The World at War (TV Series) The Bomb: February-September 1945 (1974) User Reviews

Endure the unendurable

[nickenchuggets · 10/10 · 14 January 2022]

World at War is well known for its unparalleled ability to give viewers a great insight into the second world war due to its use of historical footage and interviews with veterans and civilians alike. One of the most comprehensive episodes in my opinion is The Bomb, which focuses on the time period leading up to the event which would end world war 2. In the episode, we're told how by this point, it's 1945, and the war is almost over. American forces are on the doorstep of japan, and are currently trying to invade the island of Okinawa. The fighting is brutal, and more americans are killed in this one battle than any other battle in the pacific theater. It's a disturbing reminder of what awaits the US if its forces try to assault japan itself. In april of 1945, President Roosevelt, the man who had led america out of the worst economic disaster in its history, died. Two months before his death, FDR had a meeting with Churchill and Stalin to discuss the future of europe. The future of poland in particular was left vague (probably on purpose), but Stalin said he would finally declare war on japan 3 months after the defeat of germany. FDR's successor, Harry S Truman, wanted to end the war as soon as possible and force japan into surrendering before russia had a chance to interfere with them. With nazi germany's surrender in may 1945, america's focus was now set solely on japan. Like all World at War episodes, this one gives you a lot of context so you can understand the urgency of these situations. While the carnage on okinawa raged on, american leaders knew that the expected invasion of japan was going to be an absolute bloodbath. The country was prepared to launch suicide planes from catapults installed in caves, and mass suicide attacks by civilian fighters could also be expected. It was estimated that over 250k americans would be killed. Luckily, Truman soon received word that allied scientists were working on something called an atomic bomb, which uses fissionable material to harness the energy that is released when an atom is split. It was supposed to have an unimaginable destructive force. Meanwhile, the US Army Air Force began practicing with the procedures involved with dropping one very large bomb with great accuracy. B-29 bombers were already hitting japan non-stop with incendiary bombs by this point, flying out of bases in the Mariana Islands. Truman now had a few different options available to him: he could drop the nuke on japan with no warning, he could brag to the russians about america's new nuclear monopoly, he could order troops to invade japan, or he could persuade the russians into invading northern china. Truman hoped that the atom bomb would be a useful bargaining tool when it came to dealing with the russians, and would basically tell them to stay on america's good side or else. James Byrnes, Truman's secretary of state, sent an ultimatum to japan shortly after, saying how if necessary, the US will completely destroy their power to make war. When the japanese didn't respond, Truman ordered the air force to drop the bomb as soon as it was ready. The first bomb, codenamed Little Boy, utilized a radioactive element (uranium) manufactured in primitive nuclear reactors located in Washington state. The second bomb, named Fat Man, used Plutonium, a manmade element which was less well studied. After the first bomb was shipped to the island of Tinian in the pacific, a B-29 named Enola Gay (after its pilot's mother) took off, along with the most powerful and dreadful weapon ever seen. The pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets, is interviewed here and says how it was a nice, sunshine filled morning on august 6th when his plane approached Hiroshima at around 30 thousand feet. Shortly after 8:15, the nuke was dropped, and took exactly 53 seconds to reach its detonation point. Tibbets says it was almost as if a giant hand grabbed the back of the plane and shook it around, such was the force of the explosion. Thousands of people were instantly vaporized. Japan now knew that they faced a truly horrific weapon, but many in the country wanted to continue fighting. 3 days later, a japanese foreign minister visited the soviet foreign minister Molotov, who just bluntly told him the USSR was getting ready to attack japanese forces in manchuria. Sure enough, 3 months after germany surrendered, just as Stalin had promised, swarms of russian soldiers flooded into northern china. They swiftly tore the japanese resistance apart. Later that same morning, america dropped their plutonium device on a second city, Nagasaki. The intention was clear. The atom bomb was going to be used again and again until japan gave up. Finally, on august 15th, Emperor Hirohito broadcast a message to the japanese public, saying that the war has not developed to the empire's advantage. The country must therefore endure the unendurable, or else the fighting will never stop and japan will be destroyed. A japanese delegation boards the USS battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay to sign the official declaration of surrender, and world war 2 is over. While this is chronologically the end of this incredible series, there are still some episodes after this that focus on other topics of ww2, but I'll get to those some other day. As for this one, it's one of the best the series has to offer because it makes you realize how stressful this time must have been for america and japan. The US knew a huge amount of people would die if japan was invaded, and wanted to avoid unnecessary loss of life. Unfortunately, this mandated the use of a weapon that flattened two whole cities in the blink of an eye, and contaminated thousands of people with cancerous radiation. To this day, people still argue about whether dropping these bombs was necessary, but the program makes it clear that japan was never going to give up. This episode shows how there really weren't any true good guys in world war 2, as america was guilty of things akin to what the nazis were doing. As usual, there's a lot of interviews in this episode, with such people as Curtis LeMay, who was the general at the forefront of america's bombing raids against japan during 1945. It also goes over how japan was so starved of resources and fuel by this point that american fighter planes roamed freely over the country, shooting up factories and trains with impunity. Things really did get desperate for them at the end. Overall, The Bomb is yet another basically perfect episode in a series already full of them, and it helps viewers understand the circumstances behind the use of such a cruel weapon.