Attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Nuclear weapons have been used for combat purposes only twice in the 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 could keep two mighty powers (USA and USSR) from unleashing a third world war.

Bomb drop on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Millions of innocent people suffered during World War II. The leaders of the world powers put the lives of soldiers and civilians on the cards without looking, in the hope of achieving superiority in the struggle for world domination. One of the worst disasters in world history was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as a result of which about 200 thousand people were destroyed, and the total number of people who died during and after the explosion (from radiation) reached 500 thousand.

Until now, there are only assumptions that forced 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 would be left after the explosion of a nuclear bomb? Or was this action intended to demonstrate military 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 moved 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 the 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 of Japan Hirohito

The Japanese emperor Hirohito was distinguished by good inclinations of a leader. In order to expand his lands, in 1935 he decides to seize 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 take over China, using methods favored by the Nazis.

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

It is possible that the nuclear bombing of Japanese cities could not have taken place if, after the conclusion of a military pact with Nazi Germany, the emperor of Japan would not have 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 the defeat of Germany was inevitable, the question of the surrender of Japan 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 the inhabitants 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 inhabitants would fulfill the will of their emperor.

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

Why was a nuclear attack chosen?

Although the number of versions 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 ones) insist that the damage caused by dropped bombs is several times less than a bloody invasion of American troops could bring. According to this version, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not sacrificed in vain, as 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 perfect the US military weapons were in order to intimidate a possible adversary. In 1945, the US President was informed that the activity of Soviet troops was noticed in the border area 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 the revenge of the Americans 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 talked about the sphere of post-war influence, although the Second World War 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 the proposal. Following the example of their emperor, the members of the government decided to continue the war to the end. After that, 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 one month remained before victory), the allied countries could not agree. The different policies of the USSR and the USA eventually led these states to the Cold War.

The fact that US President Harry Truman was informed about the start of nuclear bomb tests on the eve of the meeting in Potsdam played an important role in the decision of the head of state. Wanting to scare 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 received no answer from Stalin, the American president decides to start the atomic bombing at his own peril and risk.

Why were Hiroshima and Nagasaki chosen for the nuclear attack?

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

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

These requirements indicate that the nuclear strike was most likely a long-planned affair, and Germany could well have been in the place of Japan.

The intended targets were 4 Japanese cities. These are Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Kyoto and Kokura. Of these, it was only required to choose two real targets, since there were only two bombs. An American expert on Japan, Professor Reisshauer, begged to be struck off the list of the city of Kyoto, as it was of great historical value. It is unlikely that this request could affect the decision, but then the Minister of Defense intervened, who was on a honeymoon in Kyoto with his wife. The minister went to a meeting and Kyoto was saved from a nuclear attack.

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

Studies conducted by historians from various countries of the world show that the American side was not at all concerned about the moral side of the issue. Dozens and hundreds of potential civilian casualties were of no concern to either the government or the military.

After reviewing entire volumes of classified materials, historians have come 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 combat strike on the Japanese city of Hiroshima was pre-planned and carried out in accordance with a clear plan. Each item of this plan was clearly executed, which indicates the careful preparation of this operation.

On July 26, 1945, a nuclear bomb bearing the name "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. After consulting the meteorological indications, the date of the bombardment was set - August 6th. On this day the weather was excellent and the bomber, with a nuclear bomb on board, soared into the air. Its name (Enola Gay) was remembered for a long time not only by the victims of a nuclear attack, but throughout Japan.

In flight, the death-carrying plane was escorted by three planes whose task was to determine the direction of the wind so that the atomic bomb hit the target as accurately as possible. Behind the bomber, an aircraft was flying, which was supposed to record all the data of the explosion using sensitive equipment. A bomber was flying at a safe distance with a photographer on board. Several planes flying towards the city did not cause any concern to either the Japanese air defense forces or 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 of a possible bombardment, but they continued to work quietly. Since the nuclear strike was not like a conventional air raid, not a single Japanese fighter took to the air to intercept. Even the artillery paid no attention to the approaching planes.

At 8:15 a.m., the Enola Gay bomber dropped a nuclear bomb. This drop was made using a parachute to allow a group of attacking aircraft to retire to a safe distance. After dropping a bomb at an altitude of 9,000 meters, the battle group turned around and withdrew.

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 that destroyed everything in its path. Directly at the epicenter, people simply disappeared, leaving behind only the so-called "shadows of Hiroshima." All that was left of the man was a dark silhouette imprinted on the floor or walls. At a distance from the epicenter, people burned 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 has become 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 the official statistics of 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 commemorative 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 the atomic weapon did not anticipate the consequences of radiation for people. For 16 hours after the explosion, no signal was received from Hiroshima. Noticing this, the operator of the Broadcasting Station began to make attempts to contact the city, but the city remained silent.

After a short period of time, strange and confusing information came from the railway station, which was located near the city, from which the Japanese authorities understood only one thing, an enemy raid was made on the city. It was decided to send the aircraft for reconnaissance, since the authorities knew for sure that no serious enemy combat air groups broke through the front line.

Having approached the city at a distance of about 160 kilometers, the pilot and the officer accompanying him saw a huge dusty cloud. Flying closer, they saw a terrible picture of destruction: the whole city was ablaze with fires, and smoke and dust made it difficult to see the details of the tragedy.

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

This catastrophe rallied all the surviving people into one big family. Wounded, barely standing people dismantled the rubble and put out fires, trying to save as many of their compatriots as possible.

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

Dropping the atomic bomb on Nagasaki

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

Now it seems incredible, but Nagasaki became the second Japanese city to be nuked by chance. The original target was the city of Kokura.

The second bomb was delivered and loaded onto the plane, according to the same plan as in the case of Hiroshima. The plane with a nuclear bomb took off and flew towards the city of Kokura. On approaching the island, three American planes were supposed 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 was covered with clouds, and the visual release of the bomb became impossible. After circling for 45 minutes over the island and not waiting for the third aircraft, the commander of the aircraft that carried the nuclear bomb on board noticed a malfunction in the fuel supply system. Since the weather finally deteriorated, it was decided to fly to the reserve target area - the city of Nagasaki. A group consisting of two aircraft flew to the alternate target.

On August 9, 1945, at 7:50 am, the inhabitants of Nagasaki woke up from an air raid signal and descended into shelters and bomb shelters. After 40 minutes, considering the alarm not worthy of attention, and classifying two aircraft as reconnaissance, the military canceled it. People went about their usual business, not suspecting that an atomic explosion would now thunder.

The Nagasaki attack went exactly the same way as the Hiroshima attack, only high cloud cover almost spoiled the Americans' bomb release. Literally in the last minutes, when the fuel supply was at the 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, which, despite the news of a similar attack on Hiroshima, is striking, did not take any measures to neutralize American military aircraft.

The atomic bomb, called "Fat Man", exploded at 11 hours 2 minutes, 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 received 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 who died at the time of the explosion and during the first year after it, radiation continued to kill people for many years to come. As a result, the number of victims has 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 shocked Emperor Hirohito so much that he unconditionally accepted the terms of the Potsdam Conference. According to the official version, the nuclear attack carried out by the US military brought exactly what the American government wanted.

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

Only two weeks had passed since the entry of Soviet troops into Japan, 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, there is an ongoing debate about whether it was necessary to carry out a nuclear bombing 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 for the sake of ending the world war.

The well-known Japanese historian Tsuyoshi Hasegawa believes that the atomic bombing was started in order to prevent the expansion of the Soviet Union into Asian countries. It also allowed the United States to assert itself as a leader militarily, which they succeeded brilliantly. After the nuclear explosion, arguing with the United States was very dangerous.

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

One can guess what could have happened if the USSR had time 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 even to imagine what could happen if the two largest powers in the world started a nuclear war.

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

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

1. The man who managed to survive in hell. Although everyone who was close to the epicenter of the explosion died during the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, one person who was in the basement 200 meters from the epicenter managed to survive;
   
2. War is war, and the tournament must go on. At a distance of less than 5 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion in Hiroshima, a tournament was held in the ancient Chinese game "Go". Although the explosion destroyed the building and many of the competitors were injured, the tournament continued on the same day;
3. Able to withstand even a nuclear explosion. Although the explosion in Hiroshima destroyed most of the buildings, the safe in one of the banks was not damaged. After the end of the war, the American company that produced these safes received a letter of thanks from a bank manager 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 starting the atomic bombing, 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 citizens of the country for "total war". This meant that every Japanese, including women and children, must defend their country to the last drop of blood. After the emperor, frightened by atomic explosions, accepted all the conditions of the Potsdam Conference and later capitulated, the Japanese generals tried to carry out a coup d'état, which failed;
7. Met a nuclear explosion and survived. Japanese Gingko biloba trees are remarkably 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 the official survivor;
9. Not a single policeman died in the atomic explosion in Nagasaki. The surviving law enforcement officers from Hiroshima were sent to Nagasaki in order to teach colleagues the basics of behavior after a nuclear explosion. As a result of these actions, not a single policeman was killed in the Nagasaki bombing;
10. 25 percent of those who died in Japan were Koreans. Although it is believed that all of those who died in the atomic explosions were Japanese, in fact a quarter of them were Koreans, who were mobilized by the Japanese government to participate in the war;
11. Radiation is a fairy tale for children. After the atomic explosion, the American government for a long time concealed 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 that, using the tactics of carpet bombing, 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 at least one nuclear warhead remains in the world;
    
15. Lost connection. After the destruction of Hiroshima, communication with the city was completely lost. Only three hours later did the capital learn that Hiroshima had been destroyed;
16. Deadly poison. The crew of the Enola Gay were given ampoules of potassium cyanide, which they had to take in case they failed to complete the task;
17. radioactive mutants. The famous Japanese monster "Godzilla" was invented as a mutation for radioactive contamination after a nuclear bombing;
18. Shadows of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The explosions of nuclear bombs had such tremendous power that people literally evaporated, leaving only dark prints on the walls and floor as a memory of themselves;
19. Hiroshima symbol. The first plant to bloom after the Hiroshima nuclear attack 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 on 33 Japanese cities warning of an impending bombardment;
21. Radio signals. An American radio station in Saipan broadcast warnings of a nuclear attack throughout Japan until the very last moment. 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 thoughtlessly destroy its own kind.

Nagasaki and Hiroshima are two long-suffering cities in Japan that went down in world history as the first test site for testing a nuclear bomb on living people. During World War II, the US military used a new type of weapon of mass destruction on innocent civilians without knowing that this act would have repercussions for many more decades. and lethal rays of radiation will claim and maim thousands of lives, deprive hundreds of thousands of people of health, and kill an unknown number of children in the wombs of their sick mothers. How could such a brutal event happen? Why did the once flourishing, developing cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki turn into scorched ruins dotted with charred corpses?

To this day, disputes on these issues continue. Politicians, historians and people who are simply interested in searching for the truth are trying to get to the bottom of the truth, which is classified in secret military archives. Different opinions and versions are united by one thing: ordinary Japanese, workers, women, children, old people did not deserve such torment.

The phrase "Hiroshima and Nagasaki" is known to people all over the world. But behind the well-known fact that there was a nuclear attack on Hiroshima, most of the inhabitants no longer have any information. But behind these words lies a centuries-old history of the formation and development of cities, hundreds of thousands of human lives.

In the southwestern part of the island of Honshu, the Chugoku region is located, which in Japanese means "region of the middle lands." Its central part is the prefecture with the same name of the capital - Hiroshima. It is located on the "sunny side" of a mountain range that divides the region in two. This is a picturesque area, overgrown with dense forests, alternating hills and valleys. Among the beautiful island vegetation on the banks of the Ota River Delta lies the city of Hiroshima. In literal translation, its name is interpreted as "wide island". Today, Hiroshima can rightly be called the largest city in the region, with a developed infrastructure, revived, like a Phoenix bird, after a sizzling explosion of an atomic bomb. It is because of its location that Hiroshima was included in the list of cities in Japan on which a new bomb will be dropped. In 1945, the day will come when a catastrophe will occur in a beautiful and flourishing city. Hiroshima will turn into burnt ruins.

The second target of an American bomber carrying an atomic bomb was located at a distance of 302 km southwest of the city of Hiroshima. Nagasaki, which literally means "long cape" is the central city of Japan, located around the bay of the East China Sea Nagasaki. The modern districts of the metropolis rise in terraces on the slopes of the mountains, covering the port city from cold winds on three sides. Today, as in those distant years of the Second World War, the city on the island of Kyushu was one of the largest shipbuilding and industrial centers in Japan. Location, strategic importance and dense population will be the decisive factors that will put Nagasaki on the list of potential victims of a nuclear attack.

A little about the past

The history of Hiroshima originates from ancient times. Even in the period of more than 2 thousand years BC. on the territory of this modern city there were sites of primitive tribes. But only in the middle of the 16th century, the Japanese samurai Mori Motonari, uniting the entire population of the Chugoku region under his leadership, founded the settlement of Hiroshima off the coast of the bay, built a castle and made this place the center of his possessions. Over the next two centuries, one ruling family was replaced by another.

During the 19th century, settlements near the castle grew rapidly, the area received the status of a city. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Hiroshima has become the center of the General Staff of the Japanese Armed Forces, the base of the Imperial Navy and even the seat of the Parliament. Gradually, Hiroshima turned into one of the largest political and administrative centers of Japan.

The city of Nagasaki was founded by the samurai ruler Omura Sumitada in the second half of the 16th century. Initially, this settlement was an important trading center, where merchants from different countries arrived. Many Europeans, admiring the beauty of Japanese nature, authentic culture and great economic prospects, took root there and stayed to live. The city developed rapidly. By the middle of the 19th century, it was already the largest port of international importance. By the time the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima, followed by the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese, Nagasaki was already the stronghold of the Japanese steel industry and the center of shipbuilding.

Developed infrastructure, the location of the main shipbuilding and automotive plants, weapons and steel production, dense buildings, these factors met all the conditions that the US military put forward to the proposed facility for testing the destructive effect of the atomic bomb. Like the city of Hiroshima, tragedy befell Nagasaki in the late summer of 1945.

The Day Hiroshima and Nagasaki Died

Only three days that separated in time the moment of the destruction of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the context of the history of the whole country can be called insignificant. The bombing operations carried out by American military pilots were carried out almost identically. A small group of aircraft did not cause concern. The observers of the Japanese air defense posts considered them simply reconnaissance, and so deeply mistaken. Without fear of bombardment, people continued to go about their daily business. Having dropped its deadly cargo, the bomber immediately retires, and the planes going a little behind record the results of the explosions.

This is what the explosion looked like from the official reports:

Hell Survivors

Surprisingly, after the nuclear explosions in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were supposed to destroy all life at a distance of a radius of up to 5 km, people survived. What is even more surprising, many of them survived to this day and told what happened to them at the time of the explosions.

Report of the Ambassador of the USSR on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

A month later, after what happened in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the leadership of the USSR instructed a group of representatives of the Embassy to get acquainted with the consequences of the explosions. Among the declassified documents of the Archive of Russian Foreign Policy, provided by the Historical Society, is the report of the Soviet ambassador. It tells about the sightings of eyewitnesses, press reports, and also describes the consequences of Hiroshima.

According to the ambassador, the destructive power of the bombs is greatly exaggerated in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The consequences of an atomic explosion are not significant for him. For example, the ambassador considered absurd the rumor that it was dangerous to be in the immediate vicinity of the explosion site, and a long stay in the city threatens with infertility and impotence. He accused American radio, which reported the impossibility of life in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for another seventy years, of fueling confusion and panic.

The group went on September 14, 1945 to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to see with their own eyes what a nuclear bomb is capable of. Representatives of the Embassy and a correspondent of the TASS news agency arrived in the city, which was a scorched desert. Here and there one came across reinforced concrete buildings miraculously standing with windows smashed inwards and "swollen" ceilings.

One old man told them that after the explosion, a huge fire spread even against a strong wind. Observing the visible destruction, how the completely burned-out vegetation begins to revive in places, the representatives of the embassy concluded that some rays were spread from the explosion, but not evenly, but as if in beams. This was confirmed by the doctor of the local hospital.

IT'S IMPORTANT TO KNOW:

Having been in the hospital, they saw the terrible wounds and burns of the victims, which they described in detail. The report spoke of deep wounds in exposed areas of the body, scorched hairs on the head that began to grow back in small tufts a month later, a lack of white blood cells that caused profuse bleeding, high fever and death. The hospital doctor said that protection against the rays of a uranium bomb could be rubber or electrical insulation. Also, from a conversation with doctors, it became known that it was impossible to drink water for several days after the explosion and be near that place, otherwise death would occur in a couple of days.

Although the information collected about the consequences of Hiroshima did not convince the ambassador of the danger of a uranium bomb, the first results of the deadly effect of radiation were visible.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Strange Stories

Many documents have been studied by historians in order to restore a complete and reliable picture of what actually happened in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. But there are still blank spots in the history of these cities. There are also unconfirmed official documents and simply incredible information.

There is a conspiracy theory that during the Second World War, Japanese scientists were actively studying the field of nuclear energy, and were already on the verge of discovering nuclear weapons of mass destruction. Only the lack of time and the consumption of the country's economic resources prevented the Japanese from finishing them before the United States and Russia. The Japanese media reported that secret documents were found with calculations of uranium enrichment to create a bomb. The scientists were supposed to complete the project before August 14, 1945, but apparently something prevented them.

The intelligence of the countries participating in the largest military confrontation worked perfectly. This is evidenced by the fact that their leaders knew about the nuclear developments of their rivals and were in a hurry to activate their own. But at that moment, the United States was head and shoulders ahead of the rest of the world. There is evidence of a man who in 1945 attended a school for the children of high-ranking Japanese military officials. A few weeks before the day when the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki took place, the leadership received a secret message. All staff and students were evacuated immediately. It saved their lives.

On the day when Hiroshima was attacked by an American plane carrying an atomic bomb, amazing things happened. For example, one of the eyewitnesses saw three parachutes descending from the sky. One of them was carrying a bomb, which exploded. Two others were also carrying cargo, apparently two more bombs. But they didn't explode. They were picked up by the military for study.

But the most mysterious event of that month, when Hiroshima and Nagasaki choked in fiery tornadoes from the explosion of the atomic bomb, were the appearances of UFOs.

Unidentified lights in the sky

As you know, August 1945, when there was Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was marked by many historically significant events. For their study, for many years, scientists did not notice inexplicable oddities in the documents. It wasn't until 1974 that the Japanese ufology magazine UFO News first published a photograph in which an unidentified flying object was accidentally captured over the ruins of Hiroshima. Although the quality of the picture left much to be desired, there could be no fake. A disk-shaped UFO was clearly visible in the sky.

An active search began for new evidence of the presence of aliens at that time over Japanese cities. And surprisingly, there was a lot of evidence that Hiroshima and Nagasaki attracted the attention of extraterrestrial visitors.

So, in the report of the captain of the anti-aircraft battery Matsuo Takenaka dated August 4, it is said that several luminous dots appeared in the night sky over Hiroshima. They were mistaken for reconnaissance aircraft and tried to be taken into the beams of searchlights. However, objects, making absolutely unthinkable turns, constantly moved away from the rays of light. Similar reports are found in other military reports.

The pilot of the Enola Gay escort aircraft carrying the Baby bomb reported strange movements in the clouds near the side. At first, he thought that these were Japanese army intercept aircraft, but, not noticing anything again, he did not raise the alarm.

Information about the observation of obscure objects in the sky over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in those days came from ordinary residents. Usari Sato claimed that when the mushroom cloud grew over Hiroshima, she saw a strange object at its top that flew through the “cap”. So she realized that she was mistaken in mistaking it for a plane. The disappearance of patients from hospital wards remains a mysterious phenomenon. After careful research, ufologists came to the conclusion that more than a hundred people officially disappeared from hospitals without a trace after the explosions. At that time, little attention was paid to this, since so many patients died, and even more missing people did not end up in medical institutions at all.

Conclusion

There are many black pages in the history of mankind, but August 6 and 9, 1945 is a special date. Hiroshima and Nagasaki fell victim to human aggression and pride that summer month. American President Truman issued a cruel and cynical decree: to drop atomic bombs on the densely populated Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The consequences of this decision, even for him, were not fully known. In those days, ominous nuclear mushrooms hovered over these Japanese cities.

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled. A few hours after the explosions, black, sticky raindrops rained down on the ground, poisoning the soil. Radiation and fiery whirlwinds burned out human flesh. Nagasaki and Hiroshima the day after the bombing were littered with burnt and charred corpses, the whole world shuddered from the horror committed by people against people. But, even 70 years after the atomic strikes on Japan, no apologies were made.

There are absolutely opposite opinions about whether Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered from the nuclear bomb in vain. That such a decision was made by Truman is not surprising. The desire to get ahead of the USSR in the arms race was justified. He justified the atomic strike by the fact that fewer American soldiers and residents of Japan would die this way. Did it really happen? It's impossible to know.

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively) are the only two examples of the combat use of nuclear weapons in human history. Carried out by the US Armed Forces at the final stage of World War II in order to hasten the surrender of Japan in the Pacific theater of World War II.

On the morning of August 6, 1945, the American bomber B-29 "Enola Gay", named after the mother (Enola Gay Haggard) of the crew commander, Colonel Paul Tibbets, dropped the atomic bomb "Little Boy" ("Baby") on the Japanese city of Hiroshima with the equivalent of 13 to 18 kilotons of TNT. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, the atomic bomb "Fat Man" ("Fat Man") was dropped on the city of Nagasaki by pilot Charles Sweeney, commander of the B-29 "Bockscar" bomber. The total death toll ranged from 90 to 166 thousand people in Hiroshima and from 60 to 80 thousand people in Nagasaki.

The shock of the US atomic bombings had a profound effect on Japanese Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki and Japanese Foreign Minister Togo Shigenori, who were inclined to believe that the Japanese government should end the war.

On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its surrender. The act of surrender, formally ending World War II, was signed on September 2, 1945.

The role of the atomic bombings in Japan's surrender and the ethical justification of the bombings themselves are still hotly debated.

Prerequisites

In September 1944, at a meeting between US President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Hyde Park, an agreement was concluded, according to which the possibility of using atomic weapons against Japan was envisaged.

By the summer of 1945, the United States of America, with the support of Great Britain and Canada, within the framework of the Manhattan Project, completed preparatory work to create the first working models of nuclear weapons.

After three and a half years of direct US involvement in World War II, about 200,000 Americans were killed, about half of them in the war against Japan. In April-June 1945, during the operation to capture the Japanese island of Okinawa, more than 12 thousand American soldiers were killed, 39 thousand were injured (Japanese losses ranged from 93 to 110 thousand soldiers and over 100 thousand civilians). It was expected that the invasion of Japan itself would lead to losses many times greater than those of Okinawan.

Model of the bomb "Kid" (eng. Little boy), dropped on Hiroshima

May 1945: Target selection

During its second meeting at Los Alamos (May 10-11, 1945), the Targeting Committee recommended as targets for the use of atomic weapons Kyoto (the largest industrial center), Hiroshima (the center of army warehouses and a military port), Yokohama (the center of military industry), Kokuru (the largest military arsenal) and Niigata (military port and engineering center). The committee rejected the idea of ​​using these weapons against a purely military target, as there was a chance of overshooting a small area not surrounded by a vast urban area.

When choosing a goal, great importance was attached to psychological factors, such as:

achieving maximum psychological effect against Japan,

the first use of the weapon must be significant enough for international recognition of its importance. The committee pointed out that Kyoto's choice was supported by the fact that its population had a higher level of education and thus were better able to appreciate the value of weapons. Hiroshima, on the other hand, was of such a size and location that, given the focusing effect of the surrounding hills, the force of the explosion could be increased.

US Secretary of War Henry Stimson struck Kyoto off the list due to the city's cultural significance. According to Professor Edwin O. Reischauer, Stimson "knew and appreciated Kyoto from his honeymoon there decades ago."

Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the map of Japan

On July 16, the world's first successful test of an atomic weapon was carried out at a test site in New Mexico. The power of the explosion was about 21 kilotons of TNT.

On July 24, during the Potsdam Conference, US President Harry Truman informed Stalin that the United States had a new weapon of unprecedented destructive power. Truman did not specify that he was referring specifically to atomic weapons. According to Truman's memoirs, Stalin showed little interest, remarking only that he was glad and hoped that the US could use him effectively against the Japanese. Churchill, who carefully observed Stalin's reaction, remained of the opinion that Stalin did not understand the true meaning of Truman's words and did not pay attention to him. At the same time, according to Zhukov's memoirs, Stalin perfectly understood everything, but did not show it and, in a conversation with Molotov after the meeting, noted that "It will be necessary to talk with Kurchatov about speeding up our work." After the declassification of the operation of the American intelligence services "Venona", it became known that Soviet agents had long been reporting on the development of nuclear weapons. According to some reports, agent Theodor Hall, a few days before the Potsdam conference, even announced the planned date for the first nuclear test. This may explain why Stalin took Truman's message calmly. Hall had been working for Soviet intelligence since 1944.

On July 25, Truman approved the order, beginning August 3, to bomb one of the following targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata, or Nagasaki, as soon as the weather allowed, and in the future, the following cities, as bombs arrived.

On July 26, the governments of the United States, Britain, and China signed the Potsdam Declaration, which set out the demand for Japan's unconditional surrender. The atomic bomb was not mentioned in the declaration.

The next day, Japanese newspapers reported that the declaration, which had been broadcast over the radio and scattered in leaflets from airplanes, had been rejected. The Japanese government has not expressed a desire to accept the ultimatum. On July 28, Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki stated at a press conference that the Potsdam Declaration was nothing more than the old arguments of the Cairo Declaration in a new wrapper, and demanded that the government ignore it.

Emperor Hirohito, who was waiting for a Soviet response to the evasive diplomatic moves of the Japanese, did not change the decision of the government. On July 31, in a conversation with Koichi Kido, he made it clear that the imperial power must be protected at all costs.

Preparing for the bombing

During May-June 1945, the American 509th Combined Aviation Group arrived on Tinian Island. The group's base area on the island was a few miles from the rest of the units and was carefully guarded.

On July 28, the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, George Marshall, signed the order for the combat use of nuclear weapons. This order, drafted by the head of the Manhattan Project, Major General Leslie Groves, ordered a nuclear strike "on any day after the third of August, as soon as weather conditions permit." On July 29, US Strategic Air Command General Karl Spaats arrived on Tinian, delivering Marshall's order to the island.

On July 28 and August 2, components of the Fat Man atomic bomb were brought to Tinian by aircraft.

Bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 Hiroshima during World War II

Hiroshima was located on a flat area, slightly above sea level at the mouth of the Ota River, on 6 islands connected by 81 bridges. The population of the city before the war was over 340 thousand people, which made Hiroshima the seventh largest city in Japan. The city was the headquarters of the Fifth Division and the Second Main Army of Field Marshal Shunroku Hata, who commanded the defense of all of Southern Japan. Hiroshima was an important supply base for the Japanese army.

In Hiroshima (as well as in Nagasaki), most buildings were one- and two-story wooden buildings with tiled roofs. Factories were located on the outskirts of the city. Outdated fire equipment and insufficient training of personnel created a high fire hazard even in peacetime.

The population of Hiroshima peaked at 380,000 during the course of the war, but before the bombing, the population gradually decreased due to systematic evacuations ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the attack, the population was about 245 thousand people.

Bombardment

The main target of the first American nuclear bombing was Hiroshima (Kokura and Nagasaki were spares). Although Truman's order called for the atomic bombing to begin on August 3, cloud cover over the target prevented this until August 6.

On August 6, at 1:45 am, an American B-29 bomber under the command of the commander of the 509th mixed aviation regiment, Colonel Paul Tibbets, carrying the atomic bomb "Kid" on board, took off from Tinian Island, which was about 6 hours from Hiroshima. Tibbets' aircraft ("Enola Gay") flew as part of a formation that included six other aircraft: a spare aircraft ("Top Secret"), two controllers and three 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 a signal "Bomb the first target."

Around 7 a.m., a network of Japanese early warning radars detected the approach of several American aircraft heading towards southern Japan. An air raid alert was issued and radio broadcasts stopped in many cities, including Hiroshima. At about 08:00 a radar operator in Hiroshima determined that the number of incoming aircraft was very small—perhaps no more than three—and the air raid alert was called off. In order to save fuel and aircraft, the Japanese did not intercept small groups of American bombers. The standard message was broadcast over the radio that it would be wise to go to the bomb shelters if the B-29s were actually seen, and that it was not a raid that was expected, but just some kind of reconnaissance.

At 08:15 local time, the B-29, being at an altitude of over 9 km, dropped an atomic bomb on the center of Hiroshima.

The first public announcement of the event came from Washington, sixteen hours after the atomic attack on the Japanese city.

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

explosion effect

Those closest to the epicenter of the explosion died instantly, their bodies turned to coal. Birds flying past burned up in the air, and dry, flammable materials such as paper ignited up to 2 km from the epicenter. Light radiation burned the dark pattern of clothes into the skin and left the silhouettes of human bodies on the walls. People outside the houses described a blinding flash of light, which simultaneously came with a wave of suffocating heat. The blast wave, for all who were near the epicenter, followed almost immediately, often knocking down. Those in the buildings tended to avoid exposure to the light from the explosion, but not the blast—glass shards hit most rooms, and all but the strongest buildings collapsed. One teenager was blasted out of his house across the street as the house collapsed behind him. Within a few minutes, 90% of people who were at a distance of 800 meters or less from the epicenter died.

The blast wave shattered glass at a distance of up to 19 km. For those in the buildings, the typical first reaction was the thought of a direct hit from an aerial bomb.

Numerous small fires that simultaneously broke out in the city soon merged into one large fire tornado, which created a strong wind (speed of 50-60 km/h) directed towards the epicenter. The fiery tornado captured over 11 km² of the city, killing everyone who did not have time to get out within the first few minutes after the explosion.

According to the memoirs of Akiko Takakura, one of the few survivors who were at the time of the explosion at a distance of 300 m from the epicenter,

Three colors characterize for me the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima: black, red and brown. Black because the explosion cut off the sunlight and plunged the world into darkness. Red was the color of blood flowing from wounded and broken people. It was also the color of the fires that burned everything in the city. Brown was the color of burnt, peeling skin exposed to light from the explosion.

A few days after the explosion, among the survivors, doctors began to notice the first symptoms of exposure. Soon, the number of deaths among survivors began to rise again as patients who appeared to be recovering began to suffer from this strange new disease. Deaths from radiation sickness peaked 3-4 weeks after the explosion and began to decline only after 7-8 weeks. Japanese doctors considered vomiting and diarrhea characteristic of radiation sickness to be symptoms of dysentery. The long-term health effects associated with exposure, such as an increased risk of cancer, haunted the survivors for the rest of their lives, as did the psychological shock of the explosion.

The first person in the world whose cause of death was officially indicated as a disease caused by the consequences of a nuclear explosion (radiation poisoning) was the actress Midori Naka, who survived the Hiroshima explosion, but died on August 24, 1945. Journalist Robert Jung believes that it was Midori's disease and its popularity among ordinary people allowed people to know the truth about the emerging "new disease". Until the death of Midori, no one attached importance to the mysterious deaths of people who survived the moment of the explosion and died under circumstances unknown to science at the time. Jung believes that Midori's death was the impetus for accelerated research in nuclear physics and medicine, which soon managed to save the lives of many people from radiation exposure.

Japanese awareness of the consequences of the attack

The Tokyo operator of the Japan Broadcasting Corporation noticed that the Hiroshima station stopped broadcasting the signal. He tried to re-establish the broadcast using a different phone line, but that also failed. About twenty minutes later, the Tokyo Rail Telegraph Control Center realized that the main telegraph line had stopped working just north of Hiroshima. From a halt 16 km from Hiroshima, unofficial and confusing reports of a terrible explosion came. All these messages were forwarded to the headquarters of the Japanese General Staff.

Military bases repeatedly tried to call the Hiroshima Command and Control Center. The complete silence from there baffled the General Staff, since they knew that there was no major enemy raid in Hiroshima and there was no significant explosives depot. The young staff officer was instructed to immediately fly to Hiroshima, land, assess the damage, and return to Tokyo with reliable information. The headquarters basically believed that nothing serious happened there, and the reports were explained by rumors.

The officer from the headquarters went to the airport, from where he flew to the southwest. After a three-hour flight, while still 160 km from Hiroshima, he and his pilot noticed a large cloud of smoke from the bomb. It was a bright day and the ruins of Hiroshima were burning. Their plane soon reached the city around which they circled in disbelief. From the city there was only a zone of continuous destruction, still burning and covered with a thick cloud of smoke. They landed south of the city, and the officer reported the incident to Tokyo and immediately began organizing rescue efforts.

The first real understanding by the Japanese of what really caused the disaster came from a public announcement from Washington, sixteen hours after the atomic attack on Hiroshima.

Hiroshima after the atomic explosion

Loss and destruction

The number of deaths from the direct impact of the explosion ranged from 70 to 80 thousand people. By the end of 1945, due to the action of radioactive contamination and other post-effects of the explosion, the total number of deaths was from 90 to 166 thousand people. After 5 years, the total death toll, taking into account deaths from cancer and other long-term effects of the explosion, could reach or even exceed 200 thousand people.

According to official Japanese data as of March 31, 2013, there were 201,779 "hibakusha" alive - people affected by the effects of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This number includes children born to women exposed to radiation from the explosions (predominantly living in Japan at the time of count). Of these, 1%, according to the Japanese government, had serious cancers caused by radiation exposure after the bombings. The number of deaths as of August 31, 2013 is about 450 thousand: 286,818 in Hiroshima and 162,083 in Nagasaki.

Nuclear pollution

The concept of "radioactive contamination" did not yet exist in those years, and therefore this issue was not even raised then. People continued to live and rebuild the destroyed buildings in the same place where they were before. Even the high mortality of the population in subsequent years, as well as diseases and genetic abnormalities in children born after the bombings, were not initially associated with exposure to radiation. The evacuation of the population from the contaminated areas was not carried out, since no one knew about the very presence of radioactive contamination.

It is rather difficult to give an accurate assessment of the degree of this contamination due to lack of information, however, since technically the first atomic bombs were relatively low-yield and imperfect (the "Kid" bomb, for example, contained 64 kg of uranium, of which only approximately 700 g reacted division), the level of pollution of the area could not be significant, although it posed a serious danger to the population. For comparison: at the time of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the reactor core contained several tons of fission products and transuranium elements - various radioactive isotopes accumulated during the operation of the reactor.

Comparative preservation of some buildings

Some of the reinforced concrete buildings in Hiroshima were very stable (due to the risk of earthquakes) and their framework did not collapse despite being quite close to the center of destruction in the city (the epicenter of the explosion). Thus stood the brick building of the Hiroshima Chamber of Industry (now commonly known as the "Genbaku Dome", or "Atomic Dome"), designed and built by Czech architect Jan Letzel, which was only 160 meters from the epicenter of the explosion (at the height of the bomb detonation 600 m above the surface). The ruins became the most famous exhibit of the Hiroshima atomic explosion and were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, over objections raised by the US and Chinese governments.

On August 6, after receiving news of the successful atomic bombing of Hiroshima, US President Truman announced that

We are now ready to destroy, even faster and more completely than before, all Japanese land-based production facilities in any city. We will destroy their docks, their factories and their communications. Let there be no misunderstanding - we will completely destroy Japan's ability to wage war.

It was to prevent the destruction of Japan that an ultimatum was issued on July 26 in Potsdam. Their leadership immediately rejected his terms. If they do not accept our terms now, let them expect a rain of destruction from the air, the likes of which have not yet been seen on this planet.

Upon receiving news of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the Japanese government met to discuss their response. Beginning in June, the emperor advocated peace negotiations, but the Minister of Defense, as well as the leadership of the army and navy, believed that Japan should wait to see if attempts at peace negotiations through the Soviet Union would yield better results than unconditional surrender. The military leadership also believed that if they could hold out until the invasion of the Japanese islands began, it would be possible to inflict such losses on the Allied forces that Japan could win peace conditions other than unconditional surrender.

On August 9, the USSR declared war on Japan and Soviet troops launched an invasion of Manchuria. Hopes for the mediation of the USSR in the negotiations collapsed. The top leadership of the Japanese army began preparations for declaring martial law in order to prevent any attempts at peace negotiations.

The second atomic bombing (Kokura) was scheduled for 11 August but was pushed back 2 days to avoid a five-day period of bad weather that was forecast to begin on 10 August.

Bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 Nagasaki during World War II

Nagasaki in 1945 was located in two valleys, through which two rivers flowed. The mountain range divided the districts of the city.

The development was chaotic: out of the total city area of ​​90 km², 12 were built up with residential quarters.

During the Second World War, the city, which was a major seaport, also acquired special significance as an industrial center, in which steel production and the Mitsubishi shipyard, Mitsubishi-Urakami torpedo production were concentrated. Guns, ships and other military equipment were made in the city.

Nagasaki was not subjected to large-scale bombing until the explosion of the atomic bomb, but as early as August 1, 1945, several high-explosive bombs were dropped on the city, damaging shipyards and docks in the southwestern part of the city. Bombs also hit the Mitsubishi steel and gun factories. The August 1 raid resulted in a partial evacuation of the population, especially schoolchildren. However, at the time of the bombing, the city's population was still around 200,000.

Nagasaki before and after the atomic explosion

Bombardment

The main target of the second American nuclear bombing was Kokura, the spare was Nagasaki.

At 2:47 a.m. on August 9, an American B-29 bomber under the command of Major Charles Sweeney, carrying the Fat Man atomic bomb, took off from Tinian Island.

Unlike the first bombardment, the second was fraught with numerous technical problems. Even before takeoff, a fuel pump malfunction was discovered in one of the spare fuel tanks. Despite this, the crew decided to conduct the flight as planned.

At approximately 7:50 am, an air raid alert was issued in Nagasaki, which was canceled at 8:30 am.

At 08:10, after reaching a rendezvous point with other B-29s participating in the sortie, one of them was found missing. For 40 minutes, Sweeney's B-29 circled around the rendezvous point, but did not wait for the missing aircraft to appear. At the same time, reconnaissance aircraft reported that the cloudiness over Kokura and Nagasaki, although present, still allows for bombing under visual control.

At 08:50, B-29, carrying the atomic bomb, headed for Kokura, where it arrived at 09:20. By this time, however, 70% cloud cover was already observed over the city, which did not allow visual bombing. After three unsuccessful visits to the target, at 10:32 B-29 headed for Nagasaki. By this point, due to a fuel pump failure, there was only enough fuel for one pass over Nagasaki.

At 10:53, two B-29s came into the air defense field of view, the Japanese mistook them for reconnaissance and did not announce a new alarm.

At 10:56 B-29 arrived at Nagasaki, which, as it turned out, was also obscured by clouds. Sweeney reluctantly approved a much less accurate radar approach. At the last moment, however, bombardier-gunner Captain Kermit Behan (eng.) in the gap between the clouds noticed the silhouette of the city stadium, focusing on which, he dropped the atomic bomb.

The explosion occurred at 11:02 local time at an altitude of about 500 meters. The power of the explosion was about 21 kilotons.

explosion effect

Japanese boy whose upper body was not covered during the explosion

A hastily aimed bomb exploded almost midway between the two main targets in Nagasaki, the Mitsubishi steel and gun factories to the south and the Mitsubishi-Urakami torpedo factory to the north. If the bomb had been dropped further south, between the business and residential areas, the damage would have been much greater.

In general, although the power of the atomic explosion in Nagasaki was greater than in Hiroshima, the destructive effect of the explosion was less. This was facilitated by a combination of factors - the presence of hills in Nagasaki, as well as the fact that the epicenter of the explosion was over the industrial zone - all this helped to protect some areas of the city from the consequences of the explosion.

From the memoirs of Sumiteru Taniguchi, who was 16 years old at the time of the explosion:

I was knocked to the ground (from my bike) and the ground shook for a while. I clung to her so as not to be carried away by the blast wave. When I looked up, the house I had just passed was destroyed... I also saw the child being blown away by the blast. Large rocks were flying in the air, one hit me and then flew up into the sky again...

When everything seemed to calm down, I tried to get up and found that on my left arm the skin, from the shoulder to the fingertips, was hanging like tattered tatters.

Loss and destruction

The atomic explosion over Nagasaki affected an area of ​​​​approximately 110 km², of which 22 were on the water surface and 84 were only partially inhabited.

According to a Nagasaki Prefecture report, "humans and animals died almost instantly" up to 1 km from the epicenter. Nearly all houses within a 2 km radius were destroyed, and dry, combustible materials such as paper ignited up to 3 km away from the epicenter. Of the 52,000 buildings in Nagasaki, 14,000 were destroyed and another 5,400 were severely damaged. Only 12% of the buildings remained intact. Although there was no fire tornado in the city, numerous localized fires were observed.

The death toll by the end of 1945 ranged from 60 to 80 thousand people. After 5 years, the total death toll, taking into account those who died from cancer and other long-term effects of the explosion, could reach or even exceed 140 thousand people.

Plans for subsequent atomic bombings of Japan

The US government expected another atomic bomb to be ready for use in mid-August, and three more each in September and October. On August 10, Leslie Groves, military director of the Manhattan Project, sent a memorandum to George Marshall, Chief of Staff of the US Army, in which he wrote that "the next bomb ... should be ready for use after August 17-18." On the same day, Marshall signed a memorandum with the comment that "it should not be used against Japan until the express approval of the President is obtained." At the same time, discussions have already begun in the US Department of Defense on the advisability of postponing the use of bombs until the start of Operation Downfall, the expected invasion of the Japanese islands.

The problem we are now facing is whether, assuming the Japanese do not capitulate, we should continue to drop bombs as they are produced, or accumulate them in order to then drop everything in a short period of time. Not all in one day, but within a fairly short time. This is also related to the question of what goals we are pursuing. In other words, shouldn't we focus on the targets that will help the invasion the most, and not on industry, troop morale, psychology, etc.? Mostly tactical goals, and not some others.

Japanese surrender and subsequent occupation

Up until August 9, the war cabinet continued to insist on 4 terms of surrender. On August 9, news came of the declaration of war by the Soviet Union late in the evening of August 8, and of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki at 11 o'clock in the afternoon. At the meeting of the "big six", held on the night of August 10, the votes on the issue of surrender were divided equally (3 "for", 3 "against"), after which the emperor intervened in the discussion, speaking in favor of surrender. On August 10, 1945, Japan handed over to the Allies an offer of surrender, the only condition of which was that the Emperor be retained as a nominal head of state.

Since the terms of the surrender allowed for the preservation of imperial power in Japan, on August 14, Hirohito recorded his surrender statement, which was circulated by the Japanese media the next day, despite an attempted military coup by opponents of the surrender.

In his announcement, Hirohito mentioned the atomic bombings:

... in addition, the enemy has a terrible new weapon that can take many innocent lives and cause immeasurable material damage. If we continue to fight, it will not only lead to the collapse and annihilation of the Japanese nation, but also to the complete disappearance of human civilization.

In such a situation, how can we save millions of our subjects or justify ourselves before the sacred spirit of our ancestors? For this reason we have ordered the acceptance of the terms of the joint declaration of our adversaries.

Within a year of the end of the bombing, 40,000 American troops were stationed in Hiroshima and 27,000 in Nagasaki.

Commission for the Study of the Consequences of Atomic Explosions

In the spring of 1948, the National Academy of Sciences Commission on the Effects of Atomic Explosions was formed at Truman's direction to study the long-term effects of radiation exposure on survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Among the victims of the bombing, many uninvolved people were found, including prisoners of war, forced conscription of Koreans and Chinese, students from British Malaya, and about 3,200 Japanese Americans.

In 1975, the Commission was dissolved, its functions were transferred to the newly created Institute for the Study of the Effects of Radiation Exposure (English Radiation Effects Research Foundation).

Debate on the expediency of atomic bombings

The role of the atomic bombings in the surrender of Japan and their ethical validity are still the subject of scientific and public discussion. In a 2005 review of historiography on the subject, the American historian Samuel Walker wrote that "the debate about the appropriateness of the bombing will definitely continue." Walker also noted that "the fundamental question that has been debated for more than 40 years is whether these atomic bombings were necessary to achieve victory in the Pacific War on terms acceptable to the United States."

Proponents of the bombings usually claim that they were the cause of Japan's surrender, and therefore prevented significant losses on both sides (both the US and Japan) in the planned invasion of Japan; that the quick end of the war saved many lives elsewhere in Asia (primarily in China); that Japan was waging an all-out war in which the distinctions between the military and the civilian population are blurred; and that the Japanese leadership refused to capitulate, and the bombing helped to shift the balance of opinion within the government towards peace. Opponents of the bombings contend that they were simply an addition to an already ongoing conventional bombing campaign and thus had no military necessity, that they were fundamentally immoral, a war crime, or a manifestation of state terrorism (despite the fact that in 1945 there was no there were international agreements or treaties directly or indirectly prohibiting the use of nuclear weapons as a means of warfare).

A number of researchers express the opinion that the main purpose of the atomic bombings was to influence the USSR before it entered the war with Japan in the Far East and to demonstrate the atomic power of the United States.

Impact on culture

In the 1950s, the story of a Japanese girl from Hiroshima, Sadako Sasaki, who died in 1955 from the effects of radiation (leukemia), became widely known. Already in the hospital, Sadako learned about the legend, according to which a person who folded a thousand paper cranes can make a wish that will surely come true. Wishing to recover, Sadako began to fold cranes from any pieces of paper that fell into her hands. According to the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Canadian children's writer Eleanor Coer, Sadako only managed to fold 644 cranes before she died in October 1955. Her friends finished the rest of the figurines. According to Sadako's 4,675 Days of Life, Sadako folded a thousand cranes and continued to fold, but later died. Several books have been written based on her story.

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is the most heinous atrocity in human history.

“The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively) are the only two examples of the combat use of nuclear weapons in the history of mankind. Carried out by the US military at the end of World War II to hasten the surrender of Japan in the Pacific theater of World War II.

There are tragedies, terrifying and on a global scale, which will not be forgotten even after 100 years ... August 1945 for the small cities of Japan was the most terrible period of their existence.

Today, the population of Hiroshima is a little over a million people, Nagasaki - about half a million inhabitants, in the spring cherry blossoms here, in the decades after the events of 1945, Buddhist temples appeared in the cities, sights "grew up".

People live here almost calmly, but eyewitness accounts, photographs, memories of survivors and still alive, facts, evidence will never erase this tragedy from the memory of the people and the land.

In the photo, the city of Nagasaki before and after the bomb explosion

Many who learn that in cities that have turned into a handful of ashes more than half a century ago, people now live quietly, the question arises: “Why is Chernobyl still an exclusion zone where it is dangerous to live, while Hiroshima and Nagasaki have become ordinary Japanese territories with cherry blossoms, ponds, residential buildings, parks, etc.?”

“The bomb that fell on Hiroshima called “Baby” was about three meters long, weighed about 4.5 tons and contained about 63 kg of uranium. As planned, the bomb exploded at an altitude of just over 600 meters above Hiroshima, a reaction began, and the result was an explosion with a yield of 16 kilotons.

Since Hiroshima is located on a plain, the "Kid" caused enormous damage: 70 thousand people were killed, as many more were injured, and almost 70% of the buildings in the city were destroyed. About 1900 more people died of cancer some time later.

A bomb called "Fat Man" dropped on Nagasaki, containing more than six kilograms of plutonium, exploded 500 meters above the city, creating an explosion with a yield of 21 kilotons. Since the bomb exploded in the valley, most of the city was not affected by the explosion. Nevertheless, from 45 thousand to 70 thousand people died on the spot, another 75 thousand were injured.

As a result of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, an explosion occurred, and about ten tons of nuclear fuel splashed out. Accurate data on the number of people who died as a result of a radioactive release is difficult to find.

So, in the 30-kilometer Chernobyl exclusion zone, contamination with radioactive isotopes such as cesium-137, strontium-90 and iodine-13 has appeared, which makes it unsafe for people to live here. In Hiroshima or Nagasaki, this is not observed. This difference is due to two factors: there was much more nuclear fuel in the reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which was much more efficiently used in reactions, and in addition, the explosion occurred on the ground, and not in the air ”(Faktrum.ru).

In addition, only 700 g of fission products were contained in the “Kid” bomb out of 64 kg of uranium, and at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, several tons of fission products and transuranium elements were formed during the operation of the reactor even before the explosion, and at the time of the accident, all this broke out. Of course, in the case of Japanese cities, the level of pollution and radioactive damage was horrendous, but in the case of Chernobyl, it was a catastrophe of a universal scale.

The main damaging factor in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the shock wave, light, thermal damage, exposure to hard radiation at the time of the explosion. In the case of Chernobyl, first of all, the soil was poisoned by radiation products.

Before the bombing, 245,000 people lived in Hiroshima, and 200,000 people lived in Nagasaki.

According to Wikipedia - "The total number of deaths by the end of 1945 (victims of the explosion and radiation) ranged from 90 to 166 thousand people in Hiroshima and from 60 to 80 thousand people in Nagasaki." After 5 years, the number of victims of the explosion in Hiroshima exceeded 200 thousand, people died from cancer, radiation exposure.

According to 2009 data, after the explosion and because of its consequences, more than 413 thousand people died or went missing.

“According to official Japanese data as of March 31, 2013, there were 201,779 “hibakusha” alive (as of March 31, 2014, there were 192,719 hibakusha alive) - people affected by the effects of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

This number includes children born to women exposed to radiation from the explosions (predominantly living in Japan at the time of counting). Of these, 1%, according to the Japanese government, had serious cancers caused by radiation exposure after the bombings. The number of deaths as of August 31, 2013 is about 450 thousand: 286,818 in Hiroshima and 162,083 in Nagasaki.

Hibakusha people(born from mothers, fathers who were exposed to radioactive radiation as children and were not far from the epicenters of the explosion immediately after it or some time after, experienced firsthand explosions in infancy, etc.) avoid taking on jobs, they are reluctant to join in marriage, although the government provides material support, this social category does not get rid of the stigma of outcasts and the damned.

The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nothing but a show of US power to hasten the surrender of Japan(Moreover, in the USA, the attack is presented as a forced means of protecting American soldiers from death, because, according to the attacking side, it was necessary to stop the war, otherwise even more people, in particular Americans, would have died) and an experiment in the use of nuclear weapons.

At that time, too little was known about nuclear weapons, about radiation, people with signs of radiation damage were treated for dysentery, and not direct pathology, because the doctors did not know what they were really dealing with.

According to reliable sources - "the Japanese fought for peace and themselves initiated the surrender when they returned from the Potsdam Conference on August 3, 1945, three days before the American bombing of Hiroshima", in addition - the inhabitants of Japanese cities were not warned of a nuclear attack (as mention some information channels). The target of the defeat was precisely defenseless Japanese cities with civilians, and not hidden military bases on their territory.

The US has its own version: in order to avoid the death of millions (in particular, Americans, American soldiers) in the event of the continuation of the war and the invasion of troops into enemy territories, the growing conflict had to be stopped by “shutting up” the stupid, not resigned and itself an aggressor Japan with such a blow that the latter would understand that it is better for her to agree, to surrender, than to continue throwing spears.

Like, someone had to show decisiveness and, even at the cost of the lives of civilians, turn the tide of the war back, bypassing and preventing the death of millions and the continuation of battles that would have led to no one knows what.

In fact, according to reliable information, there were no military bases, the existence and danger of which were declared by the Americans, in Japanese cities, it was civilians who were the target of the defeat., cities (and, judging by the epicenters of the explosions, the bombs were dropped if only somewhere, which means that, perhaps, the main criterion was intimidation, and not killing as many people as possible), besides, according to reliable sources, Japan is ready even before the bombings, and the aggressor, before the first bomb explosions, had already planned a number of subsequent bombings of Japanese cities, despite the peaceful mood of Japan ...

America is not used to losing, and the explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were really a show of force, and on unarmed and defenseless people. According to some reports - among other purposes - the bombing was part of an experiment in the use of nuclear weapons in action, and the rest, all justifications for terrible events on the part of the aggressor, are just arguments in favor of the expediency of using nuclear weapons on people with impunity for the purpose of mass destruction.

The scale of the tragedy was hidden for a long time, “The American occupying forces imposed strict censorship on photographic materials that directly or indirectly affect the scale of the disaster. Everything that "could in one way or another disturb the peace of our citizens" was confiscated and sent to the Pentagon archives.

Real details and photos, video materials that began to “leak” to the masses later, several decades after the bombings, shocked people.

War is always scary, but nuclear war is monstrous...

Somehow, on the next anniversary of the tragedy, I read about what happened to people at the epicenter of the explosion, a peaceful woman went to a government institution (a bank or something similar), and at that moment a bomb exploded, and the woman went up the stairs ..

And from her, since she was at the epicenter of the explosion, there was just a stain left .. she evaporated. This is well known through the evidence and people, like all living beings that were in close proximity to the epicenter of the explosion, became just a steam. Stones and steel melted, miraculously someone managed to survive within a radius of more than 300 meters from the epicenter of the explosion, while receiving massive and terrible burns, radiation.

In the photo, the steps on which the person "evaporated"

And it struck me forever: a person with thoughts, feelings, "Cosmos in the flesh" in an instant can become just a speck on the pavement, a puddle on the steps .. really "life is a vapor that appears for a short time ..". If we hear about the war, then most often we imagine machine guns, tanks, grenades, and here is another way to destroy people, completely unforeseen, unknown, terrible.

People didn't even know what was going on. Children were carried away by the blast wave, buried alive under the rubble of collapsed houses. People who were a kilometer from the epicenters of the explosion either evaporated or turned into charred remains with cooked entrails.

From the shadows walking along the street, there were prints on the walls, dark drawings of clothes were “eaten” into the skin with burns, birds burned in flight, trees became coals or black stumps. Those who survived either died over the next days-weeks-years, or gave birth to children with anomalies.

From the testimonies of miraculously surviving eyewitnesses and fragments of articles with data on the victims:

“A blinding flash and a terrible roar of explosion - after which the whole city was covered with huge clouds of smoke. Among the smoke, dust and debris, wooden houses flared up one after another, until the end of the day the city was enveloped in smoke and flames. And when, finally, the flame subsided, the whole city was one ruin.

It was a terrible sight that history has never seen before. Charred and burnt corpses were piled up everywhere, many of them frozen in the position in which the explosion caught them.. The tram, from which there was only one skeleton, was full of corpses, holding on to the belts. Many of those who remained alive moaned from the burns that covered the entire body. Everywhere one could encounter a spectacle reminiscent of scenes from the life of hell.

In the photo, the people of "Hibakusha"

This one bomb in an instant destroyed 60 percent of the city of Hiroshima to the ground. Of the 306,545 inhabitants of Hiroshima, 176,987 were affected by the explosion. 92,133 people were killed or missing, 9,428 were seriously injured and 27,997 were slightly injured. This information was published in February 1946 by the headquarters of the American occupation army in Japan. In an effort to reduce their responsibility, the Americans, as far as possible, underestimated the number of victims.

“Three colors characterize for me the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima: black, red and brown. Black because the explosion cut off the sunlight and plunged the world into darkness. Red was the color of blood flowing from wounded and broken people. It was also the color of the fires that burned everything in the city. Brown was the color of burnt, peeling skin exposed to light from the explosion."

The clock, wrist, wall, found later at the epicenter of the explosion and not far from it - stopped at around 8.15, it was at that moment that the morning bustle of the ordinary Japanese city of Hiroshima was interrupted and deafened by the blast wave of the exploding atomic bomb.

« On August 6, at about 8 o'clock in the morning, two B-29 bombers appeared over Hiroshima. The alarm signal was given, but, seeing that there were few planes, everyone thought that this was not a major raid, but reconnaissance. About an hour earlier, Japanese early warning radars had detected the approach of several American aircraft en route to southern Japan.

A warning was issued and the radiogram was received in many cities, among them in Hiroshima. The planes were approaching the coast at a very high altitude. At about 8:00 a.m., the radar operator in Hiroshima determined that the number of incoming aircraft was very low—probably no more than three—and the air raid alert was cancelled.

The regular radio warned people to go down to shelter if the B-29s did show up, but no raid was expected after the reconnaissance. People continued to work without entering the shelter, and looked at enemy aircraft.

When the bombers reached the city center, one of them dropped a small parachute, after which the planes flew away. Immediately after that, at 8:15 a.m., there was a deafening explosion, which seemed to tear heaven and earth apart in an instant.

The bomb exploded with a blinding flash in the sky, a great rushing gust of air, and a deafening roar that spread miles from the city; the first destruction was accompanied by the sounds of collapsing houses, growing fires, a giant cloud of dust and smoke cast a shadow over the city" .

An atomic bomb with uranium filling exploded at an altitude of 580 meters above the city of Hiroshima, the temperature within a radius of several hundred meters was more than 10,000 C degrees above the earth's surface (the melting point of some metals is 3-5 thousand degrees Celsius).

“Fire waves and radiation spread instantly in every direction, creating a blast wave of super-compressed air that brings death and destruction. In a few seconds, the 400-year-old city was literally reduced to ashes. People, animals, plants and any other organic bodies were vaporized. Sidewalks and asphalt melted, buildings collapsed, and dilapidated structures were blown away by the blast."

People evaporating without a trace from the face of the earth, trams stuffed with charred corpses still holding on to handrails, buildings leveled to the ground, structures, black tree stumps, which in an instant (in a few minutes-seconds) became the ashes of the city - all this really resembled real scenes of hell, the apocalypse the scariest horror movies...

And although those who try to underestimate the scale and nightmare of the tragedy say that Hiroshima and Nagasaki are a drop in the ocean, they say, more than 66 million people die every year, how many genocides occur unnoticed and with a large number of victims, that the bombings were a necessary measure to end the war - people, this must not be forgotten.

Several tens of thousands of people became steam in an instant ... and, judging by the innovations and achievements of recent years, the future lies with new types of weapons, including nuclear ones, does anyone have a guarantee that we will all avoid the fate of becoming just an imperceptible puddle in a certain scenario ? And for others, it will be just reports, boring facts, information that the media is filled with, because a huge number of people actually die.

The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is one of the most brutal tragedies of the 20th century.

"Hiroshima has become a symbol of the fight against weapons of mass destruction: as a constant reminder of the terrible tragedy in the center of the city, a piece of land with the ruins left after the explosion is left untouched."

In the photo, the city of Hiroshima today