Bombing Japan - Incendiary Bombs Over Tokyo, Part 4

WARNING:  THIS CLIP CONTAINS HISTORICAL FOOTAGE OF WAR AND THE DROPPING OF FIRE AND ATOMIC BOMBS OVER JAPAN.  IT IS NOT EASY TO WATCH.  PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

As the Japanese people wearied of the war, young men - known as kamikaze pilots - sacrificed their lives to fight against the B-29 bombers.

Then ... a B-29 takes off from Tinian Island to deliver a different kind of bomb over Japan.  Its purpose, according to President Truman, is to avoid an invasion of the Japanese home islands by American forces.  Such an action, according to the President and his military advisors, would have resulted in huge casualties on both sides. 

The atomic bomb devastates Hiroshima.  "In a matter of seconds, over 70,000 lives are snuffed out.  Another 70,000 are gravely injured." 

A few days later, another atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki.  On the 14th of August, 1945, Japan surrenders.

Controversy, over dropping the atomic bomb, continues to this day.

See, also:

Bombing Japan - Incendiary Bombs Over Tokyo, Part 1

Bombing Japan - Incendiary Bombs Over Tokyo, Part 2

Bombing Japan - Incendiary Bombs Over Tokyo, Part 3

Credits

Clip from "World War II Battlefront" - segment on "The Last Stronghold (November, 1944)," produced by Madacy Entertainment Group, Inc. (2001).

Clip online, courtesy National Geographic.