Wartime History
Nagasaki was an important port and industrial city in southern Japan. Nagasaki had a number of industrial facilities including the Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard and other industries. The city's military infrastructure included the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) Nagasaki Arsenal.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, on May 20, 1938 at night two Martin 139WC bombers in Chinese markings manned by Chinese air crews overflew Nagasaki to drop leaflets and reportedly took photographs. In recent years, the Chinese claim these bombers took a photo of Battleship Musashi under construction. In fact, this is in implausible and untrue. No copy of the photo has ever been located in archives or published. If any photograph was taken it was unlikely to show any detail because the photograph was taken at night.

Starting in August 10, 1944 Nagasaki was bombed by B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers from China. During July 1945 bombed by B-24 Liberators and B-25 Mitchells targeting shipping in Nagasaki Harbor and targets in Nagasaki. The city was spared from fire bombing raids because it was difficult to locate at night using radar due to the hills and geography.

American missions against Nagasaki
August 10, 1944–August 9, 1945

By early August 1945 defended by the 134th Anti-Aircraft Regiment with four batteries of 7cm anti-aircraft guns and two searchlight batteries. Before the atomic bombing, Nagasaki's population was estimated to be roughly 263,000 including 240,000 Japanese and 12,500 Koreans and 9,000 Japanese military, 600 Chinese workers and 400 Allied Prisoners Of War (POWs) in a camp to the north.

On August 9, 1945 at 11:01am B-29 "Bockscar" 44-27297 at an altitude of 28,900' dropped the second atomic bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" over Nagasaki and exploded 47 seconds later at an altitude of roughly 1,650' above a tennis court in the Urakami Valley halfway between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works in the south and the Nagasaki Arsenal in the north, roughly 1.9 miles northwest of the intended aiming point. The explosion was equivalent to roughly 21 kilotons of TNT with a portion of the city protected by hills that deflected the blast. Estimates for immediate deaths vary with Japanese reports claiming nearly 24,000 killed instantly and U.S. estimated roughly 35,000 killed instantly plus 60,000 injured. The dependency in numbers is likely due to the presence of foreign workers and military units transiting the area.

Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard
Located at Nagasaki. Built many Japanese vessels including Battleship Musashi.

Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum
7-8 Hirano-machi
T: 095-844-1231
Open daily, 8:30am - 5:30pm
Admission (Adult) 200 yen

References
First Into Nagasaki (2007) by George Weller and Anthony Weller (editor)
Weller's War (2010) by George Weller and Anthony Weller (editor)

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Last Updated
October 23, 2019