The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively) are the only two examples of the military use of nuclear weapons in the history of mankind. Implemented by the US Armed Forces in the final stages of World War II with the aim of accelerating Japan's surrender in the Pacific Theater of War of World War II.
On the morning of August 6, 1945, the American B-29 "Enola Gay" bomber, named after the mother (Enola Gay Haggard) of the crew commander, Colonel Paul Tibbets, dropped the "Little Boy" atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, equivalent to 13 to 18 kilotons of TNT. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, the Fat Man atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki by pilot Charles Sweeney, commander of the B-29 Bockscar bomber. The total number of deaths 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, which formally ended the Second World War, 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 operational models of nuclear weapons.
After three and a half years of direct US participation 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 seize the Japanese island of Okinawa, more than 12 thousand American soldiers died, 39 thousand were wounded (Japanese losses ranged from 93 to 110 thousand soldiers and over 100 thousand civilians). The invasion of Japan itself was expected to result in losses many times greater than those of Okinawan.
Model of the bomb "Kid" (eng. Little boy), dropped on Hiroshima
May 1945: targeting
During its second meeting in Los Alamos (May 10-11, 1945), the Targeting Committee recommended Kyoto (the largest industrial center), Hiroshima (the center of army warehouses and military port), Yokohama (the center of military industry), Kokuru (largest military arsenal) and Niigatu (military port and engineering center). The committee rejected the idea of using this weapon against a purely military target, as there was a chance to miss a small area, not surrounded by a large urban area.
Psychological factors were of great importance when choosing a target, such as:
achieving maximum psychological effect against Japan,
the first use of a weapon must be significant enough for international recognition of its importance. The committee pointed out that Kyoto was favored by the fact that its population had a higher level of education and thus were better able to appreciate the value of weapons. Hiroshima was of such a size and location that, given the focusing effect from 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 "has known and appreciated Kyoto since his honeymoon there decades ago."
Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Japan map
On July 16, the world's first successful atomic weapon test 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 told Stalin that the US had a new weapon of unprecedented destructive power. Truman did not specify that he was referring precisely to atomic weapons. According to Truman's memoirs, Stalin showed little interest, only remarking that he was glad and hoped that the US could effectively use him against the Japanese. Churchill, who closely watched Stalin's reaction, remained unconvinced 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 understood everything perfectly, but did not show it and, in a conversation with Molotov after the meeting, noted that "We will need to talk with Kurchatov about speeding up our work." After declassifying the operation of the American special services "Venona", it became known that Soviet agents had long been reporting the development of nuclear weapons. According to some reports, agent Theodore Hall even announced the planned date of the first nuclear test a few days before the Potsdam conference. This may explain why Stalin took Truman's message calmly. Hall had been working for Soviet intelligence since 1944.
On July 25, Truman approved an order, starting August 3, to bomb one of the following targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata, or Nagasaki as soon as weather permits, and in the future the following cities as bombs arrive.
On July 26, the governments of the United States, Great 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 on the radio and scattered in airplane flyers, had been rejected. The Japanese government has expressed no desire to accept the ultimatum. On July 28, Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki said at a press conference that the Potsdam Declaration is 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 government's decision. 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 mixed aviation group arrived on the island of Tinian. The area where the group was based on the island was several miles from the rest of the units and was closely guarded.
On July 28, the chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, George Marshall, signed an order for the military 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 August 3, as soon as weather conditions permit." On July 29, the commander of the US Strategic Air Force, General Karl Spaats, arrived at Tinian, delivering Marshall's orders to the island.
On July 28 and August 2, the components of the Fat Man atomic bomb were brought to Tinian by airplanes.
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 housed 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 of the development consisted of one- and two-story wooden buildings with tiled roofs. Factories were located on the outskirts of the city. Outdated fire fighting equipment and inadequate training of personnel created a high fire hazard even in peacetime.
The population of Hiroshima peaked at 380,000 during the war, but before the bombing, the population gradually decreased due to the systematic evacuation 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 the spare). Although the order given by Truman called for an atomic bombing from August 3, until August 6, cloudiness over the target prevented this.
On August 6 at 1:45 am, an American B-29 bomber under the command of Colonel Paul Tibbets, commander of the 509th Mixed Aviation Regiment, carrying the "Kid" atomic bomb, took off from Tinian Island, which was about 6 hours of flight from Hiroshima. Tibbets' plane ("Enola Gay") flew as part of a formation that included six other aircraft: a reserve aircraft ("Top Secret"), two controllers and three reconnaissance aircraft ("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 the signal "Bomb the first target."
Around 7 a.m., a network of Japanese early warning radars detected the approach of several American aircraft heading for southern Japan. An air raid was announced and radio broadcasts were stopped in many cities, including Hiroshima. At approximately 08:00, a radar operator in Hiroshima determined that the number of approaching aircraft was very small - perhaps no more than three - and the air raid was canceled. Small groups of American bombers, in order to save fuel and aircraft, the Japanese did not intercept. A standard message was broadcast over the radio that it would be wise to go to the bomb shelters if the B-29s were indeed sighted, and that no raid was expected, but just some form of reconnaissance.
At 08:15 local time, 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 a Japanese city.
The shadow of a man who was sitting on the steps of the stairs in front of the entrance to the bank at the moment of the explosion, 250 meters from the epicenter
Explosion effect
Those who were closest to the epicenter of the explosion died instantly, their bodies turned into coal. Birds flying by were burned in the air, and dry, flammable materials such as paper ignited up to 2 km from the epicenter. The light radiation burned the dark pattern of clothing into the skin and left the silhouettes of human bodies on the walls. People outside their homes described a blinding flash of light, accompanied by a wave of suffocating heat. The blast wave, for everyone near the epicenter, followed almost immediately, often knocking them off their feet. Those in the buildings tended to avoid exposure to light from the explosion, but not the blast wave — glass shards hit most rooms, and all but the most durable buildings collapsed. One teenager was thrown from his house across the street by a blast, while the house collapsed behind him. Within a few minutes, 90% of people who were 800 meters or less from the epicenter died.
The blast wave shattered the windows at a distance of up to 19 km. For those in the buildings, a typical first reaction was the thought of a direct hit from an aerial bomb.
Numerous small fires, which simultaneously broke out in the city, soon merged into one large fire tornado, which created a strong wind (speed 50-60 km / h) directed towards the epicenter. The fire tornado captured over 11 km² of the city, killing everyone who did not manage 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 for me characterize the day when 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. He was also the color of the fires that burned everything in the city. Brown was the color of the burnt skin that fell off the body, exposed to the light from the explosion.
A few days after the explosion, doctors began to notice the first symptoms of radiation among the survivors. Soon, the death toll 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 only began to decline after 7-8 weeks. Japanese doctors considered vomiting and diarrhea characteristic of radiation sickness to be symptoms of dysentery. Long-term health effects associated with radiation, such as an increased risk of cancer, plagued 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 is 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 explosion and died under circumstances unknown to the then science. Jung believes that the death of Midori was the impetus for accelerating 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 had stopped broadcasting. He tried to re-establish the broadcast using a different telephone line, but this 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 stopover 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 have repeatedly tried to call the Hiroshima Command and Control Center. Complete silence from there puzzled the General Staff, because they knew that there was no large enemy raid in Hiroshima and there was no significant storage of explosives. The young headquarters officer was instructed to immediately fly to Hiroshima, land, assess the damage, and return to Tokyo with reliable information. The headquarters generally believed that nothing serious was happening there, and the messages 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. Only a zone of continuous destruction remained from the city, still burning and covered with a thick cloud of smoke. They landed south of the city, and the officer, reporting the incident in Tokyo, immediately set about organizing rescue measures.
The first real Japanese understanding 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 death toll from the direct impact of the explosion ranged from 70 to 80 thousand people. By the end of 1945, due to the effects of radioactive contamination and other post-effects of the explosion, the total number of deaths ranged 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" survivors - people affected by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This number includes children born to women who were exposed to radiation from the explosions (predominantly living in Japan at the time of the calculation). Of these, 1%, according to the Japanese government, had serious cancer caused by radiation exposure after the bombing. 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 exist in those years, and therefore this issue was not even raised at that time. People continued to live and rebuild destroyed buildings in the same place where they were before. Even the high mortality rate of the population in subsequent years, as well as diseases and genetic abnormalities in children born after the bombing, 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 estimate of the degree of this contamination due to lack of information, however, since technically the first atomic bombs were relatively weak and imperfect (the Malysh bomb, for example, contained 64 kg of uranium, of which only about 700 g of the reaction took place 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, several tons of fission products and transuranic elements - various radioactive isotopes accumulated during the operation of the reactor - were in the reactor core.
Comparative preservation of some buildings
Some of the reinforced concrete buildings in Hiroshima were very resilient (due to the risk of earthquakes) and their frame did not collapse, even though they were quite close to the center of the destruction in the city (the epicenter of the explosion). So the brick building of the Hiroshima Chamber of Commerce (now commonly known as the Gembaku Dome, or Atomic Dome), designed and built by the Czech architect Jan Letzel (English), 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 atomic explosion in Hiroshima and were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, despite objections from 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 with the aim of preventing the destruction of Japan that the ultimatum was issued on July 26 in Potsdam. Their leadership immediately rejected his terms. If they do not accept our conditions now, let them expect a rain of destruction from the air, the likes of which has not yet been on this planet.
After receiving news of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the Japanese government met to discuss its reaction. Beginning in June, the emperor advocated peace negotiations, but the Minister of Defense and 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 managed to hold out until the invasion of the Japanese islands, it would be possible to inflict such losses on the Allied forces that Japan could win peace terms other than unconditional surrender.
On August 9, the USSR declared war on Japan and Soviet troops launched an invasion of Manchuria. Hopes for Soviet mediation in the negotiations were dashed. The top leadership of the Japanese army began preparations for the declaration of martial law in order to prevent any attempts at peace negotiations.
The second atomic bombing (Kokura) was scheduled for August 11, but was postponed 2 days earlier to avoid a five-day period of bad weather, which was predicted to start on August 10.
Nagasaki during World War II
Nagasaki in 1945 was located in two valleys, through which two rivers flowed. A mountain ridge divided the districts of the city.
The development was chaotic: out of the total area of the city of 90 km², 12 were built up with residential quarters.
During the Second World War, the city, which was a major seaport, acquired particular importance as an industrial center, in which steel production and the Mitsubishi shipyard, and the Mitsubishi-Urakami torpedo production were concentrated. The city produced guns, ships and other military equipment.
Nagasaki was not subjected to large-scale bombing until the explosion of the atomic bomb, but on August 1, 1945, several high-explosive bombs were dropped on the city, damaging shipyards and docks in the southwestern part of the city. The bombs also hit the Mitsubishi steel and gun works. The raid on August 1 resulted in a partial evacuation of the population, especially schoolchildren. Nevertheless, at the time of the bombing, the population of the city was still about 200 thousand people.
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 bombing, the second was fraught with numerous technical problems. Even before takeoff, a malfunction of the fuel pump was discovered in one of the spare fuel tanks. Despite this, the crew decided to carry out the flight as planned.
At about 7:50 am, an air raid alert was announced in Nagasaki, which was canceled at 8:30 am.
At 8:10, after reaching the rendezvous point with the other B-29s participating in the sortie, one of them was found missing. For 40 minutes, B-29 Sweeney circled around the rendezvous point, but did not wait for the missing aircraft to appear. At the same time, reconnaissance aircraft reported that cloud cover over Kokura and Nagasaki, although present, still allows for bombing under visual control.
At 8:50 B-29, carrying an atomic bomb, headed for Kokura, where he arrived at 9:20. By this time, however, 70% cloudiness was already observed over the city, which did not allow visual bombing. After three unsuccessful approaches to the target, at 10:32 B-29 headed for Nagasaki. At this point, due to a malfunction of the fuel pump, there was only enough fuel for one pass over Nagasaki.
At 10:53, two B-29s came into view of the air defense, the Japanese mistook them for reconnaissance and did not issue a new alarm.
At 10:56 B-29 arrived at Nagasaki, which, as it turned out, was also covered by clouds. Sweeney reluctantly approved of the much less accurate radar approach. At the last moment, however, the bombardier-gunner Captain Kermit Behan noticed the silhouette of the city stadium in the gap between the clouds, focusing on which he dropped the atomic bomb.
The explosion occurred at 11:02 local time at an altitude of about 500 meters. The explosion power was about 21 kilotons.
Explosion effect
Japanese boy whose upper body was not covered during the explosion
The hastily targeted bomb exploded almost halfway between the two main targets in Nagasaki, Mitsubishi's steel and weapons factories in the south and the Mitsubishi-Urakami torpedo factory in the north. If the bomb were dropped further south, between the business and residential areas, the damage would be 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 located above the industrial zone - all this helped to protect some areas of the city from the effects 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 (off my bike) and the ground shook for a while. I clung to it 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 carried away by the blast. Large stones flew in the air, one hit me and then flew up into the sky again ...
When everything seemed to have calmed down, I tried to get up and found that on my left hand, the skin, from the shoulder to the tips of the fingers, hung like tattered rags.
Loss and destruction
The atomic explosion over Nagasaki affected an area of approximately 110 km², of which 22 are on the water surface and 84 were only partially populated.
According to a report from Nagasaki Prefecture, "people and animals died almost instantly" at a distance of up to 1 km from the epicenter. Nearly all houses within a 2 km radius were destroyed, and dry, flammable materials such as paper ignited up to 3 km from the epicenter. Of the 52,000 buildings in Nagasaki, 14,000 were destroyed and another 5,400 severely damaged. Only 12% of buildings remained intact. Although there was no firestorm in the city, numerous local 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 deaths from cancer and other long-term effects of the explosion, could reach or even exceed 140 thousand people.
Plans for the 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 memo 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 direct approval of the President is obtained." At the same time, the US Department of Defense has already begun discussions on the feasibility of postponing the use of bombs until the start of Operation Downfall - the expected invasion of the Japanese islands.
The problem we are facing now is whether, assuming that the Japanese do not surrender, continue to drop bombs as they are produced, or stockpile them in order to then drop everything in a short period of time. Not all in one day, but within a fairly short time. It also relates to the question of what goals we are pursuing. In other words, shouldn't we be focusing on the targets hitting which will most help the invasion, rather than on industry, troop morale, psychology, etc.? Mostly tactical goals, and not some others.
Japan's surrender and subsequent occupation
Until August 9, the war cabinet continued to insist on 4 terms of surrender. On August 9, news came about the declaration of war by the Soviet Union in the late evening of August 8 and about the atomic bombing of Nagasaki at 11 o'clock in the afternoon. At the meeting of the "Big Six", which took place on the night of August 10, the votes on the surrender issue were divided equally (3 "for", 3 "against"), after which the emperor intervened in the discussion, speaking out in favor of surrender. On August 10, 1945, Japan handed over to the Allies a surrender proposal, the only condition of which was to keep the emperor as a nominal head of state.
Since the terms of surrender allowed for the preservation of imperial power in Japan, on August 14, Hirohito wrote down his declaration of surrender, which was circulated by the Japanese media the next day, despite an attempted military coup by opponents of surrender.
Hirohito mentioned the atomic bombings in his announcement:
... in addition, the enemy has at his disposal a terrible new weapon capable of taking many innocent lives and inflicting immeasurable material damage. If we continue to fight, it will not only lead to the collapse and destruction 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 ordered to accept the terms of the joint declaration of our opponents.
Within a year after 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, Truman established the Atomic Explosion Consequences Commission at the US National Academy of Sciences to study the long-term effects of radiation on survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many non-war casualties were found among the victims of the bombing, including prisoners of war, forcibly mobilized Koreans and Chinese, students from British Malaya, and about 3,200 US citizens of Japanese descent.
In 1975, the Commission was disbanded, its functions were transferred to the newly created Institute for the Study of the Effects of Radiation (Eng. Radiation Effects Research Foundation).
Discussion on the feasibility of atomic bombings
The role of the atomic bombings in Japan's surrender and their ethical validity are still the subject of scientific and public debate. In a 2005 review of historiography devoted to this issue, American historian Samuel Walker wrote that "the debate about the appropriateness of the bombing will definitely continue." Walker also noted that "a fundamental question that has been debated for more than 40 years is whether these atomic bombings were necessary to achieve victory in the war in the Pacific on conditions acceptable to the United States."
Supporters of the bombing usually claim that it was the reason for Japan's surrender and, therefore, prevented significant losses on both sides (both the United States and Japan) in the planned invasion of Japan; that the rapid end of the war saved many lives in other Asian countries (primarily in China); that Japan was waging an all-out war in which the distinction between the military and the civilian population was blurred; and that the Japanese leadership refused to surrender, and the bombing helped to shift the balance of opinion within the government towards peace. Opponents of the bombing argue 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 it was not there were international agreements or treaties that directly or indirectly prohibited the use of nuclear weapons as a means of warfare).
A number of researchers are of 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.
Influence 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 has folded a thousand paper cranes can make a wish that will surely come true. Wanting to recover, Sadako began to fold the cranes from any pieces of paper that fell into her hands. According to the book "Sadako and a Thousand Paper Cranes" by Canadian children's writer Eleanor Coer, Sadako managed to fold only 644 cranes, after which, in October 1955, she died. Her friends finished the rest of the figurines. According to Sadako's book 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.
An American B-29 Superfortress bomber named “Enola Gay” took off from Tinian Island early in the morning of August 6 with a single 4000 kg uranium bomb called “Little Boy”. At 8:15 am, 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 an explosion of 64 kg of uranium. Of these 64 kg, only 7 kg passed the stage of splitting, and of this mass, only 600 mg turned into energy - explosive energy, which burned everything in its path for several kilometers, leveling the city to the ground with a blast wave, starting a series of fires and plunging all life into radiation flux. It is believed that about 70,000 people died immediately, with another 70,000 killed by injury 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 should cease to exist forever.
May 1945: targeting.
During its second meeting in Los Alamos (May 10-11, 1945), the Targeting Committee recommended Kyoto (the largest industrial center), Hiroshima (the center of army warehouses and military port), Yokohama (the center of military industry), Kokuru (largest military arsenal) and Niigatu (military port and engineering center). The committee rejected the idea of using this weapon against a purely military target, as there was a chance to miss a small area, not surrounded by a large urban area.
Psychological factors were of great importance when choosing a target, such as:
achieving maximum psychological effect against Japan,
the first use of a weapon must be significant enough for international recognition of its importance. The committee pointed out that Kyoto was favored by the fact that its population had a higher level of education and thus were better able to appreciate the value of weapons. Hiroshima was of such a size and location that, taking into account the focusing effect from 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 "has known and appreciated Kyoto since his honeymoon decades ago."
In the photo, US Secretary of War Henry Stimson
On July 16, the world's first successful atomic weapon test 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 told Stalin that the US had a new weapon of unprecedented destructive power. Truman did not specify that he meant precisely atomic weapons. According to Truman's memoirs, Stalin showed little interest, only remarking that he was glad and hoped that the US could effectively use him against the Japanese. Churchill, who closely watched Stalin's reaction, remained unconvinced 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 understood everything perfectly, 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 declassifying the operation of the American special services "Venona", it became known that Soviet agents had long been reporting the development of nuclear weapons. According to some reports, agent Theodore Hall even announced the planned date of the first nuclear test a few days before the Potsdam conference. This may explain why Stalin took Truman's message calmly. Hall had been working for Soviet intelligence since 1944.
On July 25, Truman approved an order, beginning on August 3, to bomb one of the following targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata or Nagasaki as soon as weather permits, and in the future the following cities as bombs arrive.
On July 26, the governments of the United States, Great 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 on the radio and scattered in airplane flyers, had been rejected. The Japanese government has expressed no desire to accept the ultimatum. On July 28, Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki said at a press conference that the Potsdam Declaration is nothing more than the old arguments of the Cairo Declaration in a new wrapper, and demanded that the government ignore it.
Emperor Hirohito, waiting for a Soviet response to the evasive diplomatic moves [what?] Of the Japanese, did not change the government's decision. On July 31, in a conversation with Koichi Kido, he made it clear that the imperial power must be protected at all costs.
Aerial view of Hiroshima shortly before the city was bombed 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 mixed aviation group arrived on the island of Tinian. The area where the group was based on the island was several miles from the rest of the units and was closely guarded.
On July 26, the cruiser Indianapolis delivered the Little Boy atomic bomb to Tinian.
On July 28, the chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, George Marshall, signed an order for the military 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 August 3, as soon as weather conditions permit." On July 29, the commander of the US Strategic Air Force, General Karl Spaats, arrived at Tinian, delivering Marshall's orders to the island.
On July 28 and August 2, the components of the "Fat Man" atomic bomb were brought to Tinian by airplanes
Commander A.F. Birch (left) numbers the bomb, codenamed "Kid," physicist Dr. Ramsay (right) will receive the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physics.
"Baby" was 3 meters 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 housed 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 of the development consisted of one- and two-story wooden buildings with tiled roofs. Factories were located on the outskirts of the city. Outdated fire fighting equipment and inadequate training of personnel created a high fire hazard even in peacetime.
The population of Hiroshima peaked at 380,000 during the war, but before the bombing, the population gradually decreased due to the systematic evacuation ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the attack, the population was about 245 thousand people.
In the photo bomber Boeing B-29 Superfortress of the US Army "Enola Gay"
Bombardment
The main target of the first American nuclear bombing was Hiroshima (Kokura and Nagasaki were the spare). Although the order given by Truman called for an atomic bombing from August 3, until August 6, cloudiness over the target prevented this.
On August 6 at 1:45 am, an American B-29 bomber under the command of Colonel Paul Tibbets, commander of the 509th Mixed Aviation Regiment, carrying the "Kid" atomic bomb, took off from Tinian Island, about 6 hours from Hiroshima. Tibbets' plane ("Enola Gay") flew as part of a group of six other aircraft: a reserve 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 the signal "Bomb the first target."
Around 7 a.m., a network of Japanese early warning radars detected the approach of several American aircraft heading for southern Japan. An air raid was announced and radio broadcasts were stopped in many cities, including Hiroshima. At approximately 08:00, a radar operator in Hiroshima determined that the number of approaching aircraft was very small - perhaps no more than three - and the air raid was canceled. Small groups of American bombers, in order to save fuel and aircraft, the Japanese did not intercept. A standard message was broadcast over the radio that it would be wise to go to the bomb shelters if the B-29s were indeed sighted, and that no raid was expected, but just some form of reconnaissance.
At 08:15 local time, B-29, being at an altitude of over 9 km, dropped an atomic bomb on the center of Hiroshima. The fuse was installed 600 meters above the surface; the explosion, the equivalent of 13 to 18 kilotons of TNT, occurred 45 seconds after the discharge.
The first public announcement of the event came from Washington, sixteen hours after the atomic attack on a Japanese city.
A photo taken from one of the two American bombers of the 509th Consolidated Group, shortly after 8:15 am on August 5, 1945, shows smoke rising from the explosion over the city of Hiroshima.
When a portion of the uranium in the bomb went through the fission stage, it was instantly converted into 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 were burnt in the air, and dry, flammable materials such as paper ignited up to 2 km from the epicenter. The light radiation burned the dark pattern of clothing into the skin and left the silhouettes of human bodies on the walls. People outside their homes described a blinding flash of light, accompanied by a wave of suffocating heat. The blast wave, for everyone near the epicenter, followed almost immediately, often knocking them off their feet. Those in the buildings tended to avoid exposure to light from the explosion, but not the blast wave — glass shards hit most rooms, and all but the most durable buildings collapsed. One teenager was thrown from his house across the street by a blast, while the house collapsed behind him. Within a few minutes, 90% of people who were 800 meters or less from the epicenter died.
The blast wave shattered the windows at a distance of up to 19 km. For those in the buildings, a typical first reaction was the thought of a direct hit from an aerial bomb.
Numerous small fires, which simultaneously broke out in the city, soon merged into one large fiery tornado, which created a strong wind (speed 50-60 km / h) directed towards the epicenter. The fire tornado captured over 11 km² of the city, killing everyone who did not manage 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 for me characterize the day when 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. He was also the color of the fires that burned everything in the city. Brown was the color of burnt skin that fell off the body, exposed to light from the explosion.
A few days after the explosion, doctors began to notice the first symptoms of radiation among the survivors. Soon, the death toll 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 only began to decline after 7-8 weeks. Japanese doctors considered vomiting and diarrhea characteristic of radiation sickness to be symptoms of dysentery. Long-term health effects associated with radiation, such as an increased risk of cancer, plagued survivors for the rest of their lives, as did the psychological shock of the explosion.
The shadow of a man, at the time of the explosion, was sitting on the steps of the stairs in front of the entrance to the bank, 250 meters from the epicenter.
Loss and destruction
The death toll from the direct impact of the explosion ranged from 70 to 80 thousand people. By the end of 1945, due to the effects of radioactive contamination and other post-effects of the explosion, the total number of deaths ranged 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 200,000.
According to official Japanese data as of March 31, 2013, there were 201,779 "hibakusha" survivors - people affected by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This figure includes children born to women who were exposed to radiation from the explosions (predominantly living in Japan at the time of the calculation). Of these, 1%, according to the Japanese government, had serious cancer caused by radiation exposure after the bombing. 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 fall of 1945 on one branch of the river passing through the delta on which the city stands
Complete destruction after dropping the atomic bomb.
Color photograph of the destroyed Hiroshima in March 1946.
An explosion destroyed Okita's plant in Hiroshima, Japan.
See how the sidewalk was raised and a drainpipe protrudes from the bridge. Scientists say this was due to the vacuum created by the pressure from the atomic explosion.
Gnarled 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 1200 meters from the epicenter.
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Nuclear pollution
The concept of "radioactive contamination" did not exist in those years, and therefore this issue was not even raised at that time. People continued to live and rebuild destroyed buildings in the same place where they were before. Even the high mortality rate of the population in subsequent years, as well as diseases and genetic abnormalities in children born after the bombing, 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 estimate of the degree of this contamination due to lack of information, however, since technically the first atomic bombs were relatively weak and imperfect (the Malysh bomb, for example, contained 64 kg of uranium, of which only about 700 g of the reaction took place 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 transuranic 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. 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 resilient (due to the risk of earthquakes), and their frame did not collapse, despite the fact that they were quite close to the center of the destruction in the city (the epicenter of the explosion). So the brick building of the Hiroshima Chamber of Commerce (now commonly known as the Gembaku Dome or Atomic Dome), designed and built by the Czech architect Jan Letzel (English), which was only 160 meters from the epicenter of the explosion (at the height of the bomb 600 m above the surface). The ruins became the most famous exhibit of the atomic explosion in Hiroshima and were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, despite objections from 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 Hiroshima Memorial Park look at a panoramic view of the aftermath of the July 27, 2005 atomic explosion in Hiroshima.
Memorial fire in honor of the victims of the atomic explosion at a monument in Hiroshima Memorial Park. The fire has been burning continuously since it was lit on August 1, 1964. The fire will burn until "until all the atomic weapons of the earth disappear forever."
MOSCOW, August 6 - RIA Novosti, Asuka Tokuyama, Vladimir Ardaev. When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Sadao Yamamoto was 14 years old. He was weeding potatoes in the eastern part of the city, when all of a sudden his whole body burned like fire. The epicenter of the explosion was two and a half kilometers away. On that day, Sadao was supposed to go to school, which was located in the western part of Hiroshima, but remained at home. And if he did, then nothing could save the boy from instant death. Most likely, he would simply disappear, like thousands of other people, without a trace. The city has turned into a real hell.
"Burnt bodies of people, swollen and resembling rubber dolls, were piled up everywhere in disarray, eyes were white on the burned faces," recalls another survivor, Yoshiro Yamawaki.
"Kid" and "Fat Man"
Exactly 72 years ago, on August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m. at an altitude of 576 meters above the Japanese city of Hiroshima, the American atomic bomb "Kid" with a capacity of only 13 to 18 kilotons in TNT equivalent detonated - today even tactical nuclear weapons have greater destructive power ... But this "weak" (by today's standards) explosion instantly killed about 80 thousand people, including several tens of thousands simply disintegrated into molecules - only dark silhouettes on the walls and stones remained of them. The city was instantly engulfed in fire, which destroyed it.
Three days later, on August 9, at 11 hours 2 minutes, the "Fat Man" bomb with a capacity of 21 kilotons of TNT exploded at a height of half a kilometer above the city of Nagasaki. The number of casualties was about the same as in Hiroshima.
Radiation continued to kill people after the explosion - every year. Today, the total number of deaths and deaths from the atomic bombing of Japan in 1945 has exceeded 450 thousand people.
Yoshiro Yamawaki was the same age, and he lived in Nagasaki. On August 9, Yoshiro was at home when the Fat Man bomb exploded two kilometers away. Fortunately, his mother and little brother and sister were evacuated and therefore were not injured in any way.
“My twin brother and I sat down at the table, about to have lunch, when suddenly we were blinded by a bright flash. Then a strong air wave swept through the house and literally blew it away. Just at that time, our older brother, a mobilized schoolboy, returned from the factory. they rushed to the bomb shelter and waited there for their father, but he never returned, "says Yoshiro Yamawaki.
"People died standing up"
The day after the explosion, Yoshiro and his brothers went in search of his father. They got to the factory - the bomb exploded just half a kilometer away. And the closer they got, the more terrifying pictures were revealed to them.
"On the bridge, we saw the ranks of the dead, standing at the railing on both sides. They died standing. So they stood with their heads bowed, as if in prayer. And dead bodies were floating along the river too. At the factory we found the body of our father - it seemed that he was dead. the face laughs. The adults from the factory helped us to cremate the body. We burned our father at the stake, but we did not dare to tell the mother about everything that we saw and experienced, "Yoshiro Yamawaki continues to recall.
“In the first post-war spring, sweet potatoes were planted in our schoolyard,” says Reiko Yamada. “But when they began to harvest, suddenly here and there screams began to be heard: along with the potatoes, human bones appeared from the ground. potatoes despite hunger. "
The day after the explosion, Sadao Yamamoto's mother asked her to visit her younger sister, whose house was only 400 meters from the bomb site. But everything was destroyed there, and burnt bodies lay by the road.
"All Hiroshima is a big cemetery"
“My mother’s younger sister’s husband managed to get to the emergency room. We were all glad that my uncle had escaped wounds and burns, but, as it turned out, another, invisible trouble awaited him. Soon he began to vomit bloody, and we were told that he had died. Grabbing a huge dose of radiation, my uncle suddenly died of radiation sickness. It is radiation that is the most terrible consequence of an atomic explosion, it kills a person not from the outside, but from the inside, "says Sadao Yamamoto.
Chorus of Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors sang about peaceIn the Peace Park of the city of Nagasaki, the choir "Himawari" ("Sunflower") traditionally sang the song "Never again" at the Peace Statue, depicting a 10-meter giant, who points to the sky where the terrible tragedy of 1945 came from.“I would very much like all people - both children and adults - to know what was happening in the courtyard of my school on that terrible day. Together with my comrades, we collected money and in 2010 installed a commemorative stele in the schoolyard. cemetery. I moved to Tokyo a long time ago, but until now, when I come to Hiroshima, I cannot calmly walk on its ground, thinking: is there another dead unburied body lying here, under my foot? " Says Reiko Yamada.
“It is very important to free the world from nuclear weapons. Please do it! under the US nuclear umbrella. We, the victims of the atomic bombing, are very saddened by this and want to call on the nuclear powers to lead the liberation of the world from this terrible weapon, "says Sadao Yamamoto.
The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is the only case in history when nuclear weapons were used for military purposes. He terrified humanity. This tragedy is one of the most terrible pages in the history of not only Japan, but the entire civilization. Almost half a million people were sacrificed to political goals: to force the USSR to enter the war with Japan, to force Japan to surrender in World War II, and at the same time to scare the Soviet Union and the whole world, demonstrating the power of a fundamentally new weapon, which will soon appear in the USSR as well.
According to the official point of view, the bombing of Japanese cities was the only compelling argument to persuade the Japanese government to surrender. According to historians, the proud Japanese were ready to fight to the last soldier, and seriously prepared for the American intervention.The proud Japanese were ready to fight to the last soldier, and seriously prepared for the American intervention // Photo: whotrades.com
Japanese intelligence knew that the United States had no choice but to land on the island of Kyushu. Here fortifications were already waiting for them. Tokyo planned to impose a battle on Washington, which would have cost them dearly, both materially and in terms of human lives. The Japanese were not very interested in their losses. American intelligence learned about these plans. Such an alignment of forces did not suit Washington. The American government wanted the enemy's complete and unconditional surrender on their terms. And this meant the occupation and the creation of institutions in the state that Washington would consider necessary. The Japanese, according to some reports, were ready to surrender. But they categorically did not accept America's terms. Tokyo was determined to maintain the current government and avoid occupation.
It is noteworthy that at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, Roosevelt insisted that the USSR undertake the obligation to enter the war with Japan. At the end of the summer of 1945, the Soviet leadership informed the allies that its troops were ready to cross the border of Manchuria and go to war with Japan. The White House made it clear to Stalin that he was not against such a scenario. But if this does not happen, then there will be no complaints either. Thus, America already had a trump card in the war with Japan. But the spread of the influence of the USSR to the East was extremely undesirable for her.
Execution list
Initially, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not the main contenders for a meeting with the American nuclear bomb. Moreover, Nagasaki was not even on the list of cities that the American generals considered as targets. The United States admitted the possibility of dropping a nuclear bomb on Kyoto, as the cultural and industrial center of Japan. Next on the list was Yokohama because of its military factories, and Hiroshima, as it was home to a huge number of ammunition depots. There was a large military port in Niigata, so the city was put on the "firing list", and the city of Kokura was considered a target as it was considered the largest military arsenal in the country.
The death of Kyoto could really break the Japanese // Photo: sculpture.artyx.ru
From the very beginning, Kyoto was seen as the main target. The death of this city could really crush the Japanese. Kyoto has long been the capital of the state, and now it is considered the largest cultural center. He was saved by pure chance. The fact is that one of the American generals spent his honeymoon in the cultural capital of Japan. He felt very sorry for the beautiful city, and he used all his eloquence to convince his superiors to spare him.
After Kyoto disappeared from the list, Nagasaki appeared in it. Later, the choice of the American command was stopped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Judgment Day
On August 6, 1945, the Americans dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. The city was surrounded by hills, and the United States expected the terrain to further exacerbate the impact of the attack. The city was destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of people died. The people who survived the explosion tried to escape the heat in the river, but the water literally boiled, and some were boiled alive. Three days later, on August 9, hell repeated itself in Nagasaki. It is noteworthy that the pilot with a nuclear bomb on board had two targets - Kokura and Nagasaki. Kokura was saved by the fact that that day there was a thick fog over him. Ironically, Nagasaki hospitals treated victims of the Hiroshima blast.
According to experts, the explosions cost almost half a million human lives. And almost all of them belonged to civilians. Many of the survivors then died due to radiation sickness.
Hidden motives
The nuclear bomb finally convinced the Japanese government of the need for surrender. Emperor Hirohito accepted all the conditions of the Americans. And the whole world saw how devastating the consequences of using new weapons of mass destruction can be. Already at that moment, the world leaders began to understand that the next global conflict would be the last for humanity.
After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered on the terms of the Americans // Photo: istpravda.ru
Even though at that time the United States and the USSR were considered allies in the war against the Nazis, the first signs of coldness between the superpowers were already visible. According to many experts, the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were in many ways indicative. They were supposed to demonstrate the power of America. But as a result, this led to the fact that Moscow urgently created its own nuclear bomb, and then other states. This is how the arms race began, which kept the whole world in suspense throughout the entire second half of the twentieth century.
The Second World War was remembered in history not only for catastrophic destruction, ideas of a crazy fanatic and many deaths, but also on August 6, 1945 - the beginning of a new era in world history. The fact is that it was then that the first and currently the last use of atomic weapons for military purposes was carried out. The power of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb has remained for centuries. In the USSR there was one that frightened the population of the whole world, see the top of the most powerful nuclear bombs and and to
There are not so many people who survived this attack, as well as the surviving buildings. We, in turn, decided to collect all the existing information about the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, structure the data of this effect of influence and support the story with the words of eyewitnesses, officers from the headquarters.
Was the atomic bomb needed
Almost every person living on earth knows that America dropped nuclear bombs on Japan, although the country experienced this test alone. In view of the political situation of that time, in the United States and the control center they celebrated victory, while on the other side of the world people were killed en masse. This topic still resonates with pain in the hearts of tens of thousands of Japanese, and for good reason. On the one hand, it was a necessity, because it was not possible to end the war in another way. On the other hand, many people think that the Americans simply wanted to test a new deadly "toy".
Robert Oppenheimer, a theoretical physicist for whom science has always been in the first place in life, did not even think that his invention would cause such huge damage. Although he did not work alone, he is called the father of the nuclear bomb. Yes, in the process of creating a warhead, he knew about the possible harm, although he did not understand that it would be inflicted on civilians who had no direct relation to the war. As he later said, "We did all the work for the devil." But this phrase was uttered afterwards. And at that time he did not differ with foresight, because he did not know what would happen tomorrow and what the Second World War would turn out to be.
Three full-fledged warheads were ready in American "bins" before 1945:
- Trinity;
- Baby;
- Fat man.
The first was blown up in the process of testing, and the last two went down in history. The drop of a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was predicted to end the war. After all, the Japanese government did not accept the terms of surrender. And without it, other allied countries will have neither military support nor a reserve of human resources. And so it happened. On August 15, as a consequence of the shock experienced, the government signed documents on unconditional surrender. This date is now called the official end of the war.
Historians, politicians and ordinary people cannot agree on whether the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was needed to this day. What's done is done, we can't change anything. But it was this action against Japan that marked the turning point in history. The threat of new atomic bomb explosions hangs over the planet from day to day. Although most countries have renounced nuclear weapons, some have retained this status. The nuclear warheads of Russia and the United States are safely hidden, but conflicts at the political level are not diminishing. And the possibility is not excluded that someday more similar "actions" will be held.
In our native history, we can meet the concept of the Cold War, when during the Second World War and after its end, two superpowers - the Soviet Union and the United States - could not come to an agreement. This period began just after the surrender of Japan. And everyone knew that if the countries did not find a common language, nuclear weapons would be used again, only now not in concert with each other, but mutually. This would be the beginning of the end and would again make the Earth a blank slate, unfit for existence - without people, living organisms, buildings, only with a huge level of radiation and a bunch of corpses all over the world. As the famous scientist said, in the Fourth World, people will fight with sticks and stones, since only a few will survive the Third. After this small lyrical digression, let's return to the historical facts and how the warhead was dropped on the city.
Prerequisites for the attack on Japan
The drop of a nuclear bomb on Japan was conceived long before the explosion. The 20th century is generally distinguished by the rapid development of nuclear physics. Significant discoveries in this industry were made almost daily. World scientists have realized that a nuclear chain reaction will make a warhead. Here's how they behaved in the opposing countries:
- Germany... In 1938, German nuclear physicists were able to split the uranium nucleus. Then they turned to the government and talked about the possibility of creating a fundamentally new weapon. Then they launched the world's first rocket launcher. This is probably what spurred Hitler to start a war. Although the research was classified, some of it is now known. Research centers have created a reactor to generate enough uranium. But scientists had to choose between substances that could slow down the reaction. It could be water or graphite. By choosing water, they, without knowing it, deprived themselves of the possibility of creating atomic weapons. It became clear to Hitler that he would not be released until the end of the war, and he cut funding for the project. But the rest of the world did not know about it. Therefore, they feared German studies, especially with such brilliant initial results.
- USA... The first patent for a nuclear weapon was obtained in 1939. All such studies took place in fierce competition with Germany. The process was spurred on by a letter to the US President from the most progressive scientists of the time that a bomb could be created in Europe earlier. And if you do not have time, then the consequences will be unpredictable. Since the age of 43, America has been assisted in development by Canadian, European and British scientists. The project was named "Manhattan". For the first time, the weapon was tested on July 16 at a test site in New Mexico and the result was considered successful.
In 1944, the heads of the United States and England decided that if the war did not end, they would have to use a warhead. Already at the beginning of 1945, when Germany surrendered, the Japanese government decided not to admit defeat. The Japanese continued to repel attacks in the Pacific and to advance. It was already clear then that the war was lost. But the morale of the "samurai" was not broken. The battle for Okinawa was a prime example of this. The Americans suffered huge losses in it, but they are incomparable with the invasion of Japan itself. Although the US bombed Japanese cities, the fury of the army's resistance continued. Therefore, the question of the use of nuclear weapons was raised again. The targets for the attack were chosen by a specially created committee.
Why Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The Targeting Commission met twice. For the first time, the Hiroshima Nagasaki nuclear bomb release date was approved. For the second time, specific weapon targets against the Japanese were selected. It happened on May 10, 45. They wanted to drop the bomb on:
- Kyoto;
- Hiroshima;
- Yokohama;
- Niigata;
- Kokuru.
Kyoto was the country's largest industrial center, Hiroshima was home to a huge military port and army depots, Yokohama was the center of the military industry, Kokuru was the repository of a large arsenal of weapons, and Niigata was the center of military equipment construction, as well as a port. It was decided not to use the bomb on military installations. After all, small targets without an urban area around it could not be hit accurately and there was a chance to miss. Kyoto was immediately rejected. The population in this city was distinguished by a high level of education. They could appreciate the significance of the bomb and influence the country's surrender. Some requirements were put forward for other objects. They must be large and significant economic centers, and the very process of dropping the bomb must cause a resonance in the world. Objects damaged by air strikes did not fit. After all, the assessment of the consequences after the explosion of an atomic warhead from the General Staff had to be accurate.
Two cities were chosen as the main ones - Hiroshima and Kokura. For each of them, a so-called safety net was identified. Nagasaki became one of them. Hiroshima attracted with its location and size. The power of the bomb must be increased by the nearby hills and mountains. Significance was also attached to psychological factors that could have a special impact on the population of the country and its leadership. And yet, the effectiveness of the bomb must be significant for it to be recognized throughout the world.
Bombing history
The nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima was supposed to explode on August 3. She had already been delivered by a cruiser to the island of Tinian and assembled. It was separated by only 2500 km from Hiroshima. But bad weather pushed the terrible date by 3 days. Therefore, the event occurred on August 6, 1945. Despite the fact that there were hostilities near Hiroshima and the city was often bombed, no one was afraid anymore. In some schools, studies continued, people worked according to their usual schedule. Most of the residents were on the street, eliminating the consequences of the bombing. Even small children dismantled the rubble. Lived in Hiroshima 340 (245 according to other sources) thousand people.
Numerous T-shaped bridges linking six parts of the city were chosen as the place to drop the bomb. They were perfectly visible from the air and cut the river up and down. From here, both the industrial center and the residential sector, consisting of small wooden buildings, could be seen. At 7 o'clock in the morning, an air raid signal sounded. All immediately ran for cover. But already at 7:30 the alarm was canceled, as the operator saw on the radar that no more than three planes were approaching. Whole squadrons flew in to bomb Hiroshima, so the conclusion was made about reconnaissance operations. Most of the people, mostly children, ran out of hiding to watch the planes. But they were flying too high.
The day before, Oppenheimer had given the crew members clear instructions on how to drop the bomb. It should not have exploded high above the city, otherwise the planned destruction would not be achieved. The target should be clearly visible from the air. The pilots of the American b-29 bomber dropped the warhead at the exact time of the explosion - 8:15 am. The bomb "Little Boy" exploded at an altitude of 600 meters from the ground.
Explosion consequences
The power of the Hiroshima Nagasaki nuclear bomb is estimated at 13 to 20 kilotons. It was filled with uranium. It exploded over the modern hospital "Sima". People, who were a few meters from the epicenter, burned down immediately, since the temperature here was in the region of 3-4 thousand degrees Celsius. Some of them left only black shadows on the ground, on the steps. In a second, about 70 thousand people died, hundreds of thousands more were terribly injured. The mushroom cloud rose 16 kilometers above the ground.
According to eyewitnesses, at the moment of the explosion, the sky turned orange, then a fiery tornado appeared, which blinded, then a sound passed. Most of those who were within a radius of 2-5 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion lost consciousness. People flew 10 meters away and looked like wax dolls, the remains of houses circled in the air. After the survivors came to their senses, they rushed en masse into the shelter, fearing the next combat use and a second explosion. Nobody knew what an atomic bomb was and did not assume about the possible dire consequences. Whole clothes were left on the units. Most were in rags that did not have time to burn out. Based on the words of eyewitnesses, we can conclude that they were scalded with boiling water, the skin ached and itched. On the places where there were chains, earrings, rings, there was a scar for life.
But the worst thing started later. The faces of the people were burned beyond recognition. It was impossible to tell whether it was a man or a woman. From many, the skin began to peel off and reached the ground, holding only on the nails. Hiroshima was like a parade of the living dead. Residents walked with their arms outstretched in front of them and asked for water. But they could only drink from the canals by the road, which they did. Those who reached the river threw themselves into it to ease the pain and died there. The corpses flowed away with the current, accumulating near the dam. People with babies in buildings hugged them and died like that. Most of their names were never identified.
Within a few minutes a black rain with radioactive contamination started. There is a scientific explanation for this. Nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki increased the air temperature several times. With such an anomaly, a lot of liquid evaporated, it very quickly fell onto the city. The water mixed with soot, ash and radiation. Therefore, even if a person was not severely affected by the explosion, he became infected by drinking this rain. He penetrated the channels, onto the products, infecting them with radioactive substances.
The dropped atomic bomb destroyed hospitals, buildings, there were no medicines. The day after, the survivors were taken to hospitals about 20 kilometers from Hiroshima. Burns were treated there with flour and vinegar. People were wrapped in bandages like mummies and released home.
Not far from Hiroshima, the inhabitants of Nagasaki did not even suspect about the exact same attack on them, which was being prepared on August 9, 1945. Meanwhile, the US government congratulated Oppenheimer ...