Bombing was the world's only combat use of nuclear weapons. Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At the same time, it should be noted that the unfortunate cities turned out to be victims in many respects, thanks to the tragic circumstances.

Who will we bomb?

In May 1945, US President Harry Truman was given a list of several Japanese cities that were supposed to be hit by a nuclear attack. Four cities were chosen as the main targets. Kyoto as the main center of Japanese industry. Hiroshima, as the largest military port with ammunition depots. Yokohama was chosen due to the defense factories located on its territory. Niigata became a target because of its military port, and Kokura was on the "hit list" as the country's largest military arsenal. Note that Nagasaki was not originally on this list. In the opinion of the US military, the nuclear bombing was supposed to have not so much a military effect as a psychological one. After it, the Japanese government had to abandon further military struggle.

Kyoto was saved by a miracle

From the very beginning, Kyoto was supposed to be the main target. The choice fell on this city not only because of its huge industrial potential. It was here that the color of the Japanese scientific, technical and cultural intelligentsia was concentrated. If a nuclear attack on this city really took place, Japan would be thrown far back in terms of civilization. However, this is exactly what the Americans needed. The unfortunate Hiroshima was chosen as the second city. The Americans cynically considered that the hills surrounding the city would increase the force of the explosion, significantly increasing the number of victims. The most surprising thing is that Kyoto escaped a terrible fate thanks to the sentimentality of US Secretary of War Henry Stimson. In his youth, a high-ranking military man spent his honeymoon in the city. He not only knew and appreciated the beauty and culture of Kyoto, but also did not want to spoil the bright memories of his youth. Stimson did not hesitate to cross Kyoto off the list of cities proposed for nuclear bombing. Subsequently, General Leslie Groves, who led the US nuclear weapons program, in his book “Now You Can Tell It,” recalled that he insisted on the bombing of Kyoto, but he was persuaded, emphasizing the historical and cultural significance of the city. Groves was very dissatisfied, but nevertheless agreed to replace Kyoto with Nagasaki.

What is wrong with Christians?

At the same time, if we analyze the choice of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as targets for nuclear bombing, then there are many uncomfortable questions. The Americans knew very well that the main religion of Japan is Shinto. The number of Christians in this country is extremely small. At the same time, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were considered Christian cities. It turns out that the US military deliberately chose cities inhabited by Christians for bombing? The first B-29 "Great Artist" aircraft had two purposes: the city of Kokura as the main one, and Nagasaki as a spare. However, when the plane with great difficulty reached the territory of Japan, Kukura was hidden by thick clouds of smoke from the burning Yawata metallurgical plant. They decided to bomb Nagasaki. The bomb fell on the city on August 9, 1945 at 11:02 am. In the blink of an eye, an explosion with a capacity of 21 kilotons destroyed several tens of thousands of people. He was not saved even by the fact that in the vicinity of Nagasaki there was a prisoner of war camp for the Allied armies. anti-Hitler coalition. Moreover, in the United States, its location was well known. During the bombing of Hiroshima, a nuclear bomb was even dropped over the Urakamitenshudo Church, the largest Christian temple in the country. The explosion killed 160,000 people.

on the ground"

70 years of tragedy

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

70 years ago, on August 6 and 9, 1945, the United States atomic bombed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The total number of victims of the tragedy is over 450 thousand people, and the survivors still suffer from diseases caused by radiation exposure. According to the latest data, their number is 183,519 people.

Initially, the United States had the idea of ​​dropping 9 atomic bombs on rice fields or at sea in order to achieve a psychological effect in support of the landing operations planned on the Japanese islands at the end of September 1945. But in the end, the decision was made to use new weapons against densely populated cities.

Now the cities have been rebuilt, but their inhabitants still bear the burden of that terrible tragedy. The history of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the memories of the survivors are in a special TASS project.

Hiroshima bombing © AP Photo/USAF

Perfect Target

It was no coincidence that Hiroshima was chosen as the target for the first nuclear strike. This city met all the criteria to achieve the maximum number of victims and destruction: a flat location surrounded by hills, low buildings and flammable wooden buildings.

The city was completely wiped off the face of the earth. Surviving eyewitnesses recalled that they first saw a flash of bright light, followed by a wave that burned everything around. In the area of ​​​​the epicenter of the explosion, everything instantly turned into ashes, and human silhouettes remained on the walls of the surviving houses. Immediately, according to various estimates, from 70 to 100 thousand people died. Tens of thousands more died from the consequences of the explosion, and the total number of victims as of August 6, 2014 is 292,325 people.
Immediately after the bombing, the city did not have enough water not only to extinguish fires, but also to people who were dying of thirst. Therefore, even now the inhabitants of Hiroshima are very careful about water. And during the commemorative ceremony, a special rite "Kensui" (from Japanese - the presentation of water) is performed - it reminds of the fires that engulfed the city and the victims who asked for water. It is believed that even after death, the souls of the dead need water to alleviate suffering.

Director of the Hiroshima Peace Museum with his late father's watch and buckle © EPA/EVERETT KENNEDY BROWN

The hands of the clock have stopped

The hands of almost all clocks in Hiroshima stopped at the moment of the explosion at 08:15 in the morning. Some of them are collected in the World Museum as exhibits.

The museum was opened 60 years ago. Its building consists of two buildings designed by the outstanding Japanese architect Kenzo Tange. One of them houses an exposition about the atomic bombing, where visitors can see the personal belongings of the victims, photographs, various material evidence of what happened in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Audio and video materials are also shown there.

Not far from the museum is the "Atomic Dome" - the former building of the Exhibition Center of the Hiroshima Chamber of Commerce and Industry, built in 1915 by the Czech architect Jan Letzel. This building was miraculously preserved after the atomic bombing, although it stood only 160 meters from the epicenter of the explosion, which is marked by a regular memorial plaque in an alley near the dome. All the people inside the building died, and its copper dome instantly melted, leaving a bare frame. After the end of World War II, the Japanese authorities decided to keep the building in memory of the victims of the bombing of Hiroshima. Now it is one of the main attractions of the city, reminiscent of the tragic moments of its history.

Statue of Sadako Sasaki at Hiroshima Peace Park © Lisa Norwood/wikipedia.org

paper cranes

The trees near the Atomic Dome are often decorated with colorful paper cranes. They have become an international symbol of peace. People from different countries Do-it-yourself figurines of birds are constantly brought to Hiroshima as a sign of mourning for the terrible events of the past and in tribute to the memory of Sadako Sasaki, a girl who survived the atomic bombing in Hiroshima at the age of 2. At the age of 11, signs of radiation sickness were found in her, and the girl's health began to deteriorate sharply. Once she heard a legend that whoever folds a thousand paper cranes will surely recover from any illness. She continued to stack figurines until her death on October 25, 1955. In 1958, a statue of Sadako holding a crane was erected in the Peace Park.

In 1949, a special law was passed, thanks to which large funds were provided for the restoration of Hiroshima. The Peace Park was built and a fund was established in which materials on the atomic bombing are stored. Industry in the city was able to recover after the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 thanks to the production of weapons for the US Army.

Now Hiroshima is modern city with a population of approximately 1.2 million people. It is the largest in the Chugoku region.

Zero mark atomic explosion in Nagasaki. Photo taken in December 1946 © AP Photo

Zero mark

Nagasaki was the second Japanese city after Hiroshima to be bombed by the Americans in August 1945. The initial target of the B-29 bomber under the command of Major Charles Sweeney was the city of Kokura, located in the north of Kyushu. Coincidentally, on the morning of August 9, heavy clouds were observed over Kokura, in connection with which Sweeney decided to turn the plane to the southwest and head to Nagasaki, which was considered as a backup option. Here the Americans also faced bad weather, but the plutonium bomb called "Fat Man" was eventually dropped. It was almost twice as powerful as the one used in Hiroshima, but inaccurate aiming and local terrain somewhat reduced the damage from the explosion. Nevertheless, the consequences of the bombing turned out to be catastrophic: at the time of the explosion, at 11.02 local time, 70 thousand inhabitants of Nagasaki were killed, and the city was practically wiped off the face of the Earth.

In subsequent years, the list of victims of the disaster continued to grow at the expense of those who died from radiation sickness. This number increases every year, and the numbers are updated every year on August 9th. According to data released in 2014, the number of victims of the Nagasaki bombing increased to 165,409 people.

Years later, in Nagasaki, as in Hiroshima, a museum of atomic bombings was opened. Last July, his collection was replenished with 26 new photographs, which were taken a year and four months after the US dropped two atomic bombs on Japanese cities. The pictures themselves were recently discovered. On them, in particular, the so-called zero mark is imprinted - the place of the direct explosion of the atomic bomb in Nagasaki. The captions on the back of the photographs show that the photographs were taken in December 1946 by American scientists who were visiting the city at the time to study the consequences of a terrible atomic strike. "The photographs are of particular value, as they clearly demonstrate the full extent of the destruction, and, at the same time, make it clear what work has been done to restore the city almost from scratch," the Nagasaki administration believes.

One of the photos shows a strange arrow-shaped monument set up in the middle of the field, the inscription on which reads: "Zero mark of the atomic explosion." Local experts are at a loss as to who installed the almost 5-meter monument and where it is now. It is noteworthy that it is located exactly in the place where the official monument to the victims of the 1945 atomic bombing now stands.

Hiroshima Peace Museum © AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye

White spots of history

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has become the object of careful study by many historians, but 70 years after the tragedy, many white spots remain in this story. There is some evidence from individuals who believe that they were born "in the shirt" because, they say, in the weeks before the atomic bombing, there was information about a possible lethal strike on these Japanese cities. So, one of these people claims that he studied at a school for children of high-ranking military personnel. According to him, a few weeks before the strike, all personnel educational institution and his students were evacuated from Hiroshima, saving their lives.

There are also completely conspiracy theories, according to which, on the threshold of the end of World War II, Japanese scientists, not without the help of colleagues from Germany, approached the creation of an atomic bomb. A weapon of terrible destructive power allegedly could appear in the imperial army, whose command was going to fight to the end and constantly hurried nuclear scientists. The media claims that records have recently been found containing calculations and descriptions of equipment for enriching uranium with a view to subsequent use in the creation of the Japanese atomic bomb. The scientists received the order to complete the program on August 14, 1945, and apparently were ready to complete it, but did not have time. The American atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the entry into the war of the Soviet Union did not leave Japan a single chance to continue hostilities.

No more war

Survivors of the bombings in Japan are called by the special word "hibakusha" ("person affected by the bombing").

In the first years after the tragedy, many hibakusha hid that they had survived the bombing and received a high proportion of radiation because they were afraid of discrimination. Then they were not provided with material assistance and were denied treatment. It took 12 years before the Japanese government passed a law according to which the treatment of victims of the bombing became free.

Some of the hibakusha have devoted their lives to educational work aimed at terrible tragedy didn't happen again.

"About 30 years ago, I accidentally saw my friend on TV, he was among the marchers for the prohibition of nuclear weapons. This prompted me to join this movement. Since then, recalling my experience, I explain that atomic weapons are this is an inhuman weapon. It is completely indiscriminate, unlike conventional weapons. I have dedicated my life to explaining the need for a ban on atomic weapons to those who know nothing about atomic bombings, especially young people," Hibakusha Michimasa Hirata wrote on one of the sites, dedicated to preserving the memory of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Many Hiroshima residents whose families were affected to some extent by the atomic bomb are trying to help others learn more about what happened on August 6, 1945, and to get the message across about the dangers of nuclear weapons and war. Near the Peace Park and the Atomic Dome memorial, you can meet people who are ready to talk about the tragic events.

"August 6, 1945 is a special day for me, this is my second birthday. When the atomic bomb was dropped on us, I was only 9 years old. I was in my house about two kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion in Hiroshima. A sudden brilliant flash struck above my head. She fundamentally changed Hiroshima ... This scene, which then developed, defies description. It is a living hell on earth, "Mitimasa Hirata shares her memories.

Bombing of Hiroshima © EPA/A PEACE MEMORIAL MUSEUM

"The city was enveloped in huge fiery whirlwinds"

“70 years ago I was three years old. On August 6, my father was at work 1 km from the place where the atomic bomb was dropped,” said one of the hibakusha Hiroshi Shimizu. “At the time of the explosion, he was thrown back by a huge shock wave. immediately felt that numerous pieces of glass were pierced into his face, and his body began to bleed. The building where he worked immediately broke out. Everyone who could run out to the nearby pond. Father spent about three hours there. At this time, the city was enveloped in huge fiery whirlwinds.

He was only able to find us the next day. Two months later he died. By that time, his stomach had completely turned black. Within a radius of one kilometer from the explosion, the radiation level was 7 sieverts. Such a dose is capable of destroying the cells of internal organs.

At the time of the explosion, my mother and I were at home about 1.6 km from the epicenter. Since we were inside, we managed to avoid strong exposure. However, the house was destroyed by the shock wave. Mother managed to break through the roof and get out with me into the street. After that, we evacuated to the south, away from the epicenter. As a result, we managed to avoid the real hell that was going on there, because there was nothing left within a radius of 2 km.

For 10 years after the bombing, my mother and I suffered from various diseases caused by the dose of radiation we received. We had problems with the stomach, constantly bleeding from the nose, it was also very bad general state immunity. All this passed at the age of 12, and after that I had no health problems for a long time. However, after 40 years, illnesses began to haunt me one after another, the functioning of the kidneys and heart deteriorated sharply, the spine began to hurt, signs of diabetes and problems with cataracts appeared.

Only later it became clear that it was not only the dose of radiation that we received during the explosion. We continued to live and eat vegetables grown on contaminated land, drank water from contaminated rivers, and ate contaminated seafood."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) and hibakusha Sumiteru Taniguchi in front of photographs of people injured in the bombing. The top photo is Taniguchi himself © EPA/KIMIMASA MAYAMA

"Kill me!"

The photo of one of the most famous figures of the hibakusha movement Sumiteru Taniguchi, taken in January 1946 by an American war photographer, spread all over the world. The image, dubbed "Red Back", shows the terrible burns on Taniguchi's back.

“In 1945, I was 16 years old,” he says. “On August 9, I was delivering mail on a bicycle and was about 1.8 km from the epicenter of the bombing. At the time of the explosion, I saw a flash, and the blast wave threw me off the bike. everything in its path.At first I had the impression that a bomb had exploded near me.The ground under my feet was shaking, as if there was a strong earthquake.After I came to my senses, I looked at my hands - literally hanging from them skin. However, at that moment I didn’t even feel pain.”

“I don’t know how, but I managed to get to the munitions factory, which was located in an underground tunnel. There I met a woman, and she helped me cut off pieces of skin on my hands and somehow bandage me. I remember how after that they immediately announced evacuation, but I could not walk myself. Other people helped me. They carried me to the top of the hill, where they laid me under a tree. After that, I fell asleep for a while. I woke up from machine-gun bursts of American aircraft. From the fires it was as bright as day ", so the pilots could easily follow the movements of people. I lay under a tree for three days. During this time, everyone who was next to me died. I myself thought that I would die, I could not even call for help. But I was lucky - on On the third day, people came and saved me. Blood oozed from the burns on my back, the pain grew rapidly. In this state, I was sent to the hospital," recalls Taniguchi.

Only in 1947, the Japanese was able to sit down, and in 1949 he was discharged from the hospital. He underwent 10 operations, and the treatment continued until 1960.

“In the first years after the bombing, I could not even move. The pain was unbearable. I often shouted: “Kill me!” The doctors did everything so that I could live. I remember how they repeated every day that I was alive. During the treatment, I learned on myself everything that radiation is capable of, all the terrible consequences of its effects," Taniguchi said.

Children after the bombing of Nagasaki © AP Photo/United Nations, Yosuke Yamahata

"Then there was silence..."

“When the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, I was six years old and I lived with my family in a traditional Japanese house,” Yasuaki Yamashita recalls. cicadas. But that day I was playing at home. Mom was nearby preparing dinner, as usual. Suddenly, at exactly 11.02, a light blinded us, as if 1000 lightning flashes simultaneously. Mom pushed me to the ground and covered me. We heard the roar of a strong wind and the rustle of the fragments of the house flying at us. Then there was silence ... ".

“Our house was 2.5 km from the epicenter. My sister, she was in the next room, was badly cut by scattered pieces of glass. One of my friends went to play in the mountains that ill-fated day, and a heat wave from a bomb explosion hit him. "He suffered severe burns and died a few days later. My father was sent to help clean up debris in downtown Nagasaki. At that time, we did not yet know about the danger of radiation that caused his death," he writes.

The Japanese: "We will still take revenge on the Russians for Hiroshima!"

Wait to scold me for such a headline.
First, a message from the RIA Novosti agency.
“TOKYO, August 6 - RIA Novosti, Ksenia Naka. The ceremony to commemorate the victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima began in this city on the 69th anniversary of the tragedy.
"Japan must continue to remain a peaceful state and follow the path of peace. The atomic bomb, which robbed children of the love of their families and their very future, is an unconditional evil," Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said in a traditional speech in the name of peace.
Every year on the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima by the American troops, a solemn ceremony dedicated to the memory of the victims begins in the Peace Park.
At the beginning of the ceremony, its participants - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, members of the government, members of parliament, representatives of 68 states - lay wreaths at the memorial, after which at exactly 8 hours 15 minutes (03.15 Moscow time) - the hour when the atomic bomb was dropped on the city , a moment of silence is announced.
After the mayor's speech, several dozen white doves, symbolizing peace, take off into the sky.
In August 1945, American pilots dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From the atomic explosion and its consequences in Hiroshima, out of a population of 350,000, 140,000 people died, in Nagasaki - 74,000. The vast majority of the victims of the atomic bombing were civilians. On the anniversary of the tragic events - August 6 and 9 - "Peace Ceremonies" are held annually in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
In Hiroshima there is a museum in memory of the victims of the atomic bombing. Here are authentic items and testimonies of the victims of the bombing. So, one of the exhibits - a tricycle, burned and twisted by the force of the explosion as if it were made of wire - involuntarily makes you think about what a terrible fate befell the child to whom it belonged.
This is the publication of the RIA Novosti agency:
http://ria.ru/world/20140806/1018948727.html

It’s just a pity that Ksenia Naka didn’t report another sad fact: more and more Japanese believe that the bombs on Hiroshima were dropped by ... Soviet Union!
Here is a post from 2010:
“In modern Japan, the assessment of the atomic bombing is no longer so unambiguous. When answering the question of who dropped the atomic bombs, half of Japanese schoolchildren will name the Soviet Union. Don't be surprised by this answer. According to Japanese history textbooks, it is difficult to understand who and how used nuclear weapons. As a result, according to the latest opinion polls, some Japanese youth perceive atomic bombings as an inevitable evil in war, and not as a conscious desire of Americans to increase the number of victims among the civilian population of Japan. Others believe that the atomic bombing was the work of the USSR. I won’t be surprised if in ten years, Japanese youth will believe that Russia dropped the atomic bomb to capture the Japanese Northern Territories.”
Completely here:
http://vragi-naroda.net/?p=205
… Four more years passed. Japan has just adopted ANTI-RUSSIAN sanctions. And the Japanese, doused by American propaganda, applaud their authorities, saying: “We will still avenge the Russians for Hiroshima!”
So, looking at one of the exhibits - a tricycle burned and twisted by the power of an atomic explosion - the Japanese thinks about what a terrible fate the Russian bomb befell the child to whom it belonged ...
The brainwashing of ordinary Japanese continues...
I would very much like the Japanese themselves, yes, the Japanese themselves, to declare that they know that it was the Americans who dropped the bombs, and that they will NEVER forget these monstrous crimes. And what do they know how Soviet army broke the back of the huge Kwantung Army and liberated Japan from militarism.
D. Maurin

Answers:
Yes, I'm sure the Japanese will know the truth!
No, the Japanese are being prepared for a new war with Russia!
Japanese militarism rears its head!
The Japanese regime is rewriting history for itself.
Americans dominate the world's media. Here is the result!

Reviews

My colleague came from Japan - lived there for the last 3 years. as a hobby - went, arranged population surveys.
In the end, his sadness knew no bounds.
For 3 years, he interviewed more than 10 "000 young Japanese from 16 to 25 years old. (For sociological surveys - the number of more than 5 thousand is already enough). And the most offensive is that they motivated their knowledge - only with films !!!
1) More than 80% of the respondents said that the USSR dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Americans valiantly helped the poor Japanese.
2) 70% said that the United States won in Vietnam (rambo is the hero there - in the movies - won everyone).
3) 37% of respondents answered that in Cuba - all the money the government receives from the drug mafia (of course, Bad Boys 2).
4) 100% of respondents said that the first satellite was launched by the Americans, they were the first to go into space (Armageddon movie)
5) 43% said that in Russia there is a bad army, because in films "your fortress is blown up" (Fortress - as we understand it - is the Kremlin, and films are the last mission and tough nut to crack).
6) 27% of people answered that the most intelligent are Americans. (the fact that most of these scientists fled or were bought from Russia or China - they did not know).
7) 100% answered that the Americans won World War II, "losing as many as 50! thousand!! people, and the USSR lost just a little bit, because they began to participate in the war in recent months."
8) 100% of respondents believe that Libya really got better because of the revolutions, because "the United States promised them to bring freedom of speech - and they did, so everyone is fine." The fact that now the population is in complete poverty - no one knew. That oil, which used to belong to the people, because % of sales was given to the population ... now belongs to the USA and England ...

Friends, when you watch American films, go down to earth at times and remember that any film is not just good direction and acting, but also a powerful weapon of US propaganda.
According to information from:
http://pikabu.ru/story/vot_yeto_uzhe_realno_grustno_1038536

Americans are the smartest, because they come from all over the world.
The Russians are also smart, but so far only Depardieu has come to Russia, although he does not live with us.

The Americans are so "smart" that they thought of printing for THREE cents a piece of paper with a face value of 100 dollars.
And with these dollars they buy minds, talents, and everything that interests them!
And what is stopping them .... They give pieces of paper to those who can help them remove those who interfere with the Americans!

So who forces to buy these pieces of paper? If Russia is so smart, don't buy it. Business something. And not only Russia buys them, but the whole world. It can be seen that they are not so stupid, these Americans.

Yes, Sergey is right.
There are no smarter Americans and there has never been in the world: to kill the Japanese with an atomic bomb and make them think that the USSR did it! Shoot down together with Ukr. Boeing 777 and make the world think Putin did it! To make the dollar the world's gold, exchanging just pieces of paper for real things and the labor of earthlings.
Who else is capable of this?!
I think we can expect even smarter things from them...
Russians will never reach the heights of such intelligence.
I admire the mind of the Americans, Sergey, just like you.

I agree with you, Valery! This is what a devilish mind you need to have in order to come up with all this, and even implement it, so much so that the "people" is, excuse me, "shaved"!

I already wrote this today:
The United States, as was already the case in Afghanistan, threw the apple of discord in the form of the Crimea to the former scoops and now they are laughing at how they (we, that is) grappled with each other. And they say that Americans are stupid! It's only the beginning! We will fight until Victory, that is, until we finally destroy and ruin each other.

If I am not mistaken, the idea to make the dollar the world currency was proposed by I.V. Stalin. at a conference in Tehran - November-December 1943.

Nikolai Sologubovsky I don’t know who you are by profession and what your head is ideologically stuffed with, nevertheless, you are subject to all kinds of informational slander and false gossip. Or you distribute them yourself with a special predilection. I personally checked all these fairy tales of yours on English-language sites and on Japanese ones, and I didn’t find anything like it anywhere. When talking about these bombings, the Japanese media try not to pedal the question of who committed them. You can look at the Japanese press and you will see such expressions as the atomic bombing of Japan, the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But no indication of who did it. As if these terrible bombs came from the moon. But this is not done by chance. Japanese propaganda is deliberately silent about who dropped the atomic bombs.
Japan is interested in cooperation with the US and is unlikely to make claims to Washington.
The Japanese are trying not to irritate their main military-political ally, older brother, patron. Because America is now extremely important for Japan in terms of ensuring its national interests. Japan is holding on to the United States. And the current prime minister (of Japan, Shinzo) Abe is heading towards strengthening military cooperation with the Americans. Therefore, of course, the Japanese authorities will not pedal the question of who dropped these bombs, and how justified it all was.

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

Japan during the final stages of World War II

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

Prerequisites for the use of atomic weapons

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

Hiroshima and Nagasaki: reasons for the bombing

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

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

Choice of goals

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

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

Which cities were considered as the target

The "candidates" included:

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

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

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

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

Training

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

First atomic strike on Japan

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

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

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

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

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

Bombing of Nagasaki

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

Consequences of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

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

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

Subsequent events

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

During World War II, on August 6, 1945, at 8:15 am, a US B-29 Enola Gay bomber dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Approximately 140,000 people died in the explosion and died over the following months. Three days later, when the United States dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, about 80,000 people were killed. On August 15, Japan capitulated, thus ending World War II. Until now, this bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remains the only case of the use of nuclear weapons in the history of mankind. The US government decided to drop the bombs, believing that this would hasten the end of the war and there would be no need for prolonged bloody fighting on the main island of Japan. Japan was strenuously trying to control the two islands, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, as the Allies closed in.

1. This wrist watch, found among the ruins, stopped at 8.15 am on August 6, 1945 - during the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.

2. The flying fortress "Enola Gay" comes in for landing on August 6, 1945 at the base on the island of Tinian after the bombing of Hiroshima.

3. This photo, released in 1960 by the US government, shows the Little Boy atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The size of the bomb is 73 cm in diameter, 3.2 m in length. It weighed 4 tons, and the explosion power reached 20,000 tons of TNT.

4. In this image provided by the US Air Force, the main crew of the B-29 "Enola Gay" bomber, from which the "Kid" nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Pilot Colonel Paul W. Tibbets stands center. The photo was taken in the Mariana Islands. This was the first time in the history of mankind that nuclear weapons were used during military operations.

5. Smoke 20,000 feet high rises over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 after an atomic bomb was dropped on it during the hostilities.

6. This photograph, taken August 6, 1945 from the city of Yoshiura, located on the other side of the mountains north of Hiroshima, shows smoke rising from the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. The picture was taken by an Australian engineer from Kure, Japan. The spots left on the negative by radiation almost destroyed the picture.

7. Survivors of the atomic bomb explosion, first used during hostilities on August 6, 1945, await medical attention in Hiroshima, Japan. As a result of the explosion, 60,000 people died at the same moment, tens of thousands died later due to exposure.

8. August 6, 1945. Pictured: Survivors of Hiroshima are given first aid by military medics shortly after the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, used in military operations for the first time in history.

9. After the explosion of the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945, only ruins remained in Hiroshima. Nuclear weapons were used to hasten the surrender of Japan and complete the Second world war, for which US President Harry Truman ordered the use of nuclear weapons with a capacity of 20,000 tons of TNT. Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945.

10. August 7, 1945, the day after the explosion of the atomic bomb, smoke spreads over the ruins of Hiroshima, Japan.

11. President Harry Truman (pictured left) at his desk in the White House next to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson after returning from the Potsdam Conference. They discuss the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.

13. The survivors of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki people among the ruins, against the backdrop of a raging fire in the background, August 9, 1945.

14. Crew members of the B-29 "The Great Artiste" bomber, which dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, surrounded Major Charles W. Sweeney in North Quincy, Massachusetts. All crew members participated in the historic bombing. Left to right: Sgt. R. Gallagher, Chicago; Staff Sergeant A. M. Spitzer, Bronx, New York; Captain S. D. Albury, Miami, Florida; Captain J.F. Van Pelt Jr., Oak Hill, WV; Lt. F. J. Olivy, Chicago; staff sergeant E.K. Buckley, Lisbon, Ohio; Sgt. A. T. Degart, Plainview, Texas; and Staff Sgt. J. D. Kucharek, Columbus, Nebraska.

15. This photograph of the atomic bomb that exploded over Nagasaki, Japan during World War II was released by the Atomic Energy Commission and the US Department of Defense in Washington on December 6, 1960. The Fat Man bomb was 3.25 meters long and 1.54 meters in diameter, and weighed 4.6 tons. The power of the explosion reached about 20 kilotons of TNT.

16. A huge column of smoke rises into the air after the explosion of the second atomic bomb in the port city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. As a result of the explosion of a bomb dropped by a bomber air force US Army B-29 Bockscar, more than 70 thousand people died immediately, tens of thousands more died subsequently as a result of exposure.

17. A huge nuclear mushroom over Nagasaki, Japan, August 9, 1945, after a US bomber dropped an atomic bomb on the city. The nuclear explosion over Nagasaki occurred three days after the US dropped the first ever atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

18. A boy carries his burnt brother on his back on August 10, 1945 in Nagasaki, Japan. Such photos were not made public by the Japanese side, but after the end of the war they were shown to the world media by UN staff.

19. The arrow was installed at the site of the fall of the atomic bomb in Nagasaki on August 10, 1945. Most of the affected area is empty to this day, the trees remained charred and mutilated, and almost no reconstruction was carried out.

20. Japanese workers dismantle the rubble in the affected area in Nagasaki, an industrial city located in the southwest of Kyushu, after an atomic bomb was dropped on it on August 9. A chimney and a lone building can be seen in the background, ruins in the foreground. The picture is taken from the archives of the Japanese news agency Domei.

22. As can be seen in this photo, which was taken on September 5, 1945, several concrete and steel buildings and bridges remained intact after the US dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World War II.

23. A month after the first atomic bomb exploded on August 6, 1945, a journalist inspects the ruins in Hiroshima, Japan.

24. Victim of the explosion of the first atomic bomb in the department of the first military hospital in Ujina in September 1945. The thermal radiation generated by the explosion burned the pattern from the kimono fabric on the woman's back.

25. Most of the territory of Hiroshima was wiped off the face of the earth by the explosion of the atomic bomb. This is the first aerial photograph after the explosion, taken on September 1, 1945.

26. The area around the Sanyo-Shorai-Kan (Trade Promotion Center) in Hiroshima was left in ruins after the atomic bomb exploded 100 meters away in 1945.

27. A correspondent stands among the ruins in front of the skeleton of the building that was the city theater in Hiroshima on September 8, 1945, a month after the first atomic bomb was dropped by the United States to hasten the surrender of Japan.

28. The ruins and lone frame of the building after the explosion of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima. The photo was taken on September 8, 1945.

29. Very few buildings remain in the devastated Hiroshima, a Japanese city that was razed to the ground by an atomic bomb, as seen in this photograph taken on September 8, 1945. (AP Photo)

30. September 8, 1945. People walk along a cleared road among the ruins left by the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima on August 6 of the same year.

31. The Japanese found among the ruins of the wreckage of a children's tricycle in Nagasaki, September 17, 1945. The nuclear bomb dropped on the city on August 9 wiped out almost everything within a radius of 6 kilometers from the face of the earth and took the lives of thousands of civilians.

32. In this photo courtesy of the Japan Association of Aftermath Photographers nuclear explosion in Hiroshima (Association of the Photographers of the Atomic (Bomb) Destruction of Hiroshima), - a victim of an atomic explosion. A man is in quarantine on the island of Ninoshima in Hiroshima, Japan, 9 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion, the day after the US dropped an atomic bomb on the city.

33. Tram (top center) and its dead passengers after the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9. The photo was taken on September 1, 1945.

34. People pass a tram lying on the tracks at the Kamiyasho intersection in Hiroshima some time after the atomic bomb was dropped on the city.

35. In this photograph provided by the Japan Association of the Photographers of the Atomic (Bomb) Destruction of Hiroshima, victims of the atomic explosion are in the tent care center of the 2nd Military Hospital of Hiroshima, located on the banks of the Ota River, 1150 meters from the epicenter of the explosion, August 7, 1945. The photo was taken the day after the United States dropped the first ever atomic bomb on the city.

36. View of Hachobori Street in Hiroshima shortly after a bomb was dropped on the Japanese city.

37. The Urakami Catholic Cathedral in Nagasaki, photographed on September 13, 1945, was destroyed by an atomic bomb.

38. A Japanese soldier wanders among the ruins in search of recyclable materials in Nagasaki on September 13, 1945, just over a month after the atomic bomb exploded over the city.

39. A man with a loaded bicycle on a road cleared of ruins in Nagasaki on September 13, 1945, a month after the atomic bomb exploded.

40. September 14, 1945, the Japanese are trying to drive through a ruined street on the outskirts of the city of Nagasaki, over which a nuclear bomb exploded.

41. This area of ​​Nagasaki was once built up with industrial buildings and small residential buildings. In the background are the ruins of the Mitsubishi factory and the concrete school building at the foot of the hill.

42. The top picture shows the bustling city of Nagasaki before the explosion, and the bottom picture shows the wasteland after the atomic bomb. The circles measure the distance from the explosion point.

43. Japanese family eats rice in a hut built from the rubble of what was once their home in Nagasaki, September 14, 1945.

44. These huts, photographed on September 14, 1945, were built from the wreckage of buildings that were destroyed as a result of the explosion of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.

45. In the Ginza district of the city of Nagasaki, which was an analogue of New York's Fifth Avenue, the owners of shops destroyed by the explosion nuclear bomb, selling their goods on the sidewalks, September 30, 1945.

46. ​​Sacred Torii gate at the entrance to the completely destroyed Shinto shrine in Nagasaki in October 1945.

47. Service at the Nagarekawa Protestant Church after the atomic bomb destroyed the church in Hiroshima, 1945.

48. A young man injured after the explosion of the second atomic bomb in the city of Nagasaki.

49. Major Thomas Fereby, left, from Moscowville and Captain Kermit Beahan, right, from Houston, talking in a hotel in Washington, February 6, 1946. Ferebi is the man who dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, and his interlocutor dropped the bomb on Nagasaki.

52. Ikimi Kikkawa shows his keloid scars left after the treatment of burns received during the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima at the end of World War II. The photo was taken at the Red Cross Hospital on June 5, 1947.

53. Akira Yamaguchi shows his scars left after the treatment of burns received during the explosion of a nuclear bomb in Hiroshima.

54. On the body of Jinpe Terawama, the survivor of the explosion of the first atomic bomb in history, there were numerous burn scars, Hiroshima, June 1947.

55. Pilot Colonel Paul W. Taibbets waves from the cockpit of his bomber at a base located on the island of Tinian, August 6, 1945, before taking off, the purpose of which was to drop the first ever atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The day before, Tibbets had named the B-29 flying fortress "Enola Gay" after his mother.