Admiral Nimitz' complete WWII command diary is now available online

[TMF Jeff]

I will probably never dig in and read this with the kind of focus that I'd like to, but the Navy recently digitized Admiral Nimitz' (the US Naval Commander in the Pacific Ocean during WWII) operational diary and put it online. It contains every command decision of the war, including the announcement of the dropping of the atomic bombs in Volume 7.

http://usnwc.edu/Academics/Library/Naval-Historical-Collection.aspx#items/show/849

I guess the Enola Gay must have been in the Pacific, so the command must have come from CINCPAC, but I can't spot it in the orders leading up to the announcement by President Truman. It's probably all code language I guess, and concealed in the normal shuffling around of various units, like maybe this one from a few days prior - "CINCPAC ADVANCE authenticates Chamberlin, Lindsey agreement of 1 August concerning air coordination."

 

[kopfhorer]

It's amazing, these big chunks of once-classified history now being released to the public.

 

[SamuelKhan]

As horrible as it seems, whomever made the call to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it had to be done. The invasion of Japan would have been a costly campaign.

 

[milagros317]

Sure to be some fascinating stuff there. Thanks for the link, Jeff. 😀

 

[TicklingTips]

Nice find Jeff.