The atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were conducted by the United Statesduring the final stages of World War II in 1945. These two events represent the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date. Sony VAIO VPCF-11JOE battery
Following a firebombing campaign that destroyed many Japanese cities, the Allies prepared for a costly invasion of Japan. The war in Europe ended when Germany signed its instrument of surrender on 8 May, but the Pacific Warcontinued. Together with the United Kingdom and the Republic of China, Sony VGP-BPL8 Battery
the United States called for a surrender of Japan in the Potsdam Declaration on 26 July 1945, threatening Japan with "prompt and utter destruction". The Japanese government ignored this ultimatum, and the United States deployed two nuclear weapons developed by theManhattan Project. Sony VGP-BPS8 Battery
American airmen dropped Little Boy on the city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, followed by Fat Man over Nagasaki on 9 August.
Within the first two to four months of the bombings, the acute effects killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki, with roughly half of the deaths in each city occurring on the first day. Sony VGP-BPS8A Battery
The Hiroshima prefecture health department estimated that, of the people who died on the day of the explosion, 60% died from flash or flame burns, 30% from falling debris and 10% from other causes. During the following months, large numbers died from the effect of burns, radiation sickness, and other injuries, compounded by illness. Sony VGP-BPS9 Battery
In a US estimate of the total immediate and short term cause of death, 15–20% died from radiation sickness, 20–30% from burns, and 50–60% from other injuries, compounded by illness. In both cities, most of the dead were civilians, although Hiroshima had a sizeable garrison. Sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery
On 15 August, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan announced its surrender to the Allies, signing theInstrument of Surrender on 2 September, officially ending World War II. The bombings led, in part, to post-war Japan's adopting Three Non-Nuclear Principles, forbidding the nation from nuclear armament. Sony VGP-BPS9/S Battery
The role of the bombings in Japan's surrender and their ethical justification are still debated.
In 1945, the Pacific War between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II had entered its fourth year. World War II was not winding down. Instead, the fighting was being prosecuted with ever-increasing fury. Sony VGP-BPS10 Battery
Of the 1.25 million battle casualties incurred by the United States in World War II, nearly one million occurred in the twelve month period from June 1944 to June 1945. December 1944 saw American battle casualties hit an all-time monthly high of 88,000 as a result of the German Ardennes Offensive.[2] Sony VGP-BPL10 Battery
In the Pacific during this period, the Allies captured the Mariana and Palau Islands,[3] returned to the Philippines,[4] and invaded Borneo.[5] The policy of bypassing Japanese forces was abandoned. In order to free troops for use elsewhere, offensives were undertaken to reduce the Japanese forces remaining inBougainville, Sony VGP-BPL11 Battery
New Guinea and the Philippines.[6] In April 1945, American forces had landed on Okinawa, where heavy fighting would continue until June. Along the way, the ratio of Japanese deaths to American casualties dropped from 5 to 1 in the Philippines to 2 to 1 on Okinawa.
Even before the surrender of Germany on 8 May 1945, Sony VGP-BPS11 Battery
plans were already underway for the largest operation of the Pacific War, Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan.[7] The operation had two parts: Operations Olympic and Coronet. Set to begin in October 1945, Olympic involved a series of landings by the US Sixth Army intended to capture the southern third of the southernmost main Japanese island, Kyūshū.[8] Sony VGP-BPL12 Battery
Operation Olympic was to be followed in March 1946 by Operation Coronet, the capture of the Kantō Plain, near Tokyo on the Japanese island of Honshū by the US First, Eighth and Tenth Armies. The target date was chosen to allow for Olympic to complete its objectives, troops to be redeployed from Europe, and the Japanese winter to pass.[9] Sony VGP-BPS12 Battery
Japan's geography made this invasion plan obvious to the Japanese as well; they were able to predict the Allied invasion plans accurately and thus adjust their defensive plan, Operation Ketsugō, accordingly. The Japanese planned an all-out defense of Kyūshū, with little left in reserve for any subsequent defense operations.[10] Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery
Four veteran divisions were withdrawn from theKwantung Army in Manchuria in March 1945 to strengthen the forces in Japan,[11] and 45 new divisions were activated between February and May 1945. Most were immobile formations for coastal defence, but 16 were high quality mobile divisions.[12] Sony VGP-BPS13/B Battery
In all, there were 2.3 million Japanese Army troops prepared to defend the Japanese home islands, another 4 million Army and Navy employees, and a civilian militia of 28 million men and women. Casualty predictions varied widely, but were extremely high. The Vice Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff, Vice Admiral Takijirō Ōnishi, predicted up to 20 million Japanese deaths. Sony VGP-BPS13/S Battery
A study from 15 June 1945 by the Joint War Plans Committee,[14] who provided planning information to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, estimated that Olympic would result in between 130,000 and 220,000 US-casualties of which U.S. dead would be the range from 25,000 to 46,000. Sony VGP-BPS13A/S Battery
Delivered on 15 June 1945 after insight gained from the Battle of Okinawa, the study noted Japan's inadequate defenses due to the very effective sea blockade and the American firebombing campaign. The Chief of Staff of the United States Army, General of the Army George C. Sony VGP-BPS13B/S Battery
Marshall and General of the Army Douglas MacArthur signed documents agreeing with the Joint War Plans Committee estimate.[15]
The Americans were alarmed by the Japanese build up, which was accurately tracked through Ultra intelligence.[16] Sony VGP-BPS13S Battery
United States Secretary of War Henry Lewis Stimson was sufficiently concerned about high American estimates of probable casualties to commission his own study by Quincy Wright and William Shockley. Wright and Shockley spoke with Colonels James McCormack and Dean Rusk, and examined casualty forecasts by Michael DeBakey and Gilbert Beebe. Sony VGP-BPS13AS Battery
Wright and Shockley estimated the invading Allies would suffer between 1.7 and 4 million casualties in such a scenario, of whom between 400,000 and 800,000 would be dead, while Japanese casualties would have been around 5 to 10 million.[17][18]
Marshall began contemplating the use of a weapon which was "readily available and which assuredly can decrease the cost in American lives":[19] poison gas. Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery
Quantities of phosgene, mustard gas, tear gas and cyanogen chloride were moved to Luzon from stockpiles in Australia and New Guinea in preparation for Operation Olympic, and General of the Army Douglas MacArthur ensured that Chemical Warfare Service units were trained in their use. Sony VGP-BPS13B/B Battery
While the United States had developed plans for an air campaign against Japan prior to the Pacific War, the capture of Allied bases in the western Pacific in the first weeks of the conflict meant that this offensive did not begin until mid-1944 when the long-ranged Boeing B-29 Superfortress became ready for use in combat. Sony VGP-BPS14 Battery
Operation Matterhorn involved India-based B-29s staging through bases around Chengtu in China to make a series of raids on strategic targets in Japan between June 1944 and January 1945. This effort proved unsuccessful due to logistical difficulties with the remote location, Sony VGP-BPl15 Battery
technical problems with the new and advanced aircraft, unfavourable weather conditions, and ultimately enemy action.[20]
USAAF Brigadier General Haywood S. Hansell determined that Guam, Tinian and Saipan in the Mariana Islands would better serve as B-29 bases, but they were in Japanese hands. Sony VGP-BPs15 Battery
Strategies were shifted to accommodate the air war, and the islands were captured between June and August 1944. Air bases were developed, and B-29 operations commenced from the Marianas in November 1944, greatly expanding the scope of the strategic bombing campaign against Japan.[20] Sony VGP-BPs18 Battery
These attacks initially targeted key industrial facilities, but from March 1945 they were frequently directed against urban areas. The capture of Okinawa in June 1945 provided airfields even closer to the Japanese mainland, allowing the bombing campaign to be escalated further. Sony VGP-BPS21A/B Battery
Over the next six months, the XXI Bomber Command fire-bombed 67 Japanese cities. The Operation Meetinghouse 9–10 MarchBombing of Tokyo caused 80,000–100,000 casualties and destroyed 16 square miles (41 km2) of the city with 267,000 buildings–the deadliest of the war. Sony VGP-BPS21/S Battery
Aircraft flying from Allied aircraft carriers and the Ryukyu Islands also regularly struck targets in Japan during 1945 in preparation for Operation Downfall.[21]
The Japanese military was unable to stop the Allied attacks, and the country's civil defense preparations proved inadequate. Sony VGP-BPS21B Battery
From April 1945, the Japanese Army and Naval Air Forces stopped attempting to intercept the air raids in order to preserve fighter aircraft to counter the expected invasion.[22] By mid-1945 the Japanese also only occasionally scrambled aircraft to intercept individual B-29s conducting reconnaissance sorties over the country in order to conserve supplies of fuel. Sony VGP-BPS21 Battery
By July 1945, the Japanese had stockpiled 1,156,000 US barrels (137,800,000 l; 36,400,000 US gal; 30,300,000 imp gal) of avgas for the invasion of Japan.
Working in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada, with their respective projects Tube Alloys and Chalk River Laboratories, Sony VAIO PCG-3B1M Battery
the Manhattan Project, under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, designed and built the first atomic bombs.[27] Preliminary research began in 1939, originally in fear that the atomic bomb project would develop atomic weapons first.[28] In May 1945, the defeat of Germany caused the focus to turn to use against Japan. Sony VAIO PCG-3C1T Battery
Two types of bombs were eventually devised by scientists and technicians at Los Alamos under American physicist Robert Oppenheimer. The Hiroshima bomb, known asLittle Boy, was a gun-type fission weapon made with uranium-235, a rare isotope of uranium extracted in giant factories in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.[30] Sony VAIO PCG-3D1M Battery
The other was an implosion-type nuclear weapon using plutonium-239, a synthetic element created in nuclear reactors at Hanford, Washington. A test implosion weapon, the gadget, was detonated at Trinity Site, on 16 July 1945, near Alamogordo, New Mexico.[31] The Nagasaki bomb, Fat Man was also an implosion device. Sony VAIO PCG-3G2M Battery
The 509th Composite Group was constituted on 9 December 1944, and activated on 17 December 1944, at Wendover Army Air Field,Utah, commanded by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets.[33] Tibbets was assigned to organize and command a combat group to develop the means of delivering an atomic weapon against targets in Germany and Japan. Sony VAIO PCG-5R1M Battery
Because the flying squadrons of the group consisted of both bomber and transport aircraft, the group was designated as a "composite" rather than a "bombardment" unit.
Working with the Manhattan Project at Site Y in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Tibbets selected Wendover for his training base overGreat Bend, Kansas, and Mountain Home, Sony VAIO PCG-7141M Battery
Idaho because of its remoteness.[34] On 10 September 1944, the 393rd Bomb Squadron, aB-29 Superfortress unit, arrived at Wendover from the 504th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) at Fairmont Army Air Base,Nebraska, where it had been in group training since 12 March. When its parent group deployed to the Mariana Islands in early November 1944, Sony VAIO PCG-7143M Battery
the squadron was assigned directly to the Second Air Force until creation of the 509th Composite Group.[35]Originally consisting of twenty-one crews, fifteen were selected to continue training and were organized into three flightsof five crews, lettered A, B, and C.
The 320th Troop Carrier Squadron, the other flying unit of the 509th, came into being because of the highly secret work of the group. Sony VAIO PCG-7151M Battery
The organization that was to become the 509th required its own transports for the movement of both personnel and materiel, resulting in creation of an ad hoc unit nicknamed "The Green Hornet Line".Crews for this unit were acquired from the six 393rd crews not selected to continue B-29 training, Sony VAIO PCG-7154M Battery
some of whom chose to remain with the 509th rather than be assigned to a replacement pool of the Second Air Force. They began using Curtiss C-46 Commandos and C-47 Skytrains already at Wendover, and after November 1944 flew five acquired C-54 Skymasters. The 320th Troop Carrier was formally activated at the same time as the group. Sony VAIO PCG-7162M Battery
Other support units were activated at Wendover from personnel already present and working with its Project W-47, which was later superseded by Project Alberta, or in the 216th Base Unit, both of which were affiliated with the Project Y. The 390th Air Service Group was created as the command echelon for the 603rd Air Engineering Squadron, Sony VAIO PCG-7181M Battery
the 1027th Air Material squadron, and its own Air Base Support Squadron, but as these units became independent operationally, acted as the basic support unit for the entire 509th Composite Group in providing quarters, rations, medical care, postal service and other basic support functions. Sony VAIO PCG-41112M Battery
The 603rd Air Engineering Squadron was unique in that it provided depot-level B-29 maintenance in the field, obviating the necessity of sending aircraft back to the United States for major repairs. The 603rd made a number of modifications to the first contract order of Silverplate B-29s that were later incorporated as specifications for the combat models. Sony VAIO PCG-7153M Battery
The 393rd Bomb Squadron began replacement of its original B-29s with modified Silverplate aircraft with the delivery of three new B-29s in mid-October 1944.[36]These aircraft had extensive bomb bay modifications and a "weaponeer" station installed, but initial training operations identified numerous other modifications necessary to the mission, Sony VAIO PCG-71312M Battery
particularly in reducing the overall weight of the aircraft to offset the heavy loads it would be required to carry. Five more Silverplates were delivered in November and six in December, giving the group 14 for its training operations. In January and February 1945, 10 of the 15 crews under the command of the Group S-3 (operations officer) Sony VAIO PCG-7144M Battery
were assigned temporary duty at Batista Field, San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba, where they trained in long-range over-water navigation.
On 6 March 1945, the 1st Ordnance Squadron (Special, Aviation) was activated at Wendover, again from Army Air Forces personnel on hand or already at Los Alamos, and concurrent with the activation of Project Alberta. Sony VAIO PCG-7191L Battery
Its purpose was to provide trained personnel and special equipment to the group to enable it to assemble atomic weapons at its operating base, thereby allowing the weapons to be transported more safely in their component parts. A rigorous candidate selection process was used to recruit personnel, Sony VAIO PCG-3C1M Battery
with reportedly an 80% "washout" rate, and those made a part of the unit were not permitted transfer until the end of the war, nor were they allowed to travel without from Military Intelligence units.[39]
With the addition of the 1st Ordnance Squadron to its roster, the 509th Composite Group had an authorized strength of 225 officers and 1,542 enlisted men, Sony VAIO PCG-3F1M Battery
almost all of whom deployed to Tinian. The 320th Troop Carrier Squadron did not officially deploy but kept its base of operations at Wendover. In addition to its authorized strength, the 509th had attached to it on Tinian 51 civilian and military personnel of Project Alberta,[40] known as the 1st Technical Detachment. Sony VAIO PCG-3H1M Battery
There were two representatives from Washington, D.C., Brigadier General Thomas Farrell, the deputy commander of the Manhattan Project, andRear Admiral William R. Purnell of the Military Policy Committee.[42] They were on hand to decide higher policy matters on the spot. Along with Captain William S. Parsons, the commander of Project Alberta, they became known as the "Tinian Joint Chiefs".Sony VAIO PCG-3J1M Battery
The 509th began replacement of its 14 training Silverplates in February 1945 by transferring four to the 216th Base Unit. In April they began receiving Silverplates of the third modification increment and the remaining ten training B-29s were placed in storage.Sony VAIO PCG-8141M Battery
Each bombardier completed at least 50 practice drops of inert pumpkin bombs and Tibbets declared his group combat-ready.[44] Preparation for Overseas Movement (POM) began in April.
General of the Army George Marshall, the Chief of Staff of the Army, asked Groves to nominate specific targets for bombing, Sony VAIO PCG-8161M Battery
subject to approval by himself and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson. Groves formed a Target Committee in April 1945 chaired by himself, that included his deputy, Brigadier General Thomas Farrell; one of his staff, MajorJohn A. Derry; Colonel William P. Fisher, Joyce C. Stearns and David M. Dennison from the USAAF; Sony VAIO PCG-3C2M Battery
and scientistsJohn von Neumann, Robert R. Wilson and William C. Penney from the Manhattan Project. The Target Committee met on 27 April; at Los Alamos on 10 May, where it was able to talk to the scientists and technicians there; and finally in Washington on 28 May, where it was briefed by Colonel Paul Tibbets and Commander Frederick L. Sony VAIO PCG-5N2M Battery
Ashworth, and the Manhattan Project's scientific advisor, Richard C. Tolman.[45]
The Target Committee nominated four targets: Kokura, the site of one of Japan's largest munitions plants;Hiroshima, an embarkation port and industrial center that was the site of a major military headquarters; Sony VAIO PCG-5P1M Battery
Niigata, a port with industrial facilities including steel and aluminium plants and an oil refinery; and Kyoto, a major industrial center. The target selection was subject to the following criteria:
The target was larger than 3 miles (4.8 km) in diameter and was an important target in a large urban area. Sony VAIO PCG-5S1M Battery
The blast would create effective damage.
The target was unlikely to be attacked by August 1945. "Any small and strictly military objective should be located in a much larger area subject to blast damage in order to avoid undue risks of the weapon being lost due to bad placing of the bomb." Sony VAIO PCG-9Z1M Battery
These cities were largely untouched during the nightly bombing raids and the Army Air Force agreed to leave them off the target list so accurate assessment of the weapon could be made. Hiroshima was described as "an important army depot and port of embarkation in the middle of an urban industrial area. Sony VAIO PCG-7171M Battery
It is a good radar target and it is such a size that a large part of the city could be extensively damaged. There are adjacent hills which are likely to produce a focusing effect which would considerably increase the blast damage. Due to rivers it is not a goodincendiary target." Sony VAIO PCG-7186M Battery
The US had previously dropped leaflets warning civilians of air raids on 35 Japanese cities, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[47]
The goal of the weapon was to convince Japan to surrender unconditionally in accordance with the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. Sony VAIO PCG-81112M Battery
The Target Committee stated that "It was agreed that psychological factors in the target selection were of great importance. Two aspects of this are (1) obtaining the greatest psychological effect against Japan and (2) making the initial use sufficiently spectacular for the importance of the weapon to be internationally recognized when publicity on it is released. Sony VAIO PCG-31311M Battery
Kyoto had the advantage of being an important center for military industry, as well an intellectual center and hence better able to appreciate the significance of the weapon. The Emperor's palace in Tokyo has a greater fame than any other target but is of least strategic value." Sony VAIO PCG-8152M Battery
Edwin O. Reischauer, a Japan expert for the US Army Intelligence Service, was incorrectly said to have prevented the bombing of Kyoto.[46] In his autobiography, Reischauer specifically refuted this claim:
the only person deserving credit for saving Kyoto from destruction is Henry L. Stimson, Sony VAIO PCG-31111M Battery
the Secretary of War at the time, who had known and admired Kyoto ever since his honeymoon there several decades earlier.
On 25 July, Nagasaki was put on the target list in place of Kyoto.
On 26 July, Allied leaders issued the Potsdam Declaration outlining terms of surrender for Japan. Sony VAIO PCG-61111M Battery
It was presented as an ultimatum and stated that without a surrender, the Allies would attack Japan, resulting in "the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland". The atomic bomb was not mentioned in the communiqué. Sony VAIO PCG-51112M Battery
On 28 July Japanese papers reported that the declaration had been rejected by the Japanese government. That afternoon, Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki declared at a press conference that the Potsdam Declaration was no more than a rehash (yakinaoshi) of the Cairo Declaration and that the government intended to ignore it (mokusatsu, "kill by silence").Sony VAIO PCG-51211M Battery
The statement was taken by both Japanese and foreign papers as a clear rejection of the declaration. Emperor Hirohito, who was waiting for a Soviet reply to non-committal Japanese peace feelers, made no move to change the government position.[51]
Under the 1943 Quebec Agreement with the United Kingdom, Sony VAIO PCG-51212M Battery
the United States had agreed that nuclear weapons would not be used against another country without mutual consent. In June 1945 the head of the British Joint Staff Mission, Field Marshal Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, agreed that the use of nuclear weapons against Japan would be officially recorded as a decision of the Combined Policy Committee. Sony VAIO PCG-41111M Battery
At Potsdam, Truman agreed to a request from the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, that Britain be represented when the atomic bomb was dropped. William Penney and Group Captain Leonard Cheshire were sent to Tinian, but found that Major General Curtis LeMay would not let them accompany the mission. Sony VAIO PCG-41111V Battery
All they could do was send a strongly worded signal back to Wilson.
At the time of its bombing, Hiroshima was a city of both industrial and military significance. A number of military camps were located nearby, including the headquarters of Field Marshal Shunroku Hata's 2nd General Army Headquarters, which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan. Sony VAIO PCG-61412V Battery
His command consisted of some 400,000 men, most of whom were on Kyushu where an Allied invasion was correctly expected.[55] Also present in Hiroshima was the headquarters of the Fifty-Ninth Army, and most of the 224th Division, a recently formed mobile unit.[56] The city's air defenses comprised five batteries of 7-and-8-centimetre (2.8 and 3.1 in) anti-aircraft guns.[57] Sony VAIO PCG-71112M Battery
Hiroshima was a minor supply and logistics base for the Japanese military. The city was a communications center, a storage point, and an assembly area for troops. It was one of several Japanese cities left deliberately untouched by American bombing, allowing a pristine environment to measure the damage caused by the atomic bomb.[58] Sony VAIO PCG-81111V Battery
The center of the city contained several reinforced concrete buildings and lighter structures. Outside the center, the area was congested by a dense collection of small wooden workshops set among Japanese houses. A few larger industrial plants lay near the outskirts of the city. Sony VAIO PCG-81111V Battery
The houses were constructed of wood with tile roofs, and many of the industrial buildings were also built around wood frames. The city as a whole was highly susceptible to fire damage.[59]
The population of Hiroshima had reached a peak of over 381,000 earlier in the war, Sony VAIO PCG-81212M Battery
but prior to the atomic bombing the population had steadily decreased because of a systematic evacuation ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the attack, the population was approximately 340,000–350,000.
Hiroshima was the primary target of the first nuclear bombing mission on 6 August, with Kokura and Nagasaki as alternative targets. Sony VAIO PCG-81212V Battery
The 393d Bombardment Squadron B-29 Enola Gay, piloted by Tibbets, took off from North Field airbase on Tinian, about six hours flight time from Japan. The Enola Gay (named after Tibbets' mother) was accompanied by two other B-29s. The Great Artiste, commanded by Major Charles W. Sweeney, Sony VAIO PCG-51111M Battery
carried instrumentation, and a then-nameless aircraft later called Necessary Evil, commanded by Captain George Marquardt, served as the photography aircraft.
After leaving Tinian the aircraft made their way separately toIwo Jima where they rendezvoused at 2,440 meters (8,010 ft) and set course for Japan. Sony VAIO VPCS13X9E/B battery
The aircraft arrived over the target in clear visibility at 9,855 meters (32,333 ft). Parsons, who was in command of the mission, armed the bomb during the flight to minimize the risks during takeoff. His assistant, Second Lieutenant Morris Jeppson, removed the safety devices 30 minutes before reaching the target area. Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B battery
About an hour before the bombing, Japanese early warning radar detected the approach of some American aircraft headed for the southern part of Japan. An alert was given and radio broadcasting stopped in many cities, among them Hiroshima. At nearly 08:00, Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B battery
the radar operator in Hiroshima determined that the number of planes coming in was very small—probably not more than three—and the air raid alert was lifted. To conserve fuel and aircraft, the Japanese had decided not to intercept small formations. Hiroshima's anti-aircraft batteries were put on alert, but held their fire; Sony VAIO VPCF13M8E/B battery
because anti-aircraft guns caused significant collateral damage and casualties on the ground, the anti-aircraft gunners of all belligerents in the war were typically ordered to avoid firing on small numbers of enemy aircraft, especially if they were stationed in or near large population centers. Sony VAIO VPCF13Z0E/B battery
The normal radio broadcast warning was given to the people that it might be advisable to go to air-raid shelters if B-29s were actually sighted. However a reconnaissance mission was assumed because at 07:31 the first B29 to fly over Hiroshima at 32,000 feet (9,800 m) had been the weather observation aircraft Sony VAIO VPCM13M1E/L battery
Straight Flush that sent a Morse code message to the Enola Gay indicating that the weather was good over the primary target. Because it then turned out to sea, the 'all clear' was sounded in the city. At 08:09 Colonel Tibbets started his bomb run and handed control over to his bombardier.[62] Sony VAIO VPCM13M1E/W battery
The release at 08:15 (Hiroshima time) went as planned, and the gravity bomb known as "Little Boy", a gun-type fission weapon with about 64 kilograms (140 lb) of uranium-235, took 43 seconds to fall from the aircraft flying at 31,060 feet (9,470 m) to the predetermined detonation height about 1,968 feet (600 m) above the city. Sony VAIO VPCF22M1E battery
The Enola Gay traveled 11.5 miles (18.5 km) before it felt the shock waves from the blast.[63]
Due to crosswind, it missed the aiming point, the Aioi Bridge, by approximately 800 feet (240 m) and detonated directly over Shima Surgical Clinic.[64] It created a blast equivalent to 16 kilotons of TNT (67 TJ).[65] Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H battery
(The U-235 weapon was considered very inefficient, with only 1.7% of its material fissioning.)[66]The radius of total destruction was about one mile (1.6 km), with resulting fires across 4.4 square miles (11 km2).[67] Americans estimated that 4.7 square miles (12 km2) of the city were destroyed. Sony VAIO VPCF13M0E/B battery
Japanese officials determined that 69% of Hiroshima's buildings were destroyed and another 6–7% damaged.[68]
Some 70,000–80,000 people, or some 30% of the population of Hiroshima were killed by the blast and resultant firestorm, and another 70,000 injured. Sony VAIO VPCYB2M1E battery
Over 90% of the doctors and 93% of the nurses in Hiroshima were killed or injured—most had been in the downtown area which received the greatest damage.
The Tokyo control operator of the Broadcasting Corporation of Japan noticed that the Hiroshima station had gone off the air.Sony VAIO VPCYB3V1E battery
He tried to re-establish his program by using another telephone line, but it too had failed.[72] About 20 minutes later the Tokyo railroad telegraph center realized that the main line telegraph had stopped working just north of Hiroshima. From some small railway stops within 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) of the city came unofficial and confused reports of a terrible explosion in Hiroshima.Sony VAIO VPCY11M1E battery
All these reports were transmitted to the headquarters of theImperial Japanese Army General Staff.
Military bases repeatedly tried to call the Army Control Station in Hiroshima. The complete silence from that city puzzled the men at headquarters; they knew that no large enemy raid had occurred and that no sizable store of explosives was in Hiroshima at that time. Sony VAIO VPCS12L9E/B battery
A young officer of the Japanese General Staff was instructed to fly immediately to Hiroshima, to land, survey the damage, and return to Tokyo with reliable information for the staff. It was generally felt at headquarters that nothing serious had taken place and that the explosion was just a rumor. Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B battery
The staff officer went to the airport and took off for the southwest. After flying for about three hours, while still nearly 160 kilometres (99 mi) from Hiroshima, he and his pilot saw a great cloud of smoke from the bomb. In the bright afternoon, the remains of Hiroshima were burning. Sony VAIO VPCYB3V1E/R Battery
Their plane soon reached the city, around which they circled in disbelief. A great scar on the land still burning and covered by a heavy cloud of smoke was all that was left. They landed south of the city, and the staff officer, after reporting to Tokyo, immediately began to organize relief measures. Sony VAIO VPCF23P1E Battery
By 8 August 1945, newspapers in the US were reporting that broadcasts from Radio Tokyo had described the destruction observed in Hiroshima. "Practically all living things, human and animal, were literally seared to death", Japanese radio announcers said in a broadcast received by Allied sources. Sony VAIO VPCF23N1E Battery
According to the US Department of Energy the immediate effects of the blast killed approximately 70,000 people in Hiroshima.[74] Estimates of total deaths by the end of 1945 from burns, radiation and related disease, the effects of which were aggravated by lack of medical resources, range from 90,000 to 166,000.[ Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/L Battery
Some estimates state up to 200,000 had died by 1950, due to cancer and other long-term effects.[76] Another study states that from 1950 to 2000, 46% of leukemia deaths and 11% of solid cancer deaths among bomb survivors were due to radiation from the bombs, the statistical excess being estimated to 200 leukemia and 1700 solid cancers.[77] Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/G battery
At least eleven known prisoners of war died from the bombing.[78]
Some of the reinforced concrete buildings in Hiroshima had been very strongly constructed because of the earthquake danger in Japan, and their framework did not collapse even though they were fairly close to the blast center. Sony VAIO VPCF24M1E battery
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