Nagasaki Bombed: Second Nuclear Strike Ends the War
A cloud-shrouded Kokura forced Major Charles Sweeney to divert Bockscar to Nagasaki, where a desperate radar drop on the Urakami Valley triggered the second and final nuclear detonation in combat. This strike obliterated 68 to 80 percent of the city's non-dock industrial output and killed roughly 39,000 to 80,000 people, including nearly all Mitsubishi Munitions employees, while the valley's uneven terrain paradoxically limited the blast radius compared to Hiroshima.
August 9, 1945
81 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on August 9
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