However, in Paul Tibbets’ cargo bay, there hung a new experimental weapon that had the possibility of making an invasion unnecessary. Many believed that invading and taking the Japanese home islands would be the only way to knock Japan out of the war. Now, only the Empire of Japan stood between the world and peace. Germany had surrendered in May, bringing an end to combat operations in the European Theater. Millions of soldiers and civilians had lost their lives. Over the past six years, the world had been embroiled in war. One thing in his mind was far more important than his reputation-ending World War II. However, on the morning of August 6, 1945, when the Enola Gay strained to get off the ground as a result of the 10,000-pound atom bomb that made the B-29 dangerously close to the airplane’s cargo capacity, Colonel Paul Tibbets was not worrying about how history would judge him. He also understood that one day, the pages of history might question his actions.
He understood what he was being asked to accomplish. All that was left was to use this new deadly tool in the war zone. The weapon was finally tested in early 1945. The United States hoped the atomic bomb would be so powerful that it would force the Japanese to the negotiating table. scientists were busy working on a secret weapon, the atomic bomb. While the American forces advanced slowly across the Pacific, U.S. Planners feared that the eventual invasion of Japan would be even more costly. Two of the bloodiest battles were on Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the first of the Japanese “Home Islands.” Both were fought in 1945, collectively costing nearly 20,000 lives.
The closer the Americans got to shores of Japan, the more fierce and costly the conflicts became. Following a strategy known as “Island Hopping,” American troops moved inexorably closer to the Japanese “Home Islands.” As they went, they set up airfields and support bases that helped them expand further and further into the Pacific. Since mid-1942, the United States had been executing a slow and bloody campaign against the Japanese Imperial forces. The United States had entered in December of 1941 after the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. By 1945, the Second World War had been dragging on for six long years.