A copy of the leaflets dropped on Japanese cities in conjunction with the Atomic Bomb together with the English translation follows.

TO JAPANESE PEOPLE: America asks that you take immediate heed of what we say on this leaflet. We are in possession of the most destructive explosive ever devised by man. A single one of our newly developed atomic bombs is actually the equivalent in explosive power to what 2,000 of our giant B-29's can carry on a single mission. This awful fact is one for you to ponder and we solemnly assure you it is grimly accurate. We have just begun to use this weapon against your homeland. If you still have any doubt, make inquiry as to what happened to Hiroshima when just one atomic bomb fell on that city. Before using this bomb to destroy every resource of the military by which they are prolonging this useless war, we ask that you now petition the Emperor to end the war. Our President has outlined for you the thirteen consequences of an honorable surrender: We urge that you accept these consequences and begin the work of building a new, better, and peace loving Japan. You should take steps now to cease military resistance. Other-wise, we shall resolutely employ this bomb and all our other superior weapons to promptly and forcefully end the war. EVACUATE YOUR CITIES Because of the almost inconceivable expense of each individual Atomic Bomb, it is obvious that no live, i. e., "bomb smashing" munitions could be used for practice or training. One of the initial problems of the tactical application of the Atomic Bomb was the necessity for using an air burst to derive the most advantage from the terrific blast effect of the bomb. To get the greatest possible accuracy (using visual instead of radar bombing) with such an expensive weapon it would be necessary to accomplish daylight visual attacks. Because of the wide destructive area of the bomb it would be necessary for only a single bomb to be dropped during any one attack on any one target.

TARGET SELECTION:

The four cities of Kyoto, Kokura, Hiroshima and Nigata fulfilled these requirements and were originally assigned to the Atomic Bomb project. This greatly limited target selection for the 509th Group because of the increasing scarcity of individually important targets in the Empire. By mid-July the Bombardment Wings had inflicted widespread damage throughout Japan. The more lucrative targets from the city of Sendai in northern Honshu down to Chirau in southern Kyushu had been struck. 

Another limiting factor was that other combat forces had moved within range of the Japanese homeland - i. e., naval aircraft carrier task forces, the Far Eastern Air Force - and the resulting allocation of targets cut appreciably the Twentieth Air Force's formerly almost unrestricted choice. After a block of targets had been selected, the choice of the particular targets to be attacked on any one day was to be determined by weather conditions and the availability of previous damage assessment. 

A debate broke out among U.S. military planners over whether Japan should be defeated by attrition or direct attack. General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz favored a direct assault. The Joint Chiefs of Staff scheduled an invasion of Kyushu for October 1, 1945. It was estimated that 1,500,000 troops, 36 divisions would be required with full knowledge that causalities would be heavy. 

By the time the war ended, fragments of the Japanese Army were scattered and marooned on dozens of islands throughout the Pacific and the Imperial Navy was at the bottom of the sea. As Admiral Toyoda remarked, " I do not believe it would be accurate to look upon the atomic bomb and the entry of Soviet Russia as direct causes of the termination of the war. But I do think those two factors did enable us to bring the war to an end without creating utter chaos in Japan". The country was already in a chaotic state, the military was impotent, the economy was wrecked and financially bankrupt. Starvation, death and tragedy was everywhere in Japan. As Theodore Roscoe wrote in his U. S. Naval Institute book,Submarine Operations, "The holocaustal incandescence which consumed Hiroshima and Nagasaki could not blind observers to the fact that the maritime Empire was already destroyed. And long before the first mass air-raids smote Tokyo, many Japanese-held harbors in the Southwest Pacific were as deserted as the bays of the moon, and in many of Japan's home seaports there were vacant docks with rusting bollards where only spiders tied their lines. 

The atomic bomb was the funeral pyre of an enemy who had drowned". It was finally over, more than a thousands days of war had ended and the occupation of Japan began. 

Conclusion of sinking the USS Indianapolis

Captain Hashimoto was ordered to the United States after the war to testify at Captain McVay's Court Martial. McVay was accused of failing to zigzag during war-time conditions and for failure to issue the abandon ship command in a timely manner. Captain Hashimoto was flown to the United States and on December 13, 1945 testified as to the events surrounding the sinking of the Indianapolis. He later described his visit to the United States as "pleasant". Soon after the end of the war he became a Shinto Priest. Captain McVay was later vindicated from any blame concerned with the loss of his ship. All personnel involved in the failure to report the ship's absence from Leyte were also exonerated. On November 6, 1968 in Litchfield, Connecticut, McVay committed suicide, he was found with a pistol in one hand and a toy sailor attached to a key ring in the other. The account of the sinking of the Indianapolis recorded in the "Dictionary Of American Naval Fighting Ships", Volume III, 1968 published by the Navy Department indicates the ship was hit by two torpedoes, this conflicts with Captain Hashimoto's testimony at the Naval Court Of Inquiry where he stated he saw three hits and heard four explosions.

TRUST TERRITORY PERIOD (1947 to 1978)