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When the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima. Prerequisites for the use of atomic weapons

When the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima. Prerequisites for the use of atomic weapons

21.09.2019

Next year, humanity will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, which showed many examples of unprecedented cruelty, when entire cities disappeared from the face of the earth for several days or even hours and hundreds of thousands of people died, including civilians. The most striking example of this is the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the ethical justification of which is questioned by any sane person.

Japan during the final stages of World War II

As you know, Nazi Germany capitulated on the night of May 9, 1945. This meant the end of the war in Europe. And also the fact that the only enemy of the countries of the anti-fascist coalition was imperial Japan, which at that time officially declared war on about 6 dozen countries. Already in June 1945, as a result of bloody battles, her troops were forced to leave Indonesia and Indochina. But when on July 26 the United States, along with Great Britain and China, presented an ultimatum to the Japanese command, it was rejected. At the same time, even during the time of the USSR, he undertook to launch a large-scale offensive against Japan in August, for which, after the end of the war, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands were to be transferred to him.

Prerequisites for the use of atomic weapons

Long before these events, in the fall of 1944, at a meeting of the leaders of the United States and Great Britain, the question of the possibility of using new super-destructive bombs against Japan was considered. After that, the well-known Manhattan Project, launched a year earlier and aimed at creating nuclear weapons, began to function with renewed vigor, and work on creating its first samples was completed by the time hostilities in Europe ended.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki: reasons for the bombing

Thus, by the summer of 1945, the United States became the only owner of atomic weapons in the world and decided to use this advantage in order to put pressure on its longtime enemy and at the same time ally in the anti-Hitler coalition - the USSR.

At the same time, despite all the defeats, the morale of Japan was not broken. As evidenced by the fact that every day hundreds of soldiers of her imperial army became kamikaze and kaiten, directing their planes and torpedoes at ships and other military targets of the American army. This meant that when conducting a ground operation on the territory of Japan itself, the Allied forces expected huge losses. It is the latter reason that is most often cited today by US officials as an argument justifying the need for such a measure as the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At the same time, they forget that, according to Churchill, three weeks before I. Stalin told him about the Japanese attempts to establish a peaceful dialogue. Obviously, representatives of this country were going to make similar offers to both the Americans and the British, since the massive bombing of large cities brought their military industry to the brink of collapse and made capitulation inevitable.

Choice of goals

After obtaining consent in principle to the use of atomic weapons against Japan, a special committee was formed. Its second meeting was held on May 10-11 and was devoted to the choice of cities that were to be bombed. The main criteria that guided the commission were:

the obligatory presence of civilian objects around the military target;
its importance to the Japanese not only from an economic and strategic point of view, but also from a psychological one;
a high degree of significance of the object, the destruction of which would cause a resonance throughout the world;
the target had to be undamaged by bombing so that the military could appreciate the true power of the new weapon.

Which cities were considered as the target

The "candidates" included:

Kyoto, which is the largest industrial and cultural center and the ancient capital of Japan;
Hiroshima as an important military port and a city where army depots were concentrated;
Yokohama, which is the center of the military industry;
Kokura is the location of the largest military arsenal.

According to the surviving memoirs of the participants in those events, although Kyoto was the most convenient target, the United States Secretary of War G. Stimson insisted on the exclusion of this city from the list, since he was personally acquainted with its sights and represented their value for world culture.

Interestingly, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not initially planned. More precisely, the city of Kokura was considered as the second goal. This is also evidenced by the fact that before August 9, an air raid was carried out on Nagasaki, which caused concern among residents and forced the majority of schoolchildren to be evacuated to the surrounding villages. A little later, as a result of long discussions, spare targets were chosen in case of unforeseen situations. They became:

for the first bombing, if Hiroshima fails to be hit, Niigata;
for the second (instead of Kokura) - Nagasaki.

Preparation

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki required careful preparation. During the second half of May and June, the 509th Composite Aviation Group was redeployed to the base on Tinian Island, in connection with which exceptional security measures were taken. A month later, on July 26, the “Kid” atomic bomb was delivered to the island, and on the 28th, some of the components for the assembly of the “Fat Man”. On the same day, the then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, signed the order directing the nuclear bombing to be carried out any time after August 3, when the weather conditions were right.

First atomic strike on Japan

The date of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki cannot be named unambiguously, since nuclear strikes on these cities were carried out with a difference of 3 days.

The first blow was dealt to Hiroshima. And it happened on June 6, 1945. The "honor" to drop the "Kid" bomb went to the crew of the B-29 aircraft, nicknamed "Enola Gay", commanded by Colonel Tibbets. Moreover, before the flight, the pilots, confident that they were doing a good deed and that their “feat” would be followed by an early end to the war, visited the church and received an ampoule each in case they were captured.

Together with Enola Gay, three reconnaissance aircraft took off into the air, designed to clarify weather conditions, and 2 boards with photographic equipment and devices for studying the parameters of the explosion.

The bombing itself went off without a hitch, as the Japanese military did not notice the objects rushing towards Hiroshima, and the weather was more than favorable. What happened next can be seen by watching the tape "The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki" - a documentary film edited from newsreels made in the Pacific region at the end of World War II.

In particular, it shows which, according to Captain Robert Lewis, who was a member of the Enola Gay crew, was visible even after their plane flew 400 miles from the bomb site.

Bombing of Nagasaki

The operation to drop the Fat Man bomb, carried out on August 9, proceeded in a completely different way. In general, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, whose photos evoke associations with well-known descriptions of the Apocalypse, was prepared extremely carefully, and the only thing that could make adjustments to its implementation was the weather. And so it happened when, in the early morning of August 9, a plane took off from the island of Tinian under the command of Major Charles Sweeney and with the Fat Man atomic bomb on board. At 8 hours 10 minutes, the board arrived at the place where it was supposed to meet with the second - B-29, but did not find it. After 40 minutes of waiting, it was decided to bomb without a partner aircraft, but it turned out that 70% cloud cover was already observed over the city of Kokura. Moreover, even before the flight, it was known about the malfunction of the fuel pump, and at the moment when the plane was over Kokura, it became obvious that the only way to drop the Fat Man was to do it during the flight over Nagasaki. Then the B-29 went to this city and made a reset, focusing on the local stadium. Thus, by chance, Kokura was saved, and the whole world learned that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had taken place. Fortunately, if such words are at all appropriate in this case, the bomb fell far from its original target, quite far from residential areas, which somewhat reduced the number of victims.

Consequences of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

According to eyewitnesses, within a few minutes, everyone who was within a radius of 800 m from the epicenters of the explosions died. Then the fires began, and in Hiroshima they soon turned into a tornado due to the wind, the speed of which was about 50-60 km / h.

The nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki introduced mankind to such a phenomenon as radiation sickness. The doctors noticed her first. They were surprised that the condition of the survivors first improved, and then they died from an illness whose symptoms resembled diarrhea. In the first days and months after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, few people could have imagined that those who survived it would suffer various diseases all their lives and even produce unhealthy children.

Subsequent events

On August 9, immediately after the news of the bombing of Nagasaki and the declaration of war by the USSR, Emperor Hirohito called for immediate surrender, subject to the preservation of his power in the country. And after 5 days, the Japanese media circulated his statement on the cessation of hostilities in English. Moreover, in the text, His Majesty mentioned that one of the reasons for his decision was that the enemy had a “terrible weapon”, the use of which could lead to the destruction of the nation.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Photochronology after the explosion: the horror that the United States tried to hide.

August 6 is not an empty phrase for Japan, it is the moment of one of the greatest horrors ever committed in the war.

On this day, the bombing of Hiroshima took place. In 3 days, the same barbaric act will be repeated, knowing the consequences for Nagasaki.

This nuclear barbarism, worthy of the worst nightmare, partially eclipsed the Jewish Holocaust carried out by the Nazis, but this act placed then-President Harry Truman on the same list of genocide.

Because he ordered 2 atomic bombs to be fired on the civilian population of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in the direct death of 300,000 people, thousands more died a few weeks later, and thousands of survivors were physically and psychologically marked by the side effects of the bomb.

As soon as President Truman became aware of the damage, he said, "This is the greatest event in history."

In 1946, the US government banned any evidence of this massacre from being circulated, and millions of photographs were destroyed, and pressure in the US forced the defeated Japanese government to create an edict in which talking about "this fact" was an attempt to disturb the public peace, and therefore was forbidden.

Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Of course, on the part of the American government, the use of nuclear weapons was an act to hasten the surrender of Japan, how justified such an act was, posterity will discuss for many centuries.

On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay bomber took off from a base in the Marianas. The crew consisted of twelve people. The training of the crew was lengthy, it consisted of eight training flights and two sorties. In addition, a rehearsal of a bomb drop on an urban settlement was organized. The rehearsal took place on July 31, 1945, a training ground was used as a settlement, a bomber dropped a model of a supposed bomb.

On August 6, 1945, a sortie was made, a bomb was on board the bomber. The power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was 14 kilotons of TNT. Having completed the task, the crew of the aircraft left the affected area and arrived at the base. The results of the medical examination of all crew members are still kept secret.

After completing this task, a second flight of another bomber was made. The Bockscar bomber crew consisted of thirteen people. Their task was to drop a bomb on the city of Kokura. Departure from the base took place at 02:47 and at 09:20 the crew reached their destination. Arriving at the place, the crew of the aircraft found heavy cloud cover and after several visits, the command instructed to change the destination to the city of Nagasaki. The crew reached their destination at 10:56, but there was also cloud cover that prevented the operation. Unfortunately, the goal had to be met, and this time the cloudiness did not save the city. The power of the bomb dropped on Nagasaki was 21 kilotons of TNT.

In what year Hiroshima and Nagasaki were subjected to a nuclear attack, it is precisely indicated in all sources that August 6, 1945 - Hiroshima and August 9, 1945 - Nagasaki.

The explosion of Hiroshima claimed the lives of 166 thousand people, the explosion of Nagasaki claimed the lives of 80 thousand people.

Nagasaki after the nuclear explosion

Over time, some document and photo came to light, but what happened, compared to the images of German concentration camps that were strategically distributed by the American government, was nothing more than the fact of what happened in the war and was partially justified.

Thousands of victims had photos without a face. Here are some of those photos:

All clocks stopped at 8:15, the time of the attack.

The heat and explosion cast the so-called "nuclear shadow", here you can see the pillars of the bridge.

Here you can see the silhouette of two people who were sprayed instantly.

200 meters from the explosion, on the stairs of the bench, there is a shadow of a man who opened the doors. 2,000 degrees burned him on the step.

human suffering

The bomb exploded almost 600 meters above the center of Hiroshima, 70,000 people died instantly from 6,000 degrees Celsius, the rest were killed by a shock wave that left the building standing and destroyed trees within a radius of 120 km.

A few minutes and the atomic mushroom reaches a height of 13 kilometers, causing acid rain that kills thousands of people who escaped the initial explosion. 80% of the city has disappeared.

There were thousands of cases of sudden burning and very severe burns more than 10 km from the explosion area.

The results were devastating, but after a few days, doctors continued to treat the survivors as if the wounds were simple burns, and many of them indicated that people continued to die mysteriously. They had never seen anything like it.

Doctors even injected vitamins, but the flesh rotted on contact with the needle. The white blood cells were destroyed.

Most of the survivors within a 2 km radius were blind, and thousands of people suffered from cataracts due to the radiation.

burden of survivors

"Hibakusha" (Hibakusha), as the Japanese called the survivors. There were about 360,000 of them, but most of them are disfigured, with cancer and genetic deterioration.

These people were also victims of their own compatriots, who believed that radiation was contagious and avoided them at all costs.

Many secretly hid these consequences even after years. Whereas if the company where they worked found out they were "Hibakushi", they were fired.

There were clothing marks on the skin, even the colors and fabrics that people were wearing at the time of the explosion.

The story of a photographer

On August 10, a Japanese army photographer named Yosuke Yamahata (Yosuke Yamahata) arrived in Nagasaki with the task of documenting the consequences of the "new weapons" and spent hours walking through the wreckage, photographing all this horror. These are his photographs and he wrote in his diary:

“A hot wind began to blow,” he explained many years later. “There were small fires everywhere, Nagasaki was completely destroyed… we encountered human bodies and animals that lay in our path…”

“It was truly hell on earth. Those who could barely stand the intense radiation, their eyes burned, their skin “burned” and ulcerated, they wandered around, leaning on sticks, waiting for help. Not a single cloud eclipsed the sun on this August day, shining mercilessly.

Coincidence, but exactly 20 years later, also on August 6, Yamahata suddenly fell ill and was diagnosed with duodenal cancer from the effects of this walk where he took photographs. The photographer is buried in Tokyo.

As a curiosity: a letter that Albert Einstein sent to former President Roosevelt, where he counted on the possibility of using uranium as a weapon of significant power and explained the steps to achieve it.

The bombs that were used to attack

Baby Bomb is the code name for the uranium bomb. It was developed as part of the Manhattan Project. Among all the developments, the Baby Bomb was the first successfully implemented weapon, the result of which had enormous consequences.

The Manhattan Project is an American nuclear weapons program. The project activity began in 1943, based on research in 1939. Several countries took part in the project: the United States of America, Great Britain, Germany and Canada. Countries took part not officially, but through scientists who participated in the development. As a result of development, three bombs were created:

Plutonium, codenamed "Thing". This bomb was blown up in nuclear tests, the explosion was carried out at a special test site.
Uranium bomb, codename "Kid". The bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
Plutonium bomb, codename "Fat Man". The bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

The project operated under the leadership of two people, nuclear physicist Julius Robert Oppenheimer spoke from the scientific council, and General Leslie Richard Groves from the military leadership.

How it all began

The history of the project began with a letter, as is commonly believed, the author of the letter was Albert Einstein. In fact, four people participated in writing this appeal. Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, Edward Teller and Albert Einstein.

In 1939, Leo Szilard learned that scientists in Nazi Germany had achieved stunning results on a chain reaction in uranium. Szilard realized what power their army would gain if these studies were put into practice. Szilard was also aware of the minimality of his authority in political circles, so he decided to involve Albert Einstein in the problem. Einstein shared Szilard's concerns and drafted an appeal to the American President. The address was written in German, Szilard, along with the rest of the physicists, translated the letter and added his comments. Now they are faced with the issue of sending this letter to the President of America. At first they wanted to convey the letter through the aviator Charles Lindenberg, but he officially issued a statement of sympathy for the German government. Szilard faced the problem of finding like-minded people who had contacts with the President of America, so Alexander Sachs was found. It was this man who handed over the letter, albeit with a delay of two months. However, the reaction of the president was lightning fast, a council was convened as soon as possible and the Uranium Committee was organized. It was this body that began the first studies of the problem.

Here is an excerpt from that letter:

The recent work of Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard, whose handwritten version caught my attention, leads me to believe that elemental uranium may become a new and important source of energy in the near future […] opened the possibility of realizing a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium, due to which a lot of energy […] thanks to which you can create bombs ..

Hiroshima now

The restoration of the city began in 1949, most of the funds from the state budget were allocated for the development of the city. The recovery period lasted until 1960. Little Hiroshima has become a huge city, today Hiroshima consists of eight districts, with a population of over a million people.

Hiroshima before and after

The epicenter of the explosion was one hundred and sixty meters from the exhibition center, after its restoration of the city, it is included in the UNESCO list. Today, the exhibition center is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.

Hiroshima Exhibition Center

The building partially collapsed, but survived. Everyone in the building was killed. For the preservation of the memorial, work was carried out to strengthen the dome. This is the most famous monument to the consequences of a nuclear explosion. The inclusion of this building in the list of values of the world community caused heated debate, two countries opposed it - America and China. Opposite the Peace Memorial is the Memorial Park. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park has an area of more than twelve hectares and is considered the epicenter of the nuclear bomb explosion. The park has a monument to Sadako Sasaki and a monument to the Flame of Peace. The flame of peace has been burning since 1964 and, according to the Japanese government, will continue to burn until all nuclear weapons in the world are destroyed.

The tragedy of Hiroshima has not only consequences, but also legends.

The Legend of the Cranes

Every tragedy needs a face, even two. One face will be a symbol of the survivors, the other a symbol of hatred. As for the first person, it was the little girl Sadako Sasaki. When America dropped the nuclear bomb, she was two years old. Sadako survived the bombing, but ten years later she was diagnosed with leukemia. The reason was radiation exposure. While in the hospital room, Sadako heard a legend that cranes give life and healing. In order to get the life she so needed, Sadako had to make a thousand paper cranes. Every minute the girl made paper cranes, every piece of paper that fell into her hands took on a beautiful shape. The girl died before reaching the required thousand. According to various sources, she made six hundred cranes, and the rest were made by other patients. In memory of the girl, on the anniversary of the tragedy, Japanese children make paper cranes and release them into the sky. In addition to Hiroshima, a monument to Sadako Sasaki was erected in the American city of Seattle.

Nagasaki now

The bomb dropped on Nagasaki claimed many lives and almost wiped the city off the face of the earth. However, in view of the fact that the explosion occurred in the industrial zone, this is the western part of the city, the buildings of another area were less affected. Money from the state budget was directed to the restoration. The recovery period lasted until 1960. The current population is about half a million people.

Nagasaki Photos

The bombardment of the city began on August 1, 1945. For this reason, part of the population of Nagasaki was evacuated and not subjected to nuclear impact. On the day of the nuclear bombing, an air raid alert was issued at 07:50 and stopped at 08:30. After the end of the air raid, part of the population remained in shelters. An American B-29 bomber that entered Nagasaki airspace was mistaken for a reconnaissance aircraft and the air raid alert was not issued. No one guessed the purpose of the American bomber. The explosion in Nagasaki occurred at 11:02 in the air, the bomb did not reach the ground. Despite this, the result of the explosion claimed thousands of lives. The city of Nagasaki has several places of memory for the victims of the nuclear explosion:

Sanno Jinja Shrine Gate. They represent a column and part of the upper ceiling, all that survived the bombardment.

nagasaki peace park

Nagasaki Peace Park. Memorial complex built in memory of the victims of the disaster. On the territory of the complex there is a Statue of Peace and a fountain symbolizing contaminated water. Until the time of the bombing, no one in the world had studied the consequences of a nuclear wave of this magnitude, nor did anyone know how long harmful substances remained in the water. Only years later, people who drank water discovered that they had radiation sickness.

Atomic Bomb Museum

Museum of the atomic bomb. The museum was opened in 1996. On the territory of the museum there are things and photographs of the victims of the nuclear bombing.

Urakami column. This place is the epicenter of the explosion; there is a park area around the preserved column.

The victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are commemorated every year with a moment of silence. Those who dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki never apologized. On the contrary, the pilots adhere to the state position, explaining their actions by military necessity. Remarkably, the United States of America has not issued a formal apology to date. Also, a tribunal to investigate the mass destruction of civilians was not created. Since the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, only one president has paid an official visit to Japan.

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 airplanes, 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 past 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 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.

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."

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

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 airplanes, 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

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

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

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

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

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 that 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 reason for the surrender of Japan, 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.

Work on the creation of a nuclear bomb started in the United States in September 1943, based on research by scientists from different countries, begun as early as 1939.

In parallel with this, a search was made for pilots who were supposed to drop it. Several hundred were selected from thousands of dossiers reviewed. As a result of an extremely tough selection, Air Force Colonel Paul Tibbets, who had served as a test pilot for Bi-29 aircraft since 1943, was appointed commander of the future formation. He was given the task of creating a combat unit of pilots to deliver the bomb to its destination.

Preliminary calculations showed that a bomber that dropped a bomb would have only 43 seconds to leave the danger zone before an explosion occurred. Aircrew training continued daily for many months in the strictest secrecy.

Target selection

On June 21, 1945, a meeting was held by US Secretary of War Stimson to discuss the choice of future targets:

Hiroshima is a large industrial center with a population of about 400 thousand people;
Kokura - an important strategic point, steel and chemical plants, population 173 thousand people;
Nagasaki - the largest shipyards, a population of 300 thousand people.

Kyoto and Niigata were also on the list of potential targets, but serious controversy erupted over them. Niigata was proposed to be excluded due to the fact that the city was located much to the north of the rest and was relatively small, and the destruction of Kyoto, the former sacred city, could embitter the Japanese and lead to increased resistance.

On the other hand, Kyoto, with its large area, was of interest as a target for evaluating the power of the bomb. Supporters of choosing this city as a target, among other things, were interested in the accumulation of statistical data, since until that moment atomic weapons had never been used in combat conditions, but only at test sites. The bombing was required not only to physically destroy the chosen target, but to demonstrate the strength and power of the new weapon, as well as to have the greatest possible psychological effect on the population and government of Japan.

On July 26, the United States, Britain and China adopted the Potsdam Declaration, which demanded unconditional surrender from the Empire. Otherwise, the allies threatened the rapid and complete destruction of the country. However, this document made no mention of the use of weapons of mass destruction. The Japanese government rejected the demands of the declaration, and the Americans continued to prepare for the operation.

For the most effective bombing, suitable weather and good visibility were required. Based on data from the meteorological service, the first week of August, approximately after the 3rd, was recognized as the most suitable for the foreseeable future.

Bombing of Hiroshima

On August 2, 1945, the formation of Colonel Tibbets received a secret order for the first atomic bombing in the history of mankind, the date of which was set for August 6. Hiroshima was chosen as the main target of the attack, Kokura and Nagasaki were chosen as alternate targets (in case of deterioration of visibility conditions). All other American aircraft were forbidden to be within a radius of 80 km of these cities during the bombing.

On August 6, before the start of the operation, the pilots received glasses with dark glasses designed to protect their eyes from light radiation. The planes took off from the island of Tinian, where the base of the American military aviation was located. The island is located 2.5 thousand km from Japan, so it took about 6 hours to fly.

Together with the Bi-29 bomber, called the Enola Gay, on board which was the Little Boy barrel-type atomic bomb, 6 more aircraft took off into the sky: three reconnaissance aircraft, one spare and two carried special measuring equipment.

Visibility over all three cities allowed bombing, so it was decided not to deviate from the original plan. At 8:15 an explosion was heard - the Enola Gay bomber dropped a 5-ton bomb on Hiroshima, after which it made a 60-degree turn and began to move away as fast as possible.

Consequences of the explosion

The bomb exploded 600m from the surface. Most of the city's houses were equipped with charcoal stoves. Many townspeople were preparing breakfast at the time of the attack. Overturned by the blast wave of incredible force, the stoves caused massive fires in those parts of the city that were not destroyed immediately after the explosion.

The heat wave melted the tiles of houses and granite slabs. All wooden telegraph poles were burned within a radius of 4 km. People who were at the epicenter of the explosion instantly evaporated, enveloped in hot plasma, the temperature of which was about 4000 degrees Celsius. Powerful light radiation left only shadows on the walls of houses from human bodies. 9 out of 10 who were in the 800-meter zone from the epicenter of the explosion died instantly. The shock wave swept at a speed of 800 km / h, turning into rubble all buildings within a radius of 4 km, except for a few built taking into account the increased seismic hazard.

The plasma ball evaporated moisture from the atmosphere. A cloud of steam reached the colder layers and, mixed with dust and ash, immediately poured black rain on the ground.

Then the wind hit the city, already blowing towards the epicenter of the explosion. From the heating of the air caused by the flaring fires, the gusts of wind increased so much that they pulled out large trees with roots. Huge waves rose on the river, in which people drowned trying to escape in the water from the fiery tornado that engulfed the city, destroying 11 km2 of the area. According to various estimates, the death toll in Hiroshima was 200-240 thousand people, of which 70-80 thousand died immediately after the explosion.

All communication with the city was cut off. In Tokyo, they noticed that the local Hiroshima radio station disappeared from the air and the telegraph line stopped working. After some time, reports of an explosion of incredible force began to arrive from regional railway stations.

An officer of the General Staff urgently flew to the scene of the tragedy, writing later in his memoirs that he was most struck by the lack of streets - the city was evenly covered with debris, it was not possible to determine where and what was just a few hours ago.

Officials in Tokyo couldn't believe that damage of this magnitude had been caused by just one bomb. Representatives of the Japanese General Staff turned to scientists for clarification on what weapons could cause such destruction. One of the physicists, Dr. I. Nishina, suggested the use of a nuclear bomb, since rumors about American attempts to create it had been circulating among scientists for some time. The physicist finally confirmed his assumptions after a personal visit to the destroyed Hiroshima, accompanied by the military.

On August 8, the US Air Force command was finally able to evaluate the effect of its operation. Aerial photography showed that 60% of the buildings located on the territory with a total area of 12 km2 turned into dust, and piles of rubble remained from the rest.

Bombing of Nagasaki

An order was issued to compile leaflets in Japanese with photographs of the destroyed Hiroshima and a full description of the effect of a nuclear explosion, for their subsequent distribution over the territory of Japan. In case of refusal to surrender, the leaflets contained threats to continue the atomic bombing of Japanese cities.

However, the American government was not going to wait for the reaction of the Japanese, since initially they did not plan to get by with just one bomb. The next attack, scheduled for August 12, was postponed to the 9th due to the expected worsening of the weather.

The target is Kokura, with Nagasaki as a fallback. Kokura was very lucky - the cloudiness, together with the smoke screen from the burning steel plant, which had undergone an air raid the day before, made visual bombing impossible. The plane headed towards Nagasaki, and at 11 hours 02 minutes dropped its deadly cargo on the city.

Within a radius of 1.2 km from the epicenter of the explosion, all living things died almost instantly, turning into ashes under the influence of thermal radiation. The shock wave turned residential buildings into rubble and destroyed a steel plant. The thermal radiation was so powerful that the unclothed skin of people located 5 km from the explosion burned and wrinkled. 73 thousand people died instantly, 35 thousand died in terrible suffering a little later.

On the same day, the US President addressed his compatriots on the radio, thanking the higher powers in his speech for the fact that the Americans were the first to receive nuclear weapons. Truman asked God for guidance and guidance on how to most effectively use atomic bombs in the name of higher goals.

At that time, there was no urgent need for the bombing of Nagasaki, but, apparently, research interest played a role, no matter how scary and cynical it may sound. The fact is that the bombs differed in design and active substance. The "Little Boy" that destroyed Hiroshima was a barrel-type bomb filled with uranium, while the "Fat Man" - an explosive type bomb based on plutonium-239 - was destroyed by Nagasaki.

There are archival documents proving the intention of the United States to drop another atomic bomb on Japan. A telegram dated August 10, addressed to the Chief of Staff, General Marshall, reported that, under appropriate meteorological conditions, the next bombardment could be carried out on August 17-18.

Japanese surrender

On August 8, 1945, fulfilling the commitments made at the Potsdam and Yalta conferences, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, whose government still harbored the hope of reaching agreements that would avoid unconditional surrender. This event, coupled with the overwhelming effect of the use of nuclear weapons by the Americans, forced the least belligerent members of the cabinet to approach the emperor with recommendations to accept any conditions of the US and allies.

Some of the most militant officers tried to arrange a coup to prevent such a development of events, but the conspiracy failed.

On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito publicly announced the surrender of Japan. Nevertheless, clashes between Japanese and Soviet troops in Manchuria continued for several more weeks.

On August 28, the American-British allied forces began the occupation of Japan, and on September 2, an act of surrender was signed aboard the battleship Missouri, ending World War II.

Long-term effects of the atomic bombings

A few weeks after the explosions that claimed hundreds of thousands of Japanese lives, people suddenly began to die en masse, seemingly unaffected at first. At that time, the effects of radiation exposure were little understood. People continued to live in the contaminated territories, not realizing what danger ordinary water began to carry in itself, as well as the ash that covered the destroyed cities with a thin layer.

The fact that some previously unknown disease became the cause of death of people who survived the atomic bombing, Japan learned thanks to the actress Midori Naka. The theater troupe, in which Naka played, arrived in Hiroshima a month before the events, where they rented a house for living, located 650m from the epicenter of the future explosion, after which 13 out of 17 people died on the spot. Midori not only survived, but was practically unharmed, except for small scratches, although all the clothes on her simply burned down. Fleeing from the fire, the actress rushed to the river and jumped into the water, from where the soldiers pulled her out and provided first aid.

Arriving in Tokyo a few days later, Midori went to the hospital, where she was examined by the best Japanese doctors. Despite all efforts, the woman died, but the doctors had the opportunity to observe the development and course of the disease for almost 9 days. Before her death, it was believed that vomiting and bloody diarrhea, which were present in many victims, were symptoms of dysentery. Officially, Midori Naka is considered the first to die from radiation sickness, and it was her death that caused widespread discussion of the consequences of radiation contamination. From the moment of the explosion to the death of the actress, 18 days passed.

However, soon after the start of the occupation of Japanese territory by the allied forces, the newspaper references to the victims of the American bombing gradually began to fade away. During almost 7 years of occupation, American censorship prohibited any publications on this topic.

For victims of the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a special term "hibakusha" appeared. Several hundred people found themselves in a situation where talking about their health status has become taboo. Any attempts to remind about the tragedy were suppressed - it was forbidden to make films, write books, poems, songs. It was impossible to express compassion, ask for help, collect donations for the victims.

For example, the hospital set up by a group of wache enthusiasts in Ujin to help the hibakusha was closed at the request of the occupying authorities, and all documentation, including medical records, was confiscated.

In November 1945, at the suggestion of the President of the United States, the ABCC Center was established to study the effects of radiation on survivors of the explosions. The organization's clinic, which opened in Hiroshima, carried out only examinations, without providing medical assistance to the victims. The staff of the center was especially interested in the terminally ill and those who died as a result of radiation sickness. Essentially, the purpose of the ABCC was to collect statistical data.

It was only after the end of the American occupation that the hibakusha problems began to be spoken aloud in Japan. In 1957, each victim was given a document that indicated how far he was from the epicenter at the time of the explosion. The victims of the bombings and their descendants until today receive material and medical assistance from the state. However, within the rigid framework of Japanese society, there was no place for "hibakusha" - several hundred thousand people became a separate caste. The rest of the residents, if possible, avoided communication, and even more so creating a family with the victims, especially after they began to give birth to children with developmental defects en masse. Most of the pregnancies of women living in the cities at the time of the bombing ended in miscarriage, or the death of babies immediately after birth. Only a third of the pregnant women who were in the explosion zone gave birth to children who did not have serious abnormalities.

The expediency of destroying Japanese cities

Japan continued the war even after the surrender of its main ally Germany. In a report presented at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, the approximate date for the end of the war with Japan was assumed to be no earlier than 18 months after Germany surrendered. According to the United States and Great Britain, the entry of the USSR into the war against the Japanese could help reduce the duration of hostilities, casualties and material costs. According to the results of the agreements, I. Stalin promised to take the side of the Allies within 3 months after the end of the war with the Germans, which was done on August 8, 1945.

Was it really necessary to use nuclear weapons? The debate about this continues to this day. The destruction of two Japanese cities, striking in its brutality, was such a senseless act at that time that it gave rise to a number of conspiracy theories.

One of them argues that the bombings were not an urgent need, but only a show of force to the Soviet Union. The USA and Great Britain united with the USSR only reluctantly, in the fight against a common enemy. However, as soon as the danger passed, yesterday's allies immediately again became ideological opponents. The Second World War redrawn the map of the world, changing it beyond recognition. The winners established their own order, probing along the way for future rivals with whom they had been sitting in the same trenches only yesterday.

Another theory claims that Hiroshima and Nagasaki became testing grounds. Although the United States tested the first atomic bomb on a deserted island, the true power of the new weapon could only be assessed in real conditions. The still-unfinished war with Japan provided the Americans with an excellent opportunity, while also providing the ironclad excuse that politicians used to hide behind more than once. They "just saved the lives of ordinary American guys."

Most likely, the decision to use nuclear bombs was made as a result of a combination of all these factors.

After the defeat of Nazi Germany, the situation developed in such a way that the Allies were not able to force Japan to surrender only on their own.
The entry of the Soviet Union into the war obliged subsequently to listen to the opinion of the Russians.
The military itself was interested in testing new weapons in real conditions.
To demonstrate to a potential adversary who is in charge here - why not?

The justification for the United States is only the fact that the consequences of the use of such weapons at the time of their use were not studied. The effect exceeded all expectations and sobered even the most militant.

In March 1950, the Soviet Union announced the creation of its own atomic bomb. Nuclear parity was achieved in the 1970s.

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