World War II changed the world. The leaders of the powers were playing games for power among themselves, where the stakes were millions of lives of innocent people. One of the most terrible pages in the history of mankind, which largely predetermined the outcome of the entire war, was the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japanese cities where ordinary civilians lived.

Why did these explosions happen, what consequences did the President of the United States of America expect when he ordered the bombing of Japan with nuclear bombs, did he know about the global consequences of his decision? The researchers of history continue to search for answers to these and many other questions. There are many versions about what goals Truman pursued, but be that as it may, it was the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that became the decisive factor in the end of World War II. To understand what served as the basis for such a global event, and why it became possible to drop a bomb on Hiroshima, consider its background.

Emperor Hirohito of Japan had grandiose ambitions. Following the example of Hitler, who at that time was doing very well, in 1935 the head of the Japanese islands, on the advice of his generals, decides to seize backward China, not even suspecting that all his plans will be brought down by the atomic bombing of Japan. With the help of a large population of China, he hopes to get all of Asia into his possession.

From 1937 to 1945, Japanese troops used chemical weapons prohibited by the Geneva Convention against the Chinese army. The Chinese were killed indiscriminately. As a result, over 25 million Chinese lives were at the expense of Japan, almost half of which were women and children. The date of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima was inexorably approaching due to the cruelty and fanaticism of the emperor.

In 1940, Hirohito makes a pact with Hitler, and the next year he attacks the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, thereby involving the United States in World War II. But soon Japan began to lose ground. Then the emperor (he is the incarnation of God for the inhabitants of Japan) ordered his subjects to die, but not to surrender. As a result, families died in the name of the emperor. Many more will die when American planes carry out the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima.

Emperor Hirohito, having already lost the war, was not going to give up. He had to be forced to surrender, otherwise the consequences of a bloody invasion of Japan would have been horrendous, worse than the bombing of Hiroshima. Many experts believe that saving more lives was one of the main reasons why the US bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Potsdam conference

1945 was a turning point for everything for the world. From July 17 to August 2 of that year, the Potsdam Conference was held, the latest in a series of Big Three meetings. As a result, many decisions were made that would help end the Second World War. Including the USSR assumed obligations to conduct military operations with Japan.

The three world powers led by Truman, Churchill and Stalin came to a temporary agreement on the redistribution of post-war influence, although the conflicts were not resolved and the war was not over. The Potsdam Conference was marked by the signing of the Declaration. Within its framework, the demand for Japan's unconditional and immediate surrender was spelled out.

The Japanese government leadership indignantly rejected the "impudent proposal." They intended to fight the war to the end. Failure to comply with the requirements of the Declaration, in fact, freed the hands of the countries that signed it. The American ruler considered that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima was possible.

The anti-Hitler coalition survived last days. It was during the Potsdam Conference that sharp contradictions emerged in the views of the participating countries. The unwillingness to come to a consensus, yielding to the “allies” on some issues to the detriment of oneself, will lead the world to a future cold war.

Harry Truman

On the eve of the Big Three meeting in Potsdam, American scientists are conducting control tests of a new type of weapon of mass destruction. And just four days after the end of the conference, US President Harry Truman received a classified telegram saying that the tests of the atomic bomb had been completed.

The President decides to show Stalin that he has a winning card in his fist. He hints to the Generalissimo about this, but he is not at all surprised. Only a faint smile that appeared on his lips, and another puff of the eternal pipe were the answer to Truman. Returning to his apartment, he will call Kurchatov and order to speed up work on the atomic project. The arms race was in full swing.

American intelligence reports to Truman that the Red Army troops are heading towards the Turkish border. The President makes a historic decision. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will soon become a reality.

The choice of the object or how the attack on Nagasaki and Hiroshima was prepared

Back in the spring of 1945, the participants in the Manhattan Project were given the task of identifying potential sites for testing atomic weapons. Scientists from the Oppenheimer group compiled a list of requirements that the object must meet. It included the following items:

Four cities were chosen as intended targets: Hiroshima, Yokohama, Kyoto and Kokura. Only two of them were supposed to be real targets. The last word left to the weather. When this list caught the eye of Professor Edwin Reisshauer, an expert on Japan, he tearfully asked the command to exclude Kyoto from it as a unique world cultural value.

Henry Stimson, who at that time held the chair of the Minister of Defense, supported the opinion of the professor despite the pressure of General Groves, because he himself knew and loved this cultural center well. The vacated place in the list of potential targets was occupied by the city of Nagasaki. The developers of the plan believed that the goals should be only big cities with the civilian population, so that the morale effect is as bright as possible, able to break the opinion of the emperor and change the views of the Japanese people on participation in the war.

Researchers of history turned over not a single volume of materials and got acquainted with the secret data of the operation. They believe that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the date of which was predetermined long ago, were the only possible ones, since there were only two atomic bombs and they were going to use them precisely in Japanese cities. At the same time, the fact that a nuclear attack on Hiroshima would kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people was of little concern to both the military and politicians.

Why did Hiroshima and Nagasaki, whose history will forever be overshadowed by thousands of people killed in one day, take the role of victims on the altar of War? Why was it the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic bombs that was supposed to force the entire population of Japan, and most importantly its emperor, to surrender? Hiroshima was a military target with dense buildings and many wooden structures. In the city of Nagasaki, there were several important industries supplying guns, military equipment and elements of military shipbuilding. The choice of other goals was pragmatic - convenient location and development.

Bombing of Hiroshima

The operation was carried out according to a clearly developed plan. All his points were implemented exactly:

1. On July 26, 1945, the atomic bomb "Kid" arrived on the island of Tinian. By the end of July, all preparations were completed. The final date for the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima has been set. The weather did not disappoint.
2. On August 6, a bomber with the proud name "Enola Gay", carrying death on board, entered Japanese airspace.
3. Before him flew three precursor aircraft to determine the weather conditions under which the atomic bombing of Hiroshima would be accurate.
4. Behind the bomber, one aircraft was moving with fixing equipment on board, which was supposed to record all the data on how the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would go.
5. The last in the group was a bomber to photograph the results of the explosion that would cause the bombing of Hiroshima.

The small group of aircraft that made such a surprise attack, as a result of which the atomic bombing of Hiroshima became possible, did not cause concern either among representatives of the air defense or among the ordinary population.

The Japanese air defense system detected aircraft over the city, but the alarm was canceled, since no more than three flying objects were visible on the radar. Residents were warned about the possibility of a raid, but people were in no hurry to hide in shelters and continued to work. Neither artillery nor fighters were alerted to counter enemy aircraft that appeared. The bombing of Hiroshima was unlike any other bombing that Japanese cities have experienced.

IT'S IMPORTANT TO KNOW:

At 0815, the carrier aircraft reached the city center and released its parachute. After this unusual attack on Hiroshima, the entire group immediately left. The bomb was dropped on Hiroshima above 9000 meters. At an altitude of 576 meters above the roofs of city houses, it exploded. A deafening explosion ripped apart the sky and the earth with a powerful blast wave. A shower of fire burned everything in its path. In the epicenter of the explosion, people simply disappeared in a fraction of a second, and a little further they were burned alive or charred, still remaining alive.

August 6, 1945 (the date of the bombing of Hiroshima with nuclear weapons) became a black day in the history of the whole world, the day of the murder of more than 80 thousand Japanese, a day that will lay a heavy burden of pain on the hearts of many generations.

The first hours after the bombing of Hiroshima

For some time in the city itself and its environs, no one really knew what happened after all. People did not understand that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima had already taken thousands of lives in an instant, and would take many thousands more for decades to come. As stated in the first official report, the city was attacked by an unknown type of bombs from several aircraft. What is an atomic weapon, and what are the consequences of its use, no one, even its developers, hardly suspected.

For sixteen hours there was no definite information that there had been a bombing of Hiroshima. The first person to notice the absence of any signals on the air from the city was the operator of the Broadcasting Corporation. Multiple attempts to contact at least someone were unsuccessful. Some time later, unintelligible, fragmentary information came from a small railway station 16 km from the city.

From these reports, it became clear at what time the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima took place. A staff officer and a young pilot were sent to Hiroshima military base. They were tasked to find out why the Center was not responding to inquiries about the situation. After all, the General Staff was sure that no massive attacks on Hiroshima had taken place.

The military, who were at a fairly decent distance from the city (160 km), appeared to be a cloud of dust that had not yet settled. Approaching and circling over the ruins, only a few hours after the bombing of Hiroshima, they witnessed a horrifying sight. The city, destroyed to the ground, was blazing with fires, clouds of dust and smoke obscured the view, not allowing you to see the details from above.

The plane landed at some distance from the buildings destroyed by the blast wave. The officer sent a message about the state of affairs to the General Staff and began to provide all possible assistance to the victims. The nuclear bombing of Hiroshima claimed many lives and crippled many more. People helped each other as much as they could.

Only 16 hours after the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, Washington made a public statement about what had happened.

Atomic attack on Nagasaki

The picturesque and developed Japanese city of Nagasaki has not been subjected to massive bombing before, as it was stored as an object for a decisive strike. Only a few high-explosive bombs were dropped on shipyards, Mitsubishi armaments factories, and medical facilities in the week before that decisive day when american planes used an identical maneuver to deliver deadly weapons and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima was carried out. After those minor strikes, the population of Nagasaki was partially evacuated.

Few people know that Nagasaki only by chance became the second city whose name will forever be inscribed in history as a victim of the atomic bomb explosion. Until the last minute, the second approved site was the city of Kokura on the island of Yokushima.

The three bombing planes were supposed to meet on approach to the island. The radio silence regime forbade the operators to go on the air, so before the atomic bombing of Hiroshima took place, visual contact of all participants in the operation had to take place. The carrier aircraft of the nuclear bomb and the partner accompanying it to fix the parameters of the explosion met and continued to circle in anticipation of the third aircraft. He had to take photographs. But the third member of the group did not appear.

After forty-five minutes of waiting, with only fuel left to make the return flight, the commander of Operation Sweeney makes a fateful decision. The group will not wait for the third plane. The weather, which had been favorable for bombing half an hour ago, had deteriorated. The group is forced to fly to defeat the alternate target.

On August 9, at 7.50 am, an air raid signal sounded over the city of Nagasaki, but after 40 minutes it was canceled. People began to come out of hiding. At 10.53, considering two enemy aircraft that appeared over the city as reconnaissance aircraft, they did not raise the alarm at all. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were made like a blueprint.

A group of American aircraft made an absolutely identical maneuver. And this time the system air defense Japan, for unknown reasons, did not respond properly. A small group of enemy aircraft, even after the attack on Hiroshima, did not arouse suspicion among the military. The atomic bomb "Fat Man" exploded over the city at 11:02 am, burned and destroyed it to the ground in a few seconds, instantly killing more than 40 thousand human lives. Another 70 thousand were on the verge of life and death.

Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Effects

What did the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki entail? In addition to radiation contamination, which would kill those who survived for many years to come, the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had global political significance. She influenced the opinion of the Japanese government and the determination of the Japanese army to continue the war. This is the result, according to the official version, that Washington was seeking.

The bombing of Japan with atomic bombs stopped Emperor Hirohito and forced Japan to officially recognize the demands of the Potsdam Conference. This was announced by US President Harry Truman five days after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Date August 14, 1945 for many inhabitants of the planet was a day of joy. As a result, the troops of the Red Army, stationed near the borders of Turkey, did not continue their movement to Istanbul and were sent to Japan after the declaration of war by the Soviet Union.

Within two weeks, a crushing defeat of the Japanese army was inflicted. As a result, on September 2, Japan signed the act of surrender. This day is a significant date for the entire population of the Earth. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did its job.

Today, there is no consensus even in Japan itself about whether the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified and necessary. Many scientists, after 10 years of painstaking study of the secret archives of the Second World War, come to different opinions. The officially recognized version is that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is the price the world paid for ending World War II. History professor Tsuyoshi Hasegawa takes a slightly different view of the "Hiroshima and Nagasaki" problem. What is it, an attempt by the United States to become a world leader or a way to prevent the USSR from taking over all of Asia as a result of an alliance with Japan? He believes that both options are correct. And the destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki are something absolutely not important for global history from the point of view of politics.

There is an opinion that the plan developed by the Americans, according to which the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima was to take place, was a way for the States to show the Union its advantage in the arms race. But if the USSR had managed to declare that it had powerful nuclear weapons of mass destruction, the United States might not have dared to take extreme measures, and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not take place. This development of events was also considered by specialists.

But the fact remains that it was at this stage that the largest military confrontation in the history of mankind formally ended, albeit at the cost of more than 100,000 civilian lives in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The power of the bombs detonated in Japan was 18 and 21 kilotons of TNT. The whole world recognizes that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki put an end to World War II.

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 B-29 Enola Gay bomber, named after the mother (Enola Gay Haggard) of the crew commander, Colonel Paul Tibbets, dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. 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 that formally ended the Second world war, was signed on September 2, 1945.

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

Prerequisites

In September 1944, at a meeting between US President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Hyde Park, an agreement was reached, 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 the choice of Kyoto was supported by the fact that its population had more high level education and thus 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 outlined 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 aircraft, 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. The order, drafted by Major General Leslie Groves, head of the Manhattan Project, called for a nuclear attack "on any day after August 3rd, as soon as the weather permits." On July 29, US Strategic Air Command General Karl Spaats arrived on Tinian, delivering Marshall's order to the island.

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

Hiroshima during World War II

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 fighting equipment and inadequate staff training created high danger fire 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 "Baby" 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 burnt the dark pattern of clothing into the skin and left silhouettes. 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 listed as a disease caused by the consequences 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 the field 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. Complete silence from there baffled General base, because they knew that there was no major enemy raid in Hiroshima and there was no significant warehouse explosives. 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

Concepts " Nuclear pollution” did not yet exist in those years, and therefore this issue was not even raised at that time. 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 extent 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 on Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the reactor core there were several tons of fission products and transuranium elements - various radioactive isotopes accumulated during reactor operation.

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 Soviet Union better results than unconditional surrender. The military leadership also believed that if they could hold out until the invasion of the Japanese islands began, it would be possible to inflict such losses on the Allied forces that Japan could win peace conditions other than unconditional surrender.

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

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

Nagasaki during World War II

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

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

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

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

Nagasaki before and after the atomic explosion

Bombardment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

explosion effect

Japanese boy whose upper body was not covered during the explosion

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

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

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

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

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

Loss and destruction

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

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

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

Plans for subsequent atomic bombings of Japan

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

The problem we are facing now 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 be concentrating on targets that are most will help the invasion, and not on industry, the morale of the troops, 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 continuation 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 mobilization 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 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 absolute 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 dead 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 8:15 am (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 is only a pity that Ksenia Naka did not report another sad fact: more and more Japanese believe that the bombs on Hiroshima were dropped by ... the 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 films - 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 exterminate 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 deliberately keeps 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 anti-Hitler coalition- 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, who at that time served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put his signature under the order directing the implementation of nuclear bombing any time after August 3rd when the weather conditions are 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.

According to a survey conducted in Japan by Populus for the international news agency and radio Sputnik as part of the Sputnik.Opinions project, the majority of Japanese respondents (61%) believe that the US should apologize for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At the same time, 74% of respondents believe that these bombings cannot be justified by war, since many civilians died.

Only 11% believe that it is not necessary to apologize. Almost 30% were unable to answer the question; the share of doubters is especially high among young people aged 18 to 24: more than 40% of respondents of this particular age found it difficult to answer the question.

The survey was conducted by Populus for the Sputnik news agency and radio from July 29 to August 2, 2015, the methodology is online interviews. The sample was 1004 people in Japan from 18 to 64 years old. The sample represents the population by gender, age, and geography. Confidence interval for the data as a whole for the country +/- 3.1% at a confidence level of 95%.

Head of the Center for Japanese Studies of the Institute Far East RAS Valery Kistanov, commenting on the results of the survey on Sputnik radio, noted that in the United States the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is still justified military necessity.

"It was a completely inhuman, barbaric act - dropping nuclear bombs on civilian cities. And, of course, there are no excuses for this. As for the attitude of the United States to this historical fact: Unfortunately, the prevailing opinion in the United States is still that these bombings were due to military necessity. They allegedly saved tens of thousands of American soldiers' lives. Since the landing of the American army on Japanese territory was planned," Valery Kistanov said on Sputnik radio.
In his opinion, one should not expect any apologies from the US leadership.

“America is always right, they never apologize for anything, and they will not apologize for the atomic bombings. spirit, mentality of the ruling American circles," the expert believes.

At the same time, in Japan itself, according to Valery Kistanov, the fact that it was the United States that dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is being hushed up in every possible way.

"The Japanese media, when talking about these bombings, try not to pedal the question of who carried out 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 without specifying who "I did it. As if these terrible bombs came from the moon. But this is not done by chance. Japanese propaganda deliberately hushed up who dropped the atomic bombs," the expert said.

According to him, Japan is interested in cooperation with the United States and is unlikely to make claims to Washington.

"The Japanese are trying not to irritate their main military and political ally, older brother, patron. Because America is now extremely important for Japan in terms of ensuring its national interests. Japan clings 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 was. And ordinary residents, of course, have a different opinion, a different feeling. But, I think, there will be no changes in Japanese-American relations," Valery Kistanov concluded.