Secondary Target

It seems that it’s always a good idea to have a “Plan B” in life, in business, and in combat. That was exactly the situation that changed history during World War II. There were a number of situations during World War II that changed history, to be clear, but this on was unique. On August 9, 1945, the B-29 Superfortress Bomber named Bockscar took off from Tinian Island. Its intended target was the Japanese city of Kokura, where a major Japanese arsenal was located. The flight itself went fine, but upon arrival over the target city, dense clouds covered the area. They would not be able to accurately drop their bomb. While few people have heard of the city of Kokura, millions of people, even today, know the name Nagasaki…the alternate target…the “Plan B” of that bomb run.

When the bomber approached the city of Kokura, they quickly realized that there was no way to accurately hit the target. I’m not totally sure why hitting the target exactly was so important, given the type of bomb that was to be dropped. Nevertheless, it apparently was vital. Due to the dense cloud cover, pilot Charles W Sweeney circled the area three times before deciding to plot a course for the mission’s secondary target, Nagasaki. The cloud cover that saved one city doomed the other. At 10:58am local time, Bockscar dropped its nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 35,000 people and obliterating 44 percent of the city. The mission was vital. He had no time to think about the consequences. They men bombing any of the cities in World War II, or any war for that matter, could not consider the “collateral damage” of the bombs they were dropping. Losing was not an option. The mission was so important. Far too much was at stake to think about the lives lost, even the innocent lives.

In the end, of course, the Allies won the war. The necessary bombs were dropped on the necessary places, even if it was the secondary target…even if they had to resort to “plan b” to drop that all important bomb. I’m sure that at some point, the men who dropped the bombs had to think back on the lives lost, especially when they read a historical account of the events. I’m sure it made them sad to think of the loss of innocent lives. Still, this was war. They had orders, and they had a vital mission to carry out. They had to do their jobs, and they couldn’t be sorry they did.