Published: 03:45 AM, 06 August 2020
A closer look into atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima, Nagasaki
In this September 8, 1945 file photo, only a handful of buildings remain standing amid the wasteland of Hiroshima. -AP
On the morning of 6 August 1945, a B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb called "Little Boy" on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing over 80,000 people. After three days another atomic bomb called "Fat Man" was dropped over Nagasaki city killing over 40,000 people.
Hundreds of thousands of people were later on affected with radiation caused by the bomb blasts and the black rain that fell in the wake of the explosions. An impenetrable cloud of dust and smoke engulfed Hiroshima after the bomb went off.
After the end of World War II in 1945, the ties between Japan and the United States went downhill, particularly after Japan forces decided to take an aim at Indochina with the intention of capturing the oil-rich areas of the East Indies. Therefore, US president Harry Truman authorized the use of atomic bombs in order to make Japan surrender in WWII, which it did.
Harry Truman, the US President of the time, had warned: "We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. It was to spare the Japanese public from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July 26 was issued at Potsdam. If they do not now acknowledge our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air."
But there are other theories. One historian Gar Alperovitz stated in his 1965 book that the use of nuclear weapons on Japanese cities was "intended to gain a stronger position for postwar diplomatic bargaining with the Soviet Union, as the weapons themselves were not needed to force the Japanese surrender," a US government website mentions.
Truman decided that only bombing a city would make an adequate impression and, therefore, target cities were chosen keeping in mind the military production in the area and while making sure that the target sites did not hold cultural significance for Japan, like Kyoto did. This was because the aim was to destroy Japan's ability to fight wars.
Hiroshima was primarily a military target with a population of about 318,000 people. Hiroshima at the time was also the seventh-largest city of Japan and served as the headquarters of the Second Army and of the Chugoku Regional Army, making it one of the most important military command stations in Japan. It was also the site of one of the largest military supply depots and the foremost military shipping point for troops and supplies.
The atomic bomb was a result of British and American scientific knowledge and was built at two plants in the US, while a scientific laboratory was maintained separately, all of which came under the ambit of the Manhattan Project, which was the codename for this research effort.
Before Harry Truman, President Franklin Roosevelt launched a committee to look into the development of a nuclear weapon after he received a letter from Albert Einstein in 1939, who warned him about the likelihood that Nazi Germany was developing a nuclear weapon.
But there are other theories. One historian Gar Alperovitz stated in his 1965 book that the use of nuclear weapons on Japanese cities was "intended to gain a stronger position for postwar diplomatic bargaining with the Soviet Union, as the weapons themselves were not needed to force the Japanese surrender," a US government website mentions.
Truman decided that only bombing a city would make an adequate impression and, therefore, target cities were chosen keeping in mind the military production in the area and while making sure that the target sites did not hold cultural significance for Japan, like Kyoto did. This was because the aim was to destroy Japan's ability to fight wars.
Hiroshima was primarily a military target with a population of about 318,000 people. Hiroshima at the time was also the seventh-largest city of Japan and served as the headquarters of the Second Army and of the Chugoku Regional Army, making it one of the most important military command stations in Japan. It was also the site of one of the largest military supply depots and the foremost military shipping point for troops and supplies.
The atomic bomb was a result of British and American scientific knowledge and was built at two plants in the US, while a scientific laboratory was maintained separately, all of which came under the ambit of the Manhattan Project, which was the codename for this research effort.
Before Harry Truman, President Franklin Roosevelt launched a committee to look into the development of a nuclear weapon after he received a letter from Albert Einstein in 1939, who warned him about the likelihood that Nazi Germany was developing a nuclear weapon.
