Enola Gay

This book has some information in it about the development of the bomb and the actual dropping of the bomb but the vast majority of the book centers on who was picked to drop the bomb, how those particular individuals got picked, the problems they had as a group, the problems the group itself had with other groups on Tinian and the development of, use of and problems with the B-29s themselves.

There's also material covering the Japanese attempt to build their own atomic bomb and even build a death ray. The book alternates between telling the American information on things leading up to the dropping of the atomic bomb and the Japanese story of things that were happening there and in Hiroshima.

The reader gets to see how bad the food situation was in Japan (via Hiroshima scenes) and how getting food was a difficult task. The Japanese were being urged to try to grow some of their own food but this became very difficult in many places due to the firebombing campaign. American subs sinking transport ships and American plans sinking them also contributed to the food shortage in Japan.

The book notes that around 5000 Americans were dying each week during the push towards Japan.

There's material on how the weather over Japan was such a big concern and how this might change what city would be targeted for the atomic bomb attacks. There's also information on how the targets were chosen. Also covered is the firebombing of Japanese cities and what the Japanese tried to do in response to those raids.

During one Japan-oriented section the reader is told about the various kamikaze devices that were planned for use in case the United States invaded Japan itself.

The actual crew of the Enola Gay were basically hard-living and not always above the law in nature yet they were protected from a lot of things due to their status of crewmembers. I got the impression, and this is just an opinion, that they sort of let that go to their heads and considered themselves somewhat above the other flyers.

The balloon bomb program against the U.S. is also covered briefly. Also covered briefly is the way the Japanese people were not told the truth about what was happening especially later in the war. The Japanese secret police would arrest anyone speaking out or writing anything negative about Japan.

The original list for cities to use the atomic bomb on included Kyoto, Hiroshima, Yokohama and Kokura.

If we had invaded Japan proper the first part would have included an assault with over 800,000 troops. Over1,700,000 would have been involved in the second part of the invasion which was an attack in the Tokyo area.

One of the reasons cited for the use of the bombs involved the possibility that the Japanese civilians would have taken arms up against the U.S. soldiers and this book agrees with that notice the Japanese push for every man, woman and child to be armed in some way even if it meant using things like spears made out of bamboo. In my own opinion I think such a thing would have caused Americans to definitely consider the Japanese as animals and totally uncivilized. The death toll among the civilians would have been enormous and could have led, again in my opinion, to the near extinction of the Japanese people.

The taking of Tinian is covered along with the fact that there were around five hundred Japanese still on the island, hidden in the forest, when the airfields were constructed for the use of B-29s.

The problems within the Japanese government and the division between those who wanted to continue the war and those who wanted to end it is covered.

The force of the atomic bomb was about equal to that wielded by 2000 fully-loaded B-29 bombers.

Regular bombing of Japanese cities continued ever after the atomic bombs had been dropped since the Japanese still had not surrendered. The exact damage in Hiroshima after the dropping of the bomb is covered statistically.

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