Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki

On August 9, 1945, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Japan by the United States in Nagasaki, ultimately resulting in the unconditional surrender of Japan.

The devastation wrought in Hiroshima was not enough to convince the Japanese War Council to accept the Potsdam conference’s demand for unconditional surrender. The United States had already planned to drop its second atomic bomb, nicknamed “Fat Man”, on August 11 in the event of such recalcitrance, but the bad weather expected that day pushed the date back to August 9. Thus, at 1:56 a.m., a specially adapted B-29 bomber, called “Bockscar”, named after its usual commander, Frederick Bock, took off from Tinian Island under the command of Major Charles W. Sweeney.