Welcome to World War Two chronicles a weekly tribute to Americas fighting men and women
in commemoration of the Second World War. These programs are narrated by ed Hrlahy
and are based on the news broadcasts of the war period from the recorded sound
collection of the National Archives in Washington, d C. After the Major Allied
Powers July meeting in Potsdam to dictate an end to the war, Japan is
told to surrender or face prompt and utter destruction. Its response is neither quick
nor clear enough. President Harry Truman. We are now prepared to destroy more
rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have in any city. We shall
destroy their darts, their factories, and their communications. So let there be
no mistake. We shall completely destroy Japan's power to make war. It was
to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July the twenty
sixth was issued at Potsdam. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they
do not now accept our terms, they may expect a reign of ruin from
the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth.
During a series of meetings in Potsdam, Germany. The final doom of Japan
is settled by the Big Three and their advisers, delivering an ultimatum of unconditional
surrender to the Nippanese war lords. Prime Minister at Lander suffers the consequences.
Swarms of B twenty nins and carrier task forces carry destruction to the Japanese homeland.
On the morning of August sixth, nineteen forty five, a solitary B
twenty nine drops only one parachute bomb over the Japanese port city of Hiroshima.
Code named Little Boy, it is armed with warhead of uranium. The explosion
creates a huge fireball, leveling the city for over a mile. At the
point of impact. More than a hundred thousand Japanese are dead, some bodies
burned to ash, some simply vaporized. Still others suffer radiation, poisoning their
bodies covered with running sores. They die several days later. The natural power
of the universe is harnessed in the new atomic bomb. The mightiest, most
destructive bombs yet produced, such as England's terrifying Grand Slam weighing eleven tons,
are puny midgets compared with the new atomic wonder after no sign of surrender.
ABE twenty nine over the port city, Nagasaki drops Fat Man, another atomic
bomb with a plutonium warhead. In the US, startling details of the bomb's
production are made public. Two giant properties had been created just for the development
and production, a six hundred thousand acre complex in Richland, Washington, and
a manufacturing area in oak Park, Tennessee. The latter has so many employees
the city booms into the sixth largest in the state. I'm in hurlei,
he join me next time for World War Two Chronicles. World War Two Chronicles
was produced by the American Veterans Center and Radio America in cooperation with the National
Archives. To listen to more episodes, subscribe on iTunes or visit American Veterans
Center dot org. We need your help to keep the legacy of our World
War Two generation alive. Visit American Veterans Center dot org to make a donation
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