Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Radioactive contamination is abolished. USA

An American B-29 Superfortress bomber named “Enola Gay” took off from Tinian early on August 6 with a single 4,000 kg uranium bomb called “Little Boy”. At 8:15 a.m., the “baby” bomb was dropped from a height of 9,400 m above the city and spent 57 seconds in free fall. At the moment of detonation, a small explosion provoked an explosion of 64 kg of uranium. Of these 64 kg, only 7 kg went through the fission stage, and of this mass, only 600 mg turned into energy - explosive energy that burned everything in its path for several kilometers, leveling the city with a blast wave, starting a series of fires and plunging all living things into radiation flow. It is believed that about 70,000 people died immediately, with another 70,000 dying from injuries and radiation by 1950. Today in Hiroshima, near the epicenter of the explosion, there is a memorial museum, the purpose of which is to promote the idea that nuclear weapons will cease to exist forever.

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.”

Pictured is US Secretary of War Henry Stimson

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 he 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 orders, 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 [what?] 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.

An aerial view of Hiroshima shortly before the bomb was dropped on the city in August 1945. Shown here is a densely populated area of ​​the city on the Motoyasu River.

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 26, the cruiser Indianapolis delivered the Little Boy atomic bomb to Tinian.
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.

Commander A.F. Birch (left) numbers the bomb, codenamed "Baby", physicist Dr Ramsay (right) will receive the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1989.

The "baby" was 3 m long and weighed 4,000 kg, but contained only 64 kg of uranium, which was used to provoke a chain of atomic reactions and subsequent explosion.

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 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.

Pictured is the US Army Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber "Enola Gay"

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 aircraft: a reserve plane (Top Secret), two controllers and three reconnaissance aircraft (Jebit III, Full House and Straight 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 fuse was installed at a height of 600 meters above the surface; the explosion, the equivalent of 13 to 18 kilotons of TNT, occurred 45 seconds after the release.
The first public report of the event came from Washington, sixteen hours after the atomic attack on the Japanese city.

A photo taken from one of two American bombers of the 509th Integrated Group shortly after 8:15 a.m. on August 5, 1945, shows smoke rising from the explosion over the city of Hiroshima.

When the uranium in the bomb went through the fission stage, it was instantly converted into the energy of 15 kilotons of TNT, heating the massive fireball to a temperature of 3,980 degrees Celsius.

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 memoirs 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 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.

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 200,000 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 figure 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.

View of the destroyed Hiroshima in the fall of 1945 on one branch of the river passing through the delta on which the city stands

Complete destruction after the dropping of an atomic bomb.

Color photograph of the destruction of Hiroshima in March 1946.

An explosion destroyed the Okita plant in Hiroshima, Japan.

Look how the sidewalk has been raised and there's a drainpipe sticking out of the bridge. Scientists say this was due to the vacuum created by the pressure from the atomic explosion.

Twisted iron beams are all that remains of the theater building, located about 800 meters from the epicenter.

The Hiroshima Fire Department lost its only vehicle when the western station was destroyed by an atomic bomb. The station was located 1,200 meters from the epicenter.

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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.

Terrible consequences...

Keloid scars on the back and shoulders of a victim of the Hiroshima bombing. The scars formed where the victim's skin was not protected from direct radiation rays.

Comparative preservation of some buildings

Some reinforced concrete buildings in the city were very stable (due to the risk of earthquakes), and their frames did not collapse, despite the fact that they were 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.

A man looks at the ruins left after the atomic bomb exploded in Hiroshima.

People lived here

Visitors to Hiroshima Memorial Park look at a panoramic view of the aftermath of the atomic explosion on July 27, 2005 in Hiroshima.

Memorial flame in honor of the victims of the atomic explosion at the monument in the Hiroshima Memorial Park. The fire has burned continuously since it was lit on August 1, 1964. The fire will burn until “all the atomic weapons on earth disappear forever.”

Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Photochronology after the explosion: the horror that the United States tried to hide.

August 6 is not an empty phrase for Japan, it is the moment of one of the greatest horrors ever committed in the war.

On this day the bombing of Hiroshima took place. After 3 days, the same barbaric act will be repeated, knowing the consequences for Nagasaki.

This nuclear barbarity, worthy of one's worst nightmare, partially eclipsed the Jewish Holocaust carried out by the Nazis, but the act put then-President Harry Truman on the same list of genocide.

As he ordered the firing of 2 atomic bombs on the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in the direct deaths of 300,000 people, thousands more died weeks later, and thousands of survivors were physically and psychologically marked by the side effects of the bomb.

As soon as President Truman learned of the damage, he said, “This is the greatest event in history.”

In 1946, the US government banned the dissemination of any testimony about this massacre, and millions of photographs were destroyed, and pressure in the US forced the defeated Japanese government to create an edict stating that talking about "this fact" was an attempt to disturb the public peace, and was therefore prohibited.

Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Of course, on the part of the American government, the use of nuclear weapons was an action to accelerate the surrender of Japan; descendants will discuss how justified such an act was for many centuries.

On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay bomber took off from a base in the Mariana Islands. The crew consisted of twelve people. The crew's training was lengthy; it consisted of eight training flights and two combat sorties. Additionally, a rehearsal was organized for dropping a bomb on an urban settlement. The rehearsal took place on July 31, 1945, a training ground was used as a settlement, and a bomber dropped a mock-up of the supposed bomb.

On August 6, 1945, a combat flight was carried out; there was a bomb on board the bomber. The power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was 14 kilotons of TNT. Having completed the assigned task, the aircraft crew left the affected area and arrived at the base. The results of the medical examination of all crew members are still kept secret.

After completing this task, another bomber took off again. The crew of the Bockscar bomber included thirteen people. Their task was to drop a bomb on the city of Kokura. The departure from the base occurred at 2:47 and at 9:20 the crew reached their destination. Arriving at the scene, the aircraft crew discovered heavy clouds and after several approaches, the command gave instructions to change the destination to the city of Nagasaki. The crew reached their destination at 10:56, but there, too, cloudiness was discovered, which prevented the operation. Unfortunately, the goal had to be achieved, and cloud cover did not save the city this time. The power of the bomb dropped on Nagasaki was 21 kilotons of TNT.

In what year Hiroshima and Nagasaki were subjected to a nuclear attack is precisely indicated in all sources: August 6, 1945 - Hiroshima and August 9, 1945 - Nagasaki.

The Hiroshima explosion killed 166 thousand people, the Nagasaki explosion killed 80 thousand people.

Over time, some document and photo came to light, but what happened, compared to the images of German concentration camps that were strategically distributed by the American government, was nothing more than a fact of what happened in the war and was partially justified.

Thousands of victims had photos without their faces. Here are some of those photos:

All clocks stopped at 8:15, the time of the attack.

The heat and explosion threw out the so-called “nuclear shadow”, here you can see the pillars of the bridge.

Here you can see the silhouette of two people who were sprayed instantly.

200 meters from the explosion, on the stairs of the bench, there is the shadow of the man who opened the doors. 2,000 degrees burned him in his stride.

Human suffering

The bomb exploded almost 600 meters above the center of Hiroshima, killing 70,000 people instantly from the 6,000 degrees Celsius, the rest died from the shock wave, which left buildings standing and destroyed trees within a 120 km radius.

A few minutes later, the atomic mushroom reaches a height of 13 kilometers, causing acid rain that kills thousands of people who escaped the initial explosion. 80% of the city disappeared.

There have been thousands of cases of sudden burning and very severe burns more than 10 km from the explosion area.

The results were devastating, but after several days, doctors continued to treat survivors as if the wounds were simple burns, and many of them indicated that people continued to die mysteriously. They had never seen anything like it.

Doctors even administered vitamins, but the flesh rotted upon contact with the needle. White blood cells were destroyed.

Most survivors within a 2 km radius were blind, and thousands suffered from cataracts due to radiation.

Burden of Survivors

"Hibakusha" is what the Japanese called the survivors. There were about 360,000 of them, but most of them were disfigured, with cancer and genetic deterioration.

These people were also victims of their own countrymen, who believed that radiation was contagious and avoided them at all costs.

Many secretly hid these consequences even years later. Whereas, if the company where they worked found out that they were “Hibakushi”, they would be fired.

There were marks on the skin from clothing, even the color and fabric that people were wearing at the time of the explosion.

The story of one photographer

On August 10, a Japanese army photographer named Yosuke Yamahata arrived in Nagasaki with the task of documenting the effects of the “new weapon” and spent hours walking through the wreckage, photographing the horror. These are his photographs and he wrote in his diary:

“A hot wind began to blow,” he explained many years later. “There were small fires everywhere, Nagasaki was completely destroyed... we encountered human bodies and animals that lay in our path...”

“It was truly hell on earth. Those who could barely withstand the intense radiation - their eyes burned, their skin “burned” and was ulcerated, they wandered, leaning on sticks, waiting for help. Not a single cloud eclipsed the sun on this August day, shining mercilessly.

Coincidentally, exactly 20 years later, also on August 6, Yamahata suddenly fell ill and was diagnosed with duodenal cancer from the consequences of this walk where he took photographs. The photographer is buried in Tokyo.

As a curiosity: a letter that Albert Einstein sent to former President Roosevelt, where he hoped for the possibility of using uranium as a weapon of significant power and explained the steps to achieve it.

Bombs that were used for the attack

Baby Bomb is the code name for a uranium bomb. It was developed as part of the Manhattan Project. Among all the developments, the Baby Bomb was the first successfully implemented weapon, the result of which had enormous consequences.

The Manhattan Project is an American program to develop nuclear weapons. The project's activities began in 1943, based on research in 1939. Several countries took part in the project: the United States of America, Great Britain, Germany and Canada. Countries did not participate officially, but through scientists who participated in the development. As a result of developments, three bombs were created:

• Plutonium, codenamed “Thing.” This bomb was detonated during nuclear testing; the explosion was carried out at a special test site.
• Uranium bomb, code name "Baby". The bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
• Plutonium bomb, code name "Fat Man". A bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

The project acted under the leadership of two people, nuclear physicist Julius Robert Oppenheimer acted on the part of the scientific council, and General Leslie Richard Groves acted on the part of the military leadership.

How it all began

The history of the project began with a letter, as it is commonly believed that the author of the letter was Albert Einstein. In fact, four people participated in writing this appeal. Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, Edward Teller and Albert Einstein.

In 1939, Leo Szilard learned that scientists in Nazi Germany had achieved stunning results on the chain reaction in uranium. Szilard realized how powerful their army would become if these studies were put into practice. Szilard also realized the minimality of his authority in political circles, so he decided to involve Albert Einstein in the problem. Einstein shared Szilard's concerns and composed an appeal to the American president. The appeal was written in German; Szilard, together with the other physicists, translated the letter and added his comments. Now they are faced with the issue of transmitting this letter to the President of America. At first they wanted to convey the letter through the aviator Charles Lindenberg, but he officially issued a statement of sympathy for the German government. Szilard was faced with the problem of finding like-minded people who had contacts with the President of America, and this is how Alexander Sachs was found. It was this person who handed over the letter, albeit two months late. However, the president’s reaction was lightning fast; a council was convened as soon as possible and the Uranium Committee was organized. It was this body that began the first studies of the problem.

Here is an excerpt from this letter:

Recent work by Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard, whose manuscript version attracted my attention, leads me to believe that elemental uranium may become a new and important source of energy in the near future [...] has opened up the possibility of realizing a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium, which will generate a lot of energy […] thanks to which you can create bombs..

Hiroshima now

The restoration of the city began in 1949; most of the funds from the state budget were allocated for the development of the city. The restoration period lasted until 1960. Little Hiroshima became a huge city; today Hiroshima consists of eight districts, with a population of more than a million people.

The epicenter of the explosion was one hundred and sixty meters from the exhibition center; after its restoration of the city, it was included in the UNESCO list. Today, the exhibition center is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.

The building partially collapsed, but survived. Everyone in the building died. To preserve the memorial, work was carried out to strengthen the dome. This is the most famous monument to the consequences of a nuclear explosion. The inclusion of this building in the list of values ​​of the world community caused heated debate; two countries, America and China, opposed it. Opposite the Peace Memorial is the Memorial Park. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park covers an area of ​​more than twelve hectares and is considered the epicenter of the nuclear bomb explosion. The park contains a monument to Sadako Sasaki and the Flame of Peace monument. The flame of peace has been burning since 1964 and, according to the Japanese government, will burn until all nuclear weapons in the world are destroyed.

The tragedy of Hiroshima has not only consequences, but also legends.

The Legend of the Cranes

Every tragedy needs a face, even two. One face will be a symbol of survivors, the other a symbol of hatred. As for the first person, it was the little girl Sadako Sasaki. She was two years old when America dropped the nuclear bomb. Sadako survived the bombing, but ten years later she was diagnosed with leukemia. The cause was radiation exposure. While in the hospital room, Sadako heard a legend that cranes give life and healing. In order to get the life she needed so much, Sadako needed to make a thousand paper cranes. Every minute the girl made paper cranes, every piece of paper that fell into her hands took on a beautiful shape. The girl died without reaching the required thousand. According to various sources, she made six hundred cranes, and the rest were made by other patients. In memory of the girl, on the anniversary of the tragedy, Japanese children make paper cranes and release them into the sky. In addition to Hiroshima, a monument to Sadako Sasaki was erected in the American city of Seattle.

Nagasaki now

The bomb dropped on Nagasaki claimed many lives and almost wiped the city off the face of the earth. However, since the explosion occurred in an industrial zone, this is the western part of the city, buildings in another area were less damaged. Money from the state budget was allocated for restoration. The restoration period lasted until 1960. The current population is about half a million people.

The bombing of the city began on August 1, 1945. For this reason, part of the population of Nagasaki was evacuated and was not exposed to nuclear damage. On the day of the nuclear bombing, the air raid warning sounded, the signal was given at 7:50 and ended at 8:30. After the air raid ended, part of the population remained in shelters. An American B-29 bomber entering Nagasaki airspace was mistaken for a reconnaissance aircraft and the air raid alarm was not sounded. No one guessed the purpose of the American bomber. The explosion in Nagasaki occurred at 11:02 in the airspace, the bomb did not reach the ground. Despite this, the result of the explosion claimed thousands of lives. The city of Nagasaki has several memorial sites for victims of the nuclear explosion:

Gate of Sanno Jinja Shrine. They represent a column and part of the upper floor, all that survived the bombing.

Nagasaki Peace Park. Memorial complex built in memory of the victims of the disaster. On the territory of the complex there is a Statue of Peace and a fountain symbolizing contaminated water. Until the moment of the bombing, no one in the world had studied the consequences of a nuclear wave of such a scale, no one knew how long harmful substances persist in water. Only years later did people who drank the water discover that they had radiation sickness.

Atomic Bomb Museum. The museum was opened in 1996; on the territory of the museum there are things and photographs of victims of the nuclear bombing.

Column of Urakami. This place is the epicenter of the explosion; there is a park area around the preserved column.

The victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are remembered annually with a minute of silence. Those who dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki never apologized. On the contrary, the pilots adhere to the state position, explaining their actions by military necessity. Remarkably, the United States of America has not yet made an official apology. Also, a tribunal to investigate the mass destruction of civilians was not created. Since the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, only one president has paid an official visit to Japan.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki are some of the most famous Japanese cities in the world. Of course, the reason for their fame is very sad - these are the only two cities on Earth where atomic bombs were detonated to deliberately destroy the enemy. Two cities were completely destroyed, thousands of people died, and the world was completely changed. Here are 25 little-known facts about Hiroshima and Nagasaki that are worth knowing so that the tragedy never happens again anywhere.

1. Survive at the epicenter

The person who survived the closest to the epicenter of the Hiroshima explosion was less than 200 meters from the epicenter of the explosion in the basement.

2. An explosion is not a hindrance to the tournament

Less than 5 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion, a Go tournament was taking place. Although the building was destroyed and many people were injured, the tournament was completed later that day.

3. Made to last

A safe in a bank in Hiroshima survived an explosion. After the war, a bank manager wrote to Ohio-based Mosler Safe, expressing "his admiration for a product that survived the atomic bomb."

4. Dubious luck

Tsutomu Yamaguchi is one of the luckiest people on Earth. He survived the Hiroshima bombing in a bomb shelter and took the first train to Nagasaki for work the next morning. During the bombing of Nagasaki three days later, Yamaguchi again managed to survive.

5. 50 Pumpkin Bombs

Before “Fat Man” and “Little Boy,” the United States dropped about 50 Pumpkin bombs (they were named so for their resemblance to a pumpkin) on Japan. The "pumpkins" were not nuclear.

6. Attempted coup

The Japanese army was mobilized for "total war." This meant that every man, woman and child must resist the invasion to the point of death. When the Emperor ordered surrender after the atomic bombing, the army attempted a coup.

7. Six Survivors

Gingko biloba trees are known for their amazing resilience. After the bombing of Hiroshima, 6 such trees survived and are still growing today.

8. Out of the frying pan and into the fire

After the bombing of Hiroshima, hundreds of survivors fled to Nagasaki, which was also hit by an atomic bomb. In addition to Tsutomu Yamaguchi, 164 other people survived both bombings.

9. Not a single police officer died in Nagasaki

After the bombing of Hiroshima, surviving police officers were sent to Nagasaki to teach local police how to behave after an atomic explosion. As a result, not a single policeman was killed in Nagasaki.

10. A quarter of the dead were Koreans

Nearly a quarter of all those killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were actually Koreans who had been conscripted to fight in the war.

11. Radioactive contamination is canceled. USA.

Initially, the United States denied that nuclear explosions would leave behind radioactive contamination.

12. Operation Meetinghouse

During World War II, it was not Hiroshima and Nagasaki that suffered the most from bombing. During Operation Meetinghouse, Allied forces nearly destroyed Tokyo.

13. Only three out of twelve

Only three of the twelve men on the Enola Gay bomber knew the real purpose of their mission.

14. "Fire of the World"

In 1964, the “Fire of Peace” was lit in Hiroshima, which will burn until nuclear weapons are destroyed throughout the world.

15. Kyoto narrowly escaped bombing

Kyoto miraculously escaped the bombing. It was removed from the list because former US Secretary of War Henry Stimson admired the city on his honeymoon in 1929. Nagasaki was chosen instead of Kyoto.

16. Only after 3 hours

In Tokyo, only 3 hours later they learned that Hiroshima had been destroyed. They learned exactly how this happened only 16 hours later, when Washington announced the bombing.

17. Carelessness of air defense

Before the bombing, Japanese radar operators detected three American bombers flying at high altitude. They decided not to intercept them because they believed that such a small number of aircraft did not pose a threat.

18. Enola Gay

The Enola Gay bomber crew had 12 potassium cyanide tablets that the pilots were required to take if the mission failed.

19. Peaceful Memorial City

After World War II, Hiroshima changed its status to a "peaceful memorial city" to remind the world of the destructive power of nuclear weapons. When Japan conducted nuclear tests, the mayor of Hiroshima bombarded the government with letters of protest.

20. Mutant monster

Godzilla was invented in Japan as a reaction to the atomic bombing. It was implied that the monster had mutated due to radioactive contamination.

21. Apology to Japan

Although Dr. Seuss advocated the occupation of Japan during the war, his post-war book Horton is an allegory about the events of Hiroshima and an apology to Japan for what happened. He dedicated the book to his Japanese friend.

22. Shadows on the remains of the walls

The explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were so strong that they literally evaporated people, forever leaving their shadows on the remains of the walls on the ground.

23. Official symbol of Hiroshima

Because the oleander was the first plant to bloom in Hiroshima after the nuclear explosion, it is the official flower of the city.

24. Warning of an upcoming bombing

Before launching nuclear strikes, the US Air Force dropped millions of leaflets over Hiroshima, Nagasaki and 33 other potential targets warning of impending bombing.

25. Radio announcement

The American radio station in Saipan also broadcast messages about the impending bombing throughout Japan every 15 minutes until the bombs were dropped.

A modern person should know and. This knowledge will allow you to protect yourself and your loved ones.

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 residents 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 target

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 fires, but also to 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 bombed by the US 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 1945 atomic bombing 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 bombings 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 was 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, recalling 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 do not know anything 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 pure 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 He immediately felt that numerous pieces 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 was able ran out to the nearby pond. The father spent about three hours there. At this time, the city was enveloped in huge flames. vortices.

He was able to find us only 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. My 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 was in its path. At first I had the impression that a bomb had exploded next to me. The ground beneath my feet was shaking, as if there was a strong earthquake. After I came to my senses, I looked at my hands - they were 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 somehow bandage them. 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 woke up from machine-gun fire from American planes. It was as bright as day. , so the pilots could easily monitor the movements of people. During this time, everyone who was next to me died. I myself thought that I would die, I could not even call for help. On the third day, people came and rescued me. Blood was oozing from the burns on my back, and the pain was rapidly growing. 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 on this day I was playing at home. Mom was preparing dinner next to me, as usual. Suddenly, at exactly 11.02, we were blinded by a light, as if 1000 lightning flashed at the same time. Mom pushed me to the ground and covered me. 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 received 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 danger of radiation, which caused his death,” he writes.

The Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation of the Russian Foreign Ministry stores documents that previously only the top leaders of the USSR had access to. These are reports on the trips of employees of Soviet foreign missions to the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki shortly after atomic bombs, the latest weapons of mass destruction, were dropped on them on August 6 and 9, 1945. “Baby” and “Fat Man,” as the Americans affectionately dubbed them. More than 200 thousand people died during the bombing and died from wounds and radiation sickness in the next few months.

The nuclear bombings were a terrible tragedy for the Japanese. Official authorities initially did not realize the seriousness of the incident and even announced that these were ordinary charges. But very soon the scale and consequences of atomic explosions became clear.

But nuclear strikes could have been followed by the landing of American troops on the Japanese Islands. What would this mean for a country that has never been subject to foreign intervention? This danger really loomed over Japan the only time, in the 13th century, when the naval armada of the Mongol conqueror Kublai Khan approached its southern shores. But then the “divine wind” (kamikaze) twice scattered Mongolian ships in the Korea Strait. In 1945, the situation was completely different: the United States was preparing for a large and long-term (up to two years) military operation on the main territory of Japan, consecrated by religious covenants (according to the ancient Kojiki chronicle, the entire Japanese archipelago was created by the ancestors of the Japanese emperor). Fighting for their country, the Japanese would fight to the death. The Americans felt how they can do this even during the battles for Okinawa.

One can only imagine what kind of human casualties the continuation of hostilities would have entailed if Emperor Hirohito had not announced on August 15, 1945 the acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, and Japan had not signed the Act of Surrender on September 2 of the same year. At the same time, historical facts indisputably testify: it was not atomic bombs that ultimately forced Tokyo to lay down its arms. The then Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki admitted that “we experienced a huge shock from the explosion of the atomic bomb,” but the entry of the Soviet Union into the war put us in a “hopeless situation,” making its further continuation impossible.

Let us add: this step of the USSR helped save the lives of millions of ordinary Japanese.

The head of the Manhattan Project, Robert Oppenheimer, stunned by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (he said that he felt blood on his hands), was not reassured by the words of US President Harry Truman: “It’s okay, it’s easily washed off with water.” Oppenheimer famously said that “we have done the devil’s work,” and “if atomic bombs join the arsenals of the warlike world as new weapons, the time will come when humanity will curse the names Los Alamos and Hiroshima.” Albert Einstein, who once called on the US government to develop nuclear weapons, radically revised his views and called for them to be abandoned in his dying will.

But what did American politicians care about these insights?

The use of new weapons by the United States was dictated primarily by political reasons. Washington demonstrated its power to the Soviet Union and the rest of the world, its claims to the role of a superpower that would determine the course of international development. The death of several hundred thousand civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not considered too high a price to pay for achieving this goal.

Members of the Soviet diplomatic mission in Tokyo were among the first foreign observers to see firsthand the consequences of the nuclear disaster. Their personal impressions, the eyewitness accounts of the bombings they recorded, bring to us the echo of the tragedy, allow us today, 70 years later, to understand the depth and horror of what happened, and serve as a stern warning about the terrible consequences of the use of nuclear weapons.

We offer some of these documents, which are still difficult to read today, for publication to Rodina magazine.

Spelling and punctuation have been preserved.

Note from the USSR Ambassador to Japan

vol. Stalin, Beria, Malenkov,
Mikoyan + me.
22.XI.45
V. Molotov

Materials on the consequences of the use of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki; descriptions of our eyewitnesses and data from the Japanese press).

September 1945

The USSR Embassy in Tokyo sent a group of employees to inspect and become familiar with the consequences of the atomic bomb explosion in Hiroshima (Japan). The employees were able to personally inspect the site and results of the explosion of this bomb, talk with the local population and eyewitnesses, and visit the hospital where people who suffered from the explosion of an atomic bomb were being treated. These employees presented everything they saw and heard, along with their personal impressions, in a special brief review included in this collection.

The second group of employees of the Embassy and the Soviet Military Mission in Tokyo visited Nagasaki to familiarize themselves with the consequences of the use of the atomic bomb there. The group also included a Soyuzkinokhroniki cameraman, who filmed the scene of the atomic bomb explosion and the destruction caused by this explosion. The report on the results of the inspection of Nagasaki is drawn up and must be presented from Tokyo by Major General Voronov.

The embassy collected and translated into Russian the most significant articles from the Japanese press about the atomic bomb. Translations of these articles are also included in this collection.

Ambassador Y. Malik
AVPRF. F. 06. Op. 8. P. 7. D. 96.

"Only personal impressions"

Report of a group of Embassy workers who visited Hiroshima

The atomic bomb and the destruction it caused made a huge impression on the population of Japan. Popular rumor picks up press reports, distorts them and sometimes leads them to the point of absurdity. A rumor even spread that even today the appearance of people in the area of ​​an atomic bomb explosion is associated with danger to life. We have repeatedly heard from both Americans and Japanese that after visiting areas exposed to the atomic bomb, women lose their ability to bear children, and men suffer from impotence.

These conversations were fueled by radio broadcasts from San Francisco, which stated that in the areas where the atomic bomb exploded, nothing living could exist for seventy years.

Not trusting all these rumors and reports and setting themselves the task of personally familiarizing themselves with the effects of the atomic bomb, a group of Embassy employees consisting of TASS correspondent Varshavsky, former acting military attaché Romanov and naval officer Kikenin left for Hiroshima and Nagasaki on September 13. This concise essay is limited to recording conversations with local residents and victims and a summary of personal impressions, without any generalizations or conclusions.

"He said it was safe to live here..."

A group of Embassy employees arrived in Hiroshima at dawn on September 14th. It was raining heavily continuously, which made it extremely difficult to explore the area and, most importantly, made it difficult to take photographs. The railway station and the city were destroyed to such an extent that there was even nowhere to shelter from the rain. The station chief and his employees took shelter in a hastily put together barn. The city is a scorched plain with towering 15-20 skeletons of reinforced concrete buildings.

Half a kilometer from the station we met an old Japanese woman who got out of her dugout and began to rummage through the fire. When asked where the atomic bomb fell, the old woman replied that there was a strong flash of lightning and a huge blow, as a result of which she fell and lost consciousness. Therefore, she does not remember where the bomb fell or what happened next.

Having walked further than 100 meters, we saw something like a canopy and hurried to take shelter there from the rain. We found a sleeping man under the canopy. He turned out to be an elderly Japanese man building a hut on the site of the ashes of his home. He said the following:

On August 6, at about 8 o'clock in the morning, the threat was lifted in Hiroshima. After 10 minutes, an American plane appeared over the city and at the same time a lightning strike occurred, they fell and died. Many people died. Then fires broke out. It was a clear day and the wind was blowing from the sea. The fire spread everywhere and even against the wind.

When asked how he remained alive while at home, which is located approximately 1-1.5 km from the place where the bomb fell, the old man replied that somehow it happened that he was not hit by the rays, but his house burned down, because The fire was raging everywhere.

For now, he said, it was safe to live here. On the outskirts of the city, several tens of thousands of people live in dugouts. It was dangerous for the first 5-10 days. In the first days, he noted, the people who came to help the victims died. Even fish died in shallow water. The plants are starting to come to life. I, the Japanese said, have cultivated a garden and expect that the shoots will begin soon.

And indeed, contrary to all claims, we saw how the grass began to turn green in various places and even new leaves appeared on some burnt trees.

"The victim is given vitamins B and C and vegetables..."

One of our group members was able to visit the Red Cross hospital in Hiroshima. It is located in a dilapidated building and houses victims of the atomic bomb. There are those who were burned and received other injuries, and among them are patients who were delivered 15-20 days after being wounded. This two-story building houses up to 80 patients. They are in an unsanitary condition. They mainly have burns on exposed parts of the body. Many received only severe injuries from glass. Those who were burned predominantly suffered burns on the face, arms and legs. Some worked only in shorts and caps, so most of their bodies were burned.

The body of those burned is dark brown with open wounds. They are all wrapped in bandages and smeared with a white ointment reminiscent of zinc. The eyes are not damaged. Severely injured people with burned extremities did not lose the ability to move their fingers and toes. Many were injured by glass, they had deep cuts to the bone. Individuals exposed bareheaded experienced hair loss. Upon recovery, hair begins to grow on the exposed skulls in separate tufts. Patients have a pale waxy complexion.

One injured man, 40-45 years old, was at a distance of 500 meters from the bomb falling. He worked at some electrical company plant. He has up to 2,700 white blood cells left in one cubic cm of blood. He came to the hospital on his own and is now recovering. We were unable to establish the reasons why he could have been saved at such a close distance from the bomb site. It was only possible to establish that he was working with electrical equipment. He has no burns, but his hair has come out. He is given vitamins B and C and vegetables. There is an increase in white blood cells.

AVPRF. F. 06, op. 8, p.7, no.96

"The doctor believes that protection against a uranium bomb is rubber..."

On the railway station, our attention was attracted by a man with a bandage on his arm, on which was written “help for the victims.” We asked him a question, and he said that he was an ear, nose and throat doctor and had gone to Hiroshima to help victims of the atomic bomb. This Japanese doctor named Fukuhara told us that three atomic bombs with parachutes were dropped on Hiroshima. According to him, he personally saw three parachutes from a distance of 14 km. Two unexploded bombs, according to the doctor, were picked up by the military and are now being studied.

Fukuhara arrived at the rescue site on the second day. After he drank water, he began to have diarrhea. Others fell ill with diarrhea after a day and a half. He said that the rays of the atomic bomb caused, first of all, a change in the composition of the blood. The doctor said that in one cubic centimeter of blood of a healthy person there are 8,000 white blood cells. As a result of exposure to an atomic bomb, the number of white blood cells is reduced to 3000, 2000, 1000 and even 300 and 200. As a result, severe bleeding from the nose, throat, eyes and, in women, uterine bleeding. The victims' temperature rises to 39-40 and 41 degrees. After 3-4 days, patients usually die. Sulfzone is used to lower the temperature. When treating victims, they resort to blood transfusions, and glucose and saline are also administered. When blood transfusion is carried out up to 100 g. blood.

The victims who drank water or washed themselves with water in the area where the bomb fell on the day it exploded, the doctor further said, died instantly. For 10 days after the bomb exploded, it was dangerous to work there: uranium rays continued to be emitted from the ground. Now staying in those places is considered safe, the doctor said, but this issue is not being studied. According to him, protective clothing against a uranium bomb is rubber and all kinds of insulators against electricity.

During our conversation with the doctor, an old Japanese man turned to him for advice. He pointed to the burnt neck that was not yet completely healed and asked if it would heal soon. The doctor examined my neck and said everything was fine. The old man told us that at the moment the bomb exploded, he fell and felt acute pain. I didn't lose consciousness. I continued to feel pain until recovery.

AVPRF. F. 06, op. 8, p.7, no.96

"The children sitting on the trees in the foliage survived..."

On the way to Nagasaki we got into conversation with two Japanese students. They told us that one girl, a relative of one of them, a few days after the bomb exploded, went to Hiroshima to find out about her relatives. After a long time, on August 25, she fell ill, and two days later, i.e. She died on August 27.

Driving around the city by car, we bombarded the Japanese driver with questions. He told us that there was no rescue work on the first day because the fire was raging everywhere. Work began only on the second day. No one was left alive in the area closest to the bomb explosion. The deaths were prisoners of war, mostly Filipinos working at the Mitsubishi Heiki munitions plant and Japanese workers at the Nagasaki Seiko plant. The atomic bomb, the driver said, fell in the area of ​​the university hospital (Urakami area). The remains of the hospital have been preserved. All the hospital patients, along with the staff, doctors and director, died.

There is a strong cadaverous smell in the area where the bomb fell: many corpses have not yet been removed from the ruins and the fire. The driver told us that there were cases when children sat on trees in the foliage and remained alive, while those who were playing on the ground nearby died.

AVPRF. F. 06, op. 8, p.7, no.96

American's opinion: "The Japanese greatly exaggerate the effectiveness of the atomic bomb..."

Most Japanese claim that the bomb over Hiroshima was dropped by parachute and exploded at a distance of 500-600 meters from the ground. In contrast, the chief of the medical service of Spruence's Fifth American Fleet, Commander Willicutts, with whom we traveled back to Tokyo, argued that the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were dropped without a parachute. He also denied any possibility of an atomic bomb falling without exploding. He argued that after the bomb exploded, the area where it fell was safe. In his opinion, the Japanese greatly exaggerate the effectiveness of the atomic bomb.

AVPRF. F. 06, op. 8, p.7, no.96

"Even moles and worms in the ground die"

Reports about the effects of the atomic bomb that appeared in the Japanese press
"Mainiti" 15.8.

This study was compiled by Professor Asada based on a report from a committee of experts. There are the following characteristic signs of radiation, which strongly suggests that the emitted rays are ultraviolet rays.

The people behind the glass windows were injured by the blast wave, but did not receive burns. This is because ultraviolet rays do not pass through glass.

White clothes did not burn, but those wearing black or khaki clothes did burn. At the station, the black letters of the train schedule were burned, while the white paper was not damaged. Further, three people who were in the reinforced concrete building located at the site of the explosion and were holding aluminum plates in their hands received very severe burns to their hands, while there was no damage to other parts of the body. This can be explained by the position of the window, in which only this part was exposed to the rays, and the rays were reflected from the aluminum surface.

In the clear water river, the backs of the fish were burned, and many dead fish floated around two days later. This is apparently explained by the fact that ultraviolet rays pass through a water layer of several tens of centimeters.

The treatment of burns is exactly the same as the treatment of regular burns. As a rule, vegetable oil or sea water diluted by half or three times helps. Particular attention should be paid to the fact that staying for a long time at the site of an atomic bomb explosion has a very bad effect on the body due to the radiation that occurs.

AVPRF. F. 06, op. 8, p.7, no.96

Four death radii

The destructive power of the atomic bomb
"Mainiti" 29.8.

In Hiroshima, all people and animals, as well as all living creatures, were destroyed, killed or injured within a radius of 5 km. from the site of the bomb explosion. As of August 22, the number of people killed in Hiroshima is more than 60,000. The wounded are dying one after another, and this figure is increasing more and more. Most of the wounded suffered from burns, however, these burns are not ordinary burns: they destroy the blood cells due to the special effect of uranium. People who receive this kind of burns gradually die. The number of victims currently stands at more than 120,000 people; this figure decreases as these people gradually die.

Even moles and worms in the ground die; This happens because uranium penetrates into the ground and emits radioactive rays. Those who appear in the affected area even after the raid experience some disturbance in the body. As a radio broadcast from the USA says: “Not a single living creature will be able to live in Hiroshima and Nagasaki even after 70 years.”

1. Within a radius of 100 m from the explosion site.

Casualties among the population. Those outside were killed, their entrails fell out, and were burned. Those who were inside the premises: inside wooden buildings - killed; in reinforced concrete buildings were seriously injured (burns, bruises, cuts from glass fragments); in poorly made shelters - killed.

2. Destruction within a radius of 100 meters to 2 km.

Casualties among the population: those who were outside the premises were killed or seriously wounded, some had their eyes out of their sockets. Many people suffered burns. Most of those inside were crushed and burned in their houses; with an iron frame - many were injured by glass fragments, received burns, some were thrown out into the street. They remained safe in the shelters, but some were thrown away along with the chairs they were sitting on.

An area of ​​partial destruction within a radius of 2 to 4 km. from the rupture site.

Casualties among the population: those outside the premises received burns, those inside the premises received minor injuries, those in the shelters remained unharmed.

AVPRF. F. 06, op. 8, p.7, no.96

Dead tram

Episodes of the consequences of the bombing.

"Mainiti" 15.8.

In addition to official reports about the destructive power of the atomic bomb, descriptions of a number of episodes appeared in the Japanese press, where various moments of the bombing and its consequences were given.

“Not far from the explosion site there is a burnt-out shell of a tram. If you look from a distance, there are people standing inside the tram. However, if you come closer, you can see that these are corpses. The beam of the new bomb hit the tram and, together with the blast wave, did its job. Those those who sat on the benches remained in the same form, those who stood hung on the straps that they held on to while the tram was moving, not one of the several dozen people escaped death in this narrow tram car.

This is the place where people's volunteer detachments and student detachments worked to demolish buildings intended for dispersal. The rays from the new bomb hit their skin and burned through it in an instant. Many people fell in this place and never got up again. From the fire that then broke out, they burned without a trace.

There was a case when one group, wearing iron helmets, began to fight a fire. At this place one could then see the remains of helmets, in which bones of human heads were found.

One famous person burned to death. His wife and daughter ran out of the house, which was destroyed by the blast wave. They heard the voice of their husband calling for help. They themselves could not do anything and ran to the police station for help. When they returned, columns of fire and smoke were rising from the site of the house.

AVPRF. F. 06, op. 8, p.7, no.96

"Until death, the wounded retain full consciousness..."

Correspondence from Hiroshima special correspondent" Matsuo

"Asahi", 23.8

At Hiroshima Station, considered one of the best stations in the Tsyugoku region, there is nothing but the rails glistening in the moonlight. We had to spend the night in a field in front of the station; the night was hot and stuffy, but despite this, not a single mosquito was noticeable.

The next morning we inspected the potato field located at the site where the bomb exploded. There is not a leaf or grass on the field. In the city center, only the skeletons of large reinforced concrete buildings of the Fukuya department store, bank branches - Nippon Ginko, Sumitomo Ginko, and the editorial office of the Chugoku Shimbun newspaper - remained. The remaining houses were reduced to piles of tiles.

The affected parts of those who received burns are covered with red ulcers. The crowds of people fleeing the fire site resembled crowds of the dead who had come from the other world. Although these victims received medical care and drugs were injected into the outer parts of their wounds, they still gradually died due to the destruction of cells. At first they said that there were 10 thousand killed, and then their number increased more and more and reached 100 thousand, as they say. Until death, the wounded remain fully conscious, many of them continue to beg “kill me quickly.”

AVPRF. F. 06, op. 8, p.7, no.96

"The wounded cannot be healed..."

"Asahi", 23.8

Since the burn occurs due to the action of ultraviolet rays, it is not felt at first. After two hours, water blisters appear on the body. Despite the fact that immediately after the bombing, medicines were sent from Kure and Okayama and there was no shortage of them, the number of deaths is still constantly increasing. American radio at the time announced: “Hiroshima has become an area in which neither people nor animals will be able to live for 75 years. Actions such as sending experts to this area are tantamount to suicide.”

As a result of the destruction of uranium atoms, countless particles of uranium are created. The presence of uranium can be easily detected by approaching the affected area with a Geig Muller measuring tube, the needle of which shows an unusual deviation. This uranium has a bad effect on the human body and is the reason for such an increase in deaths. A study of red and white blood cells established the following: the blood of soldiers engaged in the restoration of the Western military training ground (at a distance of 1 km from the site of the bomb explosion a week after the bombing) was examined. Among the examined 33 people. 10 people had burns, the burned people had 3150 white blood cells, the healthy ones - 3800, which is a large reduction compared to 7-8 thousand white blood cells in a normal healthy person.

As for the red blood cells, the burned people had 3,650,000, the healthy people had 3,940,000, while normal healthy people have from 4.5 to 5 million red blood cells. As a result, the wounded cannot be healed because they are in Hiroshima. They experience headaches, dizziness, poor heart function, lack of appetite, poor taste in the mouth, and retention of natural bowel movements. The presence of uranium deals a major blow to the reconstruction of the city of Hiroshima.

AVPRF. F. 06, op. 8, p.7, no.96

"The brutal nature used by American aviation is visible..."

Article by Professor Tsuzuki University of Tokyo.

"Asahi", 23.8

From the editor. The article below shows the brutal nature used by American aviation in Hiroshima. The luminary of our medical world could not save the life of the young artist, the wife of the famous artist Maruyama, who was touring with his traveling troupe in Hiroshima. Of the 17 members of this troupe, 13 died on the spot, the remaining four were taken to Tokyo University Hospital.

“The patient was a very healthy woman about 30 years old. She was admitted to the hospital on the 10th day after being wounded. During these 10 days, except for an extreme lack of appetite, there were no pronounced signs of illness. She was wounded in Hiroshima, and was at 2 - floor of a building in the Fukuya building area, near the site of the atomic bomb explosion, she was slightly wounded in the back during the collapse of the house, no burns or fractures. After the injury, the patient boarded the train herself and returned to Tokyo.

After arriving in Tokyo, the weakness increased every day, there was a complete lack of appetite, the patient drank only water. After she was admitted to the hospital, a blood test was carried out and large changes were found. Namely, an extreme lack of white blood cells was identified; as a rule, it should be 1 cubic meter. mm. from 6 to 8 thousand bodies, however, only 500-600 were detected, only 1/10 of the norm. Their resistance was significantly weakened. On the 4th day of admission to the hospital, just two weeks after the injury, the patient’s hair began to fall out. At the same time, the abrasion on the back suddenly became more complicated. A blood transfusion was immediately given, other assistance was provided, and the patient became quite cheerful and healthy.

However, on August 24, on the 19th day after the wound, the patient died suddenly. As a result of the autopsy, remarkable changes were discovered in the insides. Namely, the bone marrow, which is the apparatus that produces blood globules, the liver, spleen, kidneys, and lymphatic vessels are significantly damaged. It has been determined that these damages are exactly the same as those resulting from the strong use of X-rays or radium rays. Previously it was believed that the effect of an atomic bomb was twofold: destruction from the blast wave and burns from heat rays. Now the damage caused by the action of radiating substances is added to this.

AVPRF. F. 06, op. 8, p.7, no.96

A year after the trip of Soviet diplomats, in September 1946, another Soviet representative visited the site of the tragedy. We publish fragments of written and photographic reports from an employee of the Soviet representation in the Union Council for Japan - senior assistant political adviser V.A. Glinkina.

(AVPRF F. 0146, op. 30, p. 280, d. 13)