The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, carried out on August 6 and 9, 1945, are the only two examples of the combat use of nuclear weapons.
The US military dropped on Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 2 atomic bombs, killing over 200,000 people.
In this article, we will look at the causes and consequences of this terrible tragedy of the 20th century.
Japan at the end of World War II
In their opinion, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the only way to quickly end the military conflict.
However, this is hardly true, since, shortly before the Potsdam Conference, he claimed that, according to the data, the Japanese want to establish a peaceful dialogue with the countries of the anti-fascist coalition.
Therefore, why attack a country that intends to negotiate?
However, apparently, the Americans really wanted to demonstrate their military potential and show the whole world the weapons of mass destruction that they have.
Symptoms of an unknown disease resembled diarrhea. The people who survived all their lives suffered from various diseases, and were also incapable of reproducing full-fledged children.
Photo of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Here are some photos of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombing, as well as people affected by this attack:
View of the cloud of the atomic explosion in Nagasaki from a distance of 15 km from Koyaji-Jima, August 9, 1945 
Akira Yamaguchi showing off his scars 
Bombing survivor Ikimi Kikkawa shows off his keloid scars 
According to experts, 5 years after the tragedy, the total number of deaths from the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki amounted to about 200 thousand people.
In 2013, after the revision of the data, this figure more than doubled, and was already 450,000 people.
The results of the atomic attack on Japan
Immediately after the bombing of Nagasaki, the Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced an immediate surrender. In his letter, Hirohito mentioned that the enemy had a "terrible weapon" that could completely destroy the Japanese people.
More than half a century has passed since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but the consequences of that terrible tragedy are still being felt today. The radioactive background, which people did not yet know about, claimed many lives and caused various pathologies in newborns.
The role of atomic bombings in the surrender of Japan and the ethical justification of the bombings themselves still cause heated debate among specialists.
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An American B-29 Superfortress bomber called "Enola Gay" took off from Tinian Island early on August 6 with a single 4,000 kg uranium bomb called "Little Boy". At 8:15 a.m., the "baby" bomb was dropped from a height of 9,400 m above the city and spent 57 seconds in free fall. At the moment of detonation, a small explosion provoked the explosion of 64 kg of uranium. Of these 64 kg, only 7 kg passed the splitting stage, and of this mass, only 600 mg turned into energy - explosive energy that burned everything in its path for several kilometers, leveling the city with a blast wave, starting a series of fires and plunging all living things into radiation flow. It is believed that about 70,000 people died immediately, another 70,000 died from injuries and radiation by 1950. Today in Hiroshima, near the epicenter of the explosion, there is a memorial museum, the purpose of which is to promote the idea that nuclear weapons cease to exist forever.
May 1945: selection of targets.
During its second meeting at Los Alamos (May 10-11, 1945), the Targeting Committee recommended as targets for the use of atomic weapons Kyoto (the largest industrial center), Hiroshima (the center of army warehouses and a military port), Yokohama (the center of military industry), Kokuru (the largest military arsenal) and Niigata (military port and engineering center). The committee rejected the idea of using these weapons against a purely military target, as there was a chance of overshooting a small area not surrounded by a vast urban area.
When choosing a goal, great importance was attached to psychological factors, such as:
achieving maximum psychological effect against Japan,
the first use of the weapon must be significant enough for international recognition of its importance. The Committee pointed out that the choice of Kyoto was supported by the fact that its population had a higher level of education and thus were better able to appreciate the value of weapons. Hiroshima, on the other hand, was of such a size and location that, given the focusing effect of the hills surrounding it, the force of the explosion could be increased.
US Secretary of War Henry Stimson struck Kyoto off the list due to the city's cultural significance. According to Professor Edwin O. Reischauer, Stimson "knew and appreciated Kyoto from his honeymoon there decades ago."
Pictured is Secretary of War Henry Stimson.
On July 16, the world's first successful test of an atomic weapon was carried out at a test site in New Mexico. The power of the explosion was about 21 kilotons of TNT.
On July 24, during the Potsdam Conference, US President Harry Truman informed Stalin that the United States had a new weapon of unprecedented destructive power. Truman did not specify that he was referring specifically to atomic weapons. According to Truman's memoirs, Stalin showed little interest, remarking only that he was glad and hoped that the US could use him effectively against the Japanese. Churchill, who carefully observed Stalin's reaction, remained of the opinion that Stalin did not understand the true meaning of Truman's words and did not pay attention to him. At the same time, according to Zhukov's memoirs, Stalin perfectly understood everything, but did not show it, and in a conversation with Molotov after the meeting he noted that "It will be necessary to talk with Kurchatov about speeding up our work." After the declassification of the operation of the American intelligence services "Venona", it became known that Soviet agents had long been reporting on the development of nuclear weapons. According to some reports, agent Theodor Hall, a few days before the Potsdam conference, even announced the planned date for the first nuclear test. This may explain why Stalin took Truman's message calmly. Hall had been working for Soviet intelligence since 1944.
On July 25, Truman approved the order, beginning August 3, to bomb one of the following targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata, or Nagasaki, as soon as the weather allowed, and in the future, the following cities, as bombs arrived.
On July 26, the governments of the United States, Britain, and China signed the Potsdam Declaration, which set out the demand for Japan's unconditional surrender. The atomic bomb was not mentioned in the declaration.
The next day, Japanese newspapers reported that the declaration, which had been broadcast over the radio and scattered in leaflets from aircraft, had been rejected. The Japanese government has not expressed a desire to accept the ultimatum. On July 28, Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki stated at a press conference that the Potsdam Declaration was nothing more than the old arguments of the Cairo Declaration in a new wrapper, and demanded that the government ignore it.
Emperor Hirohito, who was waiting for a Soviet response to the evasive diplomatic moves [what?] of the Japanese, did not change the decision of the government. On July 31, in a conversation with Koichi Kido, he made it clear that the imperial power must be protected at all costs.
An aerial view of Hiroshima shortly before the bomb was dropped on the city in August 1945. Shown here is a densely populated area of the city on the Motoyasu River.
Preparing for the bombing
During May-June 1945, the American 509th Combined Aviation Group arrived on Tinian Island. The group's base area on the island was a few miles from the rest of the units and was carefully guarded.
On July 26, the Indianapolis cruiser delivered the Little Boy atomic bomb to Tinian.
On July 28, the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, George Marshall, signed the order for the combat use of nuclear weapons. This order, drafted by the head of the Manhattan Project, Major General Leslie Groves, ordered a nuclear strike "on any day after the third of August, as soon as weather conditions permit." On July 29, US Strategic Air Command General Karl Spaats arrived on Tinian, delivering Marshall's order to the island.
On July 28 and August 2, components of the Fat Man atomic bomb were brought to Tinian by planes.
Commander A.F. Birch (left) numbers the bomb, codenamed "The Kid", physicist Dr. Ramsey (right) will receive the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1989.
"Kid" was 3 m long and weighed 4,000 kg, but contained only 64 kg of uranium, which was used to provoke a chain of atomic reactions and the subsequent explosion.
Hiroshima during World War II.
Hiroshima was located on a flat area, slightly above sea level at the mouth of the Ota River, on 6 islands connected by 81 bridges. The population of the city before the war was over 340 thousand people, which made Hiroshima the seventh largest city in Japan. The city was the headquarters of the Fifth Division and the Second Main Army of Field Marshal Shunroku Hata, who commanded the defense of all of Southern Japan. Hiroshima was an important supply base for the Japanese army.
In Hiroshima (as well as in Nagasaki), most buildings were one- and two-story wooden buildings with tiled roofs. Factories were located on the outskirts of the city. Outdated fire equipment and insufficient training of personnel created a high fire hazard even in peacetime.
The population of Hiroshima peaked at 380,000 during the course of the war, but before the bombing, the population gradually decreased due to systematic evacuations ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the attack, the population was about 245 thousand people.
Pictured is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber of the US Army "Enola Gay"
Bombardment
The main target of the first American nuclear bombing was Hiroshima (Kokura and Nagasaki were spares). Although Truman's order called for the atomic bombing to begin on August 3, cloud cover over the target prevented this until August 6.
On August 6, at 1:45 am, an American B-29 bomber under the command of the commander of the 509th mixed aviation regiment, Colonel Paul Tibbets, carrying the atomic bomb "Kid" on board, took off from Tinian Island, which was about 6 hours from Hiroshima. Tibbets' aircraft ("Enola Gay") flew as part of a formation that included six other aircraft: a spare aircraft ("Top Secret"), two controllers and three reconnaissance aircraft ("Jebit III", "Full House" and "Straight Flash"). Reconnaissance aircraft commanders sent to Nagasaki and Kokura reported significant cloud cover over these cities. The pilot of the third reconnaissance aircraft, Major Iserli, found out that the sky over Hiroshima was clear and sent a signal "Bomb the first target."
Around 7 a.m., a network of Japanese early warning radars detected the approach of several American aircraft heading towards southern Japan. An air raid alert was issued and radio broadcasts stopped in many cities, including Hiroshima. At about 08:00 a radar operator in Hiroshima determined that the number of incoming aircraft was very small—perhaps no more than three—and the air raid alert was called off. In order to save fuel and aircraft, the Japanese did not intercept small groups of American bombers. The standard message was broadcast over the radio that it would be wise to go to the bomb shelters if the B-29s were actually seen, and that it was not a raid that was expected, but just some kind of reconnaissance.
At 08:15 local time, the B-29, being at an altitude of over 9 km, dropped an atomic bomb on the center of Hiroshima. The fuse was set to a height of 600 meters above the surface; an explosion equivalent to 13 to 18 kilotons of TNT occurred 45 seconds after the release.
The first public announcement of the event came from Washington, DC, sixteen hours after the atomic attack on the Japanese city.
A photo taken from one of two American bombers of the 509th Composite Group, shortly after 08:15, on August 5, 1945, shows smoke rising from the explosion over the city of Hiroshima.
When the portion of uranium in the bomb went through the fission stage, it was instantly converted into the energy of 15 kilotons of TNT, heating the massive fireball to a temperature of 3,980 degrees Celsius.
explosion effect
Those closest to the epicenter of the explosion died instantly, their bodies turned to coal. Birds flying by burned up in the air, and dry, flammable materials such as paper ignited up to 2 km from the epicenter. Light radiation burned the dark pattern of clothes into the skin and left the silhouettes of human bodies on the walls. People outside the houses described a blinding flash of light, which simultaneously came with a wave of suffocating heat. The blast wave, for all who were near the epicenter, followed almost immediately, often knocking down. Those in the buildings tended to avoid exposure to the light from the explosion, but not the blast—glass shards hit most rooms, and all but the strongest buildings collapsed. One teenager was blasted out of his house across the street as the house collapsed behind him. Within a few minutes, 90% of people who were at a distance of 800 meters or less from the epicenter died.
The blast wave shattered glass at a distance of up to 19 km. For those in the buildings, the typical first reaction was the thought of a direct hit from an aerial bomb.
Numerous small fires that simultaneously broke out in the city soon merged into one large fire tornado, which created a strong wind (speed of 50-60 km/h) directed towards the epicenter. The fiery tornado captured over 11 km² of the city, killing everyone who did not have time to get out within the first few minutes after the explosion.
According to the memoirs of Akiko Takakura, one of the few survivors who were at the time of the explosion at a distance of 300 m from the epicenter:
Three colors characterize for me the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima: black, red and brown. Black because the explosion cut off the sunlight and plunged the world into darkness. Red was the color of blood flowing from wounded and broken people. It was also the color of the fires that burned everything in the city. Brown was the color of burnt, peeling skin exposed to light from the explosion.
A few days after the explosion, among the survivors, doctors began to notice the first symptoms of exposure. Soon, the number of deaths among survivors began to rise again as patients who appeared to be recovering began to suffer from this strange new disease. Deaths from radiation sickness peaked 3-4 weeks after the explosion and began to decline only after 7-8 weeks. Japanese doctors considered vomiting and diarrhea characteristic of radiation sickness to be symptoms of dysentery. The long-term health effects associated with exposure, such as an increased risk of cancer, haunted the survivors for the rest of their lives, as did the psychological shock of the explosion.
The shadow of a man who was sitting on the steps of the stairs in front of the entrance to the bank at the time of the explosion, 250 meters from the epicenter.
Loss and destruction
The number of deaths from the direct impact of the explosion ranged from 70 to 80 thousand people. By the end of 1945, due to the action of radioactive contamination and other post-effects of the explosion, the total number of deaths was from 90 to 166 thousand people. After 5 years, the total death toll, including deaths from cancer and other long-term effects of the explosion, could reach or even exceed 200,000 people.
According to official Japanese data as of March 31, 2013, there were 201,779 "hibakusha" alive - people affected by the effects of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This figure includes children born to women exposed to radiation from the explosions (mostly living in Japan at the time of counting). Of these, 1%, according to the Japanese government, had serious cancers caused by radiation exposure after the bombings. The number of deaths as of August 31, 2013 is about 450 thousand: 286,818 in Hiroshima and 162,083 in Nagasaki.
View of the destroyed Hiroshima in the autumn of 1945 on one branch of the river passing through the delta on which the city stands
Complete destruction after the release of the atomic bomb.
Color photograph of the destroyed Hiroshima in March 1946.
The explosion destroyed the Okita plant in Hiroshima, Japan.
Look at how the sidewalk has been raised and how a drainpipe sticks out of the bridge. Scientists say this was due to the vacuum created by the pressure from the atomic explosion.
Twisted iron beams are all that remains of the theater building, located about 800 meters from the epicenter.
The Hiroshima Fire Department lost its only vehicle when the western station was destroyed by an atomic bomb. The station was located 1,200 meters from the epicenter.
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Nuclear pollution
The concept of "radioactive contamination" did not yet exist in those years, and therefore this issue was not even raised then. People continued to live and rebuild the destroyed buildings in the same place where they were before. Even the high mortality of the population in subsequent years, as well as diseases and genetic abnormalities in children born after the bombings, were not initially associated with exposure to radiation. The evacuation of the population from the contaminated areas was not carried out, since no one knew about the very presence of radioactive contamination.
It is rather difficult to give an accurate assessment of the degree of this contamination due to lack of information, however, since technically the first atomic bombs were relatively low-yield and imperfect (the "Kid" bomb, for example, contained 64 kg of uranium, of which only approximately 700 g reacted division), the level of pollution of the area could not be significant, although it posed a serious danger to the population. For comparison: at the time of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the reactor core contained several tons of fission products and transuranium elements - various radioactive isotopes accumulated during the operation of the reactor.
Terrible consequences...
Keloid scars on the back and shoulders of a victim of the Hiroshima bombing. The scars formed where the victim's skin was exposed to direct radiation.
Comparative preservation of some buildings
Some of the reinforced concrete buildings in the city were very stable (due to the risk of earthquakes) and their frame did not collapse, despite being quite close to the center of destruction in the city (the epicenter of the explosion). Thus stood the brick building of the Hiroshima Chamber of Industry (now commonly known as the "Genbaku Dome", or "Atomic Dome"), designed and built by Czech architect Jan Letzel, which was only 160 meters from the epicenter of the explosion (at the height of the bomb detonation 600 m above the surface). The ruins became the most famous exhibit of the Hiroshima atomic explosion and were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, over objections raised by the US and Chinese governments.
A man looks at the ruins left after the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.
People lived here
Visitors to the Hiroshima Memorial Park look at a panoramic view of the aftermath of the July 27, 2005 atomic explosion in Hiroshima.
A memorial flame in honor of the victims of the atomic explosion on a monument in the Hiroshima Memorial Park. The fire has been burning continuously since it was ignited on August 1, 1964. The fire will burn until "until all the atomic weapons of the earth are gone forever."
During World War II, on August 6, 1945, at 8:15 am, a US B-29 Enola Gay bomber dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Approximately 140,000 people died in the explosion and died over the following months. Three days later, when the United States dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, about 80,000 people were killed. On August 15, Japan capitulated, thus ending World War II. Until now, this bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remains the only case of the use of nuclear weapons in the history of mankind. The US government decided to drop the bombs, believing that this would hasten the end of the war and there would be no need for prolonged bloody fighting on the main island of Japan. Japan was strenuously trying to control the two islands, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, as the Allies closed in.
1. This wrist watch, found among the ruins, stopped at 8.15 am on August 6, 1945 - during the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.
2. The flying fortress "Enola Gay" comes in for landing on August 6, 1945 at the base on the island of Tinian after the bombing of Hiroshima.
3. This photo, released in 1960 by the US government, shows the Little Boy atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The size of the bomb is 73 cm in diameter, 3.2 m in length. It weighed 4 tons, and the explosion power reached 20,000 tons of TNT.
4. In this image provided by the US Air Force, the main crew of the B-29 "Enola Gay" bomber, from which the "Kid" nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Pilot Colonel Paul W. Tibbets stands center. The photo was taken in the Mariana Islands. This was the first time in the history of mankind that nuclear weapons were used during military operations.
5. Smoke 20,000 feet high rises over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 after an atomic bomb was dropped on it during the hostilities.
6. This photograph, taken August 6, 1945 from the city of Yoshiura, located on the other side of the mountains north of Hiroshima, shows smoke rising from the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. The picture was taken by an Australian engineer from Kure, Japan. The spots left on the negative by radiation almost destroyed the picture.
7. Survivors of the atomic bomb explosion, first used during hostilities on August 6, 1945, await medical attention in Hiroshima, Japan. As a result of the explosion, 60,000 people died at the same time, tens of thousands died later due to exposure.
8. August 6, 1945. Pictured: Survivors of Hiroshima are given first aid by military medics shortly after the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, used in military operations for the first time in history.
9. After the explosion of the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945, only ruins remained in Hiroshima. Nuclear weapons were used to hasten the surrender of Japan and end World War II, for which US President Harry Truman ordered the use of nuclear weapons with a capacity of 20,000 tons of TNT. Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945.
10. August 7, 1945, the day after the explosion of the atomic bomb, smoke spreads over the ruins of Hiroshima, Japan.
11. President Harry Truman (pictured left) at his desk in the White House next to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson after returning from the Potsdam Conference. They discuss the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.
13. The survivors of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki people among the ruins, against the backdrop of a raging fire in the background, August 9, 1945.
14. Crew members of the B-29 "The Great Artiste" bomber, which dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, surrounded Major Charles W. Sweeney in North Quincy, Massachusetts. All crew members participated in the historic bombing. Left to right: Sgt. R. Gallagher, Chicago; Staff Sergeant A. M. Spitzer, Bronx, New York; Captain S. D. Albury, Miami, Florida; Captain J.F. Van Pelt Jr., Oak Hill, WV; Lt. F. J. Olivy, Chicago; staff sergeant E.K. Buckley, Lisbon, Ohio; Sgt. A. T. Degart, Plainview, Texas; and Staff Sgt. J. D. Kucharek, Columbus, Nebraska.
15. This photograph of the atomic bomb that exploded over Nagasaki, Japan during World War II was released by the Atomic Energy Commission and the US Department of Defense in Washington on December 6, 1960. The Fat Man bomb was 3.25 m long and 1.54 m in diameter, and weighed 4.6 tons. The power of the explosion reached about 20 kilotons of TNT.
16. A huge column of smoke rises into the air after the explosion of the second atomic bomb in the port city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. A US Army Air Force B-29 Bockscar bomber killed more than 70,000 people immediately, and tens of thousands more died later as a result of exposure.
17. A huge nuclear mushroom over Nagasaki, Japan, August 9, 1945, after a US bomber dropped an atomic bomb on the city. The nuclear explosion over Nagasaki occurred three days after the US dropped the first ever atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
18. A boy carries his burnt brother on his back on August 10, 1945 in Nagasaki, Japan. Such photos were not made public by the Japanese side, but after the end of the war they were shown to the world media by UN staff.
19. The arrow was installed at the site of the fall of the atomic bomb in Nagasaki on August 10, 1945. Most of the affected area is empty to this day, the trees remained charred and mutilated, and almost no reconstruction was carried out.
20. Japanese workers dismantle the rubble in the affected area in Nagasaki, an industrial city located in the southwest of Kyushu, after an atomic bomb was dropped on it on August 9. A chimney and a lone building can be seen in the background, ruins in the foreground. The picture is taken from the archives of the Japanese news agency Domei.
22. As can be seen in this photo, which was taken on September 5, 1945, several concrete and steel buildings and bridges remained intact after the US dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World War II.
23. A month after the first atomic bomb exploded on August 6, 1945, a journalist inspects the ruins in Hiroshima, Japan.
24. Victim of the explosion of the first atomic bomb in the department of the first military hospital in Ujina in September 1945. The thermal radiation generated by the explosion burned the pattern from the kimono fabric on the woman's back.
25. Most of the territory of Hiroshima was wiped off the face of the earth by the explosion of the atomic bomb. This is the first aerial photograph after the explosion, taken on September 1, 1945.
26. The area around the Sanyo-Shorai-Kan (Trade Promotion Center) in Hiroshima was left in ruins after the atomic bomb exploded 100 meters away in 1945.
27. A correspondent stands among the ruins in front of the skeleton of the building that was the city theater in Hiroshima on September 8, 1945, a month after the first atomic bomb was dropped by the United States to hasten the surrender of Japan.
28. The ruins and lone frame of the building after the explosion of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima. The photo was taken on September 8, 1945.
29. Very few buildings remain in the devastated Hiroshima, a Japanese city that was razed to the ground by an atomic bomb, as seen in this photograph taken on September 8, 1945. (AP Photo)
30. September 8, 1945. People walk along a cleared road among the ruins left by the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima on August 6 of the same year.
31. The Japanese found among the ruins of the wreckage of a children's tricycle in Nagasaki, September 17, 1945. The nuclear bomb dropped on the city on August 9 wiped out almost everything within a radius of 6 kilometers from the face of the earth and took the lives of thousands of civilians.
32. This photo, courtesy of the Association of the Photographers of the Atomic (Bomb) Destruction of Hiroshima, is a victim of the atomic explosion. A man is in quarantine on the island of Ninoshima in Hiroshima, Japan, 9 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion, a day after the US dropped an atomic bomb on the city.
33. Tram (top center) and its dead passengers after the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9. The photo was taken on September 1, 1945.
34. People pass a tram lying on the tracks at the Kamiyasho intersection in Hiroshima some time after the atomic bomb was dropped on the city.
35. In this photo provided by the Japan Association of the Photographers of the Atomic (Bomb) Destruction of Hiroshima, victims of the atomic explosion are in the tent care center of the 2nd Military Hospital in Hiroshima, located on the banks of the Ota River, 1150 meters from the epicenter of the explosion, August 7, 1945. The photo was taken the day after the United States dropped the first ever atomic bomb on the city.
36. View of Hachobori Street in Hiroshima shortly after a bomb was dropped on the Japanese city.
37. The Urakami Catholic Cathedral in Nagasaki, photographed on September 13, 1945, was destroyed by an atomic bomb.
38. A Japanese soldier wanders among the ruins in search of recyclable materials in Nagasaki on September 13, 1945, just over a month after the atomic bomb exploded over the city.
39. A man with a loaded bicycle on a road cleared of ruins in Nagasaki on September 13, 1945, a month after the atomic bomb exploded.
40. September 14, 1945, the Japanese are trying to drive through a ruined street on the outskirts of the city of Nagasaki, over which a nuclear bomb exploded.
41. This area of Nagasaki was once built up with industrial buildings and small residential buildings. In the background are the ruins of the Mitsubishi factory and the concrete school building at the foot of the hill.
42. The top image shows the busy city of Nagasaki before the explosion, and the bottom image shows the wasteland after the atomic bomb. The circles measure the distance from the explosion point.
43. A Japanese family eats rice in a hut built from the rubble left on the site where their house once stood in Nagasaki, September 14, 1945.
44. These huts, photographed on September 14, 1945, were built from the wreckage of buildings that were destroyed as a result of the explosion of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
45. In the Ginza district of Nagasaki, which was an analogue of New York's Fifth Avenue, the owners of shops destroyed by a nuclear bomb sell their goods on the sidewalks, September 30, 1945.
46. Sacred Torii gate at the entrance to the completely destroyed Shinto shrine in Nagasaki in October 1945.
47. Service at the Nagarekawa Protestant Church after the atomic bomb destroyed the church in Hiroshima, 1945.
48. A young man injured after the explosion of the second atomic bomb in the city of Nagasaki.
49. Major Thomas Fereby, left, from Moscowville and Captain Kermit Beahan, right, from Houston, talking in a hotel in Washington, February 6, 1946. Ferebi is the man who dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, and his interlocutor dropped the bomb on Nagasaki.
52. Ikimi Kikkawa shows his keloid scars left after the treatment of burns received during the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima at the end of World War II. The photo was taken at the Red Cross Hospital on June 5, 1947.
53. Akira Yamaguchi shows his scars left after the treatment of burns received during the explosion of a nuclear bomb in Hiroshima.
54. On the body of Jinpe Terawama, the survivor of the explosion of the first atomic bomb in history, there were numerous burn scars, Hiroshima, June 1947.
55. Pilot Colonel Paul W. Taibbets waves from the cockpit of his bomber at a base located on the island of Tinian, August 6, 1945, before taking off, the purpose of which was to drop the first ever atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The day before, Tibbets had named the B-29 flying fortress "Enola Gay" after his mother.
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively) are the only two examples of the combat use of nuclear weapons in human history. Carried out by the US Armed Forces at the final stage of World War II in order to hasten the surrender of Japan in the Pacific theater of World War II.
On the morning of August 6, 1945, the American bomber B-29 "Enola Gay", named after the mother (Enola Gay Haggard) of the crew commander, Colonel Paul Tibbets, dropped the atomic bomb "Little Boy" ("Baby") on the Japanese city of Hiroshima with the equivalent of 13 to 18 kilotons of TNT. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, the atomic bomb "Fat Man" ("Fat Man") was dropped on the city of Nagasaki by pilot Charles Sweeney, commander of the B-29 "Bockscar" bomber. The total death toll ranged from 90 to 166 thousand people in Hiroshima and from 60 to 80 thousand people in Nagasaki.
The shock of the US atomic bombings had a profound effect on Japanese Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki and Japanese Foreign Minister Togo Shigenori, who were inclined to believe that the Japanese government should end the war.
On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its surrender. The act of surrender, formally ending World War II, was signed on September 2, 1945.
The role of the atomic bombings in Japan's surrender and the ethical justification of the bombings themselves are still hotly debated.
Prerequisites
In September 1944, at a meeting between US President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Hyde Park, an agreement was concluded, according to which the possibility of using atomic weapons against Japan was envisaged.
By the summer of 1945, the United States of America, with the support of Great Britain and Canada, within the framework of the Manhattan Project, completed preparatory work to create the first working models of nuclear weapons.
After three and a half years of direct US involvement in World War II, about 200,000 Americans were killed, about half of them in the war against Japan. In April-June 1945, during the operation to capture the Japanese island of Okinawa, more than 12 thousand American soldiers were killed, 39 thousand were injured (Japanese losses ranged from 93 to 110 thousand soldiers and over 100 thousand civilians). It was expected that the invasion of Japan itself would lead to losses many times greater than those of Okinawan.
Model of the bomb "Kid" (eng. Little boy), dropped on Hiroshima
May 1945: Target selection
During its second meeting at Los Alamos (May 10-11, 1945), the Targeting Committee recommended as targets for the use of atomic weapons Kyoto (the largest industrial center), Hiroshima (the center of army warehouses and a military port), Yokohama (the center of military industry), Kokuru (the largest military arsenal) and Niigata (military port and engineering center). The committee rejected the idea of using these weapons against a purely military target, as there was a chance of overshooting a small area not surrounded by a vast urban area.
When choosing a goal, great importance was attached to psychological factors, such as:
achieving maximum psychological effect against Japan,
the first use of the weapon must be significant enough for international recognition of its importance. The committee pointed out that Kyoto's choice was supported by the fact that its population had a higher level of education and thus were better able to appreciate the value of weapons. Hiroshima, on the other hand, was of such a size and location that, given the focusing effect of the surrounding hills, the force of the explosion could be increased.
US Secretary of War Henry Stimson struck Kyoto off the list due to the city's cultural significance. According to Professor Edwin O. Reischauer, Stimson "knew and appreciated Kyoto from his honeymoon there decades ago."
Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the map of Japan
On July 16, the world's first successful test of an atomic weapon was carried out at a test site in New Mexico. The power of the explosion was about 21 kilotons of TNT.
On July 24, during the Potsdam Conference, US President Harry Truman informed Stalin that the United States had a new weapon of unprecedented destructive power. Truman did not specify that he was referring specifically to atomic weapons. According to Truman's memoirs, Stalin showed little interest, remarking only that he was glad and hoped that the US could use him effectively against the Japanese. Churchill, who carefully observed Stalin's reaction, remained of the opinion that Stalin did not understand the true meaning of Truman's words and did not pay attention to him. At the same time, according to Zhukov's memoirs, Stalin perfectly understood everything, but did not show it and, in a conversation with Molotov after the meeting, noted that "It will be necessary to talk with Kurchatov about speeding up our work." After the declassification of the operation of the American intelligence services "Venona", it became known that Soviet agents had long been reporting on the development of nuclear weapons. According to some reports, agent Theodor Hall, a few days before the Potsdam conference, even announced the planned date for the first nuclear test. This may explain why Stalin took Truman's message calmly. Hall had been working for Soviet intelligence since 1944.
On July 25, Truman approved the order, beginning August 3, to bomb one of the following targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata, or Nagasaki, as soon as the weather allowed, and in the future, the following cities, as bombs arrived.
On July 26, the governments of the United States, Britain, and China signed the Potsdam Declaration, which set out the demand for Japan's unconditional surrender. The atomic bomb was not mentioned in the declaration.
The next day, Japanese newspapers reported that the declaration, which had been broadcast over the radio and scattered in leaflets from aircraft, had been rejected. The Japanese government has not expressed a desire to accept the ultimatum. On July 28, Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki stated at a press conference that the Potsdam Declaration was nothing more than the old arguments of the Cairo Declaration in a new wrapper, and demanded that the government ignore it.
Emperor Hirohito, who was waiting for a Soviet response to the evasive diplomatic moves of the Japanese, did not change the decision of the government. On July 31, in a conversation with Koichi Kido, he made it clear that the imperial power must be protected at all costs.
Preparing for the bombing
During May-June 1945, the American 509th Combined Aviation Group arrived on Tinian Island. The group's base area on the island was a few miles from the rest of the units and was carefully guarded.
On July 28, the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, George Marshall, signed the order for the combat use of nuclear weapons. This order, drafted by the head of the Manhattan Project, Major General Leslie Groves, ordered a nuclear strike "on any day after the third of August, as soon as weather conditions permit." On July 29, US Strategic Air Command General Karl Spaats arrived on Tinian, delivering Marshall's order to the island.
On July 28 and August 2, components of the Fat Man atomic bomb were brought to Tinian by aircraft.
Hiroshima during World War II
Hiroshima was located on a flat area, slightly above sea level at the mouth of the Ota River, on 6 islands connected by 81 bridges. The population of the city before the war was over 340 thousand people, which made Hiroshima the seventh largest city in Japan. The city was the headquarters of the Fifth Division and the Second Main Army of Field Marshal Shunroku Hata, who commanded the defense of all of Southern Japan. Hiroshima was an important supply base for the Japanese army.
In Hiroshima (as well as in Nagasaki), most buildings were one- and two-story wooden buildings with tiled roofs. Factories were located on the outskirts of the city. Outdated fire equipment and insufficient training of personnel created a high fire hazard even in peacetime.
The population of Hiroshima peaked at 380,000 during the course of the war, but before the bombing, the population gradually decreased due to systematic evacuations ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the attack, the population was about 245 thousand people.
Bombardment
The main target of the first American nuclear bombing was Hiroshima (Kokura and Nagasaki were spares). Although Truman's order called for the atomic bombing to begin on August 3, cloud cover over the target prevented this until August 6.
On August 6, at 1:45 am, an American B-29 bomber under the command of the commander of the 509th mixed aviation regiment, Colonel Paul Tibbets, carrying the atomic bomb "Kid" on board, took off from Tinian Island, which was about 6 hours from Hiroshima. Tibbets' aircraft ("Enola Gay") flew as part of a formation that included six other aircraft: a spare aircraft ("Top Secret"), two controllers and three scouts ("Jebit III", "Full House" and "Street Flash"). Reconnaissance aircraft commanders sent to Nagasaki and Kokura reported significant cloud cover over these cities. The pilot of the third reconnaissance aircraft, Major Iserli, found out that the sky over Hiroshima was clear and sent a signal "Bomb the first target."
Around 7 a.m., a network of Japanese early warning radars detected the approach of several American aircraft heading towards southern Japan. An air raid alert was issued and radio broadcasts stopped in many cities, including Hiroshima. At about 08:00 a radar operator in Hiroshima determined that the number of incoming aircraft was very small—perhaps no more than three—and the air raid alert was called off. In order to save fuel and aircraft, the Japanese did not intercept small groups of American bombers. The standard message was broadcast over the radio that it would be wise to go to the bomb shelters if the B-29s were actually seen, and that it was not a raid that was expected, but just some kind of reconnaissance.
At 08:15 local time, the B-29, being at an altitude of over 9 km, dropped an atomic bomb on the center of Hiroshima.
The first public announcement of the event came from Washington, sixteen hours after the atomic attack on the Japanese city.
The shadow of a man who was sitting on the steps of the stairs in front of the bank entrance at the time of the explosion, 250 meters from the epicenter
explosion effect
Those closest to the epicenter of the explosion died instantly, their bodies turned to coal. Birds flying by burned up in the air, and dry, flammable materials such as paper ignited up to 2 km from the epicenter. Light radiation burned the dark pattern of clothes into the skin and left the silhouettes of human bodies on the walls. People outside the houses described a blinding flash of light, which simultaneously came with a wave of suffocating heat. The blast wave, for all who were near the epicenter, followed almost immediately, often knocking down. Those in the buildings tended to avoid exposure to the light from the explosion, but not the blast—glass shards hit most rooms, and all but the strongest buildings collapsed. One teenager was blasted out of his house across the street as the house collapsed behind him. Within a few minutes, 90% of people who were at a distance of 800 meters or less from the epicenter died.
The blast wave shattered glass at a distance of up to 19 km. For those in the buildings, the typical first reaction was the thought of a direct hit from an aerial bomb.
Numerous small fires that simultaneously broke out in the city soon merged into one large fire tornado, which created a strong wind (speed of 50-60 km/h) directed towards the epicenter. The fiery tornado captured over 11 km² of the city, killing everyone who did not have time to get out within the first few minutes after the explosion.
According to the memoirs of Akiko Takakura, one of the few survivors who were at the time of the explosion at a distance of 300 m from the epicenter,
Three colors characterize for me the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima: black, red and brown. Black because the explosion cut off the sunlight and plunged the world into darkness. Red was the color of blood flowing from wounded and broken people. It was also the color of the fires that burned everything in the city. Brown was the color of burnt, peeling skin exposed to light from the explosion.
A few days after the explosion, among the survivors, doctors began to notice the first symptoms of exposure. Soon, the number of deaths among survivors began to rise again as patients who appeared to be recovering began to suffer from this strange new disease. Deaths from radiation sickness peaked 3-4 weeks after the explosion and began to decline only after 7-8 weeks. Japanese doctors considered vomiting and diarrhea characteristic of radiation sickness to be symptoms of dysentery. The long-term health effects associated with exposure, such as an increased risk of cancer, haunted the survivors for the rest of their lives, as did the psychological shock of the explosion.
The first person in the world whose cause of death was officially indicated as a disease caused by the consequences of a nuclear explosion (radiation poisoning) was the actress Midori Naka, who survived the Hiroshima explosion, but died on August 24, 1945. Journalist Robert Jung believes that it was Midori's disease and its popularity among ordinary people allowed people to know the truth about the emerging "new disease". Until the death of Midori, no one attached importance to the mysterious deaths of people who survived the moment of the explosion and died under circumstances unknown to science at the time. Jung believes that Midori's death was the impetus for accelerated research in nuclear physics and medicine, which soon managed to save the lives of many people from radiation exposure.
Japanese awareness of the consequences of the attack
The Tokyo operator of the Japan Broadcasting Corporation noticed that the Hiroshima station stopped broadcasting the signal. He tried to re-establish the broadcast using a different phone line, but that also failed. About twenty minutes later, the Tokyo Rail Telegraph Control Center realized that the main telegraph line had stopped working just north of Hiroshima. From a halt 16 km from Hiroshima, unofficial and confusing reports of a terrible explosion came. All these messages were forwarded to the headquarters of the Japanese General Staff.
Military bases repeatedly tried to call the Hiroshima Command and Control Center. The complete silence from there baffled the General Staff, since they knew that there was no major enemy raid in Hiroshima and there was no significant explosives depot. The young staff officer was instructed to immediately fly to Hiroshima, land, assess the damage, and return to Tokyo with reliable information. The headquarters basically believed that nothing serious happened there, and the reports were explained by rumors.
The officer from the headquarters went to the airport, from where he flew to the southwest. After a three-hour flight, while still 160 km from Hiroshima, he and his pilot noticed a large cloud of smoke from the bomb. It was a bright day and the ruins of Hiroshima were burning. Their plane soon reached the city around which they circled in disbelief. From the city there was only a zone of continuous destruction, still burning and covered with a thick cloud of smoke. They landed south of the city, and the officer reported the incident to Tokyo and immediately began organizing rescue efforts.
The first real understanding by the Japanese of what really caused the disaster came from a public announcement from Washington, sixteen hours after the atomic attack on Hiroshima.
Hiroshima after the atomic explosion
Loss and destruction
The number of deaths from the direct impact of the explosion ranged from 70 to 80 thousand people. By the end of 1945, due to the action of radioactive contamination and other post-effects of the explosion, the total number of deaths was from 90 to 166 thousand people. After 5 years, the total death toll, taking into account deaths from cancer and other long-term effects of the explosion, could reach or even exceed 200 thousand people.
According to official Japanese data as of March 31, 2013, there were 201,779 "hibakusha" alive - people affected by the effects of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This number includes children born to women exposed to radiation from the explosions (predominantly living in Japan at the time of count). Of these, 1%, according to the Japanese government, had serious cancers caused by radiation exposure after the bombings. The number of deaths as of August 31, 2013 is about 450 thousand: 286,818 in Hiroshima and 162,083 in Nagasaki.
Nuclear pollution
The concept of "radioactive contamination" did not yet exist in those years, and therefore this issue was not even raised then. People continued to live and rebuild the destroyed buildings in the same place where they were before. Even the high mortality of the population in subsequent years, as well as diseases and genetic abnormalities in children born after the bombings, were not initially associated with exposure to radiation. The evacuation of the population from the contaminated areas was not carried out, since no one knew about the very presence of radioactive contamination.
It is rather difficult to give an accurate assessment of the degree of this contamination due to lack of information, however, since technically the first atomic bombs were relatively low-yield and imperfect (the "Kid" bomb, for example, contained 64 kg of uranium, of which only approximately 700 g reacted division), the level of pollution of the area could not be significant, although it posed a serious danger to the population. For comparison: at the time of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the reactor core contained several tons of fission products and transuranium elements - various radioactive isotopes accumulated during the operation of the reactor.
Comparative preservation of some buildings
Some of the reinforced concrete buildings in Hiroshima were very stable (due to the risk of earthquakes) and their framework did not collapse despite being quite close to the center of destruction in the city (the epicenter of the explosion). Thus stood the brick building of the Hiroshima Chamber of Industry (now commonly known as the "Genbaku Dome", or "Atomic Dome"), designed and built by Czech architect Jan Letzel, which was only 160 meters from the epicenter of the explosion (at the height of the bomb detonation 600 m above the surface). The ruins became the most famous exhibit of the Hiroshima atomic explosion and were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, over objections raised by the US and Chinese governments.
On August 6, after receiving news of the successful atomic bombing of Hiroshima, US President Truman announced that
We are now ready to destroy, even faster and more completely than before, all Japanese land-based production facilities in any city. We will destroy their docks, their factories and their communications. Let there be no misunderstanding - we will completely destroy Japan's ability to wage war.
It was to prevent the destruction of Japan that an ultimatum was issued on July 26 in Potsdam. Their leadership immediately rejected his terms. If they do not accept our terms now, let them expect a rain of destruction from the air, the likes of which have not yet been seen on this planet.
Upon receiving news of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the Japanese government met to discuss their response. Beginning in June, the emperor advocated peace negotiations, but the Minister of Defense, as well as the leadership of the army and navy, believed that Japan should wait to see if attempts at peace negotiations through the Soviet Union would yield better results than unconditional surrender. The military leadership also believed that if they could hold out until the invasion of the Japanese islands began, it would be possible to inflict such losses on the Allied forces that Japan could win peace conditions other than unconditional surrender.
On August 9, the USSR declared war on Japan and Soviet troops launched an invasion of Manchuria. Hopes for the mediation of the USSR in the negotiations collapsed. The top leadership of the Japanese army began preparations for declaring martial law in order to prevent any attempts at peace negotiations.
The second atomic bombing (Kokura) was scheduled for 11 August but was pushed back 2 days to avoid a five-day period of bad weather that was forecast to begin on 10 August.
Nagasaki during World War II
Nagasaki in 1945 was located in two valleys, through which two rivers flowed. The mountain range divided the districts of the city.
The development was chaotic: out of the total city area of 90 km², 12 were built up with residential quarters.
During the Second World War, the city, which was a major seaport, also acquired special significance as an industrial center, in which steel production and the Mitsubishi shipyard, Mitsubishi-Urakami torpedo production were concentrated. Guns, ships and other military equipment were made in the city.
Nagasaki was not subjected to large-scale bombing until the explosion of the atomic bomb, but as early as August 1, 1945, several high-explosive bombs were dropped on the city, damaging shipyards and docks in the southwestern part of the city. Bombs also hit the Mitsubishi steel and gun factories. The August 1 raid resulted in a partial evacuation of the population, especially schoolchildren. However, at the time of the bombing, the city's population was still around 200,000.
Nagasaki before and after the atomic explosion
Bombardment
The main target of the second American nuclear bombing was Kokura, the spare was Nagasaki.
At 2:47 a.m. on August 9, an American B-29 bomber under the command of Major Charles Sweeney, carrying the Fat Man atomic bomb, took off from Tinian Island.
Unlike the first bombardment, the second was fraught with numerous technical problems. Even before takeoff, a fuel pump malfunction was discovered in one of the spare fuel tanks. Despite this, the crew decided to conduct the flight as planned.
At approximately 7:50 am, an air raid alert was issued in Nagasaki, which was canceled at 8:30 am.
At 08:10, after reaching a rendezvous point with other B-29s participating in the sortie, one of them was found missing. For 40 minutes, Sweeney's B-29 circled around the rendezvous point, but did not wait for the missing aircraft to appear. At the same time, reconnaissance aircraft reported that the cloudiness over Kokura and Nagasaki, although present, still allows for bombing under visual control.
At 08:50, B-29, carrying the atomic bomb, headed for Kokura, where it arrived at 09:20. By this time, however, 70% cloud cover was already observed over the city, which did not allow visual bombing. After three unsuccessful visits to the target, at 10:32 B-29 headed for Nagasaki. By this point, due to a fuel pump failure, there was only enough fuel for one pass over Nagasaki.
At 10:53, two B-29s came into the air defense field of view, the Japanese mistook them for reconnaissance and did not announce a new alarm.
At 10:56 B-29 arrived at Nagasaki, which, as it turned out, was also obscured by clouds. Sweeney reluctantly approved a much less accurate radar approach. At the last moment, however, bombardier-gunner Captain Kermit Behan (eng.) in the gap between the clouds noticed the silhouette of the city stadium, focusing on which, he dropped the atomic bomb.
The explosion occurred at 11:02 local time at an altitude of about 500 meters. The power of the explosion was about 21 kilotons.
explosion effect
Japanese boy whose upper body was not covered during the explosion
A hastily aimed bomb exploded almost midway between the two main targets in Nagasaki, the Mitsubishi steel and gun factories to the south and the Mitsubishi-Urakami torpedo factory to the north. If the bomb had been dropped further south, between the business and residential areas, the damage would have been much greater.
In general, although the power of the atomic explosion in Nagasaki was greater than in Hiroshima, the destructive effect of the explosion was less. This was facilitated by a combination of factors - the presence of hills in Nagasaki, as well as the fact that the epicenter of the explosion was over the industrial zone - all this helped to protect some areas of the city from the consequences of the explosion.
From the memoirs of Sumiteru Taniguchi, who was 16 years old at the time of the explosion:
I was knocked to the ground (from my bike) and the ground shook for a while. I clung to her so as not to be carried away by the blast wave. When I looked up, the house I had just passed was destroyed... I also saw the child being blown away by the blast. Large rocks were flying in the air, one hit me and then flew up into the sky again...
When everything seemed to calm down, I tried to get up and found that on my left arm the skin, from the shoulder to the fingertips, was hanging like tattered tatters.
Loss and destruction
The atomic explosion over Nagasaki affected an area of approximately 110 km², of which 22 were on the water surface and 84 were only partially inhabited.
According to a Nagasaki Prefecture report, "humans and animals died almost instantly" up to 1 km from the epicenter. Nearly all houses within a 2 km radius were destroyed, and dry, combustible materials such as paper ignited up to 3 km away from the epicenter. Of the 52,000 buildings in Nagasaki, 14,000 were destroyed and another 5,400 were severely damaged. Only 12% of the buildings remained intact. Although there was no fire tornado in the city, numerous localized fires were observed.
The death toll by the end of 1945 ranged from 60 to 80 thousand people. After 5 years, the total death toll, taking into account those who died from cancer and other long-term effects of the explosion, could reach or even exceed 140 thousand people.
Plans for subsequent atomic bombings of Japan
The US government expected another atomic bomb to be ready for use in mid-August, and three more each in September and October. On August 10, Leslie Groves, military director of the Manhattan Project, sent a memorandum to George Marshall, Chief of Staff of the US Army, in which he wrote that "the next bomb ... should be ready for use after August 17-18." On the same day, Marshall signed a memorandum with the comment that "it should not be used against Japan until the express approval of the President is obtained." At the same time, discussions have already begun in the US Department of Defense on the advisability of postponing the use of bombs until the start of Operation Downfall, the expected invasion of the Japanese islands.
The problem we are now facing is whether, assuming the Japanese do not capitulate, we should continue to drop bombs as they are produced, or accumulate them in order to then drop everything in a short period of time. Not all in one day, but within a fairly short time. This is also related to the question of what goals we are pursuing. In other words, shouldn't we focus on the targets that will help the invasion the most, and not on industry, troop morale, psychology, and so on? Mostly tactical goals, and not some others.
Japanese surrender and subsequent occupation
Up until August 9, the war cabinet continued to insist on 4 terms of surrender. On August 9, news came of the declaration of war by the Soviet Union late in the evening of August 8, and of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki at 11 o'clock in the afternoon. At the meeting of the "big six", held on the night of August 10, the votes on the issue of surrender were divided equally (3 "for", 3 "against"), after which the emperor intervened in the discussion, speaking in favor of surrender. On August 10, 1945, Japan handed over to the Allies an offer of surrender, the only condition of which was that the Emperor be retained as a nominal head of state.
Since the terms of the surrender allowed for the preservation of imperial power in Japan, on August 14, Hirohito recorded his surrender statement, which was circulated by the Japanese media the next day, despite an attempted military coup by opponents of the surrender.
In his announcement, Hirohito mentioned the atomic bombings:
... in addition, the enemy has a terrible new weapon that can take many innocent lives and cause immeasurable material damage. If we continue to fight, it will not only lead to the collapse and annihilation of the Japanese nation, but also to the complete disappearance of human civilization.
In such a situation, how can we save millions of our subjects or justify ourselves before the sacred spirit of our ancestors? For this reason we have ordered the acceptance of the terms of the joint declaration of our adversaries.
Within a year of the end of the bombing, 40,000 American troops were stationed in Hiroshima and 27,000 in Nagasaki.
Commission for the Study of the Consequences of Atomic Explosions
In the spring of 1948, the National Academy of Sciences Commission on the Effects of Atomic Explosions was formed at Truman's direction to study the long-term effects of radiation exposure on survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Among the victims of the bombing, many uninvolved people were found, including prisoners of war, forced conscription of Koreans and Chinese, students from British Malaya, and about 3,200 Japanese Americans.
In 1975, the Commission was dissolved, its functions were transferred to the newly created Institute for the Study of the Effects of Radiation Effects (English Radiation Effects Research Foundation).
Debate on the expediency of atomic bombings
The role of the atomic bombings in the surrender of Japan and their ethical validity are still the subject of scientific and public discussion. In a 2005 review of historiography on the subject, the American historian Samuel Walker wrote that "the debate about the appropriateness of the bombing will definitely continue." Walker also noted that "the fundamental question, which has been debated for more than 40 years, is whether these atomic bombings were necessary to achieve victory in the Pacific War on terms acceptable to the United States."
Proponents of the bombings usually claim that they were the cause of Japan's surrender, and therefore prevented significant losses on both sides (both the US and Japan) in the planned invasion of Japan; that the quick end of the war saved many lives elsewhere in Asia (primarily in China); that Japan was waging an all-out war in which the distinctions between the military and the civilian population are blurred; and that the Japanese leadership refused to capitulate, and the bombing helped to shift the balance of opinion within the government towards peace. Opponents of the bombings contend that they were simply an addition to an already ongoing conventional bombing campaign and thus had no military necessity, that they were fundamentally immoral, a war crime, or a manifestation of state terrorism (despite the fact that in 1945 there was no there were international agreements or treaties directly or indirectly prohibiting the use of nuclear weapons as a means of warfare).
A number of researchers express the opinion that the main purpose of the atomic bombings was to influence the USSR before it entered the war with Japan in the Far East and to demonstrate the atomic power of the United States.
Impact on culture
In the 1950s, the story of a Japanese girl from Hiroshima, Sadako Sasaki, who died in 1955 from the effects of radiation (leukemia), became widely known. Already in the hospital, Sadako learned about the legend, according to which a person who folded a thousand paper cranes can make a wish that will surely come true. Wishing to recover, Sadako began to fold cranes from any pieces of paper that fell into her hands. According to the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Canadian children's writer Eleanor Coer, Sadako only managed to fold 644 cranes before she died in October 1955. Her friends finished the rest of the figurines. According to Sadako's 4,675 Days of Life, Sadako folded a thousand cranes and continued to fold, but later died. Several books have been written based on her story.
The tragically famous case in world history, when there was a nuclear explosion in Hiroshima, is described in all school textbooks on modern history. Hiroshima, the date of the explosion was imprinted in the minds of several generations - August 6, 1945.
The first use of atomic weapons against real enemy targets occurred in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The consequences of the explosion in each of these cities are difficult to overestimate. However, these were not the worst events during the Second World War.
Historical reference
Hiroshima. The year of the explosion. A major port city in Japan trains military personnel, produces weapons and vehicles. The railway interchange makes it possible to deliver the necessary cargoes to the port. Among other things, it is a fairly densely populated and densely built-up city. It is worth noting that at the time when the explosion occurred in Hiroshima, most of the buildings were wooden, there were several dozen reinforced concrete structures.
The population of the city, when the atomic explosion in Hiroshima thunders from a clear sky on August 6, consists for the most part of workers, women, children and the elderly. They go about their usual business. There were no bombing announcements. Although in the last few months before the nuclear explosion in Hiroshima, enemy aircraft will practically wipe out 98 Japanese cities from the face of the earth, destroy them to the ground, and hundreds of thousands of people will die. But this, apparently, is not enough for the surrender of the last ally of Nazi Germany.
For Hiroshima, a bomb explosion is quite rare. She had not been subjected to massive blows before. She was kept for a special sacrifice. The explosion in Hiroshima will be one, decisive. By decision of the American President Harry Truman in August 1945, the first nuclear explosion in Japan will be carried out. The uranium bomb "Kid" was intended for a port city with a population of more than 300 thousand inhabitants. Hiroshima felt the power of the nuclear explosion in full measure. An explosion of 13 thousand tons in TNT equivalent thundered at a height of half a kilometer above the city center over the Ayoi bridge at the junction of the Ota and Motoyasu rivers, bringing destruction and death.
On August 9, everything happened again. This time, the target of the deadly "Fat Man" with a plutonium charge is Nagasaki. A B-29 bomber flying over an industrial area dropped a bomb, provoking a nuclear explosion. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many thousands of people died in an instant.
The day after the second atomic explosion in Japan, Emperor Hirohito and the imperial government accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and agree to surrender.
Research by the Manhattan Project
On August 11, five days after the Hiroshima atomic bomb exploded, Thomas Farrell, General Groves' deputy for the Pacific military operation, received a secret message from the leadership.
- A group analyzing the nuclear explosion in Hiroshima, the extent of the destruction and the side effects.
- A group analyzing the aftermath in Nagasaki.
- A reconnaissance group investigating the possibility of developing atomic weapons by the Japanese.
This mission was supposed to collect the most up-to-date information about technical, medical, biological and other indications immediately after the nuclear explosion occurred. Hiroshima and Nagasaki had to be studied in the very near future for the completeness and reliability of the picture.
The first two groups working as part of the American troops received the following tasks:
- To study the extent of destruction caused by the explosion in Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
- Collect all information about the quality of destruction, including radiation contamination of the territory of cities and nearby places.
On August 15, specialists from research groups arrived on the Japanese islands. But only on September 8 and 13, studies took place in the territories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The nuclear explosion and its consequences were considered by the groups for two weeks. As a result, they received quite extensive data. All of them are presented in the report.
Explosion at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Study group report
In addition to describing the consequences of the explosion (Hiroshima, Nagasaki), the report says that after the nuclear explosion in Japan in Hiroshima, 16 million leaflets and 500 thousand newspapers in Japanese were sent throughout Japan calling for surrender, photographs and descriptions of the atomic explosion. Campaign programs were broadcast on the radio every 15 minutes. They conveyed general information about the destroyed cities.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW:
As noted in the text of the report, the nuclear explosion in Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused similar destruction. Buildings and other structures were destroyed due to such factors:
A shock wave, like the one that occurs when an ordinary bomb explodes.
The explosion of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused a powerful light emission. As a result of a sharp strong increase in ambient temperature, primary sources of ignition appeared.
Due to damage to electrical networks, overturning heating devices during the destruction of buildings that caused the atomic explosion in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, secondary fires occurred.
The explosion on Hiroshima was supplemented by fires of the first and second levels, which began to spread to neighboring buildings.
The power of the explosion in Hiroshima was so huge that the areas of the cities that were directly under the epicenter were almost completely destroyed. The exceptions were some reinforced concrete buildings. But they also suffered from internal and external fires. The explosion on Hiroshima burned even the ceilings in the houses. The degree of damage to houses in the epicenter was close to 100%.
The atomic explosion in Hiroshima plunged the city into chaos. The fire escalated into a firestorm. The strongest draft pulled the fire to the center of a huge fire. The explosion on Hiroshima covered an area of 11.28 square kilometers from the epicenter point. Glass was shattered at a distance of 20 km from the center of the explosion throughout the city of Hiroshima. The atomic explosion in Nagasaki did not cause a "firestorm" because the city has an irregular shape, the report notes.
The power of the explosion in Hiroshima and Nagasaki swept away all buildings at a distance of 1.6 km from the epicenter, up to 5 km - the buildings were badly damaged. Urban life in Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been decimated, speakers say.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Consequences of the explosion. Damage Quality Comparison
It is worth noting that Nagasaki, despite its military and industrial significance at the time when there was an explosion in Hiroshima, was a rather narrow strip of coastal territories, extremely densely built up exclusively with wooden buildings. In Nagasaki, the hilly terrain partially extinguished not only the light radiation, but also the shock wave.
Special observers noted in the report that in Hiroshima, from the site of the epicenter of the explosion, one could see the entire city, like a desert. In Hiroshima, an explosion melted roof tiles at a distance of 1.3 km; in Nagasaki, a similar effect was observed at a distance of 1.6 km. All combustible and dry materials that could ignite were ignited by the light radiation of the explosion in Hiroshima at a distance of 2 km, and in Nagasaki - 3 km. All overhead power lines were completely burned out in both cities within a circle with a radius of 1.6 km, trams were destroyed 1.7 km away, and damaged 3.2 km away. Gas tanks received great damage at a distance of up to 2 km. Hills and vegetation burned out in Nagasaki up to 3 km.
From 3 to 5 km, the plaster from the walls that remained standing completely crumbled, fires devoured all the interior filling of large buildings. In Hiroshima, an explosion created a rounded area of scorched earth with a radius of up to 3.5 km. In Nagasaki, the picture of the conflagrations was slightly different. The wind fanned the fire in length until the fire rested on the river.
According to the commission's calculations, the Hiroshima nuclear explosion destroyed about 60,000 out of 90,000 buildings, which is 67%. In Nagasaki - 14 thousand out of 52, which amounted to only 27%. According to reports from the Nagasaki municipality, 60% of the buildings remained undamaged.
The value of research
The commission's report describes in great detail many positions of the study. Thanks to them, American specialists have made a calculation of the possible damage that each type of bomb can bring over European cities. The conditions of radiation contamination were not so obvious at that time and were considered insignificant. However, the power of the explosion in Hiroshima was visible to the naked eye, and proved the effectiveness of the use of atomic weapons. The sad date, the nuclear explosion in Hiroshima, will forever remain in the history of mankind.
Nagasaki, Hiroshima. In what year there was an explosion, everyone knows. But what exactly happened, what destruction and how many victims did they bring? What losses did Japan suffer? A nuclear explosion was devastating enough, but many more people died from simple bombs. The nuclear explosion on Hiroshima was one of the many deadly attacks that befell the Japanese people, and the first atomic attack in the fate of mankind.
