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 the ground"

70 years of tragedy

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

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

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

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

Bombing of Hiroshima © AP Photo/USAF

Ideal goal

It was not by chance that Hiroshima was chosen as the target for the first nuclear strike. This city met all the criteria to achieve the maximum number of casualties and destruction: a flat location surrounded by hills, low buildings and flammable wooden buildings.

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

The director of the Hiroshima Peace Museum with his dead father's watch and buckle © EPA/EVERETT KENNEDY BROWN

The clock hands have stopped

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

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

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

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

Paper cranes

Trees near the Atomic Dome are often decorated with colorful paper cranes. They have become an international symbol of peace. People from different countries constantly bring handmade figurines of birds to Hiroshima as a sign of grief over the terrible events of the past and in tribute to the memory of Sadako Sasaki, a girl who survived the atomic bombing in Hiroshima at the age of 2. At the age of 11, she was found to have signs of radiation sickness, and the girl’s health began to deteriorate sharply. One day she heard a legend that whoever folds a thousand paper cranes will definitely recover from any illness. She continued to fold the figures until her death on October 25, 1955. In 1958, a statue of Sadako holding a crane was installed in the Peace Park.

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

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

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

Zero mark

Nagasaki became the second Japanese city, after Hiroshima, to be subject to American bombing in August 1945. The initial target of the B-29 bomber under the command of Major Charles Sweeney was the city of Kokura, located in the north of the island of Kyushu. By coincidence, on the morning of August 9, there was heavy cloudiness over Kokura, so Sweeney decided to turn the plane to the southwest and head to Nagasaki, which was considered as a backup option. Here the Americans were also beset by bad weather, but the plutonium bomb called “Fat Man” was eventually dropped. It was almost twice as powerful as the one used in Hiroshima, but inaccurate aiming and the local terrain somewhat reduced the damage from the explosion. Nevertheless, the consequences of the bombing were catastrophic: at the moment of the explosion, at 11.02 local time, 70 thousand residents of Nagasaki were killed, and the city was practically wiped off the face of the Earth.

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

Years later, an atomic bomb museum was opened in Nagasaki, as in Hiroshima. Last July, his collection was replenished with 26 new photographs, which were taken a year and four months after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japanese cities. The images themselves were recently discovered. In particular, they depict the so-called zero mark - the site of the direct explosion of the atomic bomb in Nagasaki. Captions on the back of the photographs indicate that the photographs were taken in December 1946 by American scientists who were visiting the city at the time to study the consequences of a terrible atomic attack. “The photographs are of particular value, as they clearly demonstrate the full scale of the destruction, and, at the same time, make it clear what work was done to restore the city practically from scratch,” the Nagasaki administration believes.

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

Hiroshima Peace Museum © AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye

Blind spots of history

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been the subject of careful study by many historians, but 70 years after the tragedy, many blank spots remain in this story. There are some testimonies of individuals who believe that they were born "in the shirt" because, according to them, a few weeks before the atomic bombing, information appeared about a possible deadly attack on these Japanese cities. Thus, one of these people claims that he studied at a school for children of high-ranking military personnel. According to him, a few weeks before the strike, the entire staff of the educational institution and its students were evacuated from Hiroshima, which saved their lives.

There are also completely conspiracy theories according to which, on the threshold of the end of World War II, Japanese scientists, with the help of colleagues from Germany, approached the creation of an atomic bomb. Weapons of terrible destructive power could supposedly appear in the imperial army, whose command was going to fight to the end and was constantly rushing the nuclear scientists. The media claim that records have recently been found containing calculations and descriptions of equipment for enriching uranium for subsequent use in creating a Japanese atomic bomb. The scientists received the order to complete the program on August 14, 1945, and apparently were ready to carry it out, but did not have time. The American atomic bombing of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the entry of the Soviet Union into the war did not leave Japan any chance to continue hostilities.

No more war

Survivors of the bombings in Japan are referred to by the special word "hibakusha" ("person who suffered from the bombing").

In the first years after the tragedy, many hibakusha hid the fact that they survived the bombing and received a high dose of radiation because they were afraid of discrimination. Then they were not provided with financial assistance and were denied treatment. It took 12 years before the Japanese government passed a law making treatment for bomb victims free of charge.

Some of the hibakusha have dedicated their lives to educational work to ensure that the terrible tragedy does not happen again.

“About 30 years ago, I happened to see a friend of mine on TV, he was among the participants in the march to ban nuclear weapons. This prompted me to join this movement. Since then, remembering my experience, I explain that atomic weapons are "This is an inhumane weapon. It is completely indiscriminate, unlike conventional weapons. I have dedicated my life to explaining the need to ban atomic weapons to those who know nothing about atomic bombings, especially young people," wrote hibakusha Michimasa Hirata on one of the websites, dedicated to preserving the memory of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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

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

Bombing of Hiroshima © EPA/A PEACE MEMORIAL MUSEUM

"The city was enveloped in huge fire whirlwinds"

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

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

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

For 10 years after the bombing, my mother and I suffered from various illnesses caused by the dose of radiation we received. We had stomach problems, nosebleeds all the time, and our general immune system was also very poor. All this passed when I was 12 years old, and after that I didn’t have any health problems for a long time. However, after 40 years, illnesses began to haunt me one after another, the functioning of my kidneys and heart sharply deteriorated, my spine began to hurt, signs of diabetes and problems with cataracts appeared.

Only later did it become clear that it was not just the dose of radiation that we received during the explosion. We continued to live and eat vegetables grown on contaminated soil, drink water from contaminated rivers and eat contaminated seafood."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (left) and hibakusha Sumiteru Taniguchi in front of photographs of people affected by the bombing. Top photo shows Taniguchi himself © EPA/KIMIMASA MAYAMA

"Kill me!"

A photograph of one of the most famous figures of the hibakusha movement, Sumiteru Taniguchi, taken in January 1946 by an American war photographer, spread throughout the world. The photo, dubbed "red back," shows severe burns on Taniguchi's back.

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

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

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

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

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

"Then there was silence..."

“When the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, I was six years old and living with my family in a traditional Japanese house,” recalls Yasuaki Yamashita. “Usually in the summer, when it was hot, I and my friends would run to the mountains to catch dragonflies and cicadas. But that day I was playing at home. Mom was cooking dinner next to me, as usual. Suddenly, at exactly 11.02, we were blinded by a light, as if 1000 lightning flashed simultaneously. Mom pushed me to the ground and covered me with herself. We heard the roar of a strong wind and the rustle of the fragments of the house flying towards us. Then there was silence..."

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

The Second World War changed the world. The leaders of the powers played power games among themselves, where millions of innocent lives were at stake. One of the most terrible pages in human history, which largely determined the outcome of the entire war, was the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japanese cities where ordinary civilians lived.

Why did these explosions occur, what consequences did the President of the United States of America expect when giving the order to bomb Japan with nuclear bombs, did he know about the global consequences of his decision? Historical researchers continue to seek 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 ending the Second World War. To understand what served as the basis for such a global event, and why dropping a bomb on Hiroshima became possible, let’s look at its background.

Emperor Hirohito of Japan had grandiose ambitions. Following the example of Hitler, for whom things were going as well as possible at that time, in 1935 the head of the Japanese islands, on the advice of his generals, decided to seize backward China, not even suspecting that all his plans would be ruined by the atomic bombing of Japan. He hopes, with the help of the large population of China, to gain all of Asia into his possessions.

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, Japan accounted for more than 25 million Chinese lives, almost half of which were women and children. The date of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima was inexorably approaching thanks to the cruelty and fanaticism of the emperor.

In 1940, Hirohito concluded a pact with Hitler, and the following year he attacked the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, thereby drawing the United States into World War II. But soon Japan began to lose ground. Then the emperor (who is also the embodiment of God for the people of Japan) ordered his subjects to die, but not to surrender. As a result, families of people 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 capitulate, otherwise the consequences of a bloody invasion of Japan would be horrific, worse than the bombing of Hiroshima. Many experts believe that saving more lives was one of the main reasons why the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred.

Potsdam Conference

1945 was a turning point for everything in the world. From July 17 to August 2 of that year, the Potsdam Conference took place, the last in a series of meetings of the Big Three. As a result, many decisions were made that would help end the Second World War. Among other things, 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 to redistribute 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, a demand was spelled out for Japan for unconditional and immediate surrender.

The Japanese government leadership indignantly rejected the “brazen proposal.” They intended to fight the war to the end. Failure to comply with the requirements of the Declaration, in fact, gave the countries that signed it a free hand. The American ruler considered that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima had become possible.

The anti-Hitler coalition was living its last days. It was during the Potsdam Conference that sharp contradictions in the views of the participating countries emerged. The reluctance to reach a consensus, conceding on some issues to the “allies” 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 pilot tests of a new type of weapon of mass destruction. And four days after the end of the conference, American President Harry Truman received a classified telegram saying that the testing 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 weak smile that appeared on his lips and another puff on his eternal pipe was the answer to Truman. Returning to his apartment, he will call Kurchatov and order him to speed up work on the atomic project. The arms race was in full swing.

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

Selecting a target or how the attack on Nagasaki and Hiroshima was prepared

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

Four cities were chosen as possible targets: Hiroshima, Yokohama, Kyoto and Kokura. Only two of them were to become real targets. The weather had the last word. When this list caught the eye of professor and expert on Japan Edwin Reishauer, he tearfully asked the command to exclude Kyoto from it, as a unique cultural value on a global scale.

Henry Stimson, who was the Secretary of Defense at that time, supported the professor’s opinion despite pressure from General Groves, because he himself knew and loved this cultural center well. The city of Nagasaki took the vacant place on the list of potential targets. The developers of the plan believed that only large cities with civilian populations should be targeted, so that the moral effect would be as dramatic as possible, capable of breaking the opinion of the emperor and changing the views of the Japanese people on participating in the war.

History researchers turned over a single volume of materials and got acquainted with the secret data of the operation. They believe that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the date of which was predetermined long ago, was the only possible one, since there were only two atomic bombs and they were going to be used specifically on 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 exactly did Hiroshima and Nagasaki, whose history will forever be overshadowed by the thousands of inhabitants who died on one day, accept the role of victims on the altar of War? Why should the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic bombs 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. The city of Nagasaki was home to several important industries supplying guns, military equipment and elements of military shipbuilding. The choice of other goals was pragmatic - convenient location and built-up areas.

Bombing of Hiroshima

The operation took place according to a clearly developed plan. All of his points were carried out exactly:

1. On July 26, 1945, the Little Boy atomic bomb 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 proudly named Enola Gay, carrying death on board, entered Japanese airspace.
3. Three warning planes flew ahead of him to determine the weather conditions under which the atomic bombing of Hiroshima would be accurate.
4. Behind the bomber was one plane with recording equipment on board, which was supposed to record all the data on how the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would take place.
5. The final part of the group was a bomber to photograph the results of the explosion that would be caused by the bombing of Hiroshima.

The small group of aircraft that carried out 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 planes over the city, but the alarm was canceled because no more than three approaching 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 the appearing enemy aircraft. The bombing of Hiroshima was unlike any bombing that Japanese cities had experienced.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW:

At 8.15 the carrier aircraft reached the city center and released a parachute. After this unusual attack on Hiroshima, the entire group immediately flew away. The bomb was dropped on Hiroshima above 9,000 meters. It exploded at an altitude of 576 meters above the roofs of city houses. The deafening explosion that rang out tore apart the sky and earth with a powerful blast wave. A shower of fire burned everything in its path. At the epicenter of the explosion, people simply disappeared in a split second, and a little further they burned alive or were charred, still remaining alive.

August 6, 1945 (the date of the bombing of Hiroshima with nuclear weapons) became a dark 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 bomb was dropped on Hiroshima

For some time in the city itself and its environs, no one really knew what had happened. People did not understand that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima had already claimed thousands of lives in an instant, and would continue to claim many thousands more for decades to come. As stated in the first official report, the city was attacked by an unknown type of bomb from several aircraft. What atomic weapons are and what consequences their use entails, no one, not even their developers, would have suspected.

For sixteen hours there was no definite information that Hiroshima had been bombed. The first person to notice the absence of any signals on air from the city was the operator of the Broadcasting Corporation. Multiple attempts to contact anyone were unsuccessful. After some time, vague, fragmentary information came from a small railway station 16 km from the city.

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

The military, located at quite a decent distance from the city (160 km), saw a cloud of dust that had not yet settled. As they approached and circled the ruins, just hours after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, they observed a horrifying sight. The city, destroyed to the ground, was blazing with fires, clouds of dust and smoke obscured the view, making it impossible to see details from above.

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

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

Atomic attack on Nagasaki

The picturesque and developed Japanese city of Nagasaki had not been subjected to massive bombing before, as it was kept as an object for a decisive blow. Only a few high-explosive bombs were dropped on shipyards, Mitsubishi weapons factories, and medical facilities in the week before the 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 an atomic bomb explosion. Until the last minutes, the second approved site was the city of Kokura on the island of Yokushima.

Three planes on a bombing mission were supposed to meet on approach to the island. Radio silence prohibited operators from going on the air, so before the atomic bombing of Hiroshima occurred, visual contact between all participants in the operation had to take place. The plane carrying the nuclear bomb and the partner accompanying it to record the parameters of the explosion met and continued to circle in anticipation of the third plane. He was supposed to take photographs. But the third member of the group did not appear.

After forty-five minutes of waiting, with only fuel left to complete the return flight, operation commander 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 earlier, had deteriorated. The group is forced to fly to a secondary target to defeat it.

On August 9, at 7.50 am, an air raid alarm 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 as carbon copies.

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

Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Consequences

What did the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki entail? In addition to the radiation poisoning that would continue to kill survivors for many years, the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had global political significance. It influenced the opinions of the Japanese government and the Japanese army's determination to continue the war. According to the official version, this is exactly the result that Washington sought.

The bombing of Japan with atomic bombs stopped Emperor Hirohito and forced Japan to formally accept the demands of the Potsdam Conference. US President Harry Truman announced this five days after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The date August 14, 1945 became a day of joy for many people on the planet. As a result, the Red Army troops 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, the Japanese army was crushingly defeated. As a result, on September 2, Japan signed an 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 within 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 World War II, come to different opinions. The officially accepted 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 this, 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 destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is something absolutely unimportant for global history from a political point of view.

There is an opinion that the plan developed by the Americans, according to which the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima was to take place, was the United States' way of showing 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 decided to take extreme measures, and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would not have taken 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 human history formally ended, albeit at the cost of more than 100 thousand lives of civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The yield 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 the Second World War.

The only military use of nuclear weapons in the world was the bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It should be noted that the unfortunate cities found themselves in the role of victims largely due to the tragic circumstances.

Who are we going to bomb?

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

Kyoto was saved by a miracle

From the very beginning, it was assumed that Kyoto would be the main target. The choice fell on this city not only because of its enormous industrial potential. It was here that the flower of the Japanese scientific, technical and cultural intelligentsia was concentrated. If a nuclear strike on this city had actually taken place, Japan would have been thrown far back in terms of civilization. However, this is exactly what the Americans needed. The unfortunate Hiroshima was chosen as the second city. The Americans cynically believed that the hills surrounding the city would increase the force of the explosion, significantly increasing the number of victims. The most amazing thing is that Kyoto avoided a terrible fate thanks to the sentimentality of US Secretary of War Henry Stimson. In his youth, a high-ranking military man spent his honeymoon in the city. Not only did he know and appreciate the beauty and culture of Kyoto, but he also did not want to spoil the fond memories of his youth. Stimson did not hesitate to remove Kyoto from the list of cities proposed for nuclear bombing. Subsequently, General Leslie Groves, who led the US nuclear weapons program, recalled in his book “Now It Can Be Told” that he insisted on bombing Kyoto, but was persuaded by emphasizing the historical and cultural significance of the city. Groves was very unhappy, but nevertheless agreed to replace Kyoto with Nagasaki.

What have Christians done wrong?

At the same time, if we analyze the choice of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as targets for nuclear bombing, many uncomfortable questions arise. The Americans knew very well that the main religion of Japan is Shinto. The number of Christians in this country is extremely small. At the same time, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were considered Christian cities. It turns out that the American military deliberately chose cities populated by Christians for bombing? The first B-29 Great Artist had two targets: the city of Kokura as the main one, and Nagasaki as a backup. However, when the plane, with great difficulty, reached Japanese territory, Kukura found himself hidden by thick clouds of smoke from the burning Yawata Iron and Steel Works. They decided to bomb Nagasaki. The bomb fell on the city on August 9, 1945 at 11:02 am. In the blink of an eye, a 21-kiloton explosion destroyed tens of thousands of people. He was not saved even by the fact that in the vicinity of Nagasaki there was a camp for prisoners of war of the allied armies of the anti-Hitler coalition. Moreover, in the USA they knew very well about its location. During the bombing of Hiroshima, a nuclear bomb was dropped over the Urakamitenshudo Church, the largest Christian temple in the country. The explosion killed 160,000 people.

Another US crime, or Why did Japan capitulate?

We are unlikely to be mistaken in assuming that most of us are still convinced that Japan surrendered because the Americans dropped two atomic bombs of enormous destructive power. On Hiroshima And Nagasaki. The act, in itself, is barbaric, inhumane. After all, it died purely civil population! And the radiation accompanying a nuclear strike, many decades later, maimed and maims newly born children.

However, military events in the Japanese-American War were no less inhumane and bloody before the dropping of atomic bombs. And, for many, such a statement will seem unexpected, those events were even more cruel! Remember the photographs you saw of the bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and try to imagine that Before this, the Americans acted even more inhumanely!

However, we will not anticipate and will cite an excerpt from a voluminous article by Ward Wilson “ The victory over Japan was not won by the bomb, but by Stalin" Presented statistics of the most brutal bombing of Japanese cities BEFORE atomic strikes simply amazing.

Scale

In historical terms, the use of the atomic bomb may seem to be the most important single event in the war. However, from the point of view of modern Japan, the atomic bombing is not as easy to distinguish from other events as it is difficult to distinguish a single drop of rain in the middle of a summer thunderstorm.

An American Marine looks through a hole in the wall at the aftermath of a bombing. Nahi, Okinawa, June 13, 1945. The city, home to 433,000 people before the invasion, was reduced to ruins. (AP Photo/U.S. Marine Corps, Corp. Arthur F. Hager Jr.)

In the summer of 1945, the US Air Force carried out one of the most intense urban destruction campaigns in world history. In Japan, 68 cities were bombed, and all of them were partially or completely destroyed. An estimated 1.7 million people were left homeless, 300,000 were killed, and 750,000 were injured. 66 air raids were carried out using conventional weapons, and two used atomic bombs.

The damage caused by non-nuclear airstrikes was colossal. All summer, Japanese cities exploded and burned from night to night. In the midst of this nightmare of destruction and death, it could hardly have come as a surprise that one or another strike didn't make much of an impression– even if it was inflicted by an amazing new weapon.

A B-29 bomber flying from the Marianas could carry a bomb load of 7 to 9 tons, depending on the target location and strike altitude. Typically a raid was carried out by 500 bombers. This means that in a typical air raid using conventional weapons, each city would receive 4-5 kilotons. (A kiloton is a thousand tons, and is the standard measure of the yield of a nuclear weapon. The yield of the Hiroshima bomb was 16.5 kilotons, and a bomb with the power of 20 kilotons.)

With conventional bombing, the destruction was uniform (and therefore more effective); and one, albeit more powerful bomb, loses a significant part of its destructive force at the epicenter of the explosion, only raising dust and creating a heap of debris. Therefore, it can be argued that some air raids using conventional bombs in their destructive power came close to two atomic bombings.

The first conventional bombing was carried out against Tokyo on the night of March 9-10, 1945. It became the most destructive bombing of the city in the history of war. Then approximately 41 square kilometers of urban area burned in Tokyo. Approximately 120,000 Japanese died. These are the largest losses from the bombing of cities.

Because of the way the story is told, we often imagine that the bombing of Hiroshima was much worse. We think that the death toll is beyond all limits. But if you make a table of the number of people killed in all 68 cities as a result of bombings in the summer of 1945, it turns out that Hiroshima in terms of the number of civilian deaths is in second place.

And if you calculate the area of ​​destroyed urban areas, it turns out that Hiroshima fourth. If you check the percentage of destruction in cities, then Hiroshima will be in 17th place. It is quite obvious that, in terms of the scale of damage, it fits well within the parameters of air raids using non-nuclear funds.

From our point of view, Hiroshima is something that stands apart, something extraordinary. But if you put yourself in the shoes of the Japanese leaders in the period preceding the attack on Hiroshima, the picture will look completely different. If you were one of the key members of the Japanese government in late July and early August 1945, you would have felt something like this about the air raids on cities. On the morning of July 17, you would have been informed that during the night they were subjected to airstrikes four cities: Oita, Hiratsuka, Numazu and Kuwana. Oita and Hiratsuka half destroyed. In Kuwana, the destruction exceeds 75%, and Numazu suffered the most because 90% of the city burned to the ground.

Three days later you are woken up and informed that you have been attacked three more cities. Fukui is more than 80 percent destroyed. A week goes by and three more cities are bombed at night. Two days later, bombs fall in one night for another six Japanese cities, including Ichinomiya, where 75% of buildings and structures were destroyed. On August 12, you go into your office, and they report to you that you were hit four more cities.

Night Toyama, Japan, August 1, 1945, after 173 bombers dropped incendiary bombs on the city. As a result of this bombing, the city was destroyed by 95.6%. (USAF)

Among all these messages slips information that the city Toyama(in 1945 it was about the size of Chattanooga, Tennessee) destroyed by 99,5%. That is, the Americans razed to the ground almost the entire city. On August 6, only one city was attacked - Hiroshima, but according to reports received, the damage there is enormous, and a new type of bomb was used in the airstrike. How does this new air raid compare to other bombings that have lasted for weeks, destroying entire cities?

Three weeks before Hiroshima, the US Air Force carried out raids for 26 cities. Of them eight(this is almost a third) were destroyed either completely or stronger than Hiroshima(if you count what part of the cities was destroyed). The fact that 68 cities in Japan were destroyed in the summer of 1945 poses a serious obstacle to those who want to show that the bombing of Hiroshima was the cause of Japan's surrender. The question arises: if they capitulated due to the destruction of one city, then why did they not capitulate when they were destroyed 66 other cities?

If the Japanese leadership decided to surrender because of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this means that they were worried about the bombing of cities in general, and that the attacks on these cities became for them a serious argument in favor of surrender. But the situation looks completely different.

Two days after the bombing Tokyo retired foreign minister Shidehara Kijuro(Shidehara Kijuro) expressed an opinion that was openly held by many high-ranking leaders at the time. Shidehara stated, “People will gradually get used to being bombed every day. Over time, their unity and determination will only strengthen.”

In a letter to a friend, he noted that it was important for citizens to endure suffering because “even if hundreds of thousands of civilians die, are injured and starve, even if millions of homes are destroyed and burned,” diplomacy will take some time. It is appropriate to remember here that Shidehara was a moderate politician.

Apparently, at the very top of state power in the Supreme Council the sentiment was the same. The Supreme Council discussed the importance of the Soviet Union maintaining neutrality - and at the same time, its members said nothing about the consequences of the bombing. From the surviving minutes and archives it is clear that at meetings of the Supreme Council bombing of cities was mentioned only twice: once in passing in May 1945 and a second time on the evening of August 9, when an extensive discussion took place on this issue. Based on the available evidence, it is difficult to say that Japanese leaders attached any importance to air raids on cities, at least in comparison with other pressing wartime issues.

General Anami August 13 noted that atomic bombings are terrible no more than regular airstrikes, which Japan was subjected to for several months. If Hiroshima and Nagasaki were no worse than conventional bombings, and if the Japanese leadership did not attach much importance to this, not considering it necessary to discuss this issue in detail, then how could atomic strikes on these cities force them to capitulate?

Fires after firebombing a city Tarumiza, Kyushu, Japan. (USAF)

Strategic relevance

If the Japanese weren't worried about the bombing of cities in general and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in particular, then what were they worried about? The answer to this question is simple : Soviet Union.

The Japanese found themselves in a rather difficult strategic situation. The end of the war was approaching, and they were losing the war. The situation was bad. But the army was still strong and well supplied. It was almost under arms four million people, and 1.2 million of this number were guarding the Japanese islands.

Even the most unyielding Japanese leaders understood that it was impossible to continue the war. The question was not whether to continue it or not, but how to end it on the best terms. The Allies (the United States, Great Britain and others - remember that the Soviet Union at that time still maintained neutrality) demanded “unconditional surrender.” The Japanese leadership hoped that he would be able to somehow avoid military tribunals, maintain the existing form of state power and some of the territories seized by Tokyo: Korea, Vietnam, Burma, individual areas Malaysia And Indonesia, a significant part of the eastern China and numerous islands in the Pacific Ocean.

They had two plans for obtaining optimal surrender conditions. In other words, they had two strategic options. The first option is diplomatic. In April 1941, Japan signed a neutrality pact with the Soviets, which expired in 1946. A group of mostly civilian leaders led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Togo Shigenori hoped that Stalin could be persuaded to act as a mediator between the United States and the allies on the one hand, and Japan on the other, in order to resolve the situation.

Although this plan had little chance of success, it reflected sound strategic thinking. After all, the Soviet Union is interested in ensuring that the terms of the settlement are not very favorable for the United States - after all, increasing American influence and power in Asia would invariably mean weakening Russian power and influence.

The second plan was military, and most of its supporters, led by the Minister of the Army Anami Koretika, were military men. They hoped that when the American troops began to invade, the imperial ground forces would inflict huge losses on them. They believed that if they succeeded, they would be able to wrest more favorable terms from the United States. This strategy also had little chance of success. The United States was determined to obtain unconditional surrender from the Japanese. But since there was concern in US military circles that the casualties of an invasion would be prohibitive, there was a certain logic to the Japanese high command's strategy.

To understand what the true reason was that forced the Japanese to surrender - the bombing of Hiroshima or the declaration of war by the Soviet Union, it is necessary to compare how these two events affected the strategic situation.

After the atomic attack on Hiroshima, both options were still in force as of August 8th. Another option was to ask Stalin to act as a mediator (Takagi's diary contains an entry dated August 8 that shows that some Japanese leaders were still thinking about involving Stalin). It was still possible to try to fight one last decisive battle and inflict great damage on the enemy. The destruction of Hiroshima had no effect on the readiness of troops for stubborn defense on the shores of their native islands.

View of Tokyo's bombed-out areas, 1945. Next to the burned down and destroyed neighborhoods is a strip of surviving residential buildings. (USAF)

Yes, there was one less city behind them, but they were still ready to fight. They had enough ammunition and shells, and the combat power of the army, if it decreased, was very small. The bombing of Hiroshima did not predetermine either of Japan's two strategic options.

However, the effect of the Soviet Union's declaration of war and its invasion of Manchuria and Sakhalin Island was completely different. When the Soviet Union entered the war with Japan, Stalin could no longer act as a mediator - he was now an adversary. Therefore, the USSR, through its actions, destroyed the diplomatic option to end the war.

The impact on the military situation was no less dramatic. Most of the best Japanese troops were in the southern islands of the country. The Japanese military correctly assumed that the first target of an American invasion would be the southernmost island of Kyushu. Once powerful Kwantung Army in Manchuria was extremely weakened, since its best units were transferred to Japan to organize the defense of the islands.

When the Russians entered Manchuria, they simply crushed the once elite army, and many of their units stopped only when the fuel ran out. The Soviet 16th Army, which numbered 100,000 people, landed troops in the southern part of the island Sakhalin. She received orders to break the resistance of Japanese troops there, and then within 10-14 days to prepare for an invasion of the island Hokkaido, the northernmost of the Japanese islands. Hokkaido was defended by the Japanese 5th Territorial Army, which consisted of two divisions and two brigades. She concentrated on fortified positions in the eastern part of the island. And the Soviet offensive plan included a landing in the west of Hokkaido.

Destruction in residential areas of Tokyo caused by American bombing. The photo was taken on September 10, 1945. Only the strongest buildings survived. (AP Photo)

It doesn’t take a military genius to understand: yes, it is possible to conduct a decisive battle against one great power landing in one direction; but it is impossible to repel an attack by two great powers attacking from two different directions. The Soviet offensive invalidated the military strategy of the decisive battle, just as it had previously invalidated the diplomatic strategy. The Soviet offensive was decisive from a strategic point of view, because it deprived Japan of both options. A The bombing of Hiroshima was not decisive(because she didn’t rule out any Japanese options).

The entry of the Soviet Union into the war also changed all calculations regarding the time remaining to complete the maneuver. Japanese intelligence predicted that American troops would begin landing only in a few months. Soviet troops could actually find themselves on Japanese territory in a matter of days (within 10 days, to be more precise). The Soviet offensive threw all plans into disarray concerning the timing of the decision to end the war.

But Japanese leaders came to this conclusion several months earlier. At a meeting of the Supreme Council in June 1945, they stated that if the Soviets enter the war, "it will determine the fate of the empire" Deputy Chief of Staff of the Japanese Army Kawabe at that meeting he stated: “Maintaining peace in our relations with the Soviet Union is an indispensable condition for the continuation of the war.”

Japanese leaders stubbornly refused to show interest in the bombing that destroyed their cities. It was probably wrong when the air raids began in March 1945. But by the time the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima, they were right to view the bombing of cities as an unimportant sideshow with no serious strategic consequences. When Truman uttered his famous phrase that if Japan did not capitulate, its cities would be subjected to a “destructive shower of steel,” few in the United States understood that there was almost nothing to destroy there.

Charred corpses of civilians in Tokyo, March 10, 1945 after the American bombing of the city. 300 B-29 aircraft dropped 1700 tons incendiary bombs on Japan's largest city, killing 100,000 people. This air raid was the most brutal of the entire Second World War.(Koyo Ishikawa)

By August 7, when Truman made his threat, there were only 10 cities in Japan with populations over 100,000 that had not yet been bombed. On August 9, a blow was struck Nagasaki, and there are nine such cities left. Four of them were on the northern island of Hokkaido, which was difficult to bomb because of the great distance to the island of Tinian, where American bomber aircraft were stationed.

Minister of War Henry Stimson(Henry Stimson) removed the ancient capital of Japan from the list of bombing targets because it had important religious and symbolic significance. So, despite Truman’s menacing rhetoric, after Nagasaki there remained only four large cities that could be subjected to atomic attacks.

The thoroughness and scope of the bombing of the American Air Force can be judged by the following circumstance. They bombed so many Japanese cities that they were eventually forced to target population centers of 30,000 or fewer. In the modern world, it is difficult to call such a settlement a city.

Of course, it was possible to re-strike cities that had already been firebombed. But these cities were already destroyed by an average of 50%. Additionally, the United States could drop atomic bombs on small towns. However, there remained such untouched cities (with a population of 30,000 to 100,000 people) in Japan. only six. But since 68 cities in Japan had already been seriously damaged by bombing, and the country's leadership did not attach any importance to this, it was hardly surprising that the threat of further airstrikes could not make much of an impression on them.

The only thing that retained at least some form on this hill after the nuclear explosion were the ruins of the Catholic Cathedral, Nagasaki, Japan, 1945. (NARA)

Convenient story

Despite these three powerful objections, the traditional interpretation of events still greatly influences people's thinking, especially in the United States. There is a clear reluctance to face the facts. But this can hardly be called a surprise. We should remember how convenient the traditional explanation of the bombing of Hiroshima is in emotional plan - both for Japan and for the USA.

Ideas remain powerful because they are true; but unfortunately, they can also remain strong by meeting needs from an emotional point of view. They fill an important psychological niche. For example, the traditional interpretation of the events in Hiroshima helped Japanese leaders achieve a number of important political goals, both domestically and internationally.

Put yourself in the emperor's shoes. You have just subjected your country to a devastating war. The economy is in ruins. 80% of your cities are destroyed and burned. The army was defeated, suffering a series of defeats. The fleet suffered heavy losses and is not leaving its bases. The people begin to starve. In short, the war was a disaster, and most importantly, you lying to your people, without telling him how bad the situation really is.

The people will be shocked to learn of the surrender. So what should you do? Admit that you have failed? Make a statement that you have seriously miscalculated, made mistakes and caused enormous damage to your nation? Or explain the defeat by amazing scientific advances that no one could have predicted? If the defeat was blamed on the atomic bomb, then all mistakes and military miscalculations could be swept under the rug. The bomb is the perfect excuse for losing a war. There is no need to look for the guilty, no need to conduct investigations and trials. Japanese leaders will be able to say they did their best.

Thus, in general the atomic bomb helped remove blame from Japanese leaders.

But by attributing the Japanese defeat to atomic bombings, three more very specific political goals were achieved. Firstly, this helped maintain the emperor's legitimacy. Since the war was lost not because of mistakes, but because of the enemy’s unexpected miracle weapon, it means that the emperor will continue to enjoy support in Japan.

Secondly, this aroused international sympathy. Japan waged the war aggressively, and showed particular cruelty to the conquered peoples. Other countries must have condemned her actions. And if turn Japan into a victim country, which was inhumanely and dishonestly bombed using a terrible and cruel instrument of war, then it will be possible to somehow atone and neutralize the most vile acts of the Japanese military. Drawing attention to the atomic bombings helped create more sympathy for Japan and dampen the desire for the harshest punishment.

And finally, claims that the Bomb secured victory in the war flattered the American victors of Japan. The American occupation of Japan officially ended only in 1952, and during this time The United States could change and remake Japanese society at its discretion. In the early days of the occupation, many Japanese leaders feared that the Americans would want to abolish the institution of the emperor.

They also had another concern. Many of Japan's top leaders knew that they could be tried for war crimes (when Japan surrendered, its Nazi leaders were already being tried in Germany). Japanese historian Asada Sadao(Asada Sadao) wrote that in many post-war interviews, "Japanese officials ... were clearly trying to please their American interviewers." If Americans want to believe that their bomb won the war, why disappoint them?

Soviet soldiers on the banks of the Songhua River in the city of Harbin. Soviet troops liberated the city from the Japanese on August 20, 1945. At the time of Japan's surrender, there were about 700,000 Soviet soldiers in Manchuria. (Yevgeny Khaldei/waralbum.ru)

By explaining the end of the war with the use of the atomic bomb, the Japanese were largely serving their own interests. But they also served American interests. Since the bomb ensured victory in the war, the perception of America's military power is strengthened. The diplomatic influence of the United States in Asia and around the world is increasing, and American security is strengthening.

The $2 billion spent on creating the bomb was not wasted. On the other hand, if we accept that the reason for Japan's surrender was the entry of the Soviet Union into the war, then the Soviets can well claim that they did in four days what the United States could not do in four years. And then the perception of the military power and diplomatic influence of the Soviet Union will increase. And since the Cold War was already in full swing at that time, recognizing the decisive contribution of the Soviets to the victory was tantamount to providing aid and support to the enemy.

Looking at the questions raised here, it is alarming to realize that the evidence from Hiroshima and Nagasaki underlies everything we think about nuclear weapons. This event is irrefutable proof of the importance of nuclear weapons. It is important for gaining a unique status, because conventional rules do not apply to nuclear powers. This is an important measure of nuclear danger: Truman's threat to subject Japan to a "destructive shower of steel" was the first open atomic threat. This event is very important for creating a powerful aura around nuclear weapons, which makes them so significant in international relations.

But if the traditional history of Hiroshima is called into question, what should we make of all these conclusions? Hiroshima is the central point, the epicenter, from which all other statements, statements and claims spread. However, the story we tell ourselves is far from reality. What should we think about nuclear weapons now, if its colossal first achievement - the miraculous and sudden surrender of Japan - turned out to be a myth?

It was only thanks to our people that Japan was defeated