Trump orders mini nukes

[Anomalocaris]

Tactical nukes have always been around since they were invented. Ten atomic bombs were reserved for the invasions of Japan. We would drop one on a particularly difficult point-of-resistance, wait thirty minutes, then march our troops through ground zero.

At the start, there was no distinction between tactical and strategic nuclear weapons, nor are any possible because available bomb building skills didn't allow for a large range of different yields and weapon sizes.

The concept of separate strategic weapons only come into vogue because increasing air defenses made it necessary to deploy very powerful megaton class hydrogen bombs that can be toss bombed in the grneral direction of cities by bombers still 100 miles away, and still destroy the city even if the roughly tossed bomb misses by a few miles.  These are obviously too large to use in proximity to friendly forces or civilians on the ground, hence separate class of strategic and tactical nukes.

As it were, for the invasion of Japan, the next usable bomb after fatman that was dropped in Nagasaki wasn't available until well after the planned date of operation Olympic, the initial invasion of Japan proper.   So the story of planned use of tactical atom bombs is somewhat suspect.