“Rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth.”
President Harry S. Truman
World War II is filled with many tragedies like The Invasion of Normandy or the Battle of Singapore but the one tragedy that most people seem to forget is the Hiroshima Bombing. On August 6th, 1945, Enola Gay dropped a 140 pound bomb on the city of Hiroshima, destroying the landscape of Hiroshima and marking the generations of citizens. The tragedy and triumph of the Hiroshima bombing would affect millions of people until the present of today. The Hiroshima bombing is forgotten but will eventually be remembered of what it made us what it is today.
On the morning of December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked by the IJNAS (Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service). The Japanese destroyed all 8 of the U.S Navy battleships. The Japanese also destroyed three destroyers and three cruisers. 2,335 soldiers were killed and 1,143 were wounded. After the attack, the U.S could no longer avoid the fight anymore. On December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his famous Infamy speech and announced that the U.S will be entering the war.
Before the U.S joined World War II or the Pearl Harbor attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt didn’t mind the idea of the U.S going into the war but he only had one problem holding him back. The U.S didn’t want to go into battle. After War erupted in Europe, an emergency meeting was called by Roosevelt. During the meeting, it was agreed that the U.S was to stay out of the war unless the U.S was threatened or attacked.
Another reason why the U.S didn’t enter the war was because in 1939, a poll was taken after the outbreak of war and showed that 94% of people were against going into war. Even if the U.S entered the war, the military force showed it wasn’t ready. If they were to enter the European crisis, this would likely demolish the American forces. With a lack of force out of the question, the U.S military were behind on weapons, with much of the weapons dating back to World War I. The U.S military force weren’t prepared for the updated Germans.
On 1941, when the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor, the outlook on Japan changed. Patriotism took over the U.S and the 94% people who voted against going to war had changed drastically. Congress chose to fight back countries who attacked. This attack would later spark the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki but first, the U.S would need to create a plan.
In May 1945, President Truman had set up a interim committee. This committee would advise Truman about the concerns of nuclear weapons and energy. The committee’s first task was to guide the use of the atomic bomb. Ernest Lawerence, a nuclear American scientist had suggested that they do a demonstration of the bombing. This idea was rejected because the committee feared that the demonstration of the bomb would end as a dud. Eventually, the group had decided that the bomb will be dropped without warning on a military base.
Henry Stimson had informed the president on June 6 that they keep the atomic bomb a secret until the bombing drops. President Truman and Stimson had also agreed that if the Soviet Union had asked about atomic weapons in the upcoming meetings, Truman would stall. Truman would also mention at the meeting in Potsdam that the United States were preparing to use a new weapon against Japan.
General Lesile Groves and Thomas Farrell were responsible for the bomb target selection group. They grouped scientists and Army Air Force Officers to determine the location of the bombing. It all came down to Kokura Arsenal, Kyoto, Niigata, and Hiroshima for the bombing locations. The group believed that dropping the bomb on one of these cities would make a psychological impact on the Japanese and weaken military forces.
Kyoto was seen as an ideal location by others because many industries were relocated and some of Japan’s major factories were in Kyoto. But, Stimson had rejected the idea of Kyoto being the place where the bomb dropped because Kyoto was a cultural importance to Japan. Intially, Kokura was chosen as a target but because of the clouds and smoke from a firebomb in Yahata making their way over to Kokura, pilot Charles W. Sweeney moved to Nagasaki.
Niigata was ruled out because of it’s distance from the other targets. Niigata was 440 miles away from Hiroshima while the other targets (Kyoto, Kokura, and Nagasaki) were 100 miles away. Flying a B-29 and carrying a 5 ton bomb was already enough work. Hiroshima was finally chosen. Putting a bomb in the middle of Hiroshima would destroy the entirety of the city. Hiroshima was chosen also because of it’s factories and facilities.
After 6:00 a.m, the atomic bomb was fully secured and armed. At 7:00 a.m, the Japanese radar detected one of the three planes that hovered over Hiroshima on the same day as the bombing and informed Hiroshima citizens. The plane had circled around Hiroshima but there were no signs of bombers so citizens quickly dismissed it and started their daily work. By 7:25, Enola Gay was finally cruising over Hiroshima. Enola Gay was 26,000 feet above ground and by 8:00 a.m, the Japanese radar had detected something again. It was the B-29 bomb heading towards Hiroshima. Radio stations were alerted and casted a warning for people to take shelter but many people ignored the warning. The crew at 8:09 had received a message from one of the three planes that weather was nice enough to be dropped.
At 8:14 a.m, the B-29 bomb is dropped over the city of Hiroshima and at 8:15, Little Boy exploded. The atomic bomb exploded 1,900 feet above the center of Hiroshima and immediately kills thousands of people and injuring 100,000 people or more. Crew members of Enola Gay had witnessed seeing a column of smoke rising and intense fire. The temperature of the bomb was estimated to be over a million degrees Celsius which erupted the surrounding air. It formed a fireball 840 feet in diameter. In less than a second, the fireball had expanded to 900 feet. The wave shattered windows 10 miles away and the heat was felt as far away as 37 miles. Eyewitnesses who were more than 5 miles away from the atomic bombing said that the brightness had exceeded the sun 10 times.
On August 15,1945, 5 days after Nagasaki was bombed, Japan announced their surrender and signed the Instrument of Surrender on September 2, 1945. World War II had come to an end but in Hiroshima, it didn’t look too good. Before World War II, Hiroshima’s population grew to around 360,000 and after the atomic bombing, the population had dropped to 137,197. From the bombing in Hiroshima, 66,000 people were dead and 69,000 people were injuries. The casualties of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had totaled up to be around 200,000.
Two-thirds of Hiroshima’s buildings were demolished. The fires had burned everything within 4 miles of ground zero. Hiroshima had quickly disappeared under thick foam of flames and smoke. 30 minutes after the explosion, heavy rain filled with dirt, dust, soot, and the contaminated particles that were sucked into the air started to fall in areas.
People reported to the navy’s underground headquarters in Tokyo that they had saw an “enormous explosion,” a “sinister cloud,” and more. These reports had created more confusion than alarm. From the descriptions of the of the city’s destruction, Japanese military finally got the whole picture. They realized that Hiroshima’s explosion was caused because of a atomic bombing. This came as a shock to the Japanese as most of them thought that the U.S were in the scientific investigation stage. 16 hours after the attack, President Truman had made a public announcement in Washington, D.C. which informed Tokyo of what happened.
Army and navy personnel were sent to investigate Hiroshima. Many were in disbelief that the destruction in Hiroshima was caused because of a atomic bomb. Reviewing the nature of the destruction, Japan had come to the terms that the U.S had perfected the atomic bomb. Japan was behind in their own nuclear bomb development.
Survivors or hibakusha who survived the atomic bombing went to find medical care after the bombing but 90% of all the medical were either disabled or killed. The other 10% had helped citizens but medical supplies were running out. Survivors who survived soon noticed the effects of exposure from the bomb’s radiation. They ranged from nausea to losing hair to death and more.
On July 1st, 1968, The Non-Proliferation Treaty is signed by 189 state parties like Russia, the UK, the United States, etc. India, Pakistan, and Israel have not signed the NPT. In 2003, North Korea announced it’s withdrawal from the NPT and also announced that it conducted an underground nuclear explosion in 2006 and in 2009. In the treaty, the state parties had agreed to extend the treaty indefinitely.
The Hiroshima bombing is taught in many ways around the world like it was what sparked the Cold War, saved lives by ending the war, etc. Despite the 200,000 casualties, majors powers rushed to develop new and destructive bombs. By the 1950s, uranium is used to generate electricity with the atomic power being held as a cheap and clean source of energy.
In 1958, Hiroshima’s population had reached 410,000, exceeding what it was before the war. Hiroshima today is now a major urban city. The downtown streets are lined with buildings and the parks are green. Every year on August 6th, Hiroshima holds a ceremony in Peace Memorial Park, where the mayor y reads the annual Peace Declaration. Hiroshima is determined to fulfil it’s mission as a international peace culture city. They strive to get rid of nuclear weapons.
The survivors who are alive today are becoming elderly. Some are confined to hospitals due to the after effects. Although it’s quite painful to share their experience but they do it for the next generation to understand the importance of peace.
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