Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Nuclear weapons have been used for combat purposes only twice in the entire history of mankind. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 showed how dangerous it could be. It was the real experience of using nuclear weapons that was able to keep two powerful powers (the USA and the USSR) from starting a third world war.

Dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

During World War II, millions of innocent people suffered. The leaders of world powers blindly put the lives of soldiers and civilians on the line, hoping to achieve superiority in the struggle for world domination. One of the most terrible disasters in world history was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as a result of which about 200 thousand people were killed, and the total number of people who died during and after the explosion (from radiation) reached 500 thousand.

There are still only speculations about what led the President of the United States of America to order the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Did he realize, did he know, what destruction and consequences a nuclear bomb would leave after the explosion? Or was this action intended to demonstrate combat power in front of the USSR in order to completely kill any thoughts of attacks on the United States?

History has not preserved the motives that motivated the 33rd US President Harry Truman when he ordered a nuclear attack on Japan, but only one thing can be said with certainty: it was the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that forced the Japanese emperor to sign surrender.

In order to try to understand the motives of the United States, one must carefully consider the situation that arose in the political arena in those years.

Emperor Hirohito of Japan

Japanese Emperor Hirohito had good leadership abilities. In order to expand his lands, in 1935 he decided to capture all of China, which at that time was a backward agrarian country. Following the example of Hitler (with whom Japan entered into a military alliance in 1941), Hirohito begins to conquer China using methods favored by the Nazis.

In order to cleanse China of its indigenous inhabitants, Japanese troops used chemical weapons, which were banned. Inhumane experiments were carried out on the Chinese, with the goal of finding out the limits of the viability of the human body in various situations. In total, about 25 million Chinese died during Japanese expansion, most of whom were children and women.

It is possible that the nuclear bombing of Japanese cities might not have taken place if, after concluding a military pact with Hitler's Germany, the Emperor of Japan had not given the order to launch an attack on Pearl Harbor, thereby provoking the United States to enter World War II. After this event, the date of the nuclear attack begins to approach with inexorable speed.

When it became clear that Germany's defeat was inevitable, the question of Japan's surrender seemed to be a matter of time. However, the Japanese emperor, the embodiment of samurai arrogance and a true God for his subjects, ordered all residents of the country to fight to the last drop of blood. Everyone, without exception, had to resist the invader, from soldiers to women and children. Knowing the mentality of the Japanese, there was no doubt that the residents would carry out the will of their emperor.

In order to force Japan to capitulate, radical measures had to be taken. The atomic explosion, which occurred first in Hiroshima and then in Nagasaki, turned out to be precisely the impetus that convinced the emperor of the futility of resistance.

Why was a nuclear attack chosen?

Although the number of versions of why a nuclear attack was chosen to intimidate Japan is quite large, the following versions should be considered the main ones:

1. Most historians (especially American) insist that the damage caused by dropped bombs is several times less than what could have been caused by a bloody invasion of American troops. According to this version, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not sacrificed in vain, since it saved the lives of the remaining millions of Japanese;
2. According to the second version, the purpose of the nuclear attack was to show the USSR how advanced US military weapons were in order to intimidate a possible enemy. In 1945, the US President was informed that activity of Soviet troops had been noticed in the area of ​​the border with Turkey (which was an ally of England). Perhaps this is why Truman decided to intimidate the Soviet leader;
3. The third version says that the nuclear attack on Japan was American revenge for Pearl Harbor.

At the Potsdam Conference, which took place from July 17 to August 2, the fate of Japan was decided. Three states - the USA, England and the USSR, led by their leaders, signed the declaration. It spoke of a post-war sphere of influence, although World War II was not yet over. One of the points of this declaration spoke of the immediate surrender of Japan.

This document was sent to the Japanese government, which rejected this proposal. Following the example of their emperor, members of the government decided to continue the war to the end. After this, the fate of Japan was decided. Since the US military command was looking for where to use the latest atomic weapons, the President approved the atomic bombing of Japanese cities.

The coalition against Nazi Germany was on the verge of breaking (due to the fact that there was one month left before victory), the allied countries were unable to come to an agreement. The different policies of the USSR and the USA ultimately led these states to the Cold War.

The fact that US President Harry Truman was informed about the start of nuclear bomb testing on the eve of the meeting in Potsdam played an important role in the decision of the head of state. Wanting to intimidate Stalin, Truman hinted to the Generalissimo that he had a new weapon ready, which could leave huge casualties after the explosion.

Stalin ignored this statement, although he soon called Kurchatov and ordered the completion of work on the development of Soviet nuclear weapons.

Having not received Stalin's answer, the American president decides to launch atomic bombing at his own peril and risk.

Why were Hiroshima and Nagasaki chosen for nuclear attack?

In the spring of 1945, the US military had to select suitable sites for full-scale nuclear bomb testing. Even then, it was possible to notice the prerequisites that the last test of an American nuclear bomb was planned to be carried out at a civilian facility. The list of requirements created by scientists for the latest nuclear bomb test looked like this:

1. The object had to be on a plain so that the blast wave would not be hampered by uneven terrain;
2. Urban development should be made of wood as much as possible so that the destruction from fire is maximum;
3. The property must have maximum building density;
4. The size of the object must exceed 3 kilometers in diameter;
5. The selected city must be located as far as possible from enemy military bases in order to exclude the intervention of enemy military forces;
6. For a strike to bring maximum benefit, it must be delivered to a large industrial center.

These requirements indicate that the nuclear strike was most likely something that had been planned for a long time, and Germany could well have been in Japan’s place.

The intended targets were 4 Japanese cities. These are Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Kyoto and Kokura. Of these, it was only necessary to select two real targets, since there were only two bombs. An American expert on Japan, Professor Reishower, begged to remove the city of Kyoto from the list, since it was of enormous historical value. It is unlikely that this request could have influenced the decision, but then the Minister of Defense, who was spending his honeymoon with his wife in Kyoto, intervened. They met the minister and Kyoto was saved from a nuclear strike.

Kyoto's place on the list was taken by the city of Kokura, which was chosen as a target along with Hiroshima (although later weather conditions made their own adjustments, and Nagasaki had to be bombed instead of Kokura). The cities had to be large and the destruction large-scale so that the Japanese people would be horrified and stop resisting. Of course, the main thing was to influence the position of the emperor.

Research by historians from around the world shows that the American side was not at all concerned about the moral side of the issue. Tens and hundreds of potential civilian casualties were of no concern to either the government or the military.

After looking through entire volumes of secret materials, historians came to the conclusion that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were doomed in advance. There were only two bombs, and these cities had a convenient geographical location. In addition, Hiroshima was a very densely built-up city, and an attack on it could unleash the full potential of a nuclear bomb. The city of Nagasaki was the largest industrial center working for the defense industry. A large number of guns and military equipment were produced there.

Details of the bombing of Hiroshima

The military strike on the Japanese city of Hiroshima was planned in advance and carried out in accordance with a clear plan. Each point of this plan was clearly implemented, which indicates careful preparation of this operation.

On July 26, 1945, a nuclear bomb named "Baby" was delivered to the island of Tinian. By the end of the month, all preparations were completed and the bomb was ready for combat operation. After checking meteorological readings, the date of the bombing was set - August 6. On this day the weather was excellent and the bomber, with a nuclear bomb on board, took off into the air. Its name (Enola Gay) was remembered for a long time not only by the victims of the nuclear attack, but also by all of Japan.

During the flight, the plane carrying death on board was accompanied by three planes, whose task was to determine the direction of the wind so that the atomic bomb would hit the target as accurately as possible. An airplane was flying behind the bomber, which was supposed to record all the data from the explosion using sensitive equipment. A bomber was flying at a safe distance with a photographer on board. Several aircraft flying towards the city did not cause any concern either to the Japanese air defense forces or to the civilian population.

Although Japanese radars detected the approaching enemy, they did not raise the alarm because of a small group of military aircraft. Residents were warned about a possible bombing, but they continued to work quietly. Since the nuclear strike was not like a conventional air raid, not a single Japanese fighter took off to intercept it. Even the artillery did not pay attention to the approaching planes.

At 8:15 a.m., the Enola Gay bomber dropped a nuclear bomb. This release was carried out using a parachute to enable the group of attacking aircraft to move to a safe distance. Having dropped the bomb at an altitude of 9,000 meters, the battle group turned around and left.

Having flown about 8,500 meters, the bomb exploded at an altitude of 576 meters from the ground. A deafening explosion covered the city with an avalanche of fire, which destroyed everything in its path. Directly at the epicenter, people simply disappeared, leaving behind only the so-called “shadows of Hiroshima.” All that remained of the person was a dark silhouette imprinted on the floor or walls. At a distance from the epicenter, people were burning alive, turning into black firebrands. Those who were on the outskirts of the city were a little more fortunate; many of them survived, having received only terrible burns.

This day became a day of mourning not only in Japan, but throughout the world. About 100,000 people died that day, and the following years claimed the lives of several hundred thousand more. All of them died from radiation burns and radiation sickness. According to official statistics from the Japanese authorities as of January 2017, the number of deaths and injuries from the American uranium bomb is 308,724 people.

Hiroshima is today the largest city in the Chugoku region. The city has a memorial dedicated to the victims of the American atomic bombing.

What happened in Hiroshima on the day of the tragedy

The first Japanese official sources said that the city of Hiroshima was attacked by new bombs that were dropped from several American aircraft. People did not yet know that the new bombs destroyed tens of thousands of lives in an instant, and the consequences of a nuclear explosion would last for decades.

It is possible that even the American scientists who created atomic weapons did not imagine what consequences radiation would have for people. For 16 hours after the explosion, not a single signal was received from Hiroshima. Noticing this, the Broadcast Station operator began making attempts to contact the city, but the city remained silent.

After a short period of time, incomprehensible and confusing information came from the railway station, which was located not far from the city, from which the Japanese authorities understood only one thing: an enemy raid had been carried out on the city. It was decided to send the plane for reconnaissance, since the authorities knew for sure that no serious enemy combat air groups had broken through the front line.

Approaching the city at a distance of about 160 kilometers, the pilot and the officer accompanying him saw a huge dust cloud. As they flew closer, they saw a terrible picture of destruction: the entire city was ablaze with fires, and smoke and dust made it difficult to discern the details of the tragedy.

Having landed in a safe place, the Japanese officer reported to the command that the city of Hiroshima had been destroyed by US aircraft. After this, the military began to selflessly provide assistance to their wounded and shell-shocked compatriots from the bomb explosion.

This disaster united all the surviving people into one big family. Wounded people, barely able to stand, cleared the rubble and put out fires, trying to save as many compatriots as possible.

Washington made an official statement about the successful operation only 16 hours after the bombing.

Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki

The city of Nagasaki, which was an industrial center, was never subjected to massive air strikes. They tried to preserve it to demonstrate the enormous power of the atomic bomb. Only a few high-explosive bombs damaged weapons factories, shipyards and medical hospitals a week before the terrible tragedy.

Now it seems incredible, but Nagasaki became the second Japanese city to be subjected to nuclear bombing, only by chance. The initial target was the city of Kokura.

The second bomb was delivered and loaded onto the plane, following the same plan as in the case of Hiroshima. The plane with the nuclear bomb took off and flew towards the city of Kokura. On approach to the island, three American planes had to meet to record the explosion of an atomic bomb.

Two planes met, but they did not wait for the third. Contrary to the forecast of meteorologists, the sky over Kokura became clouded, and visual dropping of the bomb became impossible. After circling over the island for 45 minutes and not waiting for the third plane, the commander of the plane, who was carrying a nuclear bomb on board, noticed problems in the fuel supply system. Since the weather had completely deteriorated, it was decided to fly to the reserve target area - the city of Nagasaki. The group, consisting of two aircraft, flew to an alternate target.

On August 9, 1945, at 7:50 a.m., the residents of Nagasaki woke up to an air raid signal and went down to shelters and bomb shelters. After 40 minutes, considering the alarm not worthy of attention, and classifying the two aircraft as reconnaissance aircraft, the military canceled it. People went about their normal business, not suspecting that an atomic explosion was about to occur.

The Nagasaki attack went exactly the same way as the Hiroshima attack, only high clouds almost ruined the Americans' bomb release. Literally in the last minutes, when the fuel supply was at its limit, the pilot noticed a “window” in the clouds and dropped a nuclear bomb at an altitude of 8,800 meters.

The carelessness of the Japanese air defense forces is striking, which, despite news of a similar attack on Hiroshima, did not take any measures to neutralize American military aircraft.

The atomic bomb, called “Fat Man,” exploded at 11:20 a.m. and within a few seconds turned a beautiful city into a kind of hell on earth. 40,000 people died in an instant, and another 70,000 suffered terrible burns and injuries.

Consequences of nuclear bombings of Japanese cities

The consequences of a nuclear attack on Japanese cities were unpredictable. In addition to those killed at the time of the explosion and during the first year after it, radiation continued to kill people for many years. As a result, the number of victims doubled.

Thus, the nuclear attack brought the United States a long-awaited victory, and Japan had to make concessions. The consequences of the nuclear bombing struck Emperor Hirohito so much that he unconditionally accepted the terms of the Potsdam Conference. Based on the official version, the nuclear attack carried out by the US military brought exactly what the American government wanted.

In addition, the USSR troops, which accumulated on the border with Turkey, were urgently transferred to Japan, to which the USSR declared war. According to members of the Soviet Politburo, upon learning of the consequences caused by nuclear explosions, Stalin said that the Turks were lucky because the Japanese had sacrificed themselves for them.

Only two weeks passed after the entry of Soviet troops into Japanese territory, and Emperor Hirohito had already signed an act of unconditional surrender. This day (September 2, 1945) went down in history as the day the Second World War ended.

Was there an urgent need to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Even in modern Japan, debate continues over whether the nuclear bombing was necessary or not. Scientists from all over the world are painstakingly studying secret documents and archives from the Second World War. Most researchers agree that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were sacrificed to end the world war.

The famous Japanese historian Tsuyoshi Hasegawa believes that the atomic bombing was launched to prevent the expansion of the Soviet Union into Asian countries. This also allowed the United States to assert itself as a leader in military terms, which they succeeded brilliantly. After the nuclear explosion, arguing with the United States was very dangerous.

If you adhere to this theory, then Hiroshima and Nagasaki were simply sacrificed to the political ambitions of superpowers. Tens of thousands of victims were completely ignored.

One can guess what could have happened if the USSR had managed to complete the development of its nuclear bomb before the United States. It is possible that the atomic bombing would not have happened then.

Modern nuclear weapons are thousands of times more powerful than the bombs dropped on Japanese cities. It is difficult to even imagine what could happen if the world's two largest powers started a nuclear war.

The most little-known facts regarding the tragedy in Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Although the tragedy in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is known throughout the world, there are facts that only a few know:

1. A man who managed to survive in hell. Although everyone near the epicenter of the explosion died during the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, one person, who was in a basement 200 meters from the epicenter, managed to survive;
   
2. War is war, but the tournament must continue. At a distance of less than 5 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion in Hiroshima, a tournament in the ancient Chinese game “Go” was taking place. Although the explosion destroyed the building and many participants were injured, the tournament continued that day;
3. Capable of withstanding even a nuclear explosion. Although the explosion in Hiroshima destroyed most of the buildings, a safe in one bank was not damaged. After the end of the war, the American company that produced these safes received a letter of gratitude from the manager of a bank in Hiroshima;
4. Extraordinary luck. Tsutomu Yamaguchi was the only person on earth who officially survived two atomic explosions. After the explosion in Hiroshima, he went to work in Nagasaki, where he again managed to survive;
5. Pumpkin bombs. Before the atomic bombing began, the United States dropped 50 “Pumpkin” bombs on Japan, so named for their resemblance to a pumpkin;
6. An attempt to overthrow the emperor. The Emperor of Japan mobilized all the country's citizens for "total war." This meant that every Japanese, including women and children, had to defend their country to the last drop of blood. After the emperor, frightened by atomic explosions, accepted all the terms of the Potsdam Conference and later capitulated, Japanese generals tried to carry out a coup d'etat, which failed;
7. Those who encountered a nuclear explosion and survived. Japanese Gingko biloba trees are amazingly resilient. After the nuclear attack on Hiroshima, 6 of these trees survived and continue to grow to this day;
   
8. People who dreamed of salvation. After the explosion in Hiroshima, hundreds of survivors fled to Nagasaki. Of these, 164 people managed to survive, although only Tsutomu Yamaguchi is considered an official survivor;
9. Not a single police officer was killed in the atomic explosion in Nagasaki. The surviving law enforcement officers from Hiroshima were sent to Nagasaki in order to train their colleagues in the basics of behavior after a nuclear explosion. As a result of these actions, not a single police officer was killed in the Nagasaki explosion;
10. 25 percent of Japan's dead were Koreans. Although it is believed that all those killed in the atomic explosions were Japanese, a quarter of them were actually Koreans who were conscripted by the Japanese government to fight in the war;
11. Radiation is like fairy tales for children. After the atomic explosion, the American government for a long time hid the fact of the presence of radioactive contamination;
12. Meetinghouse. Few people know that the US authorities did not limit themselves to nuclear bombing of two Japanese cities. Before this, using carpet bombing tactics, they destroyed several Japanese cities. During Operation Meetinghouse, the city of Tokyo was virtually destroyed and 300,000 of its inhabitants died;
13. They didn't know what they were doing. The crew of the plane that dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima was 12 people. Of these, only three knew what a nuclear bomb was;
14. On one of the anniversaries of the tragedy (in 1964), an eternal flame was lit in Hiroshima, which should burn as long as there is at least one nuclear warhead left in the world;
    
15. Lost connection. After the destruction of Hiroshima, communication with the city was completely lost. Only three hours later the capital learned that Hiroshima had been destroyed;
16. Deadly poison. The crew of the Enola Gay were given ampoules of potassium cyanide, which they were to take if the task was not completed;
17. Radioactive mutants. The famous Japanese monster “Godzilla” was invented as a mutation due to radioactive contamination after a nuclear bomb;
18. Shadows of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The explosions of nuclear bombs were so powerful that people literally evaporated, leaving only dark imprints on the walls and floor as a reminder of themselves;
19. Symbol of Hiroshima. The first plant to bloom after the nuclear attack in Hiroshima was the oleander. It is he who is now the official symbol of the city of Hiroshima;
20. Warning before a nuclear attack. Before the nuclear attack began, US aircraft dropped millions of leaflets warning of impending bombing on 33 Japanese cities;
21. Radio signals. Until recently, an American radio station in Saipan broadcast warnings of a nuclear attack throughout Japan. The signals were repeated every 15 minutes.

The tragedy in Hiroshima and Nagasaki happened 72 years ago, but it still serves as a reminder that humanity should not mindlessly destroy its own kind.

The Second World War is remembered in history not only for catastrophic destruction, the ideas of a crazy fanatic and many deaths, but also for August 6, 1945 - the beginning of a new era in world history. The fact is that it was then that the first and, to date, last use of atomic weapons for military purposes was carried out. The power of the nuclear bomb in Hiroshima 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 to

There are not so many people who survived this attack, as well as surviving buildings. We, in turn, decided to collect all existing information about the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, structure the data on this impact effect and support the story with the words of eyewitnesses and officers from the headquarters.

Was the atomic bomb necessary?

Almost every person living on earth knows that America dropped nuclear bombs on Japan, although the country went through this test alone. Due to the political situation at that time, the States and the control center celebrated the victory while people were dying en masse on the other side of the world. 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 any other way. On the other hand, many people think that the Americans simply wanted to try out a new deadly “toy.”

Robert Oppenheimer, a theoretical physicist for whom science always came first in his life, did not even think that his invention would cause such enormous damage. Although he did not work alone, he is called the father of the nuclear bomb. Yes, in the process of creating the warhead, he knew about the possible harm, although he did not understand that it would be inflicted on civilians who had nothing directly to do with the war. As he said later: “We did all the work for the devil.” But this phrase was uttered subsequently. And at that time he was not distinguished by his foresight, since he did not know what would happen tomorrow and how the Second World War would turn out.

In the American "bins" before 1945, three full-fledged warheads were ready:

• Trinity;
• Baby;
• Fat man.

The first was blown up during testing, and the last two went down in history. The dropping of nuclear bombs 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 reserves 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 to this day whether the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was necessary. What's done is done, we can't change anything. But it was precisely this action directed against Japan that became a turning point in history. The threat of new atomic bomb explosions hangs over the planet every day. Although most countries have abandoned atomic weapons, some still retain this status. The nuclear warheads of Russia and the United States are securely hidden, but conflicts at the political level are not decreasing. And the possibility cannot be ruled out that more similar “actions” will be held someday.

In our native history, we can come across the concept of the “Cold War,” when during the Second World War and after its end, the 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 agreement with each other, but mutually. This would be the beginning of the end and would again make the Earth a blank slate, unsuitable for existence - without people, living organisms, buildings, only with a huge level of radiation and a bunch of corpses around the world. As a famous scientist said, in the Fourth World War people will fight with sticks and stones, since only a few will survive the Third. After this short 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 dropping of a nuclear bomb on Japan was planned 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 every day. World scientists realized that a nuclear chain reaction would make it possible to make a warhead. Here's how they behaved in opposing countries:

1. 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 probably spurred Hitler to start the war. Although the studies were classified, some of them are now known. Research centers have created a reactor to generate a sufficient amount of 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 even 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 in the rest of the world they didn’t know about it. That is why they were afraid of German research, especially with such brilliant initial results.
2. USA. The first patent for nuclear weapons was received in 1939. All such studies took place in fierce competition with Germany. The process was spurred by a letter to the US President from the most progressive scientists of that time stating that a bomb could be created in Europe earlier. And if you don’t have time, then the consequences will be unpredictable. In development, starting in 1943, America was helped by Canadian, European and English scientists. The project was called "Manhattan". The weapon was first 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 fend off attacks in the Pacific and advance. It was already clear then that the war was lost. But the morale of the “samurai” was not broken. A striking example of this was the Battle of Okinawa. 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 did not subside. Therefore, the question of the use of nuclear weapons was raised again. The targets for the attack were selected by a specially created committee.

Why Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

The target selection committee met twice. For the first time, the Hiroshima Nagasaki nuclear bomb release date was approved. The second time, specific targets for weapons against the Japanese were selected. It happened on May 10, 1945. They wanted to drop the bomb on:

• Kyoto;
• Hiroshima;
• Yokohama;
• Niigata;
• Kokuru.

Kyoto was the largest industrial center of the country, Hiroshima was home to a huge military port and army warehouses, Yokohama was the center of the military industry, Kokuru was home to a large arsenal of weapons, and Niigata was the center for the construction of military equipment, as well as a port. They decided not to use the bomb at military installations. After all, it was possible not to hit small targets without an urban area around and there was a chance of missing. Kyoto was rejected outright. The population in this city had a high level of education. They could assess 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 process of dropping the bomb itself must cause a resonance in the world. Objects damaged by air raids were not suitable. 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 determined. Nagasaki became one of them. Hiroshima was attractive due to its location and size. The power of the bomb must be increased by nearby hills and mountains. Significance was also attached to psychological factors that could have a special impact on the country’s population and its leadership. Also, the effectiveness of a bomb must be significant in order for it to be recognized throughout the world.

History of the bombing

The nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima was scheduled to explode on August 3rd. It has already been delivered by cruiser to the island of Tinian and assembled. It was separated by only 2500 km from Hiroshima. But bad weather pushed the terrible date back by 3 days. Therefore, the event of August 6, 1945 occurred. Despite the fact that military operations took place near Hiroshima and the city was often bombed, no one was afraid anymore. In some schools, classes continued and people worked according to their usual schedule. Most of the residents were on the street, eliminating the consequences of the bombing. Even small children cleared away the rubble. 340 (245 according to other sources) thousand people lived in Hiroshima.

Numerous T-shaped bridges connecting six parts of the city were chosen as the location for dropping the bomb. They were clearly visible from the air and crossed the river lengthwise and crosswise. From here one could see both the industrial center and the residential sector, consisting of small wooden buildings. At 7 o'clock in the morning the air raid alarm sounded. Everyone 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 aircraft were approaching. Entire squadrons were flown in to bomb Hiroshima, so the conclusion was drawn that they were reconnaissance operations. Most people, mostly children, ran out of hiding to look at 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 have been 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 “Little Boy” bomb exploded at an altitude of 600 meters from the ground.

Consequences of the explosion

The yield of the Hiroshima Nagasaki nuclear bomb is estimated to be between 13 and 20 kilotons. It was filled with uranium. It exploded over the modern Sima hospital. People who were a few meters from the epicenter burned immediately, since the temperature here was around 3-4 thousand degrees Celsius. From some, only black shadows remained on the ground and steps. Approximately 70 thousand people died per second, and hundreds of thousands more received terrible injuries. 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 was blinding, then the sound passed through. 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 were spinning in the air. After the survivors came to their senses, they rushed en masse to the shelter, fearing another attack and a second explosion. No one yet knew what an atomic bomb was or imagined the possible dire consequences. All the clothes were left on the units. Most wore rags that had not yet faded. Based on the words of eyewitnesses, we can conclude that they were scalded with boiling water, their skin hurt and itched. In places where there were chains, earrings, rings, a scar remained for life.

But the worst thing began later. People's faces were burned beyond recognition. It was impossible to tell whether it was a man or a woman. The skin of many began to peel off and reached the ground, holding on only by their nails. Hiroshima resembled 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 along the road, which is what they did. Those who reached the river threw themselves into it to relieve the pain and died there. The corpses flowed downstream, accumulating near the dam. People with babies who were in the buildings grabbed them and died frozen like that. Most of their names have never been identified.

Within minutes, black rain with radioactive contamination began to fall. There is a scientific explanation for this. The nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki increased the air temperature significantly. With such an anomaly, a lot of liquid evaporated, and it very quickly fell on the city. The water mixed with soot, ash and radiation. Therefore, even if a person was not seriously injured from the explosion, he became infected by drinking this rain. It penetrated into the canals and onto the products, contaminating them with radioactive substances.

The dropped atomic bomb destroyed hospitals, buildings, and there was no medicine. The day after, survivors were taken to hospitals about 20 kilometers from Hiroshima. Burns there were treated with flour and vinegar. People were wrapped in bandages like mummies and sent home.

Not far from Hiroshima, the residents of Nagasaki had no idea about exactly the same attack on them, which was being prepared on August 9, 1945. Meanwhile, the US government congratulated Oppenheimer...

Illustration copyright AP Image caption Hiroshima a month after the explosion

70 years ago, on August 6, 1945, nuclear weapons were used for the first time - by the United States against the Japanese city of Hiroshima. On August 9, it happened for the second and, hopefully, last time in history: an atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

The role of the atomic bombings in the surrender of Japan and their moral assessment are still controversial.

Manhattan Project

The possibility of using fission of uranium nuclei for military purposes became obvious to specialists at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1913, H.G. Wells created the science fiction novel “The World Set Free,” in which he described the nuclear bombing of Paris by the Germans with many reliable details and used the term “atomic bomb” for the first time.

In June 1939, Birmingham University scientists Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls calculated that the critical mass of the charge should be at least 10 kg of enriched uranium-235.

Around the same time, European physicists who fled from the Nazis to the United States noticed that their German colleagues who were working on related issues had disappeared from the public sphere, and concluded that they were busy with a secret military project. Hungarian Leo Szilard asked Albert Einstein to use his authority to influence Roosevelt.

On October 11, 1939, an address signed by Einstein, Szilard and the future “father of the hydrogen bomb” Edward Teller was read by the president. History has preserved his words: “This requires action.” According to other sources, Roosevelt called the Secretary of War and said: “Make sure that the Nazis don’t blow us up.”

Large-scale work began on December 6, 1941, coincidentally the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The project was given the code name "Manhattan". Brigadier General Leslie Groves, who knew nothing about physics and did not like “eggheaded” scientists, but had experience in organizing large-scale construction, was appointed head. In addition to Manhattan, he is famous for the construction of the Pentagon, to this day the largest building in the world.

As of June 1944, 129 thousand people were employed in the project. Its approximate cost was two billion then (about 24 billion today) dollars.

Russian historian that Germany did not acquire a bomb not thanks to anti-fascist scientists or Soviet intelligence, but because the United States was the only country in the world economically capable of doing so in war conditions. Both in the Reich and in the USSR, all resources were spent on the current needs of the front.

"Frank's Report"

Soviet intelligence closely monitored the progress of work at Los Alamos. Her task was made easier by the leftist beliefs of many physicists.

Several years ago, the Russian television channel NTV made a film according to which the scientific director of the “Manhattan Project” Robert Oppenheimer allegedly, back in the late 1930s, offered Stalin to come to the USSR and create a bomb, but the Soviet leader preferred to do it for American money and get the results in finished form.

This is a legend; Oppenheimer and other leading scientists were not agents in the generally accepted sense of the word, but they were frank in conversations on scientific topics, although they guessed that the information was going to Moscow, because they found it fair.

In June 1945, several of them, including Szilard, sent Secretary of War Henry Stimson a report known by the name of one of the authors, Nobel laureate James Frank. Scientists proposed, instead of bombing Japanese cities, to conduct a demonstrative explosion in an uninhabited place, wrote about the impossibility of maintaining a monopoly and predicted a nuclear arms race.

Target selection

During Roosevelt's visit to London in September 1944, he and Churchill agreed to use nuclear weapons against Japan as soon as they were ready.

On April 12, 1945, the president died suddenly. After the first meeting of the administration, which was chaired by Harry Truman, who had not previously been privy to many secret matters, Stimson stayed and informed the new leader that he would soon have a weapon of unprecedented power in his hands.

The most important US contribution to the Soviet nuclear project was the successful test in the Alamogordo desert. When it became clear that it was possible in principle to do this, there was no need to receive any more information - we would have done it anyway Andrei Gagarinsky, Advisor to the Director of the Kurchatov Institute

On July 16, the Americans tested a 21-kiloton nuclear weapon in the Alamogordo Desert. The result exceeded expectations.

On July 24, Truman casually told Stalin about the miracle weapon. He showed no interest in the topic.

Truman and Churchill decided that the old dictator did not understand the importance of what he heard. In fact, Stalin knew about the test in every detail from agent Theodore Hall, who was recruited in 1944.

On May 10-11, the newly formed Target Selection Committee met at Los Alamos and recommended four Japanese cities: Kyoto (the historical imperial capital and major industrial center), Hiroshima (large military depots and the headquarters of Field Marshal Shunroku Hata's 2nd Army), Kokura (machine-building enterprises and the largest arsenal) and Nagasaki (military shipyards, an important port).

Henry Stimson crossed out Kyoto because of its historical and cultural monuments and sacred role for the Japanese people. According to American historian Edwin Reischauer, the minister “knew and loved Kyoto from his honeymoon there decades ago.”

Final stage

On July 26, the United States, Britain and China issued the Potsdam Declaration demanding Japan's unconditional surrender.

According to researchers, Emperor Hirohito, after the defeat of Germany, realized the futility of further struggle and wanted negotiations, but hoped that the USSR would act as a neutral mediator, and the Americans would be afraid of the large casualties during the assault on the Japanese islands, and thus would succeed by giving up positions in China and Korea, avoid surrender and occupation.

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 of July 26 was issued in Potsdam. If they do not accept our terms now, let them expect a rain of destruction from the air, the likes of which has never been seen on this planet Statement by President Truman after the bombing of Hiroshima

On July 28, the Japanese government rejected the Potsdam Declaration. The military command began to prepare for the implementation of the “Jasper to Pieces” plan, which provided for the wholesale mobilization of the civilian population and their arming with bamboo spears.

Back at the end of May, the secret 509th Air Group was formed on the island of Tinian.

On July 25, Truman signed a directive to launch a nuclear strike “any day after August 3, as soon as weather conditions permit.” On July 28, it was duplicated in a combat order by the Chief of Staff of the American Army, George Marshall. The next day, the commander-in-chief of strategic aviation, Karl Spaats, flew to Tinian.

On July 26, the cruiser Indianapolis delivered the atomic bomb "Little Boy" with a yield of 18 kilotons to the base. Components of the second bomb, codenamed "Fat Man," with a yield of 21 kilotons, were airlifted on July 28 and August 2 and assembled on site.

Judgment Day

On August 6 at 01:45 local time, the B-29 "air fortress", piloted by the commander of the 509th Airlift Group, Colonel Paul Tibbetts and named "Enola Gay" in honor of his mother, took off from Tinian and reached its target six hours later.

On board was a "Baby" bomb, on which someone wrote: "For those killed on the Indianapolis." The cruiser that delivered the charge to Tinian was sunk by a Japanese submarine on July 30. 883 sailors died, about half of whom were eaten by sharks.

Enola Gay was escorted by five reconnaissance aircraft. Crews sent to Kokura and Nagasaki reported heavy clouds, but clear skies over Hiroshima.

Japanese air defense announced an air raid alert, but canceled it when they saw that there was only one bomber.

At 08:15 local time, a B-29 dropped “Baby” on the center of Hiroshima from a 9-kilometer altitude. The charge went off at an altitude of 600 meters.

After about 20 minutes, Tokyo noticed that all types of communications with the city had been cut off. Then, from a railway station 16 km from Hiroshima, a confused message was received about some kind of monstrous explosion. An officer of the General Staff, sent by plane to find out what was going on, saw the glow 160 kilometers away and had difficulty finding a place to land in the vicinity.

The Japanese learned about what happened to them only 16 hours later from an official statement made in Washington.

Goal #2

The bombing of Kokura was scheduled for 11 August, but was delayed by two days due to a long period of bad weather predicted by weather forecasters.

At 02:47, a B-29 under the command of Major Charles Sweeney, carrying the "Fat Man" bomb, took off from Tinian.

I was knocked to the ground from 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 a child being carried away by the blast wave. Large rocks flew through the air, one hit me and then flew back up into the sky. When everything had calmed down, I tried to get up and found that the skin on my left arm from my shoulder to my fingertips was hanging like tattered rags. Sumiteru Taniguchi, 16-year-old resident of Nagasaki

Kokura was saved the second time by thick clouds. Arriving at the reserve target, Nagasaki, which had previously hardly been subjected to even ordinary raids, the crew saw that the sky there was overcast with clouds.

Since there was little fuel left for the return journey, Sweeney was about to drop a bomb at random, but then the gunner, Captain Kermit Behan, saw the city stadium in the gap between the clouds.

The explosion occurred at 11:02 local time at an altitude of about 500 meters.

While the first raid went smoothly from a technical point of view, Sweeney's crew had to constantly repair the fuel pump.

Returning to Tinian, the aviators saw that there was no one around the landing strip.

Exhausted from a difficult, multi-hour mission and annoyed that three days ago everyone was rushing around with Tibbetts’ crew like a piece of cake, they turned on all the alarm signals at once: “We are going for an emergency landing”; "The plane is damaged"; "There are dead and wounded on board." Ground personnel poured out of buildings, and fire trucks rushed to the landing site.

The bomber froze, Sweeney descended from the cockpit to the ground.

“Where are the dead and wounded?” - they asked him. The major waved his hand in the direction from where he had just arrived: “They all stayed there.”

Consequences

One resident of Hiroshima went to visit relatives in Nagasaki after the explosion, was hit by a second blow, and survived again. But not everyone is so lucky.

The population of Hiroshima was 245 thousand, Nagasaki 200 thousand people.

Both cities were built up mainly with wooden houses that flared like paper. In Hiroshima, the blast wave was further amplified by the surrounding hills.

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 and fires. Brown was the color of burnt skin falling off the body of Akiko Takahura, who survived 300 meters from the epicenter of the explosion

90% of people who were within a kilometer radius of the epicenters died instantly. Their bodies turned to coal, the light radiation left silhouettes of bodies on the walls.

Within a radius of two kilometers, everything that could burn was on fire, and within a radius of 20 kilometers, windows were broken in houses.

The victims of the raid on Hiroshima were about 90 thousand, Nagasaki - 60 thousand people. Another 156 thousand died in the next five years from diseases attributed by doctors to the consequences of nuclear explosions.

A number of sources cite total figures of 200 thousand victims in Hiroshima and 140 thousand in Nagasaki.

The Japanese had no idea about radiation and did not take any precautions, and doctors at first considered vomiting a symptom of dysentery. People first started talking about the mysterious “radiation sickness” after the death of the popular actress Midori Naka, who lived in Hiroshima, on August 24 from leukemia.

According to official Japanese data, as of March 31, 2013, there were 201,779 hibakusha - people who survived the atomic bombings and their descendants - living in the country. According to the same data, over 68 years, 286,818 “Hiroshima” and 162,083 “Nagasaki” hibakusha died, although decades later death could also be caused by natural causes.

Memory

The world has heard the touching story of a girl from Hiroshima, Sadako Sasaki, who survived Hiroshima at two years old and fell ill with blood cancer at the age of 12. According to Japanese belief, a person's every wish will come true if he makes a thousand paper cranes. While in the hospital, she folded 644 cranes and died in October 1955.

In Hiroshima, the reinforced concrete building of the Chamber of Industry remained standing, located just 160 meters from the epicenter, built before the war by the Czech architect Jan Letzel to withstand an earthquake, and now known as the “Atomic Dome”.

In 1996, UNESCO included it in its list of protected world heritage sites, despite objections from Beijing, which believed that honoring the victims of Hiroshima was an insult to the memory of Chinese victims of Japanese aggression.

American participants in the nuclear bombings subsequently commented on this episode of their biography in the spirit of: “War is war.” The only exception was Major Claude Iserly, the commander of the reconnaissance aircraft, who reported that the skies were clear over Hiroshima. He subsequently suffered from depression and became involved in the pacifist movement.

Was there a need?

Soviet history textbooks clearly stated that “the use of atomic bombs was not caused by military necessity” and was dictated solely by the desire to intimidate the USSR.

Truman was quoted as saying after Stimson's report: "If this thing blows up, I'll have a good stick against the Russians."

The debate about the wisdom of bombing will certainly continue Samuel Walker, American historian

At the same time, the former American ambassador to Moscow, Averell Harriman, argued that, at least in the summer of 1945, Truman and his circle did not have such considerations.

“In Potsdam, such an idea never occurred to anyone. The prevailing opinion was that Stalin should be treated as an ally, albeit a difficult one, in the hope that he would behave in the same way,” the senior diplomat wrote in his memoirs.

The operation to capture one small island, Okinawa, lasted two months and claimed the lives of 12 thousand Americans. According to military analysts, in the event of a landing on the main islands (Operation Downfall), the battles would have lasted another year, and the number of US casualties could have increased to a million.

The entry of the Soviet Union into the war was, of course, an important factor. But the defeat of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria practically did not weaken the defense capability of the Japanese metropolis, since it would still be impossible to transfer troops there from the mainland due to the overwhelming superiority of the United States at sea and in the air.

Meanwhile, already on August 12, at a meeting of the Supreme Council for the Management of the War, Japanese Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki decisively declared the impossibility of further struggle. One of the arguments voiced then was that in the event of a nuclear strike on Tokyo, not only the subjects, born to selflessly die for the fatherland and the Mikado, but also the sacred person of the emperor could suffer.

The threat was real. On August 10, Leslie Groves informed General Marshall that the next bomb would be ready for use on August 17-18.

The enemy has a terrible new weapon at his disposal, capable of claiming many innocent lives and causing immeasurable material damage. In such a situation, how can we save millions of our subjects or justify ourselves to the sacred spirit of our ancestors? For this reason, we ordered the acceptance of the terms of the joint declaration of our opponents From the declaration of Emperor Hirohito of August 15, 1945

On August 15, Emperor Hirohito issued a decree of surrender, and the Japanese began to surrender en masse. The corresponding act was signed on September 2 on board the American battleship Missouri, which entered Tokyo Bay.

According to historians, Stalin was unhappy that this happened so quickly, and Soviet troops did not have time to land on Hokkaido. Two divisions of the first echelon had already concentrated on Sakhalin, awaiting the signal to move.

It would be logical if the surrender of Japan on behalf of the USSR was accepted by the commander-in-chief in the Far East, Marshal Vasilevsky, as in Germany Zhukov. But the leader, demonstrating disappointment, sent a secondary person to the Missouri - Lieutenant General Kuzma Derevianko.

Subsequently, Moscow demanded that the Americans allocate Hokkaido to it as an occupation zone. The claims were dropped and relations with Japan were normalized only in 1956, after the resignation of Stalin's Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov.

Ultimate Weapon

At first, both American and Soviet strategists viewed atomic bombs as conventional weapons, only with increased power.

In the USSR in 1956, a large-scale exercise was held at the Totsky training ground to break through the enemy’s fortified defenses with the real use of nuclear weapons. Around the same time, US Strategic Air Commander Thomas Powell ridiculed scientists who warned about the consequences of radiation: “Who said two heads are worse than one?”

But over time, especially after the appearance in 1954, capable of killing not tens of thousands, but tens of millions, Albert Einstein’s point of view prevailed: “If in world war number three they will fight with atomic bombs, then in world war number four they will fight with clubs.” .

Stalin's successor Georgy Malenkov at the end of 1954 published in Pravda in the event of nuclear war and the need for peaceful coexistence.

Atomic war is madness. There will be no winners Albert Schweitzer, doctor, philanthropist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate

John Kennedy, after the obligatory briefing with the Secretary of Defense for a new president, exclaimed bitterly: “And we still call ourselves the human race?”

Both in the West and in the East, the nuclear threat has been relegated to the background in the mass consciousness according to the principle: “If this has not happened before, then it will not happen in the future.” The problem has spilled over into years of sluggish negotiations on cuts and control.

In fact, the atomic bomb turned out to be the “absolute weapon” that philosophers had been talking about for centuries, one that would make impossible, if not wars in general, then their most dangerous and bloody variety: total conflicts between great powers.

The build-up of military power according to the Hegelian law of the negation of the negation turned out to be its opposite.

An American B-29 Superfortress bomber named “Enola Gay” took off from Tinian 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 an explosion of 64 kg of uranium. Of these 64 kg, only 7 kg went through the fission 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, with another 70,000 dying 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 will cease to exist forever.

May 1945: selection of targets.

During its second meeting at Los Alamos (May 10-11, 1945), the Target Selection Committee recommended Kyoto (a major industrial center), Hiroshima (an army storage center and military port), and Yokohama (a military center) as targets for the use of atomic weapons. industry), Kokura (the largest military arsenal) and Niigata (a military port and mechanical engineering center). The committee rejected the idea of ​​using this weapon against a purely military target, since there was a chance of overshooting a small area not surrounded by a large 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 a weapon must be significant enough for its importance to be recognized internationally. The committee pointed out that the choice of Kyoto was due to the fact that its population had a higher level of education and was thus better able to appreciate the value of weapons. Hiroshima was of such a size and location that, taking into account the focusing effect of the surrounding hills, the force of the explosion could be increased.
US Secretary of War Henry Stimson removed Kyoto from 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 US 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, saying only that he was glad and hoped that the United States could use it 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 understood everything perfectly, but did not show it, and in a conversation with Molotov after the meeting he noted that “We will need to talk with Kurchatov about speeding up our work.” After the declassification of the American intelligence services' operation "Venona", it became known that Soviet agents had long been reporting on 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 August 3, to bomb one of the following targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata, or Nagasaki, as soon as weather permits, and the following cities in the future as bombs become available.
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, the text of which was broadcast on the radio and scattered in leaflets from airplanes, had been rejected. The Japanese government did not express any desire to accept the ultimatum. On July 28, Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki said 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 government’s decision. On July 31, in a conversation with Koichi Kido, he made it clear that 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 Mixed Aviation Group arrived on Tinian Island. The group's base area on the island was several miles from other units and was carefully 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 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, the commander of US strategic aviation, General Carl Spaatz, 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 plane.

Commander A.F. Birch (left) numbers the bomb, codenamed "Baby", physicist Dr Ramsay (right) will receive the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1989.

The "baby" 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 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 city's population before the war was over 340 thousand people, making 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 firefighting equipment and insufficient training of personnel created a high fire danger even in peacetime.
Hiroshima's population peaked at 380,000 during the war, but before the bombing the population gradually declined due to systematic evacuations ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the attack the population was about 245 thousand people.

Pictured is the US Army Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber "Enola Gay"

Bombardment

The primary target of the first American nuclear bombing was Hiroshima (the alternate targets were Kokura and Nagasaki). Although Truman's orders called for atomic bombing to begin on August 3, cloud cover over the target prevented this until August 6.
On August 6 at 1:45 a.m., an American B-29 bomber under the command of the commander of the 509th Combined Aviation Regiment, Colonel Paul Tibbetts, carrying the Baby atomic bomb on board, took off from the island of Tinian, which was about 6 hours flight from Hiroshima. Tibbetts' plane (Enola Gay) was flying as part of a formation that included six other aircraft: a reserve plane (Top Secret), two controllers and three reconnaissance aircraft (Jebit III, Full House and Straight Flash). The commanders of reconnaissance aircraft sent to Nagasaki and Kokura reported significant cloudiness over these cities. The pilot of the third reconnaissance aircraft, Major Iserli, found that the sky over Hiroshima was clear and sent the signal “Bomb the first target.”
Around seven o'clock in the morning, the Japanese early warning radar network detected the approach of several American aircraft heading towards southern Japan. An air raid warning was announced and radio broadcasts were stopped in many cities, including Hiroshima. At approximately 08:00, the 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 canceled. In order to save fuel and aircraft, the Japanese did not intercept small groups of American bombers. The standard radio message was that it would be wise to head to bomb shelters if the B-29s were actually spotted, and that it was not a raid but just some form of reconnaissance that was expected.
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 installed at a height of 600 meters above the surface; the explosion, the equivalent of 13 to 18 kilotons of TNT, occurred 45 seconds after the release.
The first public report of the event came from Washington, sixteen hours after the atomic attack on the Japanese city.

A photo taken from one of two American bombers of the 509th Integrated Group shortly after 8:15 a.m. on August 5, 1945, shows smoke rising from the explosion over the city of Hiroshima.

When the uranium in the bomb fissioned, it was instantly converted into the energy of 15 kilotons of TNT, heating the massive fireball to 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. The light radiation burned the dark pattern of clothing into the skin and left silhouettes of human bodies on the walls. People outside their houses described a blinding flash of light, which was simultaneously accompanied by a wave of stifling heat. The blast wave followed almost immediately for everyone near the epicenter, often knocking them off their feet. Occupants of the buildings generally avoided exposure to the light radiation from the explosion, but not the blast wave - glass shards hit most rooms, and all but the strongest buildings collapsed. One teenager was thrown from his house across the street by the blast wave, 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 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, creating a strong wind (at a speed of 50-60 km/h) directed towards the epicenter. The firestorm 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 a distance of 300 m from the epicenter at the time of the explosion:
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 skin falling off the body, exposed to the light radiation from the explosion.
A few days after the explosion, doctors began to notice the first symptoms of radiation among the survivors. Soon, the number of deaths among the survivors began to rise again, as patients who had seemed 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 7-8 weeks later. Japanese doctors considered vomiting and diarrhea characteristic of radiation sickness to be symptoms of dysentery. Long-term health effects associated with exposure, such as an increased risk of cancer, haunted survivors for the rest of their lives, as did the psychological shock of the blast.

The shadow of a man who was sitting on the steps of the stairs in front of the bank at the time of the explosion, 250 meters from the epicenter.

Losses 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 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, 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 who suffered from 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 the calculation). Of these, 1%, according to the Japanese government, had serious cancer 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 fall of 1945 on one branch of the river passing through the delta on which the city stands

Complete destruction after the dropping of an atomic bomb.

Color photograph of the destruction of Hiroshima in March 1946.

An explosion destroyed the Okita plant in Hiroshima, Japan.

Look how the sidewalk has been raised and there's a drainpipe sticking 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.

No comments...

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 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 bombings, were not initially associated with exposure to radiation. Evacuation of the population from contaminated areas was not carried out, since no one knew about the very presence of radioactive contamination.
It is quite difficult to give an accurate assessment of the extent of this contamination due to lack of information, however, since the first atomic bombs were technically relatively low-power and imperfect (the Baby bomb, for example, contained 64 kg of uranium, of which only about 700 g reacted division), the level of contamination 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, there were several tons of fission products and transuranium elements in the reactor core - various radioactive isotopes that 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 not protected from direct radiation rays.

Comparative preservation of some buildings

Some reinforced concrete buildings in the city were very stable (due to the risk of earthquakes), and their frames did not collapse, despite the fact that they were quite close to the center of destruction in the city (the epicenter of the explosion). This is how the brick building of the Hiroshima Chamber of Industry (now commonly known as the "Genbaku Dome", or "Atomic Dome"), designed and built by the Czech architect Jan Letzel, survived, 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 artifact of the Hiroshima atomic explosion and were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, despite objections from the US and Chinese governments.

A man looks at the ruins left after the atomic bomb exploded in Hiroshima.

People lived here

Visitors to Hiroshima Memorial Park look at a panoramic view of the aftermath of the atomic explosion on July 27, 2005 in Hiroshima.

Memorial flame in honor of the victims of the atomic explosion at the monument in the Hiroshima Memorial Park. The fire has burned continuously since it was lit on August 1, 1964. The fire will burn until “all the atomic weapons on earth disappear forever.”

Their only enemy in World War II was Japan, which was also soon to surrender. It was at this moment that the United States decided to show its military power. On August 6 and 9, they dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, after which Japan finally capitulated. AiF.ru recalls the stories of people who managed to survive this nightmare.

According to various sources, from the explosion itself and in the first weeks after it, from 90 to 166 thousand people died in Hiroshima, and from 60 to 80 thousand in Nagasaki. However, there were those who managed to stay alive.

In Japan, such people are called hibakusha or hibakusha. This category includes not only the survivors themselves, but also the second generation - children born to women affected by the explosions.

In March 2012, there were 210 thousand people officially recognized by the government as hibakusha, and more than 400 thousand did not live to see this moment.

Most of the remaining hibakusha live in Japan. They receive some government support, but in Japanese society there is a prejudiced attitude towards them, bordering on discrimination. For example, they and their children may not be hired, so sometimes they deliberately hide their status.

Miraculous Rescue

An extraordinary story happened to the Japanese Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who survived both bombings. Summer 1945 young engineer Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who worked for the Mitsubishi company, went on a business trip to Hiroshima. When the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on the city, it was only 3 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion.

The blast wave knocked out Tsutomu Yamaguchi's eardrums, and the incredibly bright white light blinded him for some time. He received severe burns, but still survived. Yamaguchi reached the station, found his wounded colleagues and went home with them to Nagasaki, where he became a victim of the second bombing.

By an evil irony of fate, Tsutomu Yamaguchi again found himself 3 kilometers from the epicenter. As he was telling his boss at the company office about what happened to him in Hiroshima, the same white light suddenly flooded the room. Tsutomu Yamaguchi survived this explosion as well.

Two days later, he received another large dose of radiation when he came almost close to the epicenter of the explosion, unaware of the danger.

What followed were many years of rehabilitation, suffering and health problems. Tsutomu Yamaguchi's wife also suffered from the bombings - she was caught in black radioactive rain. Their children did not escape the consequences of radiation sickness; some of them died of cancer. Despite all this, Tsutomu Yamaguchi got a job again after the war, lived like everyone else and supported his family. Until his old age, he tried not to attract special attention to himself.

In 2010, Tsutomu Yamaguchi died of cancer at the age of 93. He became the only person officially recognized by the Japanese government as a victim of the bombings in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Life is like a struggle

When a bomb fell on Nagasaki, a 16-year-old Sumiteru Taniguchi delivered mail on a bicycle. In his own words, he saw something similar to a rainbow, then the blast wave threw him off his bicycle to the ground and destroyed nearby houses.

After the explosion, the teenager remained alive, but was seriously injured. The flayed skin hung in shreds from his arms, and there was no skin at all on his back. At the same time, according to Sumiteru Taniguchi, he did not feel pain, but his strength left him.

With difficulty he found other victims, but most of them died the night after the explosion. Three days later, Sumiteru Taniguchi was rescued and sent to the hospital.

In 1946, an American photographer took the famous photograph of Sumiteru Taniguchi with terrible burns on his back. The young man's body was mutilated for life

For several years after the war, Sumiteru Taniguchi could only lie on his stomach. He was released from the hospital in 1949, but his wounds were not properly treated until 1960. In total, Sumiteru Taniguchi underwent 10 operations.

The recovery was aggravated by the fact that at that time people were faced with radiation sickness for the first time and did not yet know how to treat it.

The tragedy he experienced had a huge impact on Sumiteru Taniguchi. He devoted his entire life to the fight against the proliferation of nuclear weapons, becoming a well-known activist and chairman of the Council of Victims of the Nuclear Bombing of Nagasaki.

Today, 84-year-old Sumiteru Taniguchi gives lectures around the world on the terrible consequences of using nuclear weapons and why they should be abandoned.

Orphan

For 16 year old Mikoso Iwasa August 6 was a typical hot summer day. He was in the courtyard of his house when neighboring children suddenly saw a plane in the sky. Then came an explosion. Despite the fact that the teenager was less than one and a half kilometers from the epicenter, the wall of the house protected him from the heat and blast wave.

However, Mikoso Iwasa's family was not so lucky. The boy's mother was in the house at that time; she was covered in debris and could not get out. He lost his father before the explosion, and his sister was never found. So Mikoso Iwasa became an orphan.

And although Mikoso Iwasa miraculously escaped severe burns, he still received a huge dose of radiation. Due to radiation sickness, he lost his hair, his body became covered in a rash, and his nose and gums began to bleed. He was diagnosed with cancer three times.

His life, like the lives of many other hibakusha, became misery. He was forced to live with this pain, with this invisible disease for which there is no cure and which slowly kills a person.

Among the hibakusha it is customary to remain silent about this, but Mikoso Iwasa did not remain silent. Instead, he became involved in the fight against nuclear proliferation and helping other hibakusha.

Today, Mikiso Iwasa is one of the three chairmen of the Japanese Confederation of Atomic and Hydrogen Bomb Victims' Organizations.

Was it necessary to bomb Japan at all?

Disputes about the expediency and ethical side of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have not subsided to this day.

Initially, American authorities insisted that they were necessary to force Japan to capitulate as quickly as possible and thereby prevent losses among its own soldiers that would be possible if the United States invaded the Japanese islands.

However, according to many historians, Japan's surrender was a done deal even before the bombing. It was only a matter of time.

The decision to drop bombs on Japanese cities turned out to be rather political - the United States wanted to scare the Japanese and demonstrate its military power to the whole world.

It is also important to mention that not all American officials and senior military officials supported this decision. Among those who considered the bombing unnecessary was Army General Dwight Eisenhower, who later became President of the United States.

The attitude of the hibakusha towards explosions is clear. They believe that the tragedy they experienced should never happen again in human history. And that is why some of them dedicated their lives to the fight for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.