(49)Did the United States plan to drop a third atomic bomb?

It was "in development"

Do you know the Japanese movie from 2005 called "Lorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean"? This movie is set in Japan just after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. To prevent the enemy's next nuclear attack, the Imperial Army engages in a last-ditch effort, employing a German submarine. As the sub advances on Tinian Island, the base for the aircraft carrying the atomic bombs, Nagasaki is attacked. And the third target for another atomic bomb is Tokyo, the capital of Japan...

This is the movie's plot, though fictional, of course. However, was there really a plan to drop a third atomic bomb?

U.S. soldiers mark "L11" on the atomic bomb "Little Boy" to distinguish it from test bombs on Tinian Island. (Courtesy of Professor Kudo; in possession of the U.S. National Archives)

Report on conditions in Nagasaki

Shinobu Kikuraku, a staff member at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, showed me some documents and said, "There are papers which point to this possibility. They've become available only recently because the U.S. military's original documents can now be accessed at the U.S. National Archives."

One document is a coded message, dated August 9, 1945, from the commander of the 509th Composite Group of the U.S. Army Air Force, Brigadier General Paul Tibbets (the pilot of the "Enola Gay") to the commander of the strategic air force in the United States. The message indicates that two B-29 bombers were to set to leave Tinian Island on August 10 for Wendover Army Air Field in Utah and would return to Tinian with "special Centerboard units."

The man who acquired the above message from the U.S. National Archives, among some 2,000 photocopies of other communication records, is Yozo Kudo, a professor at Tokuyama College of Technology. Professor Kudo decoded 116 messages that were sent from the middle of July to October 1945, covering the period the atomic bombs were dropped, and he published his findings in a book.

According to Professor Kudo, "Centerboard" is a coded word for "atomic bombing." This conclusion is supported by the fact that the title of a message dated August 10, 1945 is "Report on Centerboard Nagasaki Operations" and the content involves a report on the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and conditions in the city in the aftermath.

As for a third atomic bomb, Professor Kudo refers to this matter in his book. He includes part of an interview with Paul Tibbets that was conducted in September 1966 by the U.S. Air Force Intelligence Agency and Military History Division.

Interviewer: If Japan hadn't surrendered after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, would other nuclear weapons have been used?

Tibbets: We were preparing a third atomic bomb... I can't say whether the decision to drop it had already been made or not. However, we were preparing for it.

Tokyo was strongly recommended

So, where was the target for the third atomic bomb?

In a coded message sent on August 10, 1945 by a commander in Guam, Tokyo was strongly recommended as the next target. However, a reply from the mainland said that the target would be decided by those higher in command. This means that the idea for dropping the third atomic bomb on Tokyo had not been confirmed.

The facts are supported by a memo addressed to General Leslie Groves, who was in charge of producing the atomic bombs for the Manhattan Project. The memo recommended that Tokyo be the next target for an atomic bombing. However, the war ended just days later.

The story of the movie "Lorelei," then, has some basis in reality. (Kenji Nanba, Staff Writer)