Instruction to General Carl Spaatz on Use of the Atomic Bomb Against a Japanese Target. 25 July 1945.

This document can be found in many sources. Spaatz reportedly carried it with him when he departed for the Far East on 24 July (Far East time] to take over a newly created Air Force command role. He was under instructions to deliver the document personally to MacArthur and Nimitz.

First, note that the bomb is referred to as “special.” Another sort-of code name for it was “the gimmick.” As of this note, there were four possibilities for targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata and Nagasaki. The first and last eventually were bombed; the only reason Kokura wasn't was that bad weather forced the flight to go the secondary target of the day, which was Nagasaki.

Note that the second paragraph talks about “additional bombs.” The pace of making the bombs was very slow at first, but from what I have read elsewhere, the speed of making the atomic bombs was expected to increase quite a bit. A third bomb was in process of being made ready for use, and it's target most likely would have been Tokyo.



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