PBA Galleries

Eight pages, 4to. Rehl provides a highly detailed and complete chronology of his involvement with the atomic bomb as well as justification for its use. In part: “…it was extremely urgent that a bomb be ready because President Truman and Prime Minister Churchill were already meeting at Potsdam waiting to meet with Stalin to discuss the unconditional surrender of Japan…we were waiting for the assembly of the third bomb. On August 6th Colonel Tibbets in the Enola Gay dropped the bomb…on August 9th Chuck Sweeney in the plane Bock’s Car dropped the bomb…on Nagasaki…we were ready to leave Wendover on the 14th but our orders were cancelled…Stalin already knew about the bomb from Klaus Fuchs work as an espionage agent in this country…Stalin sent the Red Army rolling into Manchuria, anxious to be in on the kill and share in the division and control of Japan. Japan surrendered before Stalin’s hopes could be realized. Millions of lives would have been lost if an invasion would have been necessary and Russia would now occupy part of Japan just as they do Germany and other countries and there is absolutely no hope that it will ever change…” A truly fascinating manuscript.