In 2nd world war US jets targetted Japan`s Hiroshima & Nagasaki cities instead of Tokiyo. Why?

Question

Us jets attacked on both cities instead of the capital Tokiyo.Why? is there any big reason behind this or they had missed the target ?

Answer 1

OK as everyone has said we had no Jet Bombers.
You must remember the purpose of war is NOT to kill people.
The purpose of war is to FORCE the Enemy to do YOUR will.
You make his life so horrible that he will do whatever you say just so you will STOP. Based that, the Atomic Bomb as used was the best available weapon to end the war QUICKLY. The Estimates of Allied Casualties for a Invasion of the Japanese Home Islands ran into the MILLIONS!!!
Given that the choice of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was based off of various reasons some of which are:
1 Tokyo was the center of the Japanese Political and Command System. If we wiped out all the Commanders or the Emperor, No one would be left to Surrender.
2 If we killed the Emperor the chances of a Final Suicidal Defense of Japan and a Unwillingness to Surrender goes way up.
3 Both Hiroshima and Nagasaki were Industrial Centers, as much as any industry was left in Japan.
4 We really didn't know what we were dealing with in terms of just what sort of weapon we had created. The creators knew what they had, but the Military Command didn't in fact Gen Marshall once ask about using Atomic Bombs to clear a beach so his troops could conduct a Landing on Japan.

Answer 2

Actually there were no jets in WWII. Actually the Americans didn't have any. The Germans had the ME 262, but it entered into service to late to be effective.

However, to answer your question, we dropped the the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, because they were industrial cities that played a role in helping supply Japanese forces, as opposed to Tokyo, which was mainly a civilian target.

You should also know that the US did bomb Tokyo, you should look up information about the Tokyo Air-Raids.

Answer 3

We considered dropping a nuclear weapon on Tokyo. However, previous incendiary bombing attacks on Tokyo had burned 80-90% of the city to the ground already. On the order of 140,000 people died, by some estimates. After that, bombing Tokyo would be redundant. There was almost nothing of any military value left in Tokyo to destroy.

Others are correct that propeller driven B-29's dropped the two atomic bombs. The US would not have long range all jet powered bombers until the 50's when the B-47 was introduced.

Answer 4

Sorry, but no US jets attacked ANYTHING during WWII. Tokyo had been bombed with conventional bombs and Hiroshima and Nagasaki were targeted because they were large "virgin cities" not before bombed in the war. Partially, the US wanted Japan to understand under no uncertain terms that the new weapon was more than they wanted to deal with. The military government of Japan would have fought to the last man, woman and child, so after these two bombs destroyed two entire cities, the monarchy ruler stepped forward and rendered the instrument of surrender.

Answer 5

First of all, the nukes weren't dropped by jets, but by propeller-driven B-29 bombers.

Because even if you are at war, you want to give the enemy a chance to surrender and not just kill everybody and destroy the capital. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were smaller and not as important as Tokyo, and both had military installations.

Answer 6

First: The united states never deployed jets operationally during WWII.
Second: Tokyo had been leveled, on several occasions, while nagasaki and hiroshima had not been hit. Hiroshima was also a major staging area for equipment and troops headed for the south Pacific

Answer 7

they didnt want to destroy the home (or kill) the imperial family. To do so would cause the japanese to be without their all powerful ruler and force them to fight to the death. The two cities (actually hiroshima was a back up target to another) were targeted both as military/industrial centers and as a show of force. By not killing the emporer, the US left the emproer alive so that he could tell his people to surrender. That is the only way the japanese would quit fighting.

And the us didnt have jets at the time. They were b-29s (had propeller's)

Answer 8

Tokyo was bombed but Hiroshima & Nagasaki had a lot of the Industry and factories vital to Japans war effort.

Answer 9

We didn't have any jets at the time. Actually only one country employed jets in combat, and that was Germany. Back to the question. We didn't drop the atomic bomb on Tokyo, because there, for all intents, not Tokyo left to bomb. Earlier firebombing raids essentially reduced the city to rubble. Another possible reason for not dropping the atomic bomb in Tokyo was the fact that the emperor lived there, he couldn't stop the war if he were dead.

Answer 10

I think it was because they didn't want to kill the emperor. The Japanese would have not had anyone to surrender. Also, we did bomb tokyo with firebombs and killed more people than either atomic bomb did, at least immediately. It could also be that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were both more important to the Japanese war effort as they were centers of industry.