An overview of the creation of the atomic bomb

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Areas still controlled by Japan in white and green included Korea, Taiwan, Indochinaand much of Chinaincluding most of the main cities, and the Dutch East Indies. Allied-held areas are in red, with the neutral Soviet Union and Mongolia in grey.

Most Japanese military units fought fiercely, ensuring that the Allied victory would come at an enormous cost. Nearly one million of the casualties occurred during the last year of the war, from June to June In DecemberAmerican battle casualties hit an all-time monthly high of 88, as a result of the German Ardennes Offensive.

Deferments for groups such as agricultural workers were tightened, and there was consideration of drafting women.

At the same time, the public was becoming war-weary, and demanding that long-serving servicemen be sent home. Along the way, the ratio of Japanese to American casualties dropped from 5: Lack of raw materials forced the Japanese war economy into a steep decline after the middle of The civilian economy, which had slowly deteriorated throughout the war, reached disastrous levels by the middle of The rice harvest was the worst sinceand hunger and malnutrition became widespread.

Bythe U. By the middle ofthe U. In FebruaryPrince Fumimaro Konoe advised Emperor Hirohito that defeat was inevitable, and urged him to abdicate. Operation Olympic and Operation Coronet. Set to begin in OctoberOlympic involved a series of landings by the U.

The target date was chosen to allow for Olympic to complete its objectives, for troops to be redeployed from Europe, and the Japanese winter to pass.

Most were immobile formations for coastal defense, but 16 were high quality mobile divisions. Casualty predictions varied widely, but were extremely high. Stimson was sufficiently concerned about high American estimates of probable casualties to commission his own study by Quincy Wright and William Shockley.

DeBakey and Gilbert Beebe. Wright and Shockley estimated the invading Allies would suffer between 1. Quantities of phosgenemustard gastear gas and cyanogen chloride were moved to Luzon from stockpiles in Australia and New Guinea in preparation for Operation Olympic, and MacArthur ensured that Chemical Warfare Service units were trained in their use.

Air raids on Japan A B over Osaka on June 1, While the United States had developed plans for an air campaign against Japan prior to the Pacific War, the capture of Allied bases in the western Pacific in the first weeks of the conflict meant that this offensive did not begin until mid when the long-ranged Boeing B Superfortress became ready for use in combat.

Hansell determined that GuamTinianand Saipan in the Mariana Islands would better serve as B bases, but they were in Japanese hands. Air bases were developed, [28] and B operations commenced from the Marianas in October Hansell continued the practice of conducting so-called high-altitude precision bombingaimed at key industries and transportation networks, even after these tactics had not produced acceptable results.

The attacks initially targeted key industrial facilities but much of the Japanese manufacturing process was carried out in small workshops and private homes.

It was the deadliest bombing raid of the war, at a cost of 20 Bs shot down by flak and fighters. Aircraft flying from Allied aircraft carriers and the Ryukyu Islands also regularly struck targets in Japan during in preparation for Operation Downfall.

According to Yuki Tanakathe U. Japanese fighters and antiaircraft guns had difficulty engaging bombers flying at high altitude. Manhattan Project The discovery of nuclear fission by German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann inand its theoretical explanation by Lise Meitner and Otto Frischmade the development of an atomic bomb a theoretical possibility.

This prompted preliminary research in the United States in late Army Corps of Engineers. Little Boy was a gun-type fission weapon that used uraniuma rare isotope of uranium separated at the Clinton Engineer Works at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Because the flying squadrons of the group consisted of both bomber and transport aircraft, the group was designated as a "composite" rather than a "bombardment" unit.

Parsons leftRear Admiral William R.

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Purnell centerand Brigadier General Thomas F. Farrell right The th Composite Group had an authorized strength of officers and 1, enlisted men, almost all of whom eventually deployed to Tinian. In addition to its authorized strength, the th had attached to it on Tinian 51 civilian and military personnel from Project Alberta[67] known as the 1st Technical Detachment.A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or from a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb).Both bomb types release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter.

The first test of a fission ("atomic") bomb released an amount of energy approximately equal to. Creation of Israel, On May 14, , David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel.U.S.

President Harry S. Truman recognized the new nation on the same day. The list is organized alphabetically by the author's (or authors') last name where possible. Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Part of the Pacific War of World War II: Atomic bomb mushroom clouds over Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right).

A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or from a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb).Both bomb types release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter.

The first test of a fission ("atomic") bomb released an amount of energy approximately equal to. This is an excellent documentary overview of the history of nuclear weapons, beginning with the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II and ending .