Brian M Downing
It’s been 73 years since the US dropped atomic bombs on Germany, ending the stalemated world war and the Third Reich as well. The anniversary scarcely elicited mention in world media, though the occasion was marked in Berlin.
The bombs were dropped a year after the failure of Operation Overlord, the invasion of France centered on Normandy. Owing to extremely heavy casualties on what was once called “D-Day”, the Omaha beachhead had to be evacuated by late afternoon. The other beaches held for several weeks, but when the German generals convinced Hitler to release the panzer reserves north of Paris, the allied forces faced crushing onslaughts directed by Field Marshall Rommel. Despite heroic defenses, Utah, Juno, Gold, and Sword had to be evacuated in early August.
The Eastern Front stabilized in Poland, Belorussia, and the western Ukraine. Each side launched large-scale offensives but none met with success. Front lines barely budged, despite immense casualties. The Red Army faced desertions and neared collapse. The Third Reich’s armies had better cohesion and held fast.
Meanwhile, in Los Alamos, the Manhattan Project continued. Washington allocated more money and the scientists worked with new purpose as the Reich seemed invincible. By late July 1945, the A-bomb was successfully tested in New Mexico. “It worked!” project director J Robert Oppenheimer exclaimed. Components were shipped to Liverpool aboard the cruiser Augusta and then trucked to an airbase in northern England. A B-29 squadron had been brought in from the Marianas shortly after the failure of Overlord.
On the night of August 5-6, British and American heavy bombers launched an immense operation on Hamburg, the Ruhr, and the V1 and V2 bases on the Dutch coast. The Luftwaffe’s night fighters concentrated on those areas. Little attention was paid to a lone B-29, despite its large fighter escort. With the help of signal fires lit by OSS operatives in Spandau, just to Berlin’s west, Col Paul Tibbets and the Enola Gay were able to find the River Spree and follow it to the Berlin Zoo and then to their target just to the east – the Reich’s Chancellory and Führerbunker. Tibbets released the bomb, banked hard to the south, and headed for an airfield in Italy.
The bomb floated down by parachute and the barometric trigger detonated it at 580 meters. The blast leveled the Chancellory and collapsed the underground chambers, including the Führerbunker. Temperatures below ground were estimated to be 3,500°C.
The next day, official German broadcasts made no mention of anything out of the ordinary. The following night, however, word came of a “serious accident” that killed Hitler, Goebbels, and Himmler. Government was in the hands of Generals Keitel and Jodl, and the war was continuing. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was detonated over Essen, center of the Reich’s arms industry.
German generals hurriedly gathered in Paris, which they felt was safe from allied bombs. Some called for a ceasefire in place and negotiations with the British and Americans. Others insisted the war had to go on. Fighting erupted between Wehrmacht and SS generals in Paris and it swiftly spread to units throughout Europe.
In less than a month the German military collapsed. Keitel and Jodl were assassinated. Generals Guderian and von Rundstedt assumed power and signed an unconditional surrender on August 15 which allowed allied troops to land in the Pas de Calais and occupy western Germany. Soviet troops rolled into the east.
Meanwhile, in Tokyo, army generals dismissed the importance of the atomic bomb and over the protests of the admirals, insisted on continuing the war. At length, Emperor Hirohito intervened and Japan surrendered on September 2.
Some in Germany argue, if only in hushed voices, that the bombings were unnecessary and served only to kill over a quarter million civilians. Most Germans, however, insist that the war was costing thousands of lives everyday. The same was true in the death camps which after the failed invasion of June 1944, had spread from Poland to Germany, Hungary, and France.
Today, a few thousand Germans and Americans gathered at the site of the Chancellory and Führerbunker, now called Trumanplatz, to commemorate the events of 1945. Most Germans and Americans simply went about their day.
Copyright 2018 Brian M Downing
Brian M Downing is a national security analyst who’s written for outlets across the political spectrum. He studied at Georgetown University and the University of Chicago, and did post-graduate work at Harvard’s Center for International Affairs. Thanks to Susan Ganosellis.