Today marks a sorrowful anniversary: it was on August 6th, 1945 that the city of Hiroshima was pulverized by the “Little Boy”, the first of two atomic weapons hurled in fury upon the Japanese at the close of World War II. More than two hundred thousand people died.
I will not opine on the justification for this horror; ample debate has ensued since the day it occurred. Certainly a ground invasion of Japan would have cost a great many lives as well, indeed perhaps a great many more. I have often wondered whether a demonstration at sea of the weapon’s awful power might have brought about a surrender, but I am sure such a course must have been considered, and I do not presume to sit in judgment of the decision that was made, at a time when the entire world, as if seized by the Devil himself, was convulsed by a dark and violent madness.
I had thought to write a bit about the curious details of the weapon itself, but that seems cavalier, somehow, and readers who wish to may learn more here.