The selection of targets were not based on civilian attacks. The atomic targets, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were chosen primarily to destroy Japans war-making capacity, while showing the devastating structural damage this bomb could produce. One of the reasons for so many civialian casualties was the construction of homes surrounding and actually attached to the weapons factories. There are many studies of the subject..one of the best known is the Avalon project at Yale, they devote a chapter on target selection..Here is an excerpt from the projects intro page..http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/abomb/mp05.htm Statement by the President of the United States: "Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of T.N.T. It had more than two thousand times the blast power of the British Grand Slam, which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare". These fateful words of the President on August 6th, 1945, marked the first public announcement of the greatest scientific achievement in history. The atomic bomb, first tested in New Mexico on July 16, 1945, had just been used against a military target. On August 6th, 1945, at 8:15 A.M., Japanese time, a B-29 heavy bomber flying at high altitude dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. More than 4 square miles of the city were instantly and completely devastated. 66,000 people were killed, and 69,000 injured. On August 9th, three days later, at 11:02 A.M., another B-29 dropped the second bomb on the industrial section of the city of Nagasaki, totally destroying 1 1/2 square miles of the city, killing 39,000 persons, and injuring 25,000 more. On August 10, the day after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, the Japanese government requested that it be permitted to surrender under the terms of the Potsdam declaration of July 26th which it had previously ignored.
