Evidence

Pearl Harbor

"On Sunday, December 7th, 1941 the Japanese launched a

Surprise attack against the U.S. Forces stationed at Pearl Harbor,

Hawaii . By planning his attack on a Sunday, the Japanese commander

Admiral Nagumo, hoped to catch the entire fleet in port. As luck

Would have it, the Aircraft Carriers and one of the Battleships

Were not in port. (The USS Enterprise was returning from Wake

Island , where it had just delivered some aircraft. The USS

Lexingtonwas ferrying aircraft to Midway, and the USS Saratoga and

USS Colorado were undergoing repairs in the United States).

In spite of the latest intelligence reports about the missing  

Aircraft carriers (his most important targets), Admiral Nagumo

Decided to continue the attack with his force of six carriers and

423 aircraft. At a range of 230 miles north of Oahu , he launched

The first wave of a two-wave attack. Beginning at 0600 hours his

First wave consisted of 183 fighters and torpedo bombers which

Struck at the fleet in Pearl HarborLY: Arial"> and the airfields in Hickam,

Kaneohe and Ewa. The second strike, launched at 0715 hours,

consisted of 167 aircraft, which again struck at the same targets.

At 0753 hours the first wave consisting of 40 Nakajima B5N2

Kate" torpedo bombers, 51 Aichi D3A1 "Val" dive bombers, 50 high

Altitude bombers and 43 Zeros struck airfields and Pearl Harbor

Within the next hour, the second wave arrived and continued the

Attack. "

President Truman and the Atomic Bomb

   "On the morning of 6 August 1945, an atomic bomb was used in war for the first time. Normal life in the crowded Japanese city of Hiroshima came to a sudden and terrifying end when a US plane dropped an atomic device on to the city. More than 70,000 people died and many more were injured. The heat of the blast was so intense that people at the centre of the explosion were simply vaporised. Many who survived the blast died later from the radiation.

The president of the USA, Harry Truman, warned the Japanese to surrender. When they did not, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing around 40,000 people and wounding 60,000.

Japan quickly surrendered. Truman had achieved his objective - the war in the Pacific and World War 2 was ended. Thousands of soldiers on both sides, who would have died if the fighting had continued, were saved. Notice was served to the world that the USA was now an atomic power.

At the time, many people saw Truman’s decision to use atomic weapons as the right one. With some Japanese leaders vowing to fight to the bitter end, only a long military campaign or this atomic shock could have ended the war. There was little sympathy for an enemy who had started the fight and had behaved cruelly in the countries they occupied."