I was told that during the cold war people would wait for a four minute warning before a nuclear bomb hit them.
Did it really exist and would it really have been five minutes?

Never heard of that one but I stayed in Dover, England once while on holiday. The people living there would tell of the last days of WWII and how they had just enough time to finish a pint after hearing the report of bombs (non nuclear, or course) being launched from Calais (sp?) across the channel before they had to take shelter. Apx 4 minutes.

I don't recall anyone ever questioning the authenticity of this. It was just 'general knowledge' that if the USSR launched a nuclear strike there'd be about 4 minutes between the sirens going off and impact.

So yes, it's true insofar as there was a popular concept of a '4 minute warning'.

Thankfully we never got to find out if it was true!

I beleive you're referring to a defence mechanism formally referred to as 'Last warning',

The goverment would take over all radio and televison stations and air that a nuclear bomb may hit the country in anywhere between 2 and 30 minutes.

It was created so those with adequate shelter could use it.

Thankfully, the system has never been used, and sadly, Japan did not have said luxary at the end of WW2.

There was a warning but not sure how lomg you had once it was sounded!

I've never heard of that, weird.

And sadly you don't know your history. The American's dropped tons of dropped leaflets on the targeted cities warning all the civillians to leave the city. I believe they had a day or so warning. Much greater then your 2 minutes or 30 minutes.

I remember having bomb drills in grade school - just like fire drills, but these were in case the Russians bombed us. We had to go out into the hall and sit down against the wall with our arms over our head.

Anyone see the movie "Iron Giant?" Remember that movie they were watching in class? "Hands over your head... keep low to the ground... time to duck and cover... the bombs are coming down."

ok, never heard of this.

As for the government announcing the imminent bombings? I do not think they'll ever do this. The only people this announcement will help is those with bomb shelters. Many others will live their last moments in fear. Not to mention the anarchy that this would cause.

I suppose the government might, who's to know. But I doubt they would.

All the best,

It could very well be true that the popular belief/propaganda was that they would have a 4 minute warning however you also have to remember that the schools back in the 50's and 60's used to teach kids to "duck and cover" in the event of a nuclear attack.

edit

Just read your post Purplos

I don't think the "duck and cover" idea was in any way intended to protect people from a nuclear explosion. It may, however, have been designed to at least partially shield people from the radiation.

It is quite possibly to survive a fallout simply be iscolating yourself in a room with no exterior windows and, preferably, no walls ajoining the outside. Sitting up a den consisting of a matress and a high pile of some other debri (bin bags filled with soil would work well) could shield you from the worst of the radiation.

Of course, the halflife of radiation from a nuclear bomb is ten days. So, depending on what type of bomb was used, you could be out and about in a few days time, or you might have to sit it out for a few thousand years.

And where did you hear this? Because it's not in any of my text books, and I have plenty. Must only be in the American text books - Well of course they'd say that.

And I suppose all leaflets were destroyed in the nuclear attacks? Oh, how very convenient.

Well, I looked it up.



So, the USA did not warn of this attack...



So leaflets were dropped - But...



So Kratos -

The USA nuclear bombed two Japanese cities, neither of which had prior warning of the attacks.

So please don't insult my knowledge of the modern world history; In future you might wish to refrain from challengeing it without doing your homework. Please keep from insulting my intelligence - Especially when, all things considored, I was right in the first place.

either way walken, we did warn Japan by many ways that if they didnt stop we would launch a super-weapon at them. the Japanese emperor brought it upon himself.

and yeah, you can survive a nuclear blast. but good luck trying to beat the radiation


"must only be in the american text books"

what are you implying? cause your british history books have corrupted outlooks on certain things too pal.

Funny...that's the exact opposite of what I just said...

" also have to remember that the schools back in the 50's and 60's used to teach kids to "duck and cover" in the event of a nuclear attack."

And the 70s
It was probably more of a way to keep kids calm just in case the sirens went off.

I read in a military field manuel.

step one:find some cover (or dig a deep trench,a trench would work best)

step 2:get down and stay down untill the shockwave is gone.

step 3:........ unfortunatly since you have just survived the quick death of the shockwave. now you die a slow and painfull death by radiation!

Exactly - Nearly All text books are biased and loaded, especially in history.

Depending on how far you are from the explosion, there are actually dozens of ways to survive the fallout. Especially if the explosion was downwind, and you have time to prepair.

I remember when I was a little kid in the 70's and they used to test the air raid sirens. That used to scare me...that and the test of the emergancy broadcast system

"This is only a test. If this was a real emergancy...."

I have just found this great community and I appreciate reading all the comments on this forum. I apologize for being so late answering this question but I hope it provides some new information to those interrested but first, let me make a statement about some concerns raised in this forum:
I understand those who criticized the objectiveness of information you read in books, for the others, remember these two comments:
"History is written by the winners"
"The difference between a war hero and a war criminal is the side who won"
For being a military man, I have witnessed (yes, in my own experience) censorship or "incomplete" truths about wars past or present in American TV, books, news, and magazines.

About bombing warning leaflets:
Once Allied Air Forces achieved unrestricted air superiority over the Axis Forces and after some allied civilians/military voiced concerns over the unprecedented destruction & civilian life losses of "Area Bombing" policy, some generic warning leaflets were dropped across Germany. In the times of the destruction of Dresden by firestorm (which rose opposition even in England), leaflets were dropped warning Germans that their cities had been selected for air attacks, to leave their town for safer areas, and to pressure their government to ask for peace.
Sources: www.psywarsoc.org and several books dealing with WWII Air Warfare.

Over Japan, towards the end of WWII, similar leaflets were dropped, examples of which can be found on Wikipedia (Curtis LeMay entry) at least one month before the atomic bombing. These leaflets warned Japanese that their city (part of a short list) had been selected as target for air bombing/destruction (by conventional and fire bombing) and were dropped usually at least five days before actual air raid.

About Atomic bombing warning leaflets:
On August 6th, two series of leaflets were dropped over several Japanese cities, one of which I transcribed verbatim. The city of Nakasaki was warned about the Atomic Bomb the 10th (one day after it was destroyed) not that it would have made much difference since there was little that could be done against this "new" weapon.

TO THE JAPANESE PEOPLE:
America asks that you take immediate heed of what we say on this leaflet.
We are in possession of the most destructive explosive ever devised by man. A single one of our newly developed atomic bombs is actually the equivalent in explosive power to what 2000 of our giant B-29s can carry on a single mission. This awful fact is one for you to ponder and we solemnly assure you it is grimly accurate.
We have just begun to use this weapon against your homeland. If you still have any doubt, make inquiry as to what happened to Hiroshima when just one atomic bomb fell on that city.
Before using this bomb to destroy every resource of the military by which they are prolonging this useless war, we ask that you now petition the Emperor to end the war. Our president has outlined for you the thirteen consequences of an honorable surrender. We urge that you accept these consequences and begin the work of building a new, better and peace-loving Japan.
You should take steps now to cease military resistance. Otherwise, we shall resolutely employ this bomb and all our other superior weapons to promptly and forcefully end the war.
Source: Harry S. Truman Library, Miscellaneous historical document file, no. 258.

About "Take cover and duck":
A nuclear bomb detonated the way it was planned/designed over Japan produces three (almost) immediate effects:
1- Ionizing Radiation: Radioactive effect travels in direct line at the speed of light,
2- Thermal Radiation: Heat wave effect travels in direct line up to the speed of light,
3- Blast Effect: Compression airwave (shock wave) effect travels in direct line up to the speed of sound, can be deflected, amplified as the direct blast force is reinforced by the blast wave reflected by the ground followed by the rebound wave in opposite direction.

The advice to take cover and duck was to provide some protection for the “immediate” effects of the detonation which for the most part traveled in direct line from the explosion. These early effects caused most of the early casualties in Japan followed by the firestorm that engulfed Hiroshima 20 minutes after the explosion. I have not here discussed the delayed effects such as the fallouts. Bottom line, as a Disabled War Veteran from the Iraq Conflict, war is horrible no matter which side you are on.

Hope this helps and Peace on Earth,
Lancelot

Welcome, Lancelot, and thank you for your service. My father was a WWII combat veteran of 31 missions as a B-17 waist gunner/bombardier. He served in Europe in '44 and '45. After VE, he still owed the service several more missions (four, I believe). He was furloughed home to Nebraska, and was on a train to the west coast for transition training to the B-29. Being a reasonable and logical man, he dreaded the possibilities looming. Considering the US military estimated upwards of one million casualties incurred in the anticipated invasion of the Japanese home islands, only a fool would blame him. While on the train, word came of the bombing of Japan with the atomic bombs.

Until his dying day, he took great umbrage at the suggestion that some alternative to ending the war at the soonest available possibility would have been proper. As a good son, I defer to his wisdom.

Check this out > http://www.cybertrn.demon.co.uk/atomic/main.htm
Its the 1980s British Governments leaflet, telling us what to do in the event of nuclear attack,laughable!

My father was in the Philippines with an engineering outfit, gearing up for the invasion of Japan, when the bomb was dropped.
They had no idea what it was. When first told that an atom bomb had been dropped, everyone thought it was an "ADAM" bomb and wondered what the acronym meant.
The Japanese dynamited all of Manila as they were chased out, purely out of spite. They were still very committed to the cause near the war's end, and they had plenty of munitions to oppose any landing force. They lacked petroleum products, especially fuel, but not manpower. I spoke to a Japanese woman in the 60s who said her father and older brother walked miles and miles to the coastline, preparing for an American landing. Civilian home guard units were widespread. Likely areas of landing were occupied by miltary units.
It would have been a long, bloody battle for both combatants. Japan had ample time to surrender. Its emperor was tempted to surrender before nuclear bombs were dropped, but feared he'd lose support of the miltary.
So, for the sake of maintaining his throne and face, he allowed tens of thousands of his countrymen to die. The emperor could have stopped it.
The use of two atomic weapons was a terrible, tragic thing but I believe it was necessary.
People forget that the U.S. was almost bankrupt near the end of the war. Europe was starving and needed to be fed and rebuilt. Throughout the Pacific, the depradations of the Japanese had to be rectified. This was mighty expensive.
It's the classic question that has rung down through the ages: "Do you sacrifice X-amount in order to save X-plus amount?"
Some say yes. Some say no. Others attach qualifiers to it. There is no fast and sure answer but in this instance, I believe it saved untold lives of Americans and Japanese.

Odd.
Just the other day I was telling younger workers about the air sirens going off each Friday at noon, I think it was, in Spokane, Washington. Spokane had a nearby SAC base, with B-52s loaded with nuclear weapons. Fairchild Air Force Base is still there, and I believe the nukes are too, but SAC has been renamed to some other command.
I miss the siren. During summer vacation from school, it told all of us when to run home for Friday lunch!

Hear-hear.

I'll add that they attacked us. If we hadn't dropped those bombs the allied forces' casualties in attacking Japan would've been horrendous. God bless Harry Truman, he probably saved my Dad's life.

My Dad was among the soldiers who took back the Aleutians and Alaska itself from the Japanese. Just the other day he was telling me about the only survivor of the hospital on the base that the Japanese had attacked. This guy concealed himself under some hospital blankets that were thrown in a huge pile. He watched the Japanese bayonet all the hospital patients. They rammed their bayonets through his secret place too but miraculously missed him. They murdered all the other sick soldiers in violation of the Geneva Convention.

I read that there is about a 30 minute time duration for an ICBM between Russian lift off and American soil impact. ( and vice-versa ).
Not much time for preperation.

I can imagine that there was a time difference before u actually hear the bomb

I thought the whole warning system was for the USA, the USA would detect a launch a warning from a system in the UK which would give them the US a 30 minute warning and the benefit to the UK would be a 4 minute warning, just enough time to bend down and kiss your a*** goodbye,

great graphics
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...h&plindex=3

Wait, let me get this straight here. You two are actually implying that Japan deserved to have nuclear bombs dropped on the country? Because the emperor refused to do what America said? Because Japan attacked America? Newsflash: America is not God. They can not just go and decide over millions of lives, just because they're not listened to. Americans are not holy or anything, there is no reason millions of Japanese people had to die so the war would be stopped and those Americans in Japan would be saved. These excuses are the most stupid things I've ever heard.
There are absolutely no excuses for dropping a nuclear bomb on a country. None whatsoever. It should have never been done, and I pray it will never happen again.

[/sorry, end of rant now]

If I understand your point, you believe it would have been better for the USA and UK to have incurred an additional one million casualties, rather than end the war in the most expedient way possible? If I have correctly interpreted your point, then one of us is extremely naive, and it's not me, my friend.

Another point to consider is the Soviet Union was poised to invade Japan, and thus gain a plank in post-war Japanese occupation.

The UK Cold War Nuclear Attack Warning System

http://www.ringbell.co.uk/ukwmo/

Was not taught about the warnings in my History classes. I hope the American translation into Japanese was better than the incidences you see of Japanese translated into English.




Duck and cover is very similar to thje Brace position should a plane go down.... It is intended to protect the person's teeth so people can be identified more readily

Yeah, we had air raid drills in grade school. At first it was under the desk, later years it was in the hallway against the wall. as if that was going to save us!

Scary time.....