ABSTRACT
Although over sixty major Japanese cities had been targets of US air raids by August 1945, Hiroshima was not among them. Once, in the early morning of April 30, 1945, a single B-29 dropped a small-sized bomb in the middle of the city, resulting in eleven casualties. This was the only bomb attack Hiroshima had experienced. Hiroshima—This is an important army depot and port of embarkation in the middle of an urban industrial area. Hiroshima is a good radar target and it is of such size that a large part of the city could be extensively damaged. Specialists involved in planning the bombing continued to press for Kyoto as the target for the first bomb, despite the opposition of Secretary of War Stimson. While most Americans anticipated the imminent victory with great excitement and relief, some in the United States greeted the news of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima with the deepest anguish.
