1. Unit 8: World War II
4.1.19

2. Entry Task
What do you know about the use of the Atomic Bomb in WWII?

3. Goals:
Understand what happened in the bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
Understand the reasons behind the decision to use the atomic bomb
Understand two different perspectives of the bombing’s significance

4. Background: Bataan Death March
Japan invaded the Philippines on Dec 8, 1941
American & Filipino troops surrendered April 9, 1942
Forced to march 65(+/-) miles, took 6 days
10,000 troops died b/c of brutality (starved & beaten, those too weak to walk were bayoneted)
Survivors taken by rail to POW camps, thousands more died from disease, mistreatment & starvation
America invaded in October 1944, recapturing the Bataan Peninsula, & liberating the Philippines in early March
The War clip 1:09-1:20

6. Background: Iwo Jima February 1945
Americans needed a base near the Japanese coast
Defended by 23,000 Japanese troops & an elaborate network of caves, dugouts, & tunnels
US won after almost 2 months of fighting
Photographer Joe Rosenthal took the now infamous picture (restaged for the purpose) of Americans raising the flag over Mount Suribachi at the SW corner of Iwo Jima

7. Background: Okinawa April 1, 1945 Last major battle in the Pacific
Final push toward Japan: Okinawa = major air base
180,000 American Army & Marine Corps
130,000 Japanese troops instructed not to fire but instead watch & wait, Battleship Yamato would trap them
Huge casualties
US: 36,000+ injured, 12,500+ killed
Japan: 110,000 soldiers killed, 40, ,000 civilians
War in Europe is wrapping up, Germany would surrender in just a few weeks

8. Iwo Jima
Okinawa
Bataan Peninsula

9. The Bombing Final stages of WWII in 1945 War in Europe over
The bomb had been developed over several years through the “Manhattan Project”

10. The Manhattan Project Nazis had an atomic energy program
Allies learned later that developing a weapon was never a priority for them
August 1942, Los Alamos, NM
Two Goals:
Develop a weapon to bring a swift end to the war
Develop a new, boundless source of energy

11. The Bombing Paul Tibbets & the “Enola Gay”
Dropped “Little Boy” on Hiroshima: Aug. 6, 1945
“I thought: ‘Thank God the war is over and I don’t have to get shot any more. I can go home.” – Enola Gay crew member

12. The Bombing Frederick Bock & the “Bockscar”
Dropped “Fat Man” on Nagasaki: Aug. 9, 1945
“When the bombs dropped and news began to circulate that [the invasion of Japan] would not, after all, take place, that we would not be obliged to run up the beaches near Tokyo assault-firing while being mortared and shelled…we cried with relief and joy. We were going to live. We were going to grow up to adulthood after all.” – 21 year old US soldier

13. The Bombing Fireball: 540,000 degrees F Shockwave Radioactivity
Black rain
Intense heat turned thousands of people into small, charred lumps of flesh
Radiation burns and internal damage caused by gamma rays produced lethal injuries to people as far as 2 miles from the center

14. The Bombing Approximately 100,000 people died within 4 months
½ the deaths happened on the first day
Many more deaths in the years later