No one was present from the State Department. Edward Stettinius was the current Secretary of State and he was high on the list of people Truman wanted removed. They disagreed on too many things. Nor was anyone present from the navy. The discussion points related to the army only and, of course, the air force, which was part of the army.
As president, Truman was the first to speak. “General Marshall, General Groves, I think I understand that using the atomic bomb in Japan would be a catastrophe for the Japanese and might bring them to the surrender table. A bomb dropped on a wooden Japanese city would cause massive fires and devastation along with God knows how many thousands of civilian casualties. It would be even worse than the fire-bombing we are now inflicting on them. I can and will accept responsibility for those casualties if the bomb ends the war in the Pacific without the need to invade the home islands of Japan. But what about using it in Europe? How can it be used to end the fighting that is otherwise going to happen in the Alps?”
Groves was blunt. “I don’t see a use for it in Europe.”
Truman was aghast. “After all the money we spent on it? And wasn’t it intended to be used against Germany and Hitler in the first place?”
“Yes, sir, it was,” Groves responded. “And it still would be if there were any proper targets remaining. We planned on dropping it on Berlin or Hamburg, or some other major city. We’d even configured the bombs to be carried by a B29. They are just too big for a B17. There aren’t any B29s in Europe that I know of, although that can be changed quickly enough. The simple fact is, there are no major targets left in Germany and we won’t have enough bombs to throw around.”
“This Germanica is a legitimate target, isn’t it?”
“Of course, but let me explain. In mid-July, we’re going to test one of the three we will have and we will do it in New Mexico. We’re overwhelmingly certain it’ll work, but not totally so. I agree with Oppenheimer and the others who insist on a test. We have to know that it’ll work before we drop it. If it fails, we’d look like idiots. That and we’d have given away a lot of our secrets.”
“That much doesn’t concern me,” said Truman. “If it doesn’t work, our precious secrets won’t be worth much, especially if the bomb was dropped from thirty thousand feet. I imagine the bomb would exist only as fragments. But I guess you’re right. Test the damn thing.”
“That leaves two bombs left and they are designated for Japanese cities.”
“But not Tokyo,” Truman said.
“Not Tokyo,” said Marshall.
It had been agreed that the capital of Japan would not be hit with anything other than conventional bombs. It was a small honor. The fire-bombings of Tokyo had burned vast sections of the city and killed tens of thousands of civilians.
“There are other issues,” said Marshall. “An atomic bomb set off in an alpine mountain valley would be somewhat contained by the mountains and its effectiveness would be reduced dramatically. The three bombs that I’ve mentioned are all that we’ll have for the foreseeable future. We will produce more, but not until we determine which type works best. Then there is the issue of Switzerland and her neutrality.”
“Damn the Swiss,” snapped Truman.
Marshall was unfazed. In a way he was pleased by Truman’s directness. FDR had the maddening habit of talking in circles and leaving listeners to try and figure out what it was he wanted.
“Mr. President, any bomb set off anywhere near the German city of Bregenz could cause thousands of casualties among innocent Swiss civilians.”
“I would rather have Swiss casualties than American,” Truman snapped. “The Swiss have been coddling and protecting the Nazis for too damn long if you ask me. This asinine Republic of Germanica would not even exist if it wasn’t for the protection provided by the Swiss. And now you’re telling me that we can’t use the bomb because of the Swiss? Bullshit.”
“There are good reasons,” said Marshall, ignoring the outburst. “We all know that high-level bombing is inaccurate. We are planning to drop the bomb from thirty thousand feet but it will not detonate until it drops to fifteen hundred. This means that any mistake by the bombardier or even strong gust of wind could send the bomb off its course by many miles. It is conceivable, but admittedly not likely, that we could wind up dropping an atomic bomb on Switzerland and not Germanica. Or worse, it could detonate in some desolate mountain valley and no one will notice.”
“Shit.”
It was Groves’ turn. “Sir, I think we should talk about radiation.”
“Go ahead.”
“Since no bomb has yet been exploded, no one knows what is really going to happen with radiation. There are those who feel that we could unleash unknown forces that could destroy life on earth. Most scientists, however, feel that the explosive forces of an atomic bomb will be absorbed by the planet without any significant problem. The real concern is the possible lingering effects of radiation. We know that radiation burns and can kill. What we don’t know are the long-term effects. We’ve had some accidents in which men and women have been exposed and burned. Some people have died. Although a large number of scientists believe that radiation burns are like any other burns and just need to be treated, there are those who think that deadly radiation will remain in the ground, or buildings, or human flesh for many years. There are also those who feel that lethal doses of radiation will be spread by the exploding bomb’s shock wave and debris cloud. We simply don’t know what could happen. Some scientists visualize a black cloud of death crossing Lake Constance with a large part of Germany and Switzerland being uninhabitable for generations.”
Marshall looked even more glum than usual. “I had hoped to use the bomb to clear a path through the valleys and the Brenner Pass. The Germans have built strong defenses in depth. I’d hoped the bomb would simply obliterate them and that our boys would literally walk over the rubble and into the heart of their Germanica. Radiation may dissipate over a period of time, but I don’t think I can take a chance with our boy’s lives like that.”
Truman swore under his breath. He had seen combat in World War I as an artillery officer and thought he understood bloody death. But not death on the magnitude being described, and certainly not caused by something as sinister as radiation. Workers in watch factories had died from radiation when they licked small paintbrush tips dipped in some radioactive material to make the dial glow in the dark. Many of them suffered from horrific cancers to the mouth that further indicated that there would be long-term consequences.
American soldiers would not die from radiation poisoning if he could help it. But there was still the terrible equation confronting him. If the atomic bomb, or any bomb, could stop the killing of American boys, it had to be used.
“All right,” he said unhappily. “We will continue to plan to use the atomic bomb on Japan only. However, we will hedge our bets. I want a squadron of B29s available to fly over this damned Germanica. After we kill some Japanese cities, perhaps the Germans will realize what we can do and how little they can do to stop it. Maybe the Nazis will recognize what a threat the atomic bomb is. Maybe it’ll put pressure on them to surrender.”
Maybe, Truman thought glumly, the moon is made of green cheese. “And what about Germany’s nuclear threat?”
Groves answered. “We believe it no longer exists, if indeed it did. We have teams of scientists scouring the areas of Germany we now occupy for their nuclear scientists as well as any facilities for the making of atomic weapons. It is called the Alsos Project and the Alsos teams have seen nothing that would indicate that the Germans have an atomic bomb.”