to Fat Man, the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, three days later. The safe argument put forth in regards to Fat Man is whether we learned nothing from dropping the first bomb? The apparent answer would be a simple and resounding yes. The United States ignored the devastation caused by the first atomic bomb. On the other hand, Hirohito, then-emperor of Japan, didn't respond in the manner that the United States had hoped - surrendering.
Two other cities were planned as targets, but Truman only wanted military sites to be bombed, according to the Web site http://www.dannen.com, which contains several documents regarding the bombing in the months and days leading up to the dropping of the bombs.
Now, compare Hiroshima and Nagasaki to Dresden, Germany, and Tokyo. This is where the reader pauses for a second and asks; "What do Dresden and Tokyo have to do with anything?" Simply put, they were both targets of fire bombing in World War II. Fire bombing was a strategy used by the United States where aircraft drop bombs blindly on a city at night.
This approach, used by the U.S. and U.K. militaries in Dresden in World War II, caused the near total annihilation of the city. As Len Deighton described in his book "Bomber," several waves of bombers were sent in. In the book, it was explained that the first wave of bombers was sent to blow roofs off buildings and cause basic structural damage. The second wave dropped incendiary bombs designed to set fire to the exposed timbers of the buildings. The third wave was either the result of time-delayed bombs or another bombing run meant to disrupt emergency services from responding to fires and injured civilians. As the fires burned, the heat would cause a firestorm, engulfing the entire city.
Tokyo suffered similar damage, but the fires were aided by the large amount of wood and paper used in many buildings. Both Dresden and Tokyo had casualties similar to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although no definite death toll for the Dresden bombings can be given, it has been estimated that between 25,000 and 100,000 people were killed according to http://news.bbc.co.uk. The bombing of Tokyo left approximately 100,000 dead, according to the Civil Rights Foundation. These techniques were a calculated attack on a city, meant to wreak havoc and cause terror.
It may seem as though I am trying to downplay the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but I certainly agree those were tragic events and can be argued one way or another. The difference is simply that the intended targets for the nuclear bombs were purely military - although that is not what actually got bombed - whereas the intended targets for fire bombing raids in Europe and Japan were civilian.
A look into the top members of the Manhattan Project, the program at Los Alamos, N.M., where the nuclear bomb was invented, will show they felt similarly.
Robert Oppenheimer, the lead scientist on the Manhattan Project, quoted text from the Bhagavad Gita by saying, "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds" after the first detonation of an atomic bomb.
Evan Sweetman, a senior journalism major, is a staff writer for The Journal.
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