Eizo Nomura (野村 英三Nomura Eizō?) was the closest known survivor, who was in the basement of a reinforced concrete building (it remained as theRest House after the war) only 170 m (560 ft) from ground zero (the hypocenter) at the time of the attack. Akiko Takakura (高蔵 信子 Takakura Akiko?) Sony VAIO VGN-NW21EF/S Battery
was among the closest survivors to the hypocenter of the blast. She had been in the solidly built Bank of Hiroshima only 300 meters (980 ft) from ground-zero at the time of the attack.[81] Since the bomb detonated in the air, the blast was directed more downward than sideways, Sony VAIO VGN-NW21JF Battery
which was largely responsible for the survival of the Prefectural Industrial Promotional Hall, now commonly known as the Genbaku, or A-bomb Dome. This building was designed and built by the Czech architect Jan Letzel, and was only 150 m (490 ft) from ground zero. Sony VAIO VGN-NW21MF Battery
The ruin was named Hiroshima Peace Memorial and was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996 over the objections of the United States and China, which expressed reservations on the grounds that other Asian nations were the ones who suffered the greatest loss of life and property, and a focus on Japan lacked historical perspective. Sony VAIO VGN-NW21MF/W Battery
After the Hiroshima bombing, Truman issued a statement announcing the use of the new weapon. He stated, "We may be grateful to Providence" that the German atomic bomb project had failed, and that the United States and its allies had "spent two billion dollars on the greatest scientific in history—and won." Truman then warned Japan: Sony VAIO VGN-NW21ZF Battery
If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such numbers and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware. Sony VAIO VGN-NW31EF/W Battery
The Japanese government still did not react to the Potsdam Declaration. Emperor Hirohito, the government, and the war council were considering four conditions for surrender: the preservation of the kokutai (Imperial institution and nationalpolity), assumption by the Imperial Headquarters of responsibility for disarmament and demobilization, Sony VAIO VGN-NW31JF Battery
no occupation of the Japanese Home Islands, Korea, or Formosa, and delegation of the punishment of war criminals to the Japanese government.[84]
The Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov had informed Tokyo of the Soviet Union's unilateral abrogation of the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact on 5 April. Sony VAIO VGN-NW320F/B Battery
At two minutes past midnight on 9 August, Tokyo time, Soviet infantry, armor, and air forces had launched the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation. Four hours later, word reached Tokyo that the Soviet Union had declared war on Japan. The senior leadership of the Japanese Army began preparations to impose martial law on the nation, Sony VAIO VGN-NW320F/TC Battery
with the support of Minister of War Korechika Anami, in order to stop anyone attempting to make peace.
I realize the tragic significance of the atomic bomb... It is an awful responsibility which has come to us... We thank God that it has come to us, instead of to our enemies; Sony VAIO VGN-NW35E Battery
and we pray that He may guide us to use it in His ways and for His purposes.
The city of Nagasaki had been one of the largest sea ports in southern Japan and was of great wartime importance because of its wide-ranging industrial activity, including the production of ordnance, ships, military equipment, and other war materials. Sony VAIO VGN-NW380F/S Battery
In contrast to many modern aspects of Hiroshima, almost all of the buildings were of old-fashioned Japanese construction, consisting of wood or wood-frame buildings with wood walls (with or without plaster) and tile roofs. Many of the smaller industries and business establishments were also situated in buildings of wood or other materials not designed to withstand explosions. Sony VAIO VGN-NW380F/T Battery
Nagasaki had been permitted to grow for many years without conforming to any definite city zoning plan; residences were erected adjacent to factory buildings and to each other almost as closely as possible throughout the entire industrial valley.
Nagasaki had never been subjected to large-scale bombing prior to the explosion of a nuclear weapon there. Sony VAIO VGN-NW50JB Battery
On August 1, 1945, however, a number of conventional high-explosive bombs were dropped on the city. A few hit in the shipyards and dock areas in the southwest portion of the city, several hit the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works, and six bombs landed at the Nagasaki Medical School and Hospital, with three direct hits on buildings there. Sony VAIO VGN-NW51FB/N Battery
While the damage from these bombs was relatively small, it created considerable concern in Nagasaki and many people—principally school children—were evacuated to rural areas for safety, thus reducing the population in the city at the time of the nuclear attack. By early August the city was defended by four batteries of 7 centimetres (2.8 in) anti-aircraft guns and two searchlight batteries. Sony VAIO VGN-NW51FB/W Battery
To the north of Nagasaki there was a camp holding British Commonwealth prisoners of war, some of whom were working in the coal mines and only found out about the bombing when they came to the surface.
Responsibility for the timing of the second bombing was delegated to Tibbets. Sony VAIO VGN-NW70JB Battery
Scheduled for 11 August against Kokura, the raid was moved earlier by two days to avoid a five day period of bad weather forecast to begin on 10 August.[86] Three bomb pre-assemblies had been transported to Tinian, labeled F-31, F-32, and F-33 on their exteriors. On 8 August, a dress rehearsal was conducted off Tinian by Sweeney using Bockscar as the drop airplane. Sony VAIO VGN-NW71FB/N Battery
Assembly F-33 was expended testing the components and F-31 was designated for the August 9 mission.
On the morning of 9 August 1945, the B-29 Superfortress Bockscar, flown by Sweeney's crew, carried Fat Man, with Kokura as the primary target and Nagasaki the secondary target. Sony VAIO VGN-NW71FB/W Battery
The mission plan for the second attack was nearly identical to that of the Hiroshima mission, with two B-29s flying an hour ahead as weather scouts and two additional B-29s in Sweeney's flight for instrumentation and photographic support of the mission. Sweeney took off with his weapon already armed but with the electrical safety plugs still engaged. Sony VAIO VGN-NW91FS Battery
This time Penney and Cheshire were allowed to accompany the mission, flying as observers on the third plane, Big Stink, which was flown by the group's Operations Officer, Major James I. Hopkins, Jr. Observers aboard the weather planes reported both targets clear. When Sweeney's aircraft arrived at the assembly point for his flight off the coast of Japan, Sony VAIO VGN-NW91GS Battery
Big Stink failed to make the rendezvous. Bockscar and the instrumentation plane circled for 40 minutes without locating Hopkins. Already 30 minutes behind schedule, Sweeney decided to fly on without Hopkins.[89]
By the time they reached Kokura a half hour later, a 70% cloud cover had obscured the city, inhibiting the visual attack required by orders. Sony VAIO VGN-NW91VS Battery
After three runs over the city, and with fuel running low because a transfer pump on a reserve tank had failed before take-off, they headed for their secondary target, Nagasaki.[89] Fuel consumption calculations made en route indicated that Bockscar had insufficient fuel to reach Iwo Jima and would be forced to divert toOkinawa. Sony VAIO VGN-SR49VN/H Battery
After initially deciding that if Nagasaki were obscured on their arrival the crew would carry the bomb to Okinawa and dispose of it in the ocean if necessary, the weaponeer, Navy Commander Frederick Ashworth, decided that a radar approach would be used if the target was obscured.[90] Sony VAIO VGN-SR51B/P Battery
At about 07:50 Japanese time, an air raid alert was sounded in Nagasaki, but the "all clear" signal was given at 08:30. When only two B-29 Superfortresses were sighted at 10:53, the Japanese apparently assumed that the planes were only on reconnaissance and no further alarm was given. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51B/S Battery
A few minutes later at 11:00, The Great Artiste, the support B-29 flown by Captain Frederick C. Bock, dropped instruments attached to three parachutes. These instruments also contained an unsigned letter to Professor Ryokichi Sagane, a nuclear physicist at the University of Tokyo who studied with three of the scientists responsible for the atomic bomb at theUniversity of California, Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF Battery
Berkeley, urging him to tell the public about the danger involved with these weapons of mass destruction. The messages were found by military authorities but not turned over to Sagane until a month later.[91] In 1949, one of the authors of the letter, Luis Alvarez, met with Sagane and signed the document.[92] Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/P Battery
At 11:01, a last minute break in the clouds over Nagasaki allowed Bockscar's bombardier, Captain Kermit Beahan, to visually sight the target as ordered. The Fat Man weapon, containing a core of about 6.4 kilograms (14 lb) of plutonium, was dropped over the city's industrial valley. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/S Battery
It exploded 43 seconds later at 469 metres (1,539 ft) above the ground halfway between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works in the south and the Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works (Torpedo Works) in the north. This was nearly 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) northwest of the planned hypocenter; Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/W Battery
the blast was confined to the Urakami Valley and a major portion of the city was protected by the intervening hills.[93] The resulting explosion had a blast yield equivalent to 21 kilotons of TNT (88 TJ).[94] The explosion generated heat estimated at 3,900 °C (7,050 °F) and winds that were estimated at 1,005 km/h (624 mph). Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MR Battery
Casualty estimates for immediate deaths range from 40,000 to 75,000.[95][96][97] Total deaths by the end of 1945 may have reached 80,000.[1] At least eight known POWs died from the bombing and as many as 13 POWs may have died, including a British Commonwealth citizen,[98] and seven Dutch POWs.[99] Sony VAIO VGN-SR59VG Battery
One American POW, Joe Kieyoomia, was in Nagasaki at the time of the bombing but survived, reportedly having been shielded from the effects of the bomb by the concrete walls of his cell.[100] The radius of total destruction was about 1 mile (1.6 km), followed by fires across the northern portion of the city to 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the bomb. Sony VAIO VGN-SR59VG/H Battery
The Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works, the factory that manufactured thetype 91 torpedoes released in the attack on Pearl Harbor, was destroyed in the blast.[103] There is also a peace monument and Bell of Nagasaki in the Kokura.
Groves expected to have another atomic bomb ready for use on 19 August, with three more in September and a further three in October. Sony Vaio PCG-5G2L Battery
On 10 August, he sent a memorandum to Marshall in which he wrote that "the next bomb . . should be ready for delivery on the first suitable weather after 17 or 18 August." On the same day, Marshall endorsed the memo with the comment, "It is not to be released over Japan without express authority from the President." Sony Vaio PCG-5G3L Battery
There was already discussion in the War Department about conserving the bombs in production until Operation Downfall had begun. "The problem now [13 August] is whether or not, assuming the Japanese do not capitulate, to continue dropping them every time one is made and shipped out there or whether to hold them . . . and then pour them all on in a reasonably short time.Sony Vaio PCG-5J1L Battery
Not all in one day, but over a short period. And that also takes into consideration the target that we are after. In other words, should we not concentrate on targets that will be of the greatest assistance to an invasion rather than industry, morale, psychology, and the like? Nearer the tactical use rather than other use." Sony Vaio PCG-5J2L Battery
Two more Fat Man assemblies were readied. The third core was scheduled to leave Kirtland Field for Tinian on 12 August,and Tibbets was ordered by Major General Curtis LeMay to return to Utah to collect it. Robert Bacher was packaging it in Los Alamos when he received word from Groves that the shipment was suspended. Sony Vaio PCG-5K2L Battery
Until 9 August the war council had still insisted on its four conditions for surrender. On that day Hirohito ordered Kido to "quickly control the situation ... because the Soviet Union has declared war against us." He then held an Imperial conference during which he authorized minister Tōgō to notify the Allies that Japan would accept their terms on one condition, Sony Vaio PCG-5L1L Battery
that the declaration "does not compromise any demand which prejudices the prerogatives of His Majesty as a Sovereign ruler."[109]
On 10 August the Japanese government presented a letter of protest for the atomic bombings to the government of the United States via the government of Switzerland.On 12 August the Emperor informed the imperial family of his decision to surrender.Sony Vaio PCG-6S2L Battery
One of his uncles, Prince Asaka, then asked whether the war would be continued if the kokutai could not be preserved. Hirohito simply replied "Of course."[111] As the Allied terms seemed to leave intact the principle of the preservation of the Throne, Hirohito recorded on 14 August his capitulation announcement which was broadcast to the Japanese nation the next day despite a short rebellion by militarists opposed to the surrender. Sony Vaio PCG-6S3L Battery
In his declaration, Hirohito referred to the atomic bombings:
Moreover, the enemy now possesses a new and terrible weapon with the power to destroy many innocent lives and do incalculable damage. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization. Sony Vaio PCG-6V1L Battery
Such being the case, how are We to save the millions of Our subjects, or to atone Ourselves before the hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors? This is the reason why We have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the Joint Declaration of the Powers. Sony Vaio PCG-6W1L Battery
In his "Rescript to the soldiers and sailors" delivered on 17 August, he stressed the impact of the Soviet invasion and his decision to surrender, omitting any mention of the bombs.
During the year after the bombing, approximately 40,000 US troops occupied Hiroshima, while Nagasaki was occupied by 27,000 troops. Sony Vaio PCG-7111L Battery
During the war "annihilationist and exterminationalist rhetoric" was tolerated at all levels of US society; according to the UK embassy in Washington the Americans regarded the Japanese as "a nameless mass of vermin".Caricatures depicting Japanese as less than human, e.g. monkeys, were common. Sony Vaio PCG-71511M Battery
A 1944 opinion poll that asked what should be done with Japan found that 13% of the US public were in favor of "killing off" all Japanese: men, women, and children.[113][114]
News of the atomic bombing was greeted enthusiastically in the US; a poll in Fortune magazine in late 1945 showed a significant minority of Americans wishing that more atomic bombs could have been dropped on Japan. Sony Vaio PCG-6W3L Battery
The initial positive response was supported by the imagery presented to the public (mainly the powerful mushroom cloud) and the censorship of photographs that showed corpses of people incinerated by the blast as well as photos of maimed survivors.[115] As an example, a member of the US Strategic Bombing Survey, Lieutenant Daniel McGovern, Sony Vaio PCG-7113L Battery
used a film crew to document the results. The film crew's work resulted in a three-hour documentary entitled The Effects of the Atomic Bombs Against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The documentary included images from hospitals showing the human effects of the bomb; it showed burned out buildings and cars, and rows of skulls and bones on the ground. Sony Vaio PCG-7133L Battery
When sent to the US, it was mentioned widely in the US press, then quietly suppressed and never shown. It was classified "top secret" for the next 22 years.[116] During this time in America, it was a common practice for editors to keep graphic images of death out of films, magazines, and newspapers. Sony Vaio PCG-7Z1L Battery
The total of 90,000 feet (27,000 m) of footage filmed by Lieutenant Daniel McGovern's cameramen had not been fully aired As of 2009. However, according to Greg Mitchell, with the 2004 documentary film Original Child Bomb, a small part of that footage managed to reach part of the American public "in the unflinching and powerful form its creators intended".[119] Sony Vaio PCG-7Z2L Battery
Imagery of the atomic bombings was suppressed in Japan during the occupation[120] although some Japanese magazines had managed to publish images before the Allied occupation troops took control. The Allied occupation forces enforced censorship on anything "that might, directly or by inference, disturb public tranquility", Sony Vaio PCG-8Y1L Battery
and pictures of the effects on people on the ground were deemed inflammatory. A likely reason for the banning was that the images depicting burn victims and funeral pyres were similar to the widely circulated images taken in liberated concentration camps.
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