Why did the Americans drop a bomb on Hiroshima? Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: forced necessity or war crime? Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively) are the only two examples in the history of mankind of the combat use of nuclear weapons. Implemented by the US Armed Forces at the final stage of World War II in order to accelerate the surrender of Japan within 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 "Fat Man" atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki by pilot Charles Sweeney, commander of the B-29 "Bockscar" bomber. The total number of deaths ranged from 90 to 166 thousand people in Hiroshima and from 60 to 80 thousand people in Nagasaki.

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

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

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

Prerequisites

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

By the summer of 1945, the United States of America, with the support of Great Britain and Canada, as part of the Manhattan Project, completed preparatory work to create the first operational nuclear weapons.

After three and a half years of direct US involvement in World War II, about 200 thousand 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 died, 39 thousand were wounded (Japanese losses ranged from 93 to 110 thousand soldiers and over 100 thousand civilians). It was expected that an invasion of Japan itself would result in losses many times greater than those in Okinawan.

Model of the Little boy bomb dropped on Hiroshima

May 1945: selection of targets

During its second meeting at Los Alamos (May 10-11, 1945), the Target Selection Committee recommended Kyoto (a major industrial center), Hiroshima (an army storage center and military port), and Yokohama (a military center) as targets for the use of atomic weapons. industry), Kokura (the largest military arsenal) and Niigata (a military port and mechanical engineering center). The committee rejected the idea of using this weapon against a purely military target, since there was a chance of overshooting a small area not surrounded by a large urban area.

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

achieving maximum psychological effect against Japan,

the first use of a weapon must be significant enough for its importance to be recognized internationally. The committee pointed out that the choice of Kyoto was due to the fact that its population had a higher level of education and was thus better able to appreciate the value of weapons. Hiroshima was of such a size and location that, taking into account the focusing effect of the surrounding hills, the force of the explosion could be increased.

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

Hiroshima and Nagasaki on a 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, saying only that he was glad and hoped that the United States could use it effectively against the Japanese. Churchill, who carefully observed Stalin's reaction, remained of the opinion that Stalin did not understand the true meaning of Truman's words and did not pay attention to him. At the same time, according to Zhukov’s memoirs, Stalin understood everything perfectly, but did not show it and, in a conversation with Molotov after the meeting, noted that “We will need to talk with Kurchatov about speeding up our work.” After the declassification of the American intelligence services' operation "Venona", it became known that Soviet agents had long been reporting on the development of nuclear weapons. According to some reports, agent Theodore Hall even announced the planned date of the first nuclear test a few days before the Potsdam Conference. This may explain why Stalin took Truman's message calmly. Hall had been working for Soviet intelligence since 1944.

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

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

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

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

Preparing for the bombing

During May-June 1945, the American 509th Mixed Aviation Group arrived on Tinian Island. The group's base area on the island was several miles from other units and was carefully guarded.

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

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

Hiroshima during World War II

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

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

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

Bombardment

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

On August 6 at 1:45 a.m., an American B-29 bomber under the command of the commander of the 509th Combined Aviation Regiment, Colonel Paul Tibbetts, carrying the Baby atomic bomb on board, took off from the island of Tinian, which was about 6 hours flight from Hiroshima. Tibbetts' plane (Enola Gay) was flying as part of a formation that included six other planes: a reserve plane (Top Secret), two controllers and three reconnaissance aircraft (Jebit III, Full House and Street Flash). The commanders of reconnaissance aircraft sent to Nagasaki and Kokura reported significant cloudiness over these cities. The pilot of the third reconnaissance aircraft, Major Iserli, found that the sky over Hiroshima was clear and sent the signal “Bomb the first target.”

Around seven o'clock in the morning, the Japanese early warning radar network detected the approach of several American aircraft heading towards southern Japan. An air raid warning was announced and radio broadcasts were stopped in many cities, including Hiroshima. At approximately 08:00, the radar operator in Hiroshima determined that the number of incoming aircraft was very small - perhaps no more than three - and the air raid alert was canceled. In order to save fuel and aircraft, the Japanese did not intercept small groups of American bombers. The standard radio message was that it would be wise to head to bomb shelters if the B-29s were actually spotted, and that it was not a raid but just some form of reconnaissance that was expected.

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

The first public report 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 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. The light radiation burned the dark pattern of clothing into the skin and left silhouettes of human bodies on the walls. People outside their houses described a blinding flash of light, which was simultaneously accompanied by a wave of stifling heat. The blast wave followed almost immediately for everyone near the epicenter, often knocking them off their feet. Occupants of the buildings generally avoided exposure to the light radiation from the explosion, but not the blast wave - glass shards hit most rooms, and all but the strongest buildings collapsed. One teenager was thrown from his house across the street by the blast wave, while the house collapsed behind him. Within a few minutes, 90% of people who were 800 meters or less from the epicenter died.

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

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

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

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

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

The first person in the world whose cause of death was officially listed as a disease caused by the consequences of a nuclear explosion (radiation poisoning) was 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 find out the truth about the emerging “new disease”. Until Midori's death, no one attached any importance to the mysterious deaths of people who survived the explosion and died under circumstances unknown to science at that time. Jung believes that Midori's death was the impetus for accelerating research in nuclear physics and medicine, which soon managed to save the lives of many people from radiation exposure.

Japanese awareness of the consequences of the attack

A Tokyo operator from the Japan Broadcasting Corporation noticed that the Hiroshima station had stopped broadcasting. He tried to re-establish the broadcast using another telephone line, but this also failed. About twenty minutes later, the Tokyo railway telegraph control center realized that the main telegraph line had stopped working just north of Hiroshima. From a stop 16 km from Hiroshima, unofficial and confused reports came about a terrible explosion. All these messages were forwarded to the headquarters of the Japanese General Staff.

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

An officer from 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, not believing their eyes. All that was left of the city was a zone of complete destruction, still burning and covered in a thick cloud of smoke. They landed south of the city, and the officer, reporting the incident to Tokyo, immediately began organizing rescue measures.

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

Hiroshima after the atomic explosion

Losses and destruction

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

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

Nuclear pollution

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

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

Comparative preservation of some buildings

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

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

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

It was with the aim of preventing the destruction of Japan that the ultimatum of July 26 was issued 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 never been seen on this planet.

After receiving news of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the Japanese government met to discuss its response. Beginning in June, the Emperor advocated peace negotiations, but the Minister of Defense and Army and Navy leaders believed that Japan should wait to see whether attempts at peace negotiations through the Soviet Union would produce results better than unconditional surrender. The military leadership also believed that if they could hold out until the invasion of the Japanese islands, it would be possible to inflict such casualties on the Allied forces that Japan could win peace terms other than unconditional surrender.

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

The second atomic bombing (Kokury) was scheduled for 11 August, but was moved up 2 days to avoid a five-day period of bad weather forecast to begin on 10 August.

Nagasaki during World War II

Nagasaki in 1945 was located in two valleys, along which two rivers flowed. A mountain range separated the city's districts.

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

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

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

Nagasaki before and after the atomic explosion

Bombardment

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

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

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

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

At 8:10, after reaching the rendezvous point with the other B-29s participating in the mission, one of them was discovered 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 cloudiness over Kokura and Nagasaki, although present, still made it possible to carry out bombing under visual control.

At 8:50 a.m., a B-29 carrying the atomic bomb headed for Kokura, where it arrived at 9:20 a.m. By this time, however, there was already 70% cloud cover over the city, which did not allow visual bombing. After three unsuccessful approaches to the target, at 10:32 the B-29 headed for Nagasaki. At this point, due to a problem with the fuel pump, there was only enough fuel for one pass over Nagasaki.

At 10:53, two B-29s came within sight of the air defense, the Japanese mistook them for reconnaissance missions and did not declare a new alarm.

At 10:56, the 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 (English) noticed the silhouette of the city stadium in the gap between the clouds, focusing on which he dropped an 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

The hastily aimed bomb exploded almost halfway between the two main targets in Nagasaki, the Mitsubishi steel and gun works in the south and the Mitsubishi-Urakami torpedo factory in the north. If the bomb had been dropped further south, between 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 located over an industrial area - all this helped 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 (off the bike) and the ground shook for a while. I clung to it so as not to be carried away by the blast wave. When I looked up, the house I had just passed was destroyed... I also saw a child being carried away by the blast wave. Large stones flew in the air, one hit me and then flew up into the sky again...

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

Losses and destruction

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

According to a report from Nagasaki Prefecture, "people and animals died almost instantly" at a distance of up to 1 km from the epicenter. Almost all houses within a 2 km radius were destroyed, and dry, flammable materials such as paper ignited up to 3 km from the epicenter. Of the 52,000 buildings in Nagasaki, 14,000 were destroyed and another 5,400 were seriously damaged. Only 12% of buildings remained undamaged. Although no firestorm occurred in the city, numerous local fires were observed.

The number of deaths by the end of 1945 ranged from 60 to 80 thousand people. After 5 years, the total death toll, including deaths from cancer and other long-term effects of the explosion, could reach or even exceed 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 in September and October. On August 10, Leslie Groves, the military director of the Manhattan Project, sent a memorandum to George Marshall, the US Army Chief of Staff, in which he wrote that "the next bomb... should be ready for use after August 17-18." That same day, Marshall signed a memorandum with the comment that "it should not be used against Japan until the express approval of the President has been obtained." At the same time, the US Department of Defense has already begun discussing the advisability of postponing the use of bombs until the start of Operation Downfall, the expected invasion of the Japanese Islands.

The problem we now face is whether, assuming the Japanese do not capitulate, we should continue to drop bombs as they are produced, or stockpile them and then drop them all in a short period of time. Not all in one day, but in a fairly short time. This also relates to the question of what goals we are pursuing. In other words, shouldn't we be concentrating on the targets that will most help the invasion, rather than on industry, morale, psychology, etc.? To a greater extent, tactical goals, and not any others.

Japanese surrender and subsequent occupation

Until August 9, the war cabinet continued to insist on 4 conditions of surrender. On August 9, news arrived of the Soviet Union's declaration of war late in the evening of August 8 and the atomic bombing of Nagasaki at 11 p.m. At a meeting of the “Big Six”, held on the night of August 10, the votes on the issue of capitulation were equally divided (3 “for”, 3 “against”), after which the emperor intervened in the discussion, speaking in favor of capitulation. On August 10, 1945, Japan submitted a proposal for surrender to the Allies, the only condition of which was that the Emperor remain the nominal head of state.

Since the terms of the surrender allowed for the continuation of imperial power in Japan, Hirohito recorded his surrender statement on August 14, which was distributed 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 at his disposal a new terrible 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 destruction of the Japanese nation, but also to the complete disappearance of human civilization.

In such a situation, how can we save millions of our subjects or justify ourselves to the sacred spirit of our ancestors? For this reason, we ordered the terms of the joint declaration of our opponents to be accepted.

Within a year after the end of the bombing, a contingent of American troops numbering 40,000 people was stationed in Hiroshima, and 27,000 in Nagasaki.

Commission for the Study of the Consequences of Atomic Explosions

In the spring of 1948, to study the long-term effects of radiation on survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Truman ordered the creation of the Commission to Study the Effects of Atomic Explosions at the National Academy of Sciences of the United States. The bombing casualties included many non-war casualties, including prisoners of war, forced conscripts of Koreans and Chinese, students from British Malaya, and approximately 3,200 US citizens of Japanese descent.

In 1975, the Commission was dissolved and its functions were transferred to the newly created Radiation Effects Research Foundation.

Discussion about the advisability of atomic bombings

The role of atomic bombings in the surrender of Japan and their ethical justification are still the subject of scientific and public debate. In a 2005 review of the historiography on the issue, American historian Samuel Walker wrote that “the debate about the wisdom of bombing will certainly continue.” Walker also noted that "the fundamental question that has been debated for over 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 bombing usually argue that it was the reason for Japan's surrender, and therefore prevented significant casualties on both sides (both the US and Japan) in the planned invasion of Japan; that the rapid conclusion of the war saved many lives in other Asian countries (primarily China); that Japan was fighting a total war in which the distinction between military and civilians was erased; and that the Japanese leadership refused to capitulate, and the bombing helped shift the balance of opinion within the government towards peace. Opponents of the bombing argue that it was simply an addition to an already ongoing conventional bombing campaign and thus had no military necessity, that it was fundamentally immoral, a war crime, or a manifestation of state terrorism (despite the fact that in 1945 no there were international agreements or treaties that directly or indirectly prohibited the use of nuclear weapons as a means of warfare).

A number of researchers express the opinion that the main purpose of the atomic bombings was to influence the USSR before its entry into 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. While already in the hospital, Sadako learned about a legend according to which a person who folds a thousand paper cranes can make a wish that will certainly come true. Wanting 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 Coher, Sadako managed to fold only 644 cranes before she died in October 1955. Her friends finished the rest of the figures. According to the book Sadako's 4,675 Days of Life, Sadako folded a thousand cranes and continued folding more, but later died. Several books have been written based on her story.

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

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

Prerequisites

Model of the Little boy bomb dropped on Hiroshima

May 1945: selection of targets

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

achieving maximum psychological effect against Japan,

Hiroshima and Nagasaki on a 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.

Preparing for the bombing

During May-June 1945, the American 509th Mixed Aviation Group arrived on Tinian Island. The group's base area on the island was several miles from other units and was carefully guarded.

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

Hiroshima during World War II

Bombardment

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 report 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 at the time of the explosion, 250 meters from the epicenter

Explosion effect

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.

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

Japanese awareness of the consequences of the attack

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

Hiroshima after the atomic explosion

Losses and destruction

Nuclear pollution

Comparative preservation of some buildings

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

The second atomic bombing (Kokury) was scheduled for 11 August, but was moved up 2 days to avoid a five-day period of bad weather forecast to begin on 10 August.

Nagasaki during World War II

Nagasaki in 1945 was located in two valleys, along which two rivers flowed. A mountain range separated the city's districts.

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

Nagasaki before and after the atomic explosion

Bombardment

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

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

At 10:53, two B-29s came within sight of the air defense, the Japanese mistook them for reconnaissance missions and did not declare a new alarm.

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

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

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

Losses and destruction

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

Plans for subsequent atomic bombings of Japan

Japanese surrender and subsequent occupation

In his announcement, Hirohito mentioned the atomic bombings:

Within a year after the end of the bombing, a contingent of American troops numbering 40,000 people was stationed in Hiroshima, and 27,000 in Nagasaki.

Commission for the Study of the Consequences of Atomic Explosions

In 1975, the Commission was dissolved and its functions were transferred to the newly created Radiation Effects Research Foundation.

Discussion about the advisability of atomic bombings

Impact on culture

“The city of Nagasaki is divided into two parts by a large mountain: the old city and the new city. The bomb was dropped over the new city, so the old city was destroyed much less, especially since the mountain prevented the spread of the rays of the atomic bomb” - this is how the part of the report of the USSR Ambassador to Japan after the atomic bombings dedicated to Nagasaki begins. The Ambassador of the Soviet Union to Japan, Yakov Malik, was able to get to Nagasaki only on September 16, almost a month after the bombing itself.

A few days ago, the science department of Gazeta.Ru bombed the Japanese city of Hiroshima by the United States. Over the days that have passed since August 6, 1945, the authorities have not understood what kind of bomb the Americans dropped on them. At the same time, Truman’s statements that if Japan did not capitulate, then several more atomic bombs would be dropped on it were perceived in Japan as a bluff.

Initially, the Americans planned to deliver the second strike on August 12, but due to circumstances, the bomber flight was postponed to August 9. It was then, before dawn, that an American B-29 Bockscar bomber took off from the island of Tinian, carrying a five-ton bomb. It turned out to be “Fat Man” - a plutonium implosion bomb created as part of the Manhattan Project.

Just before departure, Vice Admiral William Purnell addressed the commander of Bockscar:

- Young man, do you know how much this bomb costs?

— I know, about $25 million.

- So, try not to let this money go to waste.

A scientific observer was taken aboard one of the B-29s that accompanied Bockscar on the flight. The New York Times William L. Lawrence.

The main target of the bombers was the city of Kokura, Japan's largest center of military production and supply of a wide variety of military equipment. As an alternative, the city of Nagasaki was proposed, which was mistakenly forgotten to be included in the original list of potential targets for atomic bombing. This was due to the fact that it was in this city that the largest shipbuilding and repair factories in Japan were located. By the way, from 1639 to 1859, Nagasaki was the only Japanese port open to foreigners.

During the flight, an inquisitive journalist saw luminous beams appearing in the area of the aircraft's propellers. When asked what it was, William L. Lawrence received the answer that this is how a phenomenon called “St. Elmo’s Fire” manifests itself. Such discharges are formed when the electric field strength in the atmosphere at the tip reaches a value of about 500 volts per meter or higher, which most often happens during a thunderstorm.

The pilots told the journalist that St. Elmo's Fire was a good sign and that the bombing mission would be successful.

However, at first everything did not go quite as planned: when the American planes flew to Kokura, they saw that the smoke from the steel plant that had been bombed the day before made the task impossible: the Americans were obliged to bomb visually, which in this case was not possible. The only option left was to fly to Nagasaki. At the same time, there was little fuel in the plane, and the fuel pump was malfunctioning.

Despite average visibility, at 11.02 local time “Fat Man” took off.

The bomb exploded at an altitude of 500 meters above the city.

“We all took off our sunglasses after the first of the flashes, but the glow did not stop, and soon a bluish-green lightened up the sky around us. A huge blast wave hit our plane, and it began to shake from the cockpit to the tail. Then four explosions occurred in quick succession, each sounding like a cannon shot. It was as if they were hitting our plane from all sides. The crew members sitting at the rear of the plane saw a giant fireball begin to rise from the bowels of the Earth, belching huge white rings of smoke. Then they saw a giant column of violet fire, which at once rose to a height of three kilometers,” recalled William L. Lawrence.

By the time Great Artiste, the plane in which the journalist was, turned again in the direction of the explosion, the column of purple fire had reached the level of the aircraft. According to the memoirs of William L. Lawrence, “the pillar flew like a meteor, only into space, and not vice versa.”

“It was no longer smoke, or dust, or even a cloud of fire. It was something alive, born right before our incredulous eyes. It was an evolution that took a few seconds instead of millions of years. It took the form of a giant square totem pole with a base about 5 kilometers long, which tapered two kilometers above. Its bottom was brown, its center was amber, and its top was white. It was a real living totem, illuminating the Earth with a million grotesque grimaces of death,” the journalist recalled.

Then the pillar finally took the shape of a giant mushroom 14 kilometers high.

According to William L. Lawrence, the mushroom was much more alive at the top than at the bottom, “boiling in a white fury of creamy foam” like a thousand geysers.

“The pillar was in a state of primal rage, as if a creature had broken free of the chains that held it. And then it abruptly burst into the stratosphere and ascended to a height exceeding 18 kilometers. But even before this happened, a second mushroom, smaller in size, emerged from the column. It was as if the pillar had been decapitated and had a new leader. And the bluer the first mushroom became, the more it began to resemble a flower - creamy white on the outside, pink on the inside,” the journalist recalled.

In Nagasaki, more than 70 thousand people died, about 40% of houses were completely destroyed. The Fat Man bomb exploded over the industrial valley of Nagasaki between the Mitsubishi steel and weapons factories to the south and the Mitsubishi-Urakami torpedo factory to the north, completely destroying the Christian church built by the first Europeans to visit Japan. Thus, about 4 km 2 of the city were completely destroyed.

In total, the explosion affected 110 km 2 of the city. Within a kilometer from the hypocenter of the explosion, all living things died - the temperature was so high that most living beings were instantly turned into steam, and only shadows remained of people.

“That day I sat at home and played. Our house was located 2.5 km from the epicenter of the explosion. When the explosion occurred, my sister was seriously cut by flying glass shards. At first we only saw a flash, which was like a thousand flashes. Then there was an explosion, my mother jumped and covered me with her body. Then there was silence. One of my friends was playing on the hills, the blast wave threw him several tens of meters - he was badly burned and subsequently died,” recalled Yasuaki Yamashita, who was then six years old.

The Japanese authorities described what happened as follows: “The city resembles a cemetery in which not a single tombstone has survived.”

“Many came to Nagasaki to find out about the fate of their relatives. They all died,” recalled the Soviet Ambassador to Japan Yakov Malik.

According to him, on the first day after the explosion there was no rescue work - fire was raging everywhere. At the same time, everyone in the area closest to the bomb explosion died, including prisoners of war - mostly Filipinos. In addition, everyone who was in the Urokami University Hospital also died. Finally, the smell of corpses was felt in the city - there was no time to get corpses out from under the ruins.

In the USA, revanchist sentiments prevailed - Pearl Harbor was avenged. But the scientists who created the bombs watched in horror what happened and slowly but inevitably realized what a deadly weapon they had created.

In addition, after the bombing of Nagasaki, President Truman again addressed the nation:

“We thank God that the bomb came to us and not to our adversaries, and we pray that he will show us how to use it according to his will and to achieve his purpose...”

The Bockscar crew successfully flew to Okinawa - there would not have been enough fuel to reach Tinian. But the pilots and crew, only some of whom took part in the bombing of Hiroshima, were very burdened by the fact that they were second. The military decided to attract attention in a different way - after leaving Nagasaki, they sent out a lot of alarm signals, so when they arrived, they were met at the airfield by about 200 people who really believed that some emergency situation had occurred.

William L. Lawrence continued to write his exclusives and even visited Hiroshima, where, as he described, there was no radiation. Naturally, this was a lie - people in both cities continued to die from radiation sickness, and in some places high levels of radiation continue to persist today.

Japanese Emperor Hirohito made a statement - in addition to the fact that his country was bombed by the Americans, on August 8 the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. The monarch said the following: “I do not want further destruction of cultures, I do not want more misfortunes for other peoples of the world. That is why we must accept intolerable conditions.”

So the Japanese began negotiations on surrender, and on August 15, Emperor Hirohito decided to surrender.

Japanese: “We will still take revenge on the Russians for Hiroshima!”

Wait to scold me for such a headline.
First, a message from RIA Novosti.
“TOKYO, August 6 - RIA Novosti, Ksenia Naka. A memorial ceremony for 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,” said the mayor of Hiroshima, Kazumi Matsui, in a traditional speech in the name of peace.
Every year, on the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima by American troops, a solemn ceremony dedicated to the memory of those killed begins in Peace Park.
At the beginning of the ceremony, its participants - Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, members of the government, members of parliament, representatives of 68 states - lay wreaths at the memorial, after which at exactly 8:15 a.m. (03.15 Moscow time) - the hour when the atomic bomb was dropped on the city , a minute of silence is announced.
After the mayor's speech, several dozen white doves fly into the sky, symbolizing peace.
In August 1945, American pilots dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The atomic explosion and its consequences killed 140 thousand people out of a population of 350 thousand in Hiroshima, and 74 thousand in Nagasaki. The vast majority of atomic bomb victims 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 genuine items and testimonies of bombing victims. Thus, 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 the terrible fate that 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 people believe that the bombs on Hiroshima were dropped by... the Soviet Union!
Here is a publication from 2010:
“In modern Japan, the assessment of the atomic bombing is no longer so clear. When answering the question of who dropped the atomic bombs, half of Japanese schoolchildren will name the Soviet Union. You shouldn't be surprised by this answer. It is difficult to understand from Japanese history textbooks who used nuclear weapons and how. As a result, according to recent opinion polls, some Japanese youth perceive atomic bombings as an inevitable evil in war, and not as a conscious desire of the Americans to increase the number of casualties among the civilian population of Japan. Others believe that the atomic bombing was the work of the USSR. I wouldn’t be surprised if in ten years, Japanese youth will believe that Russia dropped the atomic bomb to seize Japan’s Northern Territories.”
Fully here:
http://vragi-naroda.net/?p=205
... Another four years passed. Japan has just adopted ANTI-RUSSIAN sanctions. And the Japanese, defrauded by American propaganda, applaud their authorities, saying: “We will still take revenge on the Russians for Hiroshima!”
So, looking at one of the exhibits - a tricycle, burned and twisted by the force of an atomic explosion - the Japanese thinks about what a terrible fate befell the child to whom it belonged from a Russian bomb...
The brainwashing of ordinary Japanese continues...
I would really like for the Japanese themselves, yes, the Japanese themselves, to say that they know that it was the Americans who dropped the bombs, and that they will NEVER forget these heinous crimes. And what do they know how the 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 find out the truth!
No, the Japanese are being prepared for a new war with Russia!
Japanese militarism is raising its head!
The Japanese regime is rewriting History to suit itself.
Americans dominate the world's media. Here is the result!

Reviews

My colleague came from Japan and lived there for the last 3 years. As a hobby, I went around and conducted population surveys.
As a result, his sadness knew no bounds.
Over the course of 3 years, he interviewed more than 10,000 young Japanese from 16 to 25 years old (for sociological surveys - a number of more than 5 thousand is already enough). And the most offensive thing is that they motivated their knowledge - only with films!!!
1) More than 80% of 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, the hero there - in the films - defeated everyone).
3) 37% of respondents answered that in Cuba the government receives all the money from the drug mafia (of course, Bad Guys 2).
4) 100% of respondents said that the first satellite was launched by the Americans, they were the first to go into space (the film Armageddon)
5) 43% said that Russia has a bad army, because in the films “your fortress is blown up” (The fortress, as we understand it, is the Kremlin, and films are the last mission and a tough nut to crack).
6) 27% of people answered that the smartest are Americans. (they did not know that most of these scientists fled or were bought from Russia or China).
7) 100% answered that the Americans won the Second World War, “losing as many as 50! thousand!! people, and the USSR lost just a little bit, after all, they began to participate in the war in recent months.”
8) 100% of respondents believe that Libya has really become better because of the revolutions, because “the United States promised to bring them freedom of speech - and they brought it, which means it’s good for everyone.” No one knew that the population was now in complete poverty. That oil, which previously belonged to the people, because a percentage of sales was given to the population... now belongs to the USA and England...

Friends, when you watch American films, come down to earth from time to time 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 people come to them from all over the world.
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 $100 bills for THREE cents.
And with these dollars they buy minds, talents, and everything that interests them!
And what bothers them... They give pieces of paper to those who can help them remove those who are bothering the Americans!

So who forces you to buy these pieces of paper? If Russia is so smart, let it not buy. Business. And it’s not just Russia that buys them, but the whole world. Apparently, these Americans are not so stupid.

Yes, Sergei is right.
There is no smarter than the 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! 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 intelligence of Americans, Sergey, just like you.

I agree with you, Valery! What a diabolical mind you have to have to come up with all this, and even implement it, so that “people”, excuse me, “gobble it up”!

I already wrote this today:
The United States, as was already the case in Afghanistan, threw the former Soviets a bone of discord in the form of Crimea and is now amusing themselves by watching how they (we, that is) fought with each other. And they say that Americans are stupid! It's only the beginning! We will fight until Victory, that is, until we completely destroy and ruin each other.

If I'm not mistaken, the idea of making the dollar a 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 filled with ideologically, nevertheless, you are susceptible to believing in all kinds of false information and false gossip. Or you distribute them yourself with special passion. I personally checked all these tales of yours on English-language sites and on Japanese ones and did not find anything like this anywhere. The Japanese media, speaking about these bombings, try not to push the question of who carried out them. You can look at the Japanese press and you will see expressions like the atomic bombing of Japan, the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But without indicating who did it. It’s as if these terrible bombs came from the moon. But this is not done by chance. Japanese propaganda deliberately conceals who dropped the atomic bombs.
Japan is interested in cooperation with the United States and is unlikely to make claims against Washington.
The Japanese are trying not to irritate their main military-political ally, older brother, patron. Because America is now extremely important for Japan from the point of view of ensuring its national interests. Japan is sticking with 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 dwell on the question of who dropped these bombs and how justified it all was.

During World War II, on August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m., a U.S. B-29 Enola Gay bomber dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. About 140,000 people were killed in the explosion and died in the following months. Three days later, when the United States dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, an estimated 80,000 people were killed. On August 15, Japan surrendered, ending World War II. To this day, this bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remains the only case of the use of nuclear weapons in human history. The US government decided to drop the bombs, believing that this would hasten the end of the war and would not require prolonged bloody fighting on the main island of Japan. Japan was strenuously trying to control two islands, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, as the Allies approached.

1. This wristwatch, 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 lands on August 6, 1945 at a base on Tinian Island after bombing Hiroshima.

3. This photo, which was released in 1960 by the US government, shows the Little Boy atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The bomb size 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. This photo provided by the US Air Force shows the main crew of the B-29 Enola Gay bomber that dropped the Little Boy nuclear bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Pilot Colonel Paul W. Taibbetts stands in the center. The photo was taken in the Mariana Islands. This was the first time nuclear weapons were used during military operations in human history.

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

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

7. Survivors of the atomic bomb, first used in warfare on August 6, 1945, await medical attention in Hiroshima, Japan. The explosion killed 60,000 people at the same moment, and tens of thousands died later due to radiation exposure.

8. August 6, 1945. In the photo: military medics provide first aid to the surviving residents of Hiroshima shortly after an atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, used in military action 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 Japan's surrender and end World War II, for which US President Harry Truman ordered the use of nuclear weapons with a capacity of 20,000 tons of TNT. The surrender of Japan took place on August 14, 1945.

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

11. President Harry Truman (pictured left) sits 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. Survivors of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki among the ruins, with raging fire in the background, August 9, 1945.

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

15. This photograph of an atomic bomb exploding 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 m long, 1.54 m 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. The explosion of a bomb dropped by a US Army Air Force B-29 Bockscar bomber immediately killed more than 70 thousand people, with tens of thousands more subsequently dying as a result of radiation exposure.

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

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

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 remains empty to this day, the trees remained charred and mutilated, and almost no reconstruction was carried out.

20. Japanese workers remove rubble from damaged areas in Nagasaki, an industrial city in the southwest of Kyushu island, after an atomic bomb was dropped on it on August 9. A chimney and a lonely building are visible in the background, while ruins are visible in the foreground. The photo was taken from the archives of the Japanese news agency Domei.

22. As seen in this photo taken on September 5, 1945, several concrete and steel buildings and bridges remained intact after the United States 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 Udzina in September 1945. The thermal radiation generated by the explosion burned a design from the kimono fabric onto the woman's back.

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

26. The area around the Sanyo Shoray Kan (Trade Promotion Center) in Hiroshima was reduced to rubble after an atomic bomb exploded 100 meters away in 1945.

27. A reporter stands among the rubble in front of the shell of what was once the city theater in Hiroshima on September 8, 1945, a month after the first atomic bomb was dropped by the United States to hasten Japan's surrender.

28. Ruins and a lonely frame of a building after the explosion of an atomic bomb over Hiroshima. Photo 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 created after the explosion of the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima on August 6 of the same year.

31. A Japanese man discovered the remains of a child's tricycle among the ruins in Nagasaki, September 17, 1945. The nuclear bomb dropped on the city on August 9 wiped out almost everything within a 6-kilometer radius and took the lives of thousands of civilians.

32. This photo, which was provided by the Association of the Photographers of the Atomic (Bomb) Destruction of Hiroshima, shows a victim of the atomic explosion. The man is in quarantine on Ninoshima Island in Hiroshima, Japan, 9 kilometers from the blast's epicenter, a day after the US dropped an atomic bomb on the city.

33. A tram (top center) and its dead passengers after a bomb exploded over 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. This photo provided by the Association of the Photographers of the Atomic (Bomb) Destruction of Hiroshima shows victims of the atomic explosion at the tented care center of the 2nd Hiroshima Military Hospital, located on the bank 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 atomic bomb in history on the city.

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

37. 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 explosion of the atomic bomb.

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

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

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

43. A 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 rubble of buildings that were destroyed by the explosion of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.

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

46. The sacred Torii gate at the entrance to a 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 Ferebee, left, from Moscow, and Captain Kermit Behan, right, from Houston, talk at a hotel in Washington, February 6, 1946. Ferebee 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 treatment for burns received during the atomic bomb explosion in Hiroshima at the end of World War II. Photo taken at the Red Cross hospital on June 5, 1947.

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

54. Jinpe Terawama, a survivor of the first atomic bomb in history, had numerous burn scars on his body, Hiroshima, June 1947.

55. Pilot Colonel Paul W. Taibbetts waves from the cockpit of his bomber at the Tinian Island base on August 6, 1945, before his mission to drop the first atomic bomb in history on Hiroshima, Japan. The day before, Tibbetts named the B-29 flying fortress "Enola Gay" in honor of his mother.

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