Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum
The atomic bomb was developed by scientists working under the Manhattan Project. The project was granted funding on December 6, 1941, with American leaders aiming for a new invention that would serve as a wartime weapon. The decision to drop an atomic bomb on Japan had been made by 1943, and a shortlist of candidate target cities was in place in 1945. At the time, it was argued that an atomic bombing would bring about a more rapid end to the war. Hiroshima, the first target, was selected to show the power of America's new weapon. The second bombing, of Nagasaki, was intended to demonstrate that the USA had a large arsenal. At 11:02 A.M. local time on August 9, 1945, the atomic bomb, nicknamed Fat Man as its code name by Robert Serber in the United States (after Sydney Greenstreet's character in "The Maltese Falcon") was dropped on Nagasaki, forever changing the city's landscape. A mushroom cloud rose to an altitude of 45,000 feet above the city.
Bombing of Osaka
The first air raid on Osaka lasted for about three and a half hours from 23:57 on March 13, 1945, to 03:25. A total of 274 B-29 heavy bombers attacked Osaka. At first, 43 bombers of the 314th Bombardment Wing flew from Guam island. It was a low-level night raid from an altitude of about 2,000m aiming at the local civilian housings. The pathfinder dropped napalm bombs at a target in Minato ward and made a conflagration. The following bombers dropped incendiary cluster bombs around the point. Then, 107 bombers of the 313th Bombardment wing arrived from Tinian and attacked Naniwa ward. Finally, 124 bombers of the 73rd Bombardment Wing from Saipan arrived and attacked Kita ward and Nishi ward. This bomb raid resulted in 3,987 dead and 678 missing.