Hiroshima Nagasaki, Paul Ham

Hiroshima Nagasaki by Paul Ham

This was a book that sent shivers down my spine. There where a few reasons mainly due to it changing my perception of how the World War 2 ended.

Firstly it was always my understanding that the war had concluded due to the use of atomic weapons on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ham though argues and I think sucessfully that Japan was already looking for a way out prior to the first bomb been dropped on Hiroshima.

It was the Russian entry into the war which very quickly spread up the Japanese peace initiative. The Japanese leaders were terrified of Japan falling into Soviet hands.

The emperor Hirohito when he went on radio mentioned the horrors of the bomb as a reason for ending the war, Ham believes he did so as to 'save face' for the army which had been blitzkrieged in manchuria by the Soviets. (I found this the weakest argument yet it was still pretty plausible)

It seemed apparent that the US was hell bent on using their new weapon. I think there was an element that thought that it would speed up the end of the war. But in reality the caused as much destruction as the 'Firebombing techniques" (bombs which are dropped in a way and sequence as to create a firestorm sucking oxygen from the surrounding area and creating an inferno) which had already taken over 50 Japanese cities causing the loss of already millions of lives. .

The actual invasion of Japan had been called of indefinately even prior to the atomic bombs being dropped. The outcome would have been the same if the US had continued conventional bombing and the naval blockade of Japan.

The compelling reason for the bomb to be dropped was the unravelling of the allied partnership with the Soviets and the continued mistrust after potsdam. The dropping of the bomb in my mind was linked more to the cold war and was the opening gambit.

If I was Truman would I have dropped it? Nope. Yet its lingering affects, the horrors remained deeply imbeded in the leaders of the cold war for decades afterwars. You wonder if it was Hiroshima and Nagasaki memory which stopped them from pressing the button.

Errors, strangley I found one an 'F-13 fighter' which flew reconnisence after the bomb was dropped. The '13' made me wonder. Google revealed that no US fighter was ever given this designation due to the number...

I also found the chapter detailing the making of the atomic bomb overally technical and in someways interputed the flow of the book. I supose I'd been spoilt by reading 'The making of the atomic bomb' by richard rhodes.

Overall a great book which made me change my opinion 4/5

 

Posted with Blogsy

Starman the truth behind the legend of Yuri Gagarin

Starman the truth behind the legend of Yuri Gagarin by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony

This is a book which I've had on my list for a while. I enjoy history especially around the cold war. The Space race was prohibitively expensive and would probably never happen without the Soviet US rivalry.

Yuri Gagarin the first man in space was a pawn in a political drama that played around him.

A few things that I thought were of interest::

• - Gagarin didn't actually land in a capsule, he parachuted out. This was deliberately kept a secret by the Soviets so that they could claim a few world records.
  
• -The Vostock capsule was all automated, the only way it could be overridden was if Soviet ground control gave the Cosmonaut the code to override. (By the time they got it, it probably would have been to late...) Gagarin was secretively given the code anyway!
  
• -The first flight by Gagarin had major re-entry problems which was never mentioned at the time by the Soviets.
  

There were a number of things in the biography which I wanted to find out, such as his relationship with his children and wife. Where are they there now? I think it is a glaring omission in some ways.

Much of the novel left me wondering about the sources. Were they 'official Soviet' or now latter. One of the new bits of information to come to the book was from an ex-KGB person Russayev. Yet it would seem according the what I could find on the net, there is little or any information who this Russayev, if he ever was known to Gurgarin.

One of the most harrowing of chapters was the first doomed Soyuz flight, which was piloted by Komarov. Things just kept on going wrong during the flight until its doomed decent. This event was eavesdropped by US Security agents in Turkey. Gagarin was the emergency cosmonaut and months prior to the flight thought that the ship was not adequately tested and ready for flight. The whole episode would make a great hollywood movie.

The last chapter by the authors sums up his life and character which I think on the whole is correct yet they throw in the line: "He was an adulterer who never really betrayed his wife and family" I found this conflicting as two separate incidents are revealed where he attempted adultery.

This is a good biography, but not brilliant. Much about the man is yet to be revealed.