nApril 27
nThe Target
Committee meets for the first time to decide which Japanese
cities to target with the atomic bomb.
By the end of May the following cities are selected: Kyoto, Hiroshima, Kokura
and Niigata. [See minutes of the second
meeting
of the Target Committee in Related Sites.]
Eventually Kyoto is replaced by Nagasaki and the listed cities are spared
further conventional bombing by the American Army Air Force.
nApril 29
nIn a report
entitled Unconditional Surrender, the Joint Intelligence
Committee informs the Joint Chiefs of Staff that “numbers of informed Japanese, both military
and civilian, already realize the inevitability of absolute
defeat.”
nMay 8
nWar in Europe
ends.