By the end of April, 1945, Adolf Hitler had committed suicide and the war in Europe was nearly over. But the war in the Pacific raged as Japan fought on.
June 18, 1945 was a momentous day in the war against Japan. On that summer day, President Truman considered whether the United States should invade the home islands of Japan. How many American lives would such an invasion cost? As he listened to the discussion of his closest advisors,
Truman answered the question himself:
THE PRESIDENT expressed the view that it [an invasion]
was practically creating another Okinawa [where thousands
of Americans had died] closer to Japan to which the
Chiefs of Staff agreed.
The cost of American lives would be too great. On June 18th, President Truman decided to force Japan's surrender by using other means. Instead of invading Japan, America would use its new - as yet untested - weapon: The atomic bomb.
Less than thirty days later, the bomb was successfully tested. It was July 16, 1945. Follow this link to the surviving notes of one of the scientists (most likely Professor Luis W. Alvarez) who witnessed the test blast. The notes depict a drawing of the first
mushroom cloud ever observed.
On the same day, July 16th, components of the first atomic bomb (known as "Little Boy" ) to be
used on Japan were loaded onto the
USS Indianapolis (later to
meet a dreadful fate of
her own). She set sail from San Francisco to
Tinian, an American - held island south of Japan. The bomb would be reassembled there, for "delivery" to a Japanese city by a B-29 known as the "Enola Gay."