Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
bomb above Nagasaki. This was a controversial decision, much debated by historians ever
since: were these bombings justifiable in the context of the war, and were they the decisive
factor in Japan's surrender soon afterwards?
A party of British officials who visited Japan later that year was concerned not with those
questions but with the physical effects of the new weapons upon the environment and upon
human beings. Led by Professor W N Thomas, a civil engineer and expert in the impact of ex-
plosives, its remit was to gather information that would help the United Kingdom to prepare
for any future nuclear war. This map of Nagasaki is one of four appended to its report. Based
on a pre-existing military map, it was overprinted by the military mapmakers Geographic-
al Section, General Staff with information about damage caused to the city. The concentric
circles that mark distances from the centre of the blast zone are uncomfortably reminiscent
of an archery or shooting target.
Nagasaki's history had been shaped by its geography. Its name means 'long cape' - a refer-
ence to the peninsula that extends southward from the area covered by this map - and its nat-
ural harbour made it an important port, and consequently a centre for shipbuilding. Surround-
ing mountains (depicted here with brown contour lines) had confined urban development to
a fairly narrow valley. The direct impact of the bomb affected a relatively compact area north
of the city centre, corresponding roughly to the inner three of the concentric circles. However,
the fires that it caused spread much further, particularly within the areas shaded solid red.
Many of the city's buildings were made chiefly of wood in the traditional Japanese style and
were quickly destroyed.
Professor Thomas described Nagasaki in late 1945 as 'novel and eerie'. It looked less like
a bomb site than 'a city struck by a tremendous hurricane' and 'an industrial slum'. By that
time, at least 40,000 people had died as a result of the attack - some immediately and oth-
ers later, from horrific injuries or radiation sickness - and another 60,000 were left seriously
hurt. It was clear to the British officials that any future nuclear attack on the United King-
dom would cause utter devastation. The expected level of casualties would place exceptional
strain upon medical and rescue services. The findings of their report were deemed so sensit-
ive that they would remain secret for nearly 50 years before being declassified in 1993.
