View source for Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

{{Short description|August 1945 attacks in Japan during WWII}}
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{{Infobox military operation
| name          = Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
| partof        = the [[Pacific War]]
| image         = Atomic bombing of Japan.jpg
| image_size    = 300px
| type          = [[Nuclear warfare|Nuclear bombing]]
| alt           = Two aerial photos of atomic bomb mushroom clouds, over two Japanese cities in 1945
| caption       = Atomic bomb [[mushroom cloud]]s over Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right)
| date          = 6 and 9 August 1945
| location      = [[Hiroshima]] and [[Nagasaki]], Japan
| coordinates   = {{coord|34|23|41|N|132|27|17|E|display=inline}}<br>{{coord|32|46|25|N|129|51|48|E|display=inline}}
| executed_by   = {{longitem|[[United States]]
*[[Manhattan Project]]
*[[509th Composite Group]]
}}
| casualties    = {{longitem|Hiroshima:
*90,000–166,000 killed
** 80,000–156,000 civilians
** 10,000 soldiers
** 12 Allied prisoners of war}}
{{longitem|Nagasaki:
*60,000–80,000 killed
** 60,000–80,000 civilians
** 150 soldiers
** 8–13 Allied prisoners of war}}
{{longitem|Total killed (by end of 1945):
* 150,000–246,000}}
| campaignbox   = {{Campaignbox Pacific War}}
}}
On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two [[atomic bombs]] over the Japanese cities of [[Hiroshima]] and [[Nagasaki]], respectively. The bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict. [[Surrender of Japan|Japan surrendered]] to the Allies on 15 August, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki and the [[Soviet–Japanese War|Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan]] and [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|invasion of Japanese-occupied Manchuria]]. The Japanese government signed the [[Japanese Instrument of Surrender|instrument of surrender]] on 2 September, effectively [[End of World War II in Asia|ending the war]].
In the final year of [[World War II]], the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] prepared for a costly [[Operation Downfall|invasion of the Japanese mainland]]. This undertaking was preceded by a [[Air raids on Japan|conventional bombing and firebombing campaign]] that devastated 64 Japanese cities, including an [[Bombing of Tokyo|operation on Tokyo]]. The [[European theatre of World War II|war in the European theatre]] concluded when Germany [[German Instrument of Surrender|surrendered]] on 8 May 1945, and the Allies turned their full attention to the [[Pacific War]]. By July 1945, the Allies' [[Manhattan Project]] had produced two types of atomic bombs: "[[Little Boy]]", an [[enriched uranium]] [[gun-type fission weapon]], and "[[Fat Man]]", a [[plutonium]] [[implosion-type nuclear weapon]]. The [[509th Composite Group]] of the [[United States Army Air Forces]] was trained and equipped with the specialized [[Silverplate]] version of the [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress]], and deployed to [[Tinian]] in the [[Mariana Islands]]. The Allies called for the [[unconditional surrender]] of the [[Imperial Japanese armed forces]] in the [[Potsdam Declaration]] on 26 July 1945, the alternative being "prompt and utter destruction". The Japanese government [[Mokusatsu|ignored]] the ultimatum.
The consent of the United Kingdom was obtained for the bombing, as was required by the [[Quebec Agreement]], and orders were issued on 25 July by [[General (United States)|General]] [[Thomas Handy]], the acting [[chief of staff of the United States Army]], for atomic bombs to be used against Hiroshima, [[Kitakyushu|Kokura]], [[Niigata (city)|Niigata]], and Nagasaki. These targets were chosen because they were large urban areas that also held militarily significant facilities. On 6 August, a<!--This "a" is correct; see Q5 in the talk page's FAQ section--> Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima. Three days later, a<!--This "a" is correct; see Q5 in the talk page's FAQ section--> Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki. Over the next two to four months, the [[Effects of nuclear explosions|effects of the atomic bombings]] killed 90,000 to 166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000 to 80,000 people in Nagasaki; roughly half occurred on the first day. For months afterward, many people continued to die from the effects of burns, [[radiation sickness]], and other injuries, compounded by illness and malnutrition. Despite Hiroshima's sizable military garrison, most of the dead were civilians.
Scholars have extensively studied the effects of the bombings on the social and political character of subsequent world history and [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in popular culture|popular culture]], and there is still [[Debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|much debate]] concerning the ethical and legal justification for the bombings. According to supporters, the atomic bombings were necessary to bring an end to the war with minimal casualties and ultimately prevented a greater loss of life; according to critics, the bombings were unnecessary for the war's end and were a [[war crime]], raising moral and ethical implications.
== Background ==
=== Pacific War ===
{{Main|Pacific War}}
[[File:1945-08-01JapWW2BattlefrontAtlas.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.4|Situation of the Pacific War on 1 August 1945.<br />{{legend inline|white}}{{legend inline|#d6dbc5|White and green: Areas controlled by Japan}}
<br />{{legend inline|#d4a196}}{{legend inline|#a87f6b}}{{legend inline|#930202|Red: Areas controlled by the Allies}}
<br />{{legend inline|#9e9e9c|Gray: Areas controlled by the Soviet Union (neutral)}}|alt=A map of East Asia and the Western Pacific during World War II]]
In 1945, the [[Pacific War]] between the [[Empire of Japan]] and the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] entered its fourth year. Most Japanese military units fought fiercely, ensuring that the Allied victory would come at an enormous cost. The 1.25&nbsp;million battle casualties incurred in total by the United States in [[World War II]] included both [[military personnel]] [[killed in action]] and [[wounded in action]]. Nearly one million of the casualties occurred during the last year of the war, from June 1944 to June 1945. In December 1944, American battle casualties hit an all-time monthly high of 88,000 as a result of the German [[Ardennes Offensive]]. Worried by the losses sustained, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|President Roosevelt]] suggested the use of atomic bombs on Germany as soon as possible, but was informed the first usable atomic weapons were still months away.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Asada |first1=Sadao |title=Culture Shock and Japanese-American Relations: Historical Essays |date=June 2007 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |isbn=978-0-8262-6569-2 |page=228 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BNXiMhnxjo8C&dq=battle+of+the+bulge+leslie+groves&pg=PA228 |access-date=25 July 2023 |language=en}}</ref> America's reserves of manpower were running out. Deferments for groups such as agricultural workers were tightened, and there was consideration of drafting women. At the same time, the public was becoming war-weary, and demanding that long-serving servicemen be sent home.{{sfn|Giangreco|2009|pp=2–3, 49–51}}
In the Pacific, the Allies [[Philippines Campaign (1944–1945)|returned to the Philippines]],{{sfn|Williams|1960|p=307}} [[Burma Campaign 1944–1945|recaptured Burma]],{{sfn|Williams|1960|p=532}} and [[Borneo campaign (1945)|invaded Borneo]].{{sfn|Williams|1960|p=527}} Offensives were undertaken to reduce the Japanese forces remaining in [[Bougainville Campaign|Bougainville]], [[Aitape–Wewak campaign|New Guinea]] and the Philippines.{{sfn|Long|1963|pp=48–49}} In April 1945, American forces [[Battle of Okinawa|landed on Okinawa]], where heavy fighting continued until June. Along the way, the ratio of Japanese to American casualties dropped from five to one in the Philippines to two to one on Okinawa.{{sfn|Giangreco|2009|pp=2–3, 49–51}} Although some Japanese soldiers were [[Japanese prisoners of war in World War II|taken prisoner]], most fought until they were killed or committed [[suicide]]. Nearly 99 percent of the 21,000 defenders of [[Battle of Iwo Jima|Iwo Jima]] were killed. Of the 117,000 Okinawan and Japanese troops defending [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] in April to June 1945, 94 percent were killed;{{sfn|Brooks|Stanley|2007|pp=41–44}} 7,401 Japanese soldiers surrendered, an unprecedentedly large number.{{sfn|Appleman|Burns|Gugeler|Stevens|1948|pp=462–467}}
As the Allies advanced towards Japan, conditions became steadily worse for the Japanese people. Japan's merchant fleet declined from 5,250,000 [[Gross register tonnage|gross register tons]] in 1941 to 1,560,000 tons in March 1945, and 557,000 tons in August 1945. The lack of raw materials forced the Japanese war economy into a steep decline after the middle of 1944. The civilian economy, which had slowly deteriorated throughout the war, reached disastrous levels by the middle of 1945. The loss of shipping also affected the fishing fleet, and the 1945 catch was only 22 percent of that in 1941. The 1945 rice harvest was the worst since 1909, and hunger and malnutrition became widespread. U.S. industrial production was overwhelmingly superior to Japan's. By 1943, the U.S. produced almost 100,000 aircraft a year, compared to Japan's production of 70,000 for the entire war. In February 1945, Prince [[Fumimaro Konoe]] advised [[Emperor of Japan|Emperor]] [[Hirohito]] that defeat was inevitable, and urged him to abdicate.{{sfn|Coox|1969|pp=2540–2544}}
=== Preparations to invade Japan ===
{{Main|Operation Downfall}}
[[File:"Jap...You're Next^ We'll Finish the Job" - NARA - 513563.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[American propaganda during World War II#Anti-Japanese|U.S. Army propaganda poster]] depicting [[Uncle Sam]] preparing the public for the invasion of Japan after the end of the war with Germany and Italy|alt=Uncle Sam holding a spanner, rolling up his sleeves]]
Even before the [[Victory in Europe Day|surrender of Nazi Germany]] on 8 May 1945, plans were underway for the largest operation of the Pacific War, [[Operation Downfall]], the Allied invasion of Japan.{{sfn|Giangreco|2009|pp=32–34}} The operation had two parts: set to begin in October 1945, [[Operation Downfall#Olympic|Operation Olympic]] involved a series of landings by the U.S. [[Sixth United States Army|Sixth Army]] intended to capture the southern third of the southernmost main Japanese island, [[Kyushu|Kyūshū]].{{sfn|Giangreco|2009|pp=125–130}} This was to be followed in March 1946 by [[Operation Downfall#Coronet|Operation Coronet]], the capture of the [[Kantō Plain]], near Tokyo on the main Japanese island of [[Honshu|Honshū]] by the U.S. [[First United States Army|First]], [[Eighth United States Army|Eighth]] and [[Tenth United States Army|Tenth]] Armies, as well as a [[Commonwealth Corps]] made up of Australian, British and Canadian divisions. The target date was chosen to allow for Olympic to complete its objectives, for troops to be redeployed from Europe, and the [[Climate of Japan|Japanese winter]] to pass.{{sfn|Giangreco|2009|pp=169–171}}
[[Geography of Japan|Japan's geography]] made this invasion plan obvious to the Japanese; they were able to predict the Allied invasion plans accurately and thus adjust their defensive plan, [[Operation Ketsugō]], accordingly. The Japanese planned an all-out defense of Kyūshū, with little left in reserve.{{sfn|Giangreco|2009|pp=45–48}} In all, there were 2.3&nbsp;million [[Imperial Japanese Army|Japanese Army]] troops prepared to defend the home islands, backed by a [[Volunteer Fighting Corps|civilian militia]] of 28&nbsp;million. Casualty predictions varied widely, but were extremely high. The Vice Chief of the [[Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff]], [[Vice Admiral]] [[Takijirō Ōnishi]], predicted up to 20&nbsp;million Japanese deaths.{{sfn|Giangreco|2009|pp=121–124}}
The Americans were alarmed by the Japanese buildup, which was accurately tracked through [[Ultra (cryptography)|Ultra]] intelligence.{{sfn|Drea|1992|pp=202–225}} On 15 June 1945, a study by the Joint War Plans Committee,<ref>{{cite web |title=The Final Months of the War With Japan |at=Part III (note 24) |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/the-final-months-of-the-war-with-japan-signals-intelligence-u-s-invasion-planning-and-the-a-bomb-decision/csi9810001.html#rtoc7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612220627/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/the-final-months-of-the-war-with-japan-signals-intelligence-u-s-invasion-planning-and-the-a-bomb-decision/csi9810001.html#rtoc7 |archive-date=12 June 2007 |website=Central Intelligence Agency|access-date=17 December 2013}}</ref> drawing on the experience of the [[Battle of Leyte]], estimated that Downfall would result in 132,500 to 220,000 U.S. casualties, with U.S. dead and missing in the range from 27,500 to 50,000.{{sfn|Carroll|2007|p=48}}  [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] [[Henry L. Stimson]] commissioned his own study by [[Quincy Wright]] and [[William Shockley]], who estimated the invading Allies would suffer between 1.7 and 4&nbsp;million casualties, of whom between 400,000 and 800,000 would be dead, while Japanese fatalities would have been around 5 to 10&nbsp;million.{{sfn|Giangreco|2009|pp=98–99}}{{sfn|Frank|1999|p=340}} In a meeting with the President and commanders on 18 June 1945, General [[George C. Marshall]] stated that "there was reason to believe" casualties for the first 30 days would not exceed the price paid for [[Battle of Luzon|Luzon]]. Additionally, with the Japanese position rendered "hopeless" by an invasion of their mainland, Marshall speculated that Soviet entry into the war might be "the decisive action" needed to finally "[leverage] them into capitulation."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/research-files/minutes-meeting-held-white-house?documentid=NA&pagenumber=3 |title=Minutes of Meeting held at the White House, 18 June 1945 |publisher=Harry S. Truman Library and Museum |access-date=1 January 2024}}</ref>
Marshall began contemplating the use of a weapon that was "readily available and which assuredly can decrease the cost in American lives": [[Chemical warfare|poison gas]].{{sfn|Giangreco|2009|p=112}} Quantities of [[phosgene]], [[Sulfur mustard|mustard gas]], [[tear gas]] and [[cyanogen chloride]] were moved to [[Luzon]] from stockpiles in Australia and New Guinea in preparation for Operation Olympic, and MacArthur ensured that [[Chemical Warfare Service]] units were trained in their use.{{sfn|Giangreco|2009|p=112}} Consideration was also given to using [[biological weapons]].{{sfn|Schaffer|1985|pp=164–165}}
=== Air raids on Japan ===
{{Main|Air raids on Japan}}
[[File:Boeing B-29A-45-BN Superfortress 44-61784 6 BG 24 BS - Incendiary Journey.jpg|thumb|alt=Black and white photo of a four engined World War II-era aircraft being viewed from above while it is flying over a city. A large cloud of smoke is visible immediately below the aircraft.|A B-29 over Osaka on 1 June 1945]]
While the United States had developed plans for an air campaign against Japan prior to the Pacific War, the capture of Allied bases in the western Pacific in the first weeks of the conflict meant that this offensive did not begin until mid-1944 when the long-ranged [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress]] became ready for use in combat.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|p=4}} [[Operation Matterhorn]] involved India-based B-29s staging through bases around [[Chengdu]] in China to make a series of raids on strategic targets in Japan.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|pp=22–24}} This effort failed to achieve the strategic objectives that its planners had intended, largely because of logistical problems, the bomber's mechanical difficulties, the vulnerability of Chinese staging bases, and the extreme range required to reach key Japanese cities.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|pp=169–175}}
[[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]] [[Haywood S. Hansell]] determined that [[Guam]], [[Tinian]], and [[Saipan]] in the [[Mariana Islands]] would better serve as B-29 bases, but they were in Japanese hands.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|pp=29–31}} Strategies were shifted to accommodate the air war,{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|pp=507–509}} and the [[Mariana and Palau Islands campaign|islands were captured]] between June and August 1944. Air bases were developed,{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|pp=514–521}} and B-29 operations commenced from the Marianas in October 1944.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|pp=548–551}} The [[XXI Bomber Command]] began missions against Japan on 18 November 1944.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|pp=558–560}} The early attempts to bomb Japan from the Marianas proved just as ineffective as the China-based B-29s had been. Hansell continued the practice of conducting so-called high-altitude [[precision bombing]], aimed at key industries and transportation networks, even after these tactics had not produced acceptable results.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|p=566}} These efforts proved unsuccessful due to logistical difficulties with the remote location, technical problems with the new and advanced aircraft, unfavorable weather conditions, and enemy action.{{sfn|Sandler|2001|pp=24–26}}{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|pp=574–576}}
[[File:Tokyo 1945-3-10-1.jpg|thumb|left|The ''Operation Meetinghouse'' [[Bombing of Tokyo|firebombing of Tokyo]] on the night of 9–10 March 1945, was the single deadliest air raid in history,<ref name="deadliest">{{cite news |url=https://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2011/03/0309incendiary-bombs-kill-100000-tokyo/ |date=9 March 2011 |title=9 March 1945: Burning the Heart Out of the Enemy |newspaper=Wired |first=Tony |last=Long |access-date=8 August 2011}}</ref> with a greater area of fire damage and loss of life than either of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima or Nagasaki.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fff.org/comment/com0908j.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113021343/http://fff.org/comment/com0908j.asp |archive-date=13 November 2012 |title=Bombings Worse than Nagasaki and Hiroshima |author=Laurence M. Vance |date=14 August 2009 |publisher=The Future of Freedom Foundation |access-date=8 August 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0310-08.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110827094535/http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0310-08.htm |archive-date=27 August 2011 |title=1945 Tokyo Firebombing Left Legacy of Terror, Pain |author=Joseph Coleman |date=10 March 2005 |website=CommonDreams.org |access-date=8 August 2011}}</ref>|alt=A vast devastated area with only a few burned out buildings standing]]
Hansell's successor, [[Major General (United States)|Major General]] [[Curtis LeMay]], assumed command in January 1945 and initially continued to use the same precision bombing tactics, with equally unsatisfactory results. The attacks initially targeted key industrial facilities but much of the Japanese manufacturing process was carried out in small workshops and private homes.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|pp=608–610}} Under pressure from [[United States Army Air Forces]] (USAAF) headquarters in Washington, LeMay changed tactics and decided that low-level [[Firebombing|incendiary raids]] against Japanese cities were the only way to destroy their production capabilities, shifting from precision bombing to [[area bombardment]] with incendiaries.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|pp=568–570}} Like most [[strategic bombing during World War II]], the aim of the air offensive against Japan was to destroy the enemy's war industries, kill or disable civilian employees of these industries, and [[demoralization (warfare)|undermine civilian morale]].{{sfn|Edwards|1996|p=83}}{{sfn|Werrell|1996|p=250}}
Over the next six months, the XXI Bomber Command under LeMay firebombed 64 Japanese cities.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|p=750}} The [[Bombing of Tokyo|firebombing of Tokyo]], codenamed ''Operation Meetinghouse'', on 9–10 March, killed an estimated 100,000 people and destroyed {{convert|16|sqmi|km2|disp=flip|abbr=on}} of the city and 267,000 buildings in a single night. It was the deadliest bombing raid of the war, at a cost of 20 B-29s shot down by flak and fighters.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|pp=614–617}} By May, 75 percent of bombs dropped were incendiaries designed to burn down Japan's "paper cities". By mid-June, Japan's six largest cities had been devastated.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|pp=642–643}} The end of the [[fighting on Okinawa]] that month provided airfields even closer to the Japanese mainland, allowing the bombing campaign to be further escalated. Aircraft flying from Allied [[aircraft carrier]]s and the [[Ryukyu Islands]] also regularly struck targets in Japan during 1945 in preparation for Operation Downfall.{{sfn|Kerr|1991|p=207}} Firebombing switched to smaller cities, with populations ranging from 60,000 to 350,000. According to [[Yuki Tanaka (historian)|Yuki Tanaka]], the U.S. fire-bombed over a hundred Japanese towns and cities.{{sfn|Tanaka|Young|2009|pp=5, 84–85, 117}}
The Japanese military was unable to stop the Allied attacks and the country's [[civil defense]] preparations proved inadequate. Japanese fighters and anti-aircraft guns had difficulty engaging bombers flying at high altitude.{{sfn|Coox|1994|pp=412–414}} From April 1945, the Japanese interceptors also had to face American fighter escorts based on [[Iwo Jima]] and Okinawa.{{sfn|Coox|1994|p=422}} That month, the [[Imperial Japanese Army Air Service]] and [[Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service]] stopped attempting to intercept the air raids to preserve fighter aircraft to counter the expected invasion.{{sfn|Zaloga|Noon|2010|p=54}} By mid-1945 the Japanese only occasionally scrambled aircraft to intercept individual B-29s conducting reconnaissance sorties over the country, to conserve supplies of fuel.{{sfn|Zaloga|Noon|2010|pp=58–59}} In July 1945, the Japanese had {{convert|1156000|USbbl|L|disp=flip}} of [[avgas]] stockpiled for the invasion of Japan. About {{convert|604000|USbbl|L|disp=flip}} had been consumed in the home islands area in April, May and June 1945.{{sfn|Giangreco|2009|pp=79–80}} While the Japanese [[military]] decided to resume attacks on Allied bombers from late June, by this time there were too few operational fighters available for this change of tactics to hinder the Allied air raids.{{sfn|Coox|1994|p=429}}
=== Atomic bomb development ===
{{Main|Manhattan Project}}
[[File:HD.30.507 (10444069294).jpg|thumb|right|[[Leslie Groves]], [[Manhattan Project]] director, with a map of the Far East]]
The discovery of [[nuclear fission]] in 1938 made the development of an atomic bomb a theoretical possibility.{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=7}} Fears that a [[German atomic bomb project]] would develop atomic weapons first, especially among scientists who were refugees from Nazi Germany and other fascist countries, were expressed in the [[Einstein–Szilard letter]] to Roosevelt in 1939. This prompted preliminary research in the United States in late 1939.{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=12}} Progress was slow until the arrival of the British [[MAUD Committee]] report in late 1941, which indicated that only 5 to 10 kilograms of [[isotope|isotopically]]-pure [[uranium-235]] were needed for a bomb instead of tons of natural uranium and a [[neutron moderator]] like [[heavy water]].{{sfn|Gowing|1964|pp=40–43, 76–79}} Consequently, the work was accelerated, first as a pilot program, and finally in the agreement by Roosevelt to turn the work over to the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]] to construct the production facilities necessary to produce uranium-235 and [[plutonium-239]]. This work was consolidated within the newly created Manhattan Engineer District, which became better known as the [[Manhattan Project]], eventually under the direction of Major General [[Leslie R. Groves, Jr.]].{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=89}}
The work of the Manhattan Project took place at dozens of sites across the United States, and even some outside of its borders. It would ultimately cost over US$2&nbsp;billion (equivalent to about ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US-GDP|2|1945|r=0}}}}&nbsp;billion in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}){{Inflation-fn|US-GDP}} and employ over 125,000 people simultaneously at its peak. Groves appointed [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]] to organize and head the project's [[Project Y|Los Alamos Laboratory]] in [[New Mexico]], where bomb design work was carried out.{{sfn|Jones|1985|pp=82–84}} Two different types of bombs were eventually developed: a [[gun-type fission weapon]] that used uranium-235, called [[Little Boy]], and a more complex [[implosion-type nuclear weapon]] that used plutonium-239, called [[Fat Man]].{{sfn|Jones|1985|pp=511–516, 522}}
There was a [[Japanese nuclear weapon program]], but it lacked the human, mineral, and financial resources of the Manhattan Project, and never made much progress towards developing an atomic bomb.{{sfn|Grunden|1998|pp=50–52}}
== Preparations ==
=== Organization and training ===
[[File:Three Tinian Joint Chiefs.jpg|thumb|left|The "Tinian Joint Chiefs": Captain William S. Parsons (left), Rear Admiral William R. Purnell (center), and Brigadier General Thomas F. Farrell (right) |alt=Three men in military fatigues, without jackets or ties.]]
The [[509th Composite Group]] was constituted on 9 December 1944, and activated on 17 December 1944, at [[Wendover Army Air Field]], Utah, commanded by [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] [[Paul Tibbets]].<ref name="509offhist">{{cite web|url=http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=10517 |title=Factsheets: 509th Operational Group |publisher=Air Force Historical Studies Office |access-date=25 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130224031059/http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=10517 |archive-date=24 February 2013 }}</ref> Tibbets was assigned to organize and command a [[Bombardment group|combat group]] to develop the means of delivering an atomic weapon against targets in Germany and Japan. Because the flying squadrons of the group consisted of both bomber and transport aircraft, the group was designated as a "composite" rather than a "bombardment" unit.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of 509th Composite Group – 313th Bombardment Wing – Twentieth Air Force – Activation to 15 August 1945 |year=1945 |publisher=509th Composite Group |url=http://www.afhra.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-080128-037.pdf |access-date=1 February 2012 |pages=8–9 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127130713/http://www.afhra.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-080128-037.pdf |archive-date=27 January 2012 }}</ref> Due to its remoteness, Tibbets selected Wendover for his training base over [[Great Bend, Kansas]] and [[Mountain Home, Idaho]].{{sfn|Tibbets|1998|pp=163, 167–168}} Each bombardier completed at least 50 practice drops of inert or conventional explosive [[pumpkin bomb]]s, targeting islands around Tinian and later the Japanese home islands, until as late as 14 August 1945.<ref name="ready">{{cite web |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/9.pdf| title=Minutes of 3rd Target Committee Meeting 28&nbsp;May 1945| publisher=National Archives |access-date=9 August 2006| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060809093247/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/9.pdf| archive-date=9 August 2006 | url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=peacenagasaki>{{cite web |title=The Nagasaki atomic bomb damage records, Part 2 Section 1 Chapter 1: Period leading up to the atomic bombing |url=https://www.peace-nagasaki.go.jp/abombrecords/b020101.html |website=Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims |access-date=29 March 2023}}</ref> Some of the missions over Japan were flown by single unescorted bombers with a single payload to accustom the Japanese to this pattern. They also simulated actual atomic bombing runs, including the directions of ingress and egress with respect to the wind. Tibbets himself was barred from flying most missions over Japan for fear that he might be captured and interrogated.<ref name=peacenagasaki /> On 5 April 1945, the [[code name]] Operation Centerboard was assigned. The officer responsible for its allocation in the [[United States Department of War|War Department]]'s Operations Division was not cleared to know any details of it. The first bombing was later codenamed Operation Centerboard I, and the second, Operation Centerboard II.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Alex |first1=Wellerstein |title=The Luck of Kokura |url=http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2014/08/22/luck-kokura/ |website=Restricted Data |access-date=30 April 2019}}</ref>
The 509th Composite Group had an authorized strength of 225 officers and 1,542 enlisted men, almost all of whom eventually deployed to Tinian. In addition to its authorized strength, the 509th had attached to it on Tinian 51 civilian and military personnel from [[Project Alberta]],{{sfn|Campbell|2005|p=25}} known as the 1st Technical Detachment.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|p=706}} The 509th Composite Group's [[393d Bombardment Squadron]] was equipped with 15 [[Silverplate]] B-29s. These aircraft were specially adapted to carry nuclear weapons, and were equipped with [[Fuel injection|fuel-injected]] engines, Curtiss Electric [[Reverse thrust|reversible-pitch]] [[propeller]]s, pneumatic actuators for rapid opening and closing of bomb bay doors and other improvements.{{sfn|Campbell|2005|pp=14–15}}
The ground support echelon of the 509th Composite Group moved by rail on 26 April 1945, to its port of embarkation at [[Seattle]], Washington. On 6 May the support elements sailed on the [[SS Cape Victory|SS ''Cape Victory'']] for the Marianas, while group materiel was shipped on the [[SS Emile Berliner|SS ''Emile Berliner'']]. The ''Cape Victory'' made brief port calls at [[Honolulu]] and [[Eniwetok]] but the passengers were not permitted to leave the dock area. An advance party of the air echelon, consisting of 29 officers and 61 enlisted men, flew by C-54 to [[North Field (Tinian)|North Field]] on Tinian, between 15 and 22 May.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of 509th Composite Group – 313th Bombardment Wing – Twentieth Air Force – Activation to 15 August 1945 |year=1945 |location=Tinian |website=Air Force Historical Research Agency |url=http://www.afhra.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-080128-037.pdf |access-date=1 February 2012 |pages=17–22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127130713/http://www.afhra.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-080128-037.pdf |archive-date=27 January 2012 }}</ref> There were also two representatives from Washington, D.C., [[Brigadier General (United States)|Brigadier General]] [[Thomas Farrell (general)|Thomas Farrell]], the deputy commander of the Manhattan Project, and [[Rear admiral (United States)|Rear Admiral]] [[William R. Purnell]] of the Military Policy Committee,{{sfn|Campbell|2005|p=100}} who were on hand to decide higher policy matters on the spot. Along with Captain [[William Sterling Parsons|William S. Parsons]], the commander of Project Alberta, they became known as the "Tinian Joint Chiefs".{{sfn|Christman|1998|p=176}}
=== Choice of targets ===
[[File:Atomic bomb 1945 mission map.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|The mission runs of 6 and 9 August, with Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and [[Kokura]] (the original target for 9 August) displayed|alt=map of Japan and the Marianas Islands indicating the routes taken by the raids. One goes straight to Iwo Jima and Hiroshima and back the same way. The other goes to the southern tip of Japan, up to Kokura, down to Nagasaki, and the southwest to Okinawa befofore heading back to Tinian.]]
In April 1945, Marshall asked Groves to nominate specific targets for bombing for final approval by himself and Stimson. Groves formed a Target Committee, chaired by himself, that included Farrell, Major John A. Derry, [[Colonel]] William P. Fisher, Joyce C. Stearns and [[David M. Dennison]] from the USAAF; and scientists [[John von Neumann]], [[Robert R. Wilson]] and [[William Penney, Baron Penney|William Penney]] from the Manhattan Project. The Target Committee met in Washington on 27 April; at Los Alamos on 10 May, where it was able to talk to the scientists and technicians there; and finally in Washington on 28 May, where it was briefed by Tibbets and [[Commander]] [[Frederick Ashworth]] from Project Alberta, and the Manhattan Project's scientific advisor, [[Richard C. Tolman]].{{sfn|Jones|1985|pp=528–529}}
The Target Committee nominated five targets: [[Kokura]] (now [[Kitakyushu]]), the site of one of Japan's largest munitions plants; [[Hiroshima]], an embarkation port and industrial center that was the site of a major military headquarters; [[Yokohama]], an urban center for aircraft manufacture, machine tools, docks, electrical equipment and oil refineries; [[Niigata, Niigata|Niigata]], a port with industrial facilities including steel and aluminum plants and an oil refinery; and [[Kyoto]], a major industrial center. The target selection was subject to the following criteria:
* The target was larger than {{convert|3|mi|km|disp=flip|abbr=on}} in diameter and was an important target in a large city.
* The [[blast wave]] would create effective damage.
* The target was unlikely to be attacked by August 1945.<ref name="targetcommittee" />
These cities were largely untouched during the nightly bombing raids, and the Army Air Forces agreed to leave them off the target list so accurate assessment of the damage caused by the atomic bombs could be made. Hiroshima was described as "an important army depot and port of embarkation in the middle of an urban industrial area. It is a good radar target and it is such a size that a large part of the city could be extensively damaged. There are adjacent hills which are likely to produce a focusing effect which would considerably increase the blast damage. Due to rivers it is not a good [[Incendiary device|incendiary]] target."<ref name="targetcommittee" />
The Target Committee stated that "It was agreed that psychological factors in the target selection were of great importance. Two aspects of this are (1) obtaining the greatest psychological effect against Japan and (2) making the initial use sufficiently spectacular for the importance of the weapon to be internationally recognized when publicity on it is released.{{nbsp}}... Kyoto has the advantage of the people being more highly intelligent and hence better able to appreciate the significance of the weapon. Hiroshima has the advantage of being such a size and with possible focussing from nearby mountains that a large fraction of the city may be destroyed. The [[Tokyo Imperial Palace|Emperor's palace]] in Tokyo has a greater fame than any other target but is of least strategic value."<ref name="targetcommittee">{{cite web |title=Atomic Bomb: Decision – Target Committee, May 10–11, 1945 |url=http://www.dannen.com/decision/targets.html |access-date=6 August 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050808014201/http://www.dannen.com/decision/targets.html |archive-date=8 August 2005 |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[Edwin O. Reischauer]], a Japan expert for the [[Military Intelligence Corps (United States Army)|U.S. Army Intelligence Service]], was incorrectly said to have prevented the bombing of Kyoto.<ref name="targetcommittee" /> In his autobiography, Reischauer specifically refuted this claim:
{{blockquote|...&nbsp;the only person deserving credit for saving Kyoto from destruction is Henry L. Stimson, the Secretary of War at the time, who had known and admired Kyoto ever since his honeymoon there several decades earlier.{{sfn|Reischauer|1986|p=101}}{{sfn|Kelly|2012|pp=183–203}} }}
Extant sources show that while Stimson was personally familiar with Kyoto, this was the result of a visit decades after his marriage, not because he honeymooned there.{{sfn|Wellerstein|2020|pp=319–321}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wellerstein |first1=Alex |title=Henry Stimson didn't go to Kyoto on his honeymoon |url=https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2023/07/24/henry-stimson-didnt-go-to-kyoto-on-his-honeymoon/ |website=Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog |access-date=25 July 2023}}</ref> On 30 May, Stimson asked Groves to remove Kyoto from the target list due to its historical, religious and cultural significance, but Groves pointed to its military and industrial significance.{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=529}} Stimson then approached [[President of the United States|President]] [[Harry S. Truman]] about the matter. Truman agreed with Stimson, and Kyoto was temporarily removed from the target list.{{sfn|Hasegawa|2006|pp=67–68}} Groves attempted to restore Kyoto to the target list in July, but Stimson remained adamant.{{sfn|Hasegawa|2006|pp=149–150}}{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=530}} On 25 July, [[Nagasaki]] was put on the target list in place of Kyoto. It was a major military port, one of Japan's largest shipbuilding and repair centers, and an important producer of naval ordnance.{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=530}}
=== Proposed demonstration ===
In early May 1945, the [[Interim Committee]] was created by Stimson at the urging of leaders of the Manhattan Project and with the approval of Truman to advise on matters pertaining to [[nuclear technology]].{{sfn|Frank|1999|pp=255–256}} They agreed that the atomic bomb was to be used (1) against Japan at the earliest opportunity, (2) without special warning, and (3) on a "dual target" of military installation surrounded by other buildings susceptible to damage.<ref name="peacenagasaki"/>
During the meetings on 31 May and 1 June, scientist [[Ernest Lawrence]] had suggested giving the Japanese a non-combat demonstration.{{sfn|Compton|1956|p=240}} [[Arthur Compton]] later recalled that:
{{blockquote|It was evident that everyone would suspect trickery. If a bomb were exploded in Japan with previous notice, the Japanese air power was still adequate to give serious interference. An atomic bomb was an intricate device, still in the developmental stage. Its operation would be far from routine. If during the final adjustments of the bomb the Japanese defenders should attack, a faulty move might easily result in some kind of failure. Such an end to an advertised demonstration of power would be much worse than if the attempt had not been made. It was now evident that when the time came for the bombs to be used we should have only one of them available, followed afterwards by others at all-too-long intervals. We could not afford the chance that one of them might be a dud. If the test were made on some neutral territory, it was hard to believe that Japan's determined and fanatical military men would be impressed. If such an open test were made first and failed to bring surrender, the chance would be gone to give the shock of surprise that proved so effective. On the contrary, it would make the Japanese ready to interfere with an atomic attack if they could. Though the possibility of a demonstration that would not destroy human lives was attractive, no one could suggest a way in which it could be made so convincing that it would be likely to stop the war.{{sfn|Compton|1956|pp=238–239}} }}
The possibility of a demonstration was raised again in the [[Franck Report]] issued by physicist [[James Franck]] on 11 June and the Scientific Advisory Panel rejected his report on 16 June, saying that "we can propose no technical demonstration likely to bring an end to the war; we see no acceptable alternative to direct military use." Franck then took the report to Washington, D.C., where the Interim Committee met on 21 June to re-examine its earlier conclusions; but it reaffirmed that there was no alternative to the use of the bomb on a military target.{{sfn|Frank|1999|pp=255–260}}
Like Compton, many U.S. officials and scientists argued that a demonstration would sacrifice the shock value of the atomic attack, and the Japanese could deny the atomic bomb was lethal, making the mission less likely to produce surrender. Allied [[prisoners of war]] might be moved to the demonstration site and be killed by the bomb. They also worried that the bomb might be a failure, as the Trinity test was that of a stationary device, not an air-dropped bomb. In addition, although more bombs were in production, only two would be available at the start of August, and they cost billions of dollars, so using one for a demonstration would be expensive.{{sfn|Newman|1995|p=86}}<ref name="Generals">{{cite web |title=The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II, A Collection of Primary Sources| work=National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 162 | publisher=[[George Washington University]]| date=13 August 1945|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/72.pdf}}</ref>
=== Leaflets ===
[[File:Firebombing leaflet.jpg|thumb|Various leaflets were dropped on Japan listing cities targeted for destruction by firebombing. The other side stated that other cities may be attacked.<ref name="The Information War in the Pacific">{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol46no3/article07.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613105945/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol46no3/article07.html |archive-date=13 June 2007 |website=[[Central Intelligence Agency]] |title=The Information War in the Pacific, 1945 Paths to Peace |first=Josette H. |last=Williams |access-date=5 December 2016}})</ref> |alt=Leaflet showing B-29s dropping bombs. There are 12 circles with 12 Japanese cities named in Japanese writing.]]
For several months, the U.S. had warned civilians of potential air raids by dropping more than 63&nbsp;million leaflets across Japan. Many Japanese cities suffered terrible damage from aerial bombings; some were as much as 97 percent destroyed. LeMay thought that leaflets would increase the psychological impact of bombing, and reduce the international stigma of area-bombing cities. Even with the warnings, [[Japanese dissidence during the early Shōwa period#Japanese resistance during World War II|Japanese opposition to the war]] remained ineffective. In general, the Japanese regarded the leaflet messages as truthful, with many Japanese choosing to leave major cities. The leaflets caused such concern that the government ordered the arrest of anyone caught in possession of a leaflet.<ref name="The Information War in the Pacific" />{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|p=656}} Leaflet texts were prepared by recent Japanese prisoners of war because they were thought to be the best choice "to appeal to their compatriots".{{sfn|Frank|1999|p=153}}
In preparation for dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the Oppenheimer-led [[Interim Committee|Scientific Panel of the Interim Committee]] decided against a demonstration bomb and against a special leaflet warning. Those decisions were implemented because of the uncertainty of a successful detonation and also because of the wish to maximize [[Psychological warfare|shock in the leadership]].{{sfn|McNelly|2000|p=138}} No warning was given to Hiroshima that a new and much more destructive bomb was going to be dropped.{{sfn|Lifton|1991|p=17}} Various sources gave conflicting information about when the last leaflets were dropped on Hiroshima prior to the atomic bomb. [[Robert Jay Lifton]] wrote that it was 27 July,{{sfn|Lifton|1991|p=17}} and Theodore H. McNelly wrote that it was 30 July.{{sfn|McNelly|2000|p=138}} The USAAF history noted that eleven cities were targeted with leaflets on 27 July, but Hiroshima was not one of them, and there were no leaflet sorties on 30 July.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|p=656}} Leaflet sorties were undertaken on 1 and 4 August. Hiroshima may have been leafleted in late July or early August, as survivor accounts talk about a delivery of leaflets a few days before the atomic bomb was dropped.{{sfn|Lifton|1991|p=17}} Three versions were printed of a leaflet listing 11 or 12 cities targeted for firebombing; a total of 33 cities listed. With the text of this leaflet reading in Japanese "...{{nbsp}}we cannot promise that only these cities will be among those attacked{{nbsp}}..."<ref name="The Information War in the Pacific" /> Hiroshima was not listed.<ref>{{cite web | script-title=ja:空襲予告ビラ、高山市民が保管 市内で展示 |trans-title=Air Raid Notice |url=http://www.gifu-np.co.jp/kikaku/2008/gifu63/g63_20080804.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012064011/http://www.gifu-np.co.jp/kikaku/2008/gifu63/g63_20080804.shtml |archive-date=12 October 2013 | publisher=岐阜新聞社 (Gifu Shinbunsha (Open Library)) |access-date=31 January 2013 |language=ja}}</ref>{{sfn|Bungei|1981|p=215}}
=== Consultation with Britain and Canada ===
[[File:Letter received from General Thomas Handy to General Carl Spaatz authorizing the dropping of the first atomic bomb - NARA - 542193.tif|thumb|upright|General [[Thomas Handy]]'s order to General [[Carl Spaatz]] ordering the dropping of the atomic bombs]]
In 1943, the United States and the United Kingdom signed the [[Quebec Agreement]], which stipulated that nuclear weapons would not be used against another country without mutual consent. Stimson therefore had to obtain British permission. A meeting of the [[Combined Policy Committee]], which included one Canadian representative, was held at [[the Pentagon]] on 4 July 1945.{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|pp=372–373}} [[Field Marshal (United Kingdom)|Field Marshal]] Sir [[Henry Maitland Wilson, 1st Baron Wilson|Henry Maitland Wilson]] announced that the British government concurred with the use of nuclear weapons against Japan, which would be officially recorded as a decision of the Combined Policy Committee.{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|pp=372–373}}{{sfn|Gowing|1964|p=372}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945Berlinv01/d619 |title=Minutes of a Meeting of the Combined Policy Committee |location=Washington, DC |date=4 July 1945 |publisher=United States Department of State |access-date=18 September 2017 }}</ref> As the release of information to third parties was also controlled by the Quebec Agreement, discussion then turned to what scientific details would be revealed in the press announcement of the bombing. The meeting also considered what Truman could reveal to [[Joseph Stalin]], the leader of the [[Soviet Union]], at the upcoming [[Potsdam Conference]], as this also required British concurrence.{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|pp=372–373}}
Orders for the attack were issued to General [[Carl Spaatz]] on 25 July under the signature of General [[Thomas T. Handy]], the acting chief of staff, since Marshall was at the Potsdam Conference with Truman.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1953|pp=712–713}} It read in part:
{{blockquote|
# The 509th Composite Group, 20th Air Force will deliver its first special bomb as soon as weather will permit visual bombing after about 3 August 1945 on one of the targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata and Nagasaki. To carry military and civilian scientific personnel from the War Department to observe and record the effects of the explosion of the bomb, additional aircraft will accompany the airplane carrying the bomb. The observing planes will stay several miles distant from the point of impact of the bomb.
# Additional bombs will be delivered on the above targets as soon as made ready by the project staff. Further instructions will be issued concerning targets other than those listed above.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/542193 |title=Letter received from General Thomas Handy to General Carl Spaatz authorizing the dropping of the first atomic bomb |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=26 January 2018 |date=25 July 1945 |series=Series: Black and White Photographs of U.S. Air Force and Predecessors' Activities, Facilities, and Personnel, Domestic and Foreign, 1900–2003 }}</ref> }}
That day, Truman noted in his diary that:
{{blockquote|This weapon is to be used against Japan between now and August&nbsp;10th. I have told the Sec. of War, Mr. Stimson, to use it so that military objectives and soldiers and sailors are the target and not women and children. Even if the Japs are savages, ruthless, merciless and fanatic, we as the leader of the world for the common welfare cannot drop that terrible bomb on the old capital [Kyoto] or the new [Tokyo]. He and I are in accord. The target will be a purely military one.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/183568382 |access-date=23 October 2020 |title=Harry S. Truman, Diary, 25 July 1945 |series=File Unit: Ross, Mr. And MRS. Charles G. &#91;Truman's Potsdam diary&#93;, 1945–1953 |date=25 July 1945 |publisher=Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. }}</ref> }}
=== Potsdam Declaration ===
{{Main|Potsdam Declaration}}
The 16 July success of the [[Trinity Test]] in the [[New Mexico]] desert exceeded expectations.{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|pp=389–390}} On 26 July, Allied leaders issued the [[Potsdam Declaration]], which outlined the terms of surrender for Japan. The declaration was presented as an [[ultimatum]] and stated that without a surrender, the Allies would attack Japan, resulting in "the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland". The atomic bomb was not mentioned in the communiqué.{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|pp=395–396}}
On 28 July, Japanese papers reported that the declaration had been rejected by the Japanese government. That afternoon, [[Prime Minister of Japan|Prime Minister]] [[Kantarō Suzuki]] declared at a press conference that the Potsdam Declaration was no more than a rehash (''yakinaoshi'') of the [[1943 Cairo Declaration|Cairo Declaration]], that the government intended to ignore it (''[[mokusatsu]]'', "kill by silence"), and that Japan would fight to the end.<ref>{{harvnb|Frank|1999|pp=233–234}}. The meaning of ''mokusatsu'' can fall anywhere in the range of "ignore" to "treat with contempt".</ref> The statement was taken by both Japanese and foreign papers as a clear rejection of the declaration. Emperor Hirohito, who was waiting for a Soviet reply to non-committal Japanese peace feelers, made no move to change the government position.{{sfn|Bix|1996|p=290}} Japan's willingness to surrender remained conditional on the preservation of the ''[[kokutai]]'' (Imperial institution and national [[polity]]), assumption by the Imperial Headquarters of responsibility for disarmament and demobilization, no occupation of the [[Japanese archipelago|Japanese Home Islands]], Korea or [[Formosa]], and delegation of the punishment of war criminals to the Japanese government.{{sfn|Asada|1996|p=39}}
At Potsdam, Truman agreed to a request from [[Winston Churchill]] that Britain be represented when the atomic bomb was dropped. [[William Penney]] and [[Group Captain]] [[Leonard Cheshire]] were sent to Tinian, but LeMay would not let them accompany the mission.{{sfn|Thomas|Morgan-Witts|1977|pp=326, 356, 370}}
=== Bombs ===
The Little Boy bomb, except for the uranium payload, was ready at the beginning of May 1945.{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=262}} There were two uranium-235 components, a hollow cylindrical projectile and a cylindrical target insert. The projectile was completed on 15 June, and the target insert on 24 July.{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=265}} The projectile and eight bomb pre-assemblies (partly assembled bombs without the powder charge and fissile components) left [[Hunters Point Naval Shipyard]], California, on 16 July aboard the [[cruiser]] {{USS|Indianapolis|CA-35|6}}, and arrived on Tinian on 26 July.{{sfn|Coster-Mullen|2012|p=30}} The target insert followed by air on 30 July, accompanied by Commander [[Francis Birch (geophysicist)|Francis Birch]] from Project Alberta.{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=265}} Responding to concerns expressed by the 509th Composite Group about the possibility of a B-29 crashing on takeoff, Birch had modified the Little Boy design to incorporate a removable breech plug that would permit the bomb to be armed in flight.{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=262}}
The first [[plutonium core]], along with its [[polonium]]-[[beryllium]] [[urchin (detonator)|urchin initiator]], was transported in the custody of Project Alberta courier [[Raemer Schreiber]] in a magnesium field carrying case designed for the purpose by [[Philip Morrison]]. Magnesium was chosen because it does not act as a [[neutron reflector]].{{sfn|Coster-Mullen|2012|p=45}} The core departed from [[Kirtland Air Force Base|Kirtland Army Air Field]] on a [[C-54]] transport aircraft of the 509th Composite Group's [[320th Troop Carrier Squadron]] on 26 July, and arrived at North Field 28 July. Three Fat Man high-explosive pre-assemblies, designated F31, F32, and F33, were picked up at Kirtland on 28 July by three B-29s, two from the 393d Bombardment Squadron plus one from the 216th Army Air Force Base Unit, and transported to North Field, arriving on 2 August.{{sfn|Campbell|2005|pp=38–40}}
== Hiroshima ==
=== Hiroshima during World War II ===
[[File:B-29 Enola Gay w Crews.jpg|right|thumb|The ''[[Enola Gay]]'' dropped the "[[Little Boy]]" atomic bomb on Hiroshima. [[Paul Tibbets]] (center in photograph) can be seen with six members of the [[ground crew]].|alt=A Silver aircraft with "Enola Gay" and "82" painted on the nose. Seven men stand in front of it. Four are wearing shorts, four are wearing T-shirts, and the only ones with hats have baseball caps. Tibbets is distinctively wearing correct uniform.|266x266px]]
At the time of its bombing, Hiroshima was a city of industrial and military significance. A number of military units were located nearby, the most important of which was the headquarters of [[Gensui (Imperial Japanese Army)|Field Marshal]] [[Shunroku Hata]]'s [[Second General Army (Japan)|Second General Army]], which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan,{{sfn|Giangreco|2009|pp=64–65, 163}} and was located in [[Hiroshima Castle]]. Hata's command consisted of some 400,000 men, most of whom were on Kyushu where an Allied invasion was correctly anticipated.{{sfn|Goldstein|Dillon|Wenger|1995|p=41}} Also present in Hiroshima were the headquarters of the [[Fifty-Ninth Army (Japan)|59th Army]], the [[5th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)|5th Division]] and the [[224th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)|224th Division]], a recently formed mobile unit.{{sfn|Giangreco|2009|pp=70, 163}} The city was defended by five batteries of 70&nbsp;mm and 80&nbsp;mm (2.8 and 3.1 inch) [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft guns]] of the 3rd Anti-Aircraft Division, including units from the 121st and 122nd Anti-Aircraft Regiments and the 22nd and 45th Separate Anti-Aircraft Battalions. In total, an estimated 40,000 Japanese military personnel were stationed in the city.{{sfn|Zaloga|Noon|2010|p=59}}
Hiroshima was a supply and logistics base for the Japanese military.<ref name="effects">{{cite web |url=http://www.nuclearfiles.org/redocuments/1946/460619-bombing-survey1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041011111052/http://www.nuclearfiles.org/redocuments/1946/460619-bombing-survey1.html |archive-date=11 October 2004 |title=U. S. Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki |date=June 1946 |author=United States Strategic Bombing Survey |publisher=Nuclear Age Peace Foundation |access-date=26 July 2009}}</ref> The city was a communications center, a key port for shipping, and an assembly area for troops.{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=529}} It supported a large war industry, manufacturing parts for planes and boats, for bombs, rifles, and handguns.{{sfn|Thomas|Morgan-Witts|1977|pp=224–225}} The center of the city contained several [[reinforced concrete]] buildings. Outside the center, the area was congested by a dense collection of small timber workshops set among Japanese houses. A few larger industrial plants lay near the outskirts of the city. The houses were constructed of timber with tile roofs, and many of the industrial buildings were also built around timber frames. The city as a whole was highly susceptible to fire damage.{{sfn|Thomas|Morgan-Witts|1977|p=38}} It was the second largest city in Japan after Kyoto that was still undamaged by air raids,{{sfn|Groves|1962|p=316}} primarily because it lacked the aircraft manufacturing industry that was the XXI Bomber Command's priority target. On 3 July, the Joint Chiefs of Staff placed it off limits to bombers, along with Kokura, Niigata and Kyoto.{{sfn|Frank|1999|p=263}}
The population of Hiroshima had reached a peak of over 381,000 earlier in the war but prior to the atomic bombing, the population had steadily decreased because of a [[Evacuations of civilians in Japan during World War II|systematic evacuation ordered by the Japanese government]]. At the time of the attack, the population was approximately 340,000–350,000.<ref name="rerf-deaths">{{cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions about the Atomic-bomb Survivor Research Program |url=https://www.rerf.or.jp/en/faq/ |access-date=2 August 2024 |publisher=[[Radiation Effects Research Foundation]] (Formerly known as the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC))}}</ref> Residents wondered why Hiroshima had been spared destruction by firebombing.{{sfn|Bodden|2007|p=20}} Some speculated that the city was to be saved for U.S. occupation headquarters, others thought perhaps their relatives in Hawaii and California had petitioned the U.S. government to avoid bombing Hiroshima.{{sfn|Preston|2005|p=262}} More realistic city officials had ordered buildings torn down to create long, straight [[firebreak]]s.{{sfn|Fiévé|Waley|2003|p=330}} These continued to be expanded and extended up to the morning of 6 August 1945.{{sfn|Rotter|2008|p=267}}
=== Bombing of Hiroshima ===
[[File:Agnew StrikeOrderHiroshima.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Operations Order No. 35|Strike order]] for the Hiroshima bombing as posted on 5 August 1945|alt=A typed page of instructions]]
Hiroshima was the primary target of the first atomic bombing mission on 6 August, with Kokura and Nagasaki as alternative targets. The 393rd Bombardment Squadron B-29 ''[[Enola Gay]]'', named after Tibbets's mother and piloted by Tibbets, took off from North Field, [[Tinian]], about six hours' flight time from Japan,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Nathan|first=Richard|date=6 August 2021|title=Literary Fallout: The legacies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|url=https://www.redcircleauthors.com/news-and-views/literary-fallout-the-legacies-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/|url-status=live|website=Red Circle Authors|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210806064413/https://www.redcircleauthors.com/news-and-views/literary-fallout-the-legacies-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/ |archive-date=6 August 2021 }}</ref> at 02:45 local time.<ref name="SM19" /> ''Enola Gay'' was accompanied by two other B-29s: ''[[The Great Artiste]]'', commanded by Major [[Charles Sweeney]], which carried instrumentation, and a then-nameless aircraft later called ''[[Necessary Evil (aircraft)|Necessary Evil]]'', commanded by Captain George Marquardt. ''Necessary Evil'' was the [[Aerial photography|photography aircraft]].<ref name="509timeline">{{cite web| url=http://www.mphpa.org/classic/CG/CG_09C.htm| title=509th Timeline: Inception to Hiroshima| publisher=The Atomic Heritage Foundation| access-date=5 May 2007| archive-date=20 December 2007| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071220234108/http://www.mphpa.org/classic/CG/CG_09C.htm}}</ref>
{| style="margin:auto; float:none;" class="wikitable"
|+Special Mission 13, primary target Hiroshima, 6 August 1945<ref name="509timeline" /><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.mphpa.org/classic/HISTORY/H-07L.htm| title=Timeline #2 – the 509th; The Hiroshima Mission| publisher=The Atomic Heritage Foundation| access-date=4 May 2007| archive-date=20 June 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620094425/http://www.mphpa.org/classic/HISTORY/H-07L.htm}}</ref>
|-
!align=center|Aircraft!! Pilot!!Call sign!!Mission role
|-
| ''[[Straight Flush (B-29)|Straight Flush]]''|| Major [[Claude Eatherly|Claude R. Eatherly]] || Dimples 85 ||Weather reconnaissance (Hiroshima)
|- style="background:#eee;"
| ''[[Jabit III (aircraft)|Jabit III]]''|| Major John A. Wilson || Dimples 71 || Weather reconnaissance (Kokura)
|-
| ''[[Full House (aircraft)|Full House]]''|| Major Ralph R. Taylor|| Dimples 83 || Weather reconnaissance (Nagasaki)
|- style="background:#eee;"
| ''[[Enola Gay]] ''|| Colonel [[Paul Tibbets|Paul W. Tibbets]] || Dimples 82 || Weapon delivery
|-
| ''[[The Great Artiste]]''|| Major [[Charles Sweeney|Charles W. Sweeney]] || Dimples 89 || Blast measurement instrumentation
|- style="background:#eee;"
| ''[[Necessary Evil (aircraft)|Necessary Evil]]'' || Captain George W. Marquardt || Dimples 91|| Strike observation and photography
|-
| ''[[Top Secret (B-29)|Top Secret]]''|| Captain Charles F. McKnight || Dimples 72 || Strike spare&nbsp;– did not complete mission
|}
After leaving Tinian, the aircraft made their way separately to Iwo Jima to rendezvous with Sweeney and Marquardt at 05:55 at {{convert|9200|ft|m|disp=flip|sp=us}},{{sfn|Dietz|Van Kirk|2012|p=462}} and set course for Japan. The aircraft arrived over Hiroshima in clear visibility at {{convert|31060|ft|m|disp=flip|sp=us}}.{{sfn|Dietz|Van Kirk|2012|p=467}} Parsons, who was in command of the mission, armed the bomb in flight to minimize the risks during takeoff. He had witnessed four B-29s crash and burn at takeoff, and feared that a nuclear explosion would occur if a B-29 crashed with an armed Little Boy on board.{{sfn|Lewis|Tolzer|1957|p=72}} His assistant, [[Second Lieutenant]] [[Morris R. Jeppson]], removed the safety devices 30 minutes before reaching the target area.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web|url=http://www.mphpa.org/classic/HISTORY/H-07L1.htm|title=Timeline #2- the 509th; The Hiroshima Mission|publisher=The Atomic Heritage Foundation|access-date=5 May 2007|archive-date=1 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501233757/http://mphpa.org/classic/HISTORY/H-07L1.htm}}</ref>
[[File:Hiroshima 10km.jpg|thumb|upright|right|The Hiroshima atom bomb cloud 2–5 minutes after detonation<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The Atlantic]] |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/01/rare-photo-of-the-mushroom-cloud-over-hiroshima-discovered-in-a-former-japanese-elementary-school/267042/ |first=Rebecca J. |last=Rosen |title=Rare Photo of the Mushroom Cloud Over Hiroshima Discovered in a Former Japanese Elementary School |access-date=4 December 2016 }}</ref>|alt=Another view of the mushroom cloud forming, from further away.]]
During the night of 5–6 August, Japanese early warning radar detected the approach of numerous American aircraft headed for the southern part of Japan. Radar detected 65 bombers headed for [[Saga (city)|Saga]], 102 bound for [[Maebashi]], 261 en route to [[Nishinomiya]], 111 headed for [[Ube, Yamaguchi|Ube]] and 66 bound for [[Imabari, Ehime|Imabari]]. An alert was given and radio broadcasting stopped in many cities, among them Hiroshima. The all-clear was sounded in Hiroshima at 00:05.{{sfn|Thomas|Morgan-Witts|1977|pp=391–392}} About an hour before the bombing, the air raid alert was sounded again, as ''Straight Flush'' flew over the city. It broadcast a short message which was picked up by ''Enola Gay''. It read: "Cloud cover less than 3/10th at all altitudes. Advice: bomb primary."{{sfn|Thomas|Morgan-Witts|1977|p=414}} The all-clear was sounded over Hiroshima again at 07:09.{{sfn|Thomas|Morgan-Witts|1977|p=415}}
At 08:09, Tibbets started his bomb run and handed control over to his bombardier, Major [[Thomas Ferebee]].{{sfn|Allen|1969|p=2566}} The release at 08:15 (Hiroshima time) went as planned, and the Little Boy containing about {{convert|64|kg|lb|abbr=on}} of uranium-235 took 44.4 seconds to fall from the aircraft flying at about {{convert|31000|ft|m|disp=flip|sp=us}} to a detonation height of about {{convert|1900|ft|m|disp=flip|sp=us}} above the city.{{sfn|Kerr et al|2005|pp=42–43}}<ref name="Malik">{{cite web |url=http://www.osti.gov/manhattan-project-history/publications/LANLHiroshimaNagasakiYields.pdf |title=The Yields of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Explosions |last=Malik |first=John |date=September 1985 |publisher=Los Alamos National Laboratory|access-date=9 March 2014}} describes how various values were recorded for the B-29's altitude at the moment of bomb release over Hiroshima. The strike report said {{convert|30,200|ft|m|disp=flip|sp=us}}, the official history said {{convert|31,600|ft|m|disp=flip|sp=us}}, Parson's log entry was {{convert|32,700|ft|m|disp=flip|sp=us}}, and the navigator's log was {{convert|31,060|ft|m|disp=flip|sp=us}}—the latter possibly an error transposing two digits. A later calculation using the indicated atmospheric pressure arrived at the figure of {{convert|32,200|ft|m|disp=flip|sp=us}}. Similarly, several values have been reported as the altitude of the Little Boy bomb at the moment of detonation. Published sources vary in the range of {{convert|1800|to|2000|ft|m|disp=flip|abbr=on|sp=us}} above the city. The device was set to explode at {{convert|1885|ft|m|disp=flip|abbr=on}}, but this was approximate. Malik uses the figure of {{convert|1903|ft|m|disp=flip|abbr=on|sp=us}} plus or minus {{convert|50|ft|m|disp=flip|abbr=on|sp=us}}, determined after data review by {{harvnb|Hubbell et al|1969|}}. Radar returns from the tops of multistory buildings near the hypocenter may have triggered the detonation at a somewhat higher altitude than planned. Kerr et al. (2005) found that a detonation altitude of {{convert|600|m|ft|1|abbr=on|sp=us}}, plus or minus {{convert|20|m|ft|1|abbr=on|sp=us}}, gave the best fit for all the measurement discrepancies.</ref> ''Enola Gay'' was {{convert|11.5|mi|km|disp=flip|abbr=on|sp=us}} away before it felt the shock waves from the blast.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/hiroshima.htm |title=The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, Aug&nbsp;6, 1945 |publisher=[[United States Department of Energy]] |access-date=25 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100624065430/http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/hiroshima.htm |archive-date=24 June 2010 }}</ref>
Due to [[crosswind]], the bomb missed the [[aiming point]], the [[Aioi Bridge]], by approximately {{convert|800|ft|m|disp=flip|abbr=on}} and detonated directly over [[Shima Hospital|Shima Surgical Clinic]].{{sfn|Thomas|Morgan-Witts|1977|pp=423. 427}} It released the equivalent energy of {{convert|16|±|2|ktonTNT|lk=in}}.{{sfn|Kerr et al|2005|pp=42–43}} The weapon was [[Nuclear weapon design#Gun-type assembly weapon|considered very inefficient]], with only 1.7 percent of its material fissioning.<ref name="cotmplitboy">{{cite web|url=http://www.mphpa.org/classic/HISTORY/little_boy.htm|title=The Bomb-"Little Boy"|publisher=The Atomic Heritage Foundation|access-date=5 May 2007|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417070729/https://www.atomicheritage.org/history}}</ref> The radius of total destruction was about {{convert|1|mi|km|disp=flip|sp=us}}, with resulting fires across {{convert|4.4|sqmi|km2|disp=flip|abbr=on|sp=us}}.<ref name="web.archive.org DNATR805512F">{{cite book |author=W. McRaney |author2=J. McGahan |date=6 August 1980 |title=Radiation Dose Reconstruction U.S. Occupation Forces in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 1945–1946 (DNA 5512F) |publisher=Defense Nuclear Agency |via=Defense Threat Reduction Agency |url=http://www.dtra.mil/toolbox/directorates/td/programs/nuclear_personnel/docs/DNATR805512F.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060624185903/http://www.dtra.mil/toolbox/directorates/td/programs/nuclear_personnel/docs/DNATR805512F.pdf | archive-date=24 June 2006 | access-date=9 June 2006 }}</ref>
''Enola Gay'' stayed over the target area for two minutes and was {{convert|10|mi|km|disp=flip|sp=us}} away when the bomb detonated. Only Tibbets, Parsons, and Ferebee knew of the nature of the weapon; the others on the bomber were only told to expect a blinding flash and given protective goggles. "It was hard to believe what we saw", Tibbets told reporters, while Parsons said "the whole thing was tremendous and awe-inspiring{{nbsp}}... the men aboard with me gasped 'My God'." He and Tibbets compared the shockwave to "a close burst of [[ack-ack]] fire".<ref name="guardian19450808">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/century/1940-1949/Story/0,,127716,00.html | title=Super-fortress crew tell their story | newspaper=The Guardian | date=8 August 1945 | access-date=17 July 2016}}</ref>
=== Events on the ground ===
People on the ground reported a {{nihongo|''pika''|ピカ|}}—a brilliant flash of light—followed by a {{nihongo|''don''|ドン|}}—a loud booming sound.{{sfn|Frank|1999|pp=264–265}} The experiences of survivors in the city varied depending on their location and circumstances, but a common factor in survivor accounts was a sense that a conventional weapon (sometimes cited as a [[Incendiary device|magnesium bomb]], which has a distinctively bright white flash) had happened to go off immediately in their vicinity, causing tremendous damage (throwing people across rooms, breaking glass, crushing buildings). After emerging from the ruins the survivors gradually understood that the entire city had been attacked at the same instant. Survivor accounts frequently feature walking through the ruins of the city without a clear sense of where to go, and encountering the cries of people trapped within crushed structures, or people with horrific burns. As the numerous small fires created by the blast began to grow, they merged into a [[firestorm]] that moved quickly throughout the ruins, killing many who had been trapped, and causing people to jump into Hiroshima's rivers in search of sanctuary (many of whom drowned).<ref>{{cite book |last=Hersey |first=John |title=Hiroshima |year=1946 |publisher=Knopf}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Unforgettable fire: Pictures drawn by atomic bomb survivors |editor=Japan Broadcasting Corporation |publisher=Pantheon Books |year=1977}}</ref> The photographer [[Yoshito Matsushige]] took the only photographs of Hiroshima immediately after the bombing. He described in a later interview that, immediately after the bombing, "everywhere there was dust; it made a grayish darkness over everything." He took five photographs in total before he could not continue: "It was really a terrible scene. It was just like something out of hell."<ref>{{cite book |title=At Work in the Fields of the Bomb |last=Del Tredici |first=Robert |publisher=Harper and Row |year=1987 |pages=187–189}}</ref> Survivor accounts also prominently feature cases of survivors who appeared uninjured, but who would succumb within hours or days to what would later be identified as [[radiation sickness]].
The exact number of people killed by the blast, firestorm, and radiation effects of the bombing are unknown. Difficulty in coming up with a correct figure is due to the imprecise record-keeping during the war, the chaos caused by the attack, lack of agreement on how many people were in the city on the morning of the attack, and uncertainty in methodology. Reports by the Manhattan Project in 1946 and the U.S. occupation–led Joint Commission for the Investigation of the Atomic Bomb in Japan in 1951 estimated 66,000 dead and 69,000 injured, and 64,500 dead and 72,000 injured, respectively, while Japanese-led reconsiderations of the death toll in the 1970s estimated 140,000 dead in Hiroshima by the end of the year.<ref name=":0" /> Estimates also vary on the number of Japanese military personnel killed. The [[United States Strategic Bombing Survey]] estimated in 1946 that there were 24,158 soldiers present in Hiroshima at the time of the attack, and that 6,789 were killed or missing as a result; the 1970s reconsiderations estimated about 10,000 military dead.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last=Wellerstein |first=Alex |author-link=Alex Wellerstein |title=Counting the dead at Hiroshima and Nagasaki |journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists |date=4 August 2020 |url=https://thebulletin.org/2020/08/counting-the-dead-at-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/ |ref=none}}</ref> A modern estimate by the [[Radiation Effects Research Foundation]] (RERF) estimates a city population of 340,000 to 350,000 at the time of the bombing, of which 90,000 to 166,000 died by the end of the year.<ref name="rerf-deaths" />
U.S. surveys estimated that {{convert|4.7|sqmi|km2|disp=flip|abbr=on}} of the city were destroyed. Japanese officials determined that 69 percent of Hiroshima's buildings were destroyed and another 6 to 7 percent damaged.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web |publisher=Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. |title=U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 19 June 1946. President's Secretary's File, Truman Papers. |url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/documents/index.php?pagenumber=14&documentid=65 |page=9 |access-date=23 January 2016 |archive-date=1 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201065836/http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/documents/index.php?pagenumber=14&documentid=65 }}</ref> Some of the reinforced concrete buildings in Hiroshima had been very strongly constructed because of the earthquake danger in Japan, and their framework did not collapse even though they were fairly close to the blast center. Since the bomb detonated in the air, the blast was directed more downward than sideways, which was largely responsible for the survival of the [[Hiroshima Peace Memorial|Prefectural Industrial Promotional Hall]], now commonly known as the ''Genbaku'' (A-bomb) dome, which was only {{convert|150|m|ft|abbr=on}} from [[ground zero]] (the [[hypocenter]])<!--Hypocenter (as in "Nagasaki Hypocenter Monument") means below-center and is appropriate, being at ground level. In seismology, epicenter would be the right term.-->. The ruin was named ''Hiroshima Peace Memorial'' and was made a UNESCO [[World Heritage Site]] in 1996 over the objections of the United States and China, which expressed reservations on the grounds that other Asian nations were the ones who suffered the greatest loss of life and property, and a focus on Japan lacked historical perspective.<ref>{{cite web| title=Statements by China and the United States of America during the Inscription of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) |publisher=[[UNESCO]] |url=https://whc.unesco.org/archive/repco96x.htm#annex5 | access-date=6 August 2005 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050829222745/https://whc.unesco.org/archive/repco96x.htm| archive-date=29 August 2005 | url-status=live}}</ref>
{{Gallery |title=Hiroshima bombing |width=130 |height=200 |align=center
|File:Hiroshima aftermath.jpg|Hiroshima in the aftermath of the bombing|alt1=A devastated area very similar to the one of Tokyo above
|File:Hiroshima after the Atom Bomb Strike 1945 taken by sailors of USS Tuscaloosa - Clean and Colored.jpg|Ruins of Hiroshima
|File:Hiroshima Dome 1945.gif|The [[Hiroshima Peace Memorial|Hiroshima Genbaku Dome]] after the bombing|alt4=A burned out domed building surrounded by rubble
|File:The patient's skin is burned in a pattern corresponding to the dark portions of a kimono - NARA - 519686.jpg|The pattern of the [[kimono]] worn by a survivor burned into her skin in tight-fitting areas.|alt5=A woman's back, with chequered-shaped burns
|File:4866937274 e3e7aff26e b BrûluresRadiations.jpg|Direct, [[ablation|thermal flash burns]]
|File:Victim of Atomic Bomb 003.jpg|22-year old victim Toyoko Kugata being treated at the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital (6 October 1945)
|File:Hiroshima Atomic Bombing Photo Newly Discovered.jpg|A photograph of the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima
|File:21-01-198-hiroshima.jpg|Memorial at [[Andersonville National Historic Site|Andersonville NHS]] for the American airmen who died in the blast|File:An atomic bomb victim with burns - 1 - Ninoshima Quarantine Office - 7 August 1945 - Onuka Masami.png|A victim with burns
|File:An atomic bomb victim with whole body burned - 2 - Ninoshima Quarantine Office - 7 August 1945 - Onuka Masami.png|A victim with whole body burns
|File:An atomic bomb victim with whole body burned - 1 - Ninoshima Quarantine Office - 7 August 1945 - Onuka Masami.png|A victim with whole body burns
|File:An atomic bomb victim with burns - 2 - Ninoshima Quarantine Office - 7 August 1945 - Onuka Masami.png|Victim with burns on her back
|File:Corpse at the Western Parade Ground near Hiroshima Castle - 2 - Hiroshima City - 10 August 1945 - Nakata Satsuo (Dōmei News Agency).png|Corpse near the Western Parade Ground
|File:Mobilized school girl suffered burns to face, Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital.jpg|A mobilized school girl suffered burns to face
|File:Elder sister and younger brother who lost their hair by aftereffects of atomic bomb - October 1945 - Kikuchi Shunkichi.png|Elder sister and younger brother who suffered radiation disease. The brother died in 1949 and the sister in 1965.
}}
[[File:Pyrocumulonimbus cloud over Hiroshima, near local noon. Aug 6 1945.jpg|thumb|left|For decades this photo was misidentified as the [[mushroom cloud]] of the bomb that formed at c. 08:16.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/levine/bombing.htm |title=A Photo-Essay on the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki |publisher=[[University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign]] |access-date=4 December 2016 }}</ref><ref name="The Hiroshima Mushroom Cloud That Wasn't">{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/24/science/hiroshima-atomic-bomb-mushroom-cloud.html |title=The Hiroshima Mushroom Cloud That Wasn't |first=William J. |last=Broad |date=23 May 2016 |access-date=4 December 2016}}</ref> However, due to its much greater height, the scene was identified in March 2016 as the [[Pyrocumulonimbus cloud|firestorm-cloud]] that engulfed the city,<ref name="The Hiroshima Mushroom Cloud That Wasn't" /> some three hours after the bombing.{{sfn|Toon|Turco|Robock|Bardeen|2007|p=1994}}]]
The air raid warning had been cleared at 07:31, and many people were outside, going about their activities.{{sfn|Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation|2003|p=14}} Eizō Nomura was the closest known survivor, being in the basement of a reinforced concrete building (it remained as the ''[[Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park#Rest House|Rest House]]'' after the war) only {{convert|170|m|ft|sp=us}} from ground zero at the time of the attack.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/virtual/VirtualMuseum_e/exhibit_e/exh0203_e/exh02033_e.html|title=Special Exhibit 3|publisher=[[Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum]]|access-date=30 August 2010|archive-date=19 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180419075520/http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/virtual/VirtualMuseum_e/exhibit_e/exh0203_e/exh02033_e.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geocities.jp/cato1963/kinganE.html |title=A Short-Sighted Parrot |author=Kato, Toru |publisher=[[GeoCities|Geocities.jp]] |date=4 June 1999 |access-date=25 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090309160606/http://www.geocities.jp/cato1963/kinganE.html |archive-date=9 March 2009 }}</ref> He died in 1982, aged 84.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Asia-Pacific Journal |volume=7 |issue=3 |first=Elin O'Hara |last=Slavick |url=http://www.japanfocus.org/-elin_o_Hara-slavick/3196 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090909230516/http://japanfocus.org/-elin_o_Hara-slavick/3196 |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 September 2009 |title=Hiroshima: A Visual Record |date=27 July 2009 |access-date=21 April 2013}} </ref> Akiko Takakura was among the closest survivors to the hypocenter of the blast. She was in the solidly-built Bank of Hiroshima only {{convert|300|m|ft|sp=us}} from ground-zero at the time of the attack.<ref>{{cite web| title=Testimony of Akiko Takakura |url=http://www.inicom.com/hibakusha/akiko.html |work=transcript from the video Hiroshima Witness produced by the Hiroshima Peace Cultural Center and NHK |publisher=Atomic Archive | access-date=30 April 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070416134051/http://www.inicom.com/hibakusha/akiko.html | archive-date=16 April 2007 | url-status=live}}</ref>
Over 90 percent of the doctors and 93 percent of the nurses in Hiroshima were killed or injured—most had been in the downtown area which received the greatest damage.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=[[Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum]] |title=U. S. Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 19 June 1946. President's Secretary's File, Truman Papers. |url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/documents/index.php?pagenumber=12&documentid=65 |page=7 |access-date=23 January 2016 |archive-date=1 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201035623/http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/documents/index.php?pagenumber=12&documentid=65 }}</ref> The hospitals were destroyed or heavily damaged. Only one doctor, [[Terufumi Sasaki]], remained on duty at the Red Cross Hospital.{{sfn|Ham|2011|p=330}} Nonetheless, by early afternoon the police and volunteers had established evacuation center at hospitals, schools and tram stations, and a morgue was established in the Asano library.{{sfn|Ham|2011|pp=330–331}} Survivors of the blast gathered for medical treatment, but many would die before receiving any help, leaving behind rings of corpses around hospitals.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Blume |first1=Lesley M. M. |title=Fallout: the Hiroshima cover-up and the reporter who revealed it to the world |date=2020 |location=New York |isbn=978-1-982128-51-7 |page=5 |publisher=First Simon & Schuster }}</ref>
Most elements of the Japanese [[Second General Army (Japan)|Second General Army]] headquarters were undergoing physical training on the grounds of [[Hiroshima Castle]], barely {{convert|900|yd|m|disp=flip|sp=us}} from the hypocenter. The attack killed 3,243 troops on the parade ground.{{sfn|Ham|2011|p=325}} The communications room of [[Chūgoku region|Chugoku]] Military District Headquarters that was responsible for issuing and lifting air raid warnings was located in a semi-basement in the castle. Yoshie Oka, a Hijiyama Girls High School student who had been mobilized to serve as a communications officer, had just sent a message that the alarm had been issued for Hiroshima and neighboring [[Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi|Yamaguchi]], when the bomb exploded. She used a special phone to inform [[Fukuyama, Hiroshima|Fukuyama]] Headquarters (some {{convert|100|km|sp=us}} away) that "Hiroshima has been attacked by a new type of bomb. The city is in a state of near-total destruction."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.asahi.com/hibakusha/english/shimen/happened/happened-01.html |title=Memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki |newspaper=The Asahi Shimbun |date=6 August 2005 |access-date=18 March 2014}}</ref>
Since Mayor [[Senkichi Awaya]] had been killed at the mayoral residence, Field Marshal [[Shunroku Hata]], who was only slightly wounded, took over the administration of the city, and coordinated relief efforts. Many of his staff had been killed or fatally wounded, including Lieutenant Colonel [[Yi U]], a prince of the [[House of Yi|Korean imperial family]] who was serving as a General Staff Officer.{{sfn|Thomas|Morgan-Witts|1977|pp=443–444}}<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68935692 |title=Heart of Hiroshima Wiped Out as by Giant Bulldozer |newspaper=[[The Advocate (Tasmania)|Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890–1954)]] |location=Burnie, Tasmania |date=9 August 1945 |access-date=17 September 2013 |page=1 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Hata's senior surviving staff officer was the wounded Colonel [[Kumao Imoto]], who acted as his chief of staff. Soldiers from the undamaged Hiroshima Ujina Harbor used {{sclass|Shin'yō|suicide motorboat|1}}s, intended to repel the American invasion, to collect the wounded and take them down the rivers to the military hospital at Ujina.{{sfn|Thomas|Morgan-Witts|1977|pp=443–444}} Trucks and trains brought in relief supplies and evacuated survivors from the city.{{sfn|Ham|2011|p=333}}
Twelve American airmen were imprisoned at the Chugoku Military Police Headquarters, about {{convert|1300|ft|m|disp=flip|sp=us}} from the hypocenter of the blast.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.allgov.com/news/us-and-the-world/americans-killed-by-atomic-bomb-to-be-honored-in-hiroshima?news=838959 |newspaper=Allgov.com | date=4 June 2009 |access-date=28 December 2012|title=Americans Killed by Atomic Bomb to be Honored in Hiroshima}}</ref> Most died instantly, although two were reported to have been executed by their captors, and two prisoners badly injured by the bombing were left next to the Aioi Bridge by the ''[[Kempei Tai]]'', where they were stoned to death.{{sfn|Thomas|Morgan-Witts|1977|pp=444–445}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/hidden-history-american-pows-were-killed-hiroshima/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218070517/https://www.thenation.com/article/hidden-history-american-pows-were-killed-hiroshima/ |archive-date=18 February 2017 |newspaper=[[The Nation]] |title= Hidden History: American POWS Were Killed in Hiroshima |first=Greg |last=Mitchell |date=5 August 2011 |access-date=24 February 2017}}</ref> Eight U.S. prisoners of war killed as part of the medical experiments program at [[Kyushu University]] were falsely reported by Japanese authorities as having been killed in the atomic blast as part of an attempted cover up.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=185912&dt=2694&dl=2009 |title= Sheryl P. Walter Declassified/Released US Department of State EO Systematic Review 20 Mar 2014 Sheryl P. Walter Declassified/Released US Department of State EO Systematic Review 20 Mar 2014 |publisher=[[National Archives and Records Administration]] |access-date=5 December 2016}}</ref>
The fires created by the atomic bomb detonation carried large amounts of ash into the clouds in the atmosphere. One to two hours after the explosion, a "black rain" fell as a tarry combination of ash, radioactive fallout, and water, causing severe radiation burns in some cases.<ref>{{cite web |title=Black Rain |url=https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/nuclear-weapons/hiroshima/black-rain.html |website=Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Wakatsuki |first1=Jessie Yeung,Yoko |title=Japan recognizes dozens more 'black rain' victims as Hiroshima survivors |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/30/asia/hiroshima-black-rain-verdict-intl-hnk/index.html |work=CNN |date=30 July 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
=== Japanese realization of the bombing ===
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The Tokyo control operator of the [[NHK|Japan Broadcasting Corporation]] noticed that the Hiroshima station had gone off the air. He tried to re-establish his program by using another telephone line, but it too had failed.<ref name="No High Ground">{{harvnb|Knebel|Bailey|1960|pp=175–201}}</ref> About 20 minutes later the Tokyo railroad telegraph center realized that the main line telegraph had stopped working just north of Hiroshima. From some small railway stops within {{convert|16|km|0|abbr=on|}} of the city came unofficial and confused reports of a terrible explosion in Hiroshima. All these reports were transmitted to the headquarters of the [[Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office|Imperial Japanese Army General Staff]].<ref name="Official Report on the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki" />
Military bases repeatedly tried to call the Army Control Station in Hiroshima. The complete silence from that city puzzled the General Staff; they knew that no large enemy raid had occurred and that no sizable store of explosives was in Hiroshima at that time. A young officer was instructed to fly immediately to Hiroshima, to land, survey the damage, and return to Tokyo with reliable information for the staff. It was felt that nothing serious had taken place and that the explosion was just a rumor.<ref name="Official Report on the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki">{{cite web| title=The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki |author=Manhattan Engineer District |publisher=Trinity Atomic |date=29 June 1946 |url=http://www.abomb1.org/hiroshim/hiro_med.html |access-date=10 January 2013 }}</ref>
The staff officer went to the airport and took off for the southwest. After flying for about three hours, while still nearly {{convert|160|km|-1|abbr=on}} from Hiroshima, he and his pilot saw a great cloud of smoke from the firestorm created by the bomb. After circling the city to survey the damage they landed south of the city, where the staff officer, after reporting to Tokyo, began to organize relief measures. Tokyo learned that the city had been destroyed by a new type of bomb from President Truman's announcement of the strike, sixteen hours later.<ref name="Official Report on the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki" />
== Events of 7–9 August ==
{{See also|Mokusatsu}}
{{Listen|filename=Trumann hiroshima.ogg|title=Truman talks about the bombing of Hiroshima|description=President Truman talks about the bombing of Hiroshima, which he describes as "a military base", after his return from the [[Potsdam Conference]].|type=speech}}
After the Hiroshima bombing, Truman issued a statement announcing the use of the new weapon. He stated, "We may be grateful to Providence" that [[German nuclear weapon project|the German atomic bomb project]] had failed, and that the United States and its allies had "spent two billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history—and won". Truman then warned Japan: "If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such numbers and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/index.php?pid=100 |title=Statement by the President Announcing the Use of the A-Bomb at Hiroshima |date=6 August 1945 |publisher=[[Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum]] |access-date=2 April 2015 |archive-date=12 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190612215224/https://www.trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/index.php?pid=100 }}</ref> This was a widely broadcast speech picked up by Japanese news agencies.{{sfn|United States Department of State|1960|pages=1376–1377}}
The 50,000-watt [[AM radio|standard wave]] station on [[Saipan]], the [[United States Office of War Information|OWI]] [[radio station]], broadcast a similar message to Japan every 15 minutes about Hiroshima, stating that more Japanese cities would face a similar fate in the absence of immediate acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and emphatically urged civilians to evacuate major cities. [[Radio Japan]], which continued to extoll victory for Japan by never surrendering<ref name="The Information War in the Pacific" /> had informed the Japanese of the destruction of Hiroshima by a single bomb.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atomicheritage.org/key-documents/warning-leaflets |title=Warning Leaflets |publisher=Atomic Heritage Foundation |access-date=5 December 2016}}</ref>
Soviet Foreign Minister [[Vyacheslav Molotov]] had informed Tokyo of the Soviet Union's unilateral abrogation of the [[Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact]] on 5 April.{{sfn|Hasegawa|2006|p=46}} At two minutes past midnight on 9 August, [[Japan Standard Time|Tokyo time]], Soviet infantry, armor, and air forces had launched the [[Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation]].{{sfn|Slavinskiĭ|2004|pp=153–154}} Four hours later, word reached Tokyo of the Soviet Union's official declaration of war. The senior leadership of the Japanese Army began preparations to impose [[martial law]] on the nation, with the support of Minister of War [[Korechika Anami]], to stop anyone attempting to make peace.{{sfn|Frank|1999|pp=288–289}}
On 7 August, a day after Hiroshima was destroyed, [[Yoshio Nishina]] and other atomic physicists arrived at the city, and carefully examined the damage. They then went back to Tokyo and told the cabinet that Hiroshima was indeed destroyed by a nuclear weapon. Admiral [[Soemu Toyoda]], the Chief of the Naval General Staff, estimated that no more than one or two additional bombs could be readied, so they decided to endure the remaining attacks, acknowledging "there would be more destruction but the war would go on".{{sfn|Hoyt|2001|p=401}} American [[Magic (cryptography)|Magic codebreakers]] intercepted the cabinet's messages.{{sfn|Frank|1999|pp=283–284}}
Purnell, Parsons, Tibbets, Spaatz, and LeMay met on Guam that same day to discuss what should be done next.{{sfn|Russ|1990|pp=64–65}} Since there was no indication of Japan surrendering,{{sfn|Frank|1999|pp=283–284}} they decided to proceed with dropping another bomb. Parsons said that [[Project Alberta]] would have it ready by 11 August, but Tibbets pointed to weather reports indicating poor flying conditions on that day due to a storm, and asked if the bomb could be readied by 9 August. Parsons agreed to try to do so.{{sfn|Groves|1962|p=342}}{{sfn|Russ|1990|pp=64–65}}
== Nagasaki ==
=== Nagasaki during World War II ===
[[File:Nagasaki mission crew.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Bockscar]]'' and its crew, who dropped a [[Fat Man]] atomic bomb on Nagasaki|alt=Formal picture of ten men in uniform. The five standing are wearing ties, and all but one of the ten wears a peaked cap or garrison cap.]]
The city of Nagasaki had been one of the largest seaports in southern Japan, and was of great wartime importance because of its wide-ranging industrial activity, including the production of [[wikt:ordnance|ordnance]], ships, military equipment, and other war materials. The four largest companies in the city were [[Mitsubishi]] Shipyards, Electrical Shipyards, Arms Plant, and Steel and Arms Works, which employed about 90 percent of the city's labor force, and accounted for 90 percent of the city's industry.<ref name="Nagasaki" /> Although an important industrial city, Nagasaki had been spared from firebombing because its geography made it difficult to locate at night with [[AN/APQ-13]] radar.{{sfn|Frank|1999|p=263}}
Unlike the other target cities, Nagasaki had not been placed off limits to bombers by the Joint Chiefs of Staff's 3 July directive,{{sfn|Frank|1999|p=263}}{{sfn|Groves|1962|p=309}} and was bombed on a small scale five times. During one of these raids on 1 August, a number of conventional high-explosive bombs were dropped on the city. A few hit the shipyards and dock areas in the southwest portion of the city, and several hit the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works.<ref name="Nagasaki">{{cite web |publisher=Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. |title=U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 19 June 1946. President's Secretary's File, Truman Papers. |url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/documents/index.php?pagenumber=15&documentid=65&documentdate=June%2019,%201946&studycollectionid=abomb |page=15 |access-date=21 December 2012 |archive-date=5 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105222419/https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/documents/index.php?pagenumber=15&documentid=65&documentdate=June%252019,%25201946&studycollectionid=abomb }}</ref> By early August, the city was defended by the 134th Anti-Aircraft Regiment of the 4th Anti-Aircraft Division with four batteries of {{convert|7|cm|in|abbr=on}} anti-aircraft guns and two [[searchlight]] batteries.{{sfn|Zaloga|Noon|2010|p=59}}
[[File:Nagasaki Harbor looking east, August 1, 1945.jpg|alt=A photo of the harbor at Nagasaki in August 1945 before the city was hit with the atomic bomb|thumb|The harbor at Nagasaki in August 1945 before the city was hit with the atomic bomb]]
In contrast to Hiroshima, almost all of the buildings were of old-fashioned Japanese construction, consisting of timber or timber-framed buildings with timber walls (with or without plaster) and tile roofs. Many of the smaller industries and business establishments were also situated in buildings of timber or other materials not designed to withstand explosions. Nagasaki had been permitted to grow for many years without conforming to any definite city zoning plan; residences were erected adjacent to factory buildings and to each other almost as closely as possible throughout the entire industrial valley. On the day of the bombing, an estimated 263,000 people were in Nagasaki, including 240,000 Japanese residents, 10,000 Korean residents, 2,500 conscripted Korean workers, 9,000 Japanese soldiers, 600 conscripted Chinese workers, and 400 Allied prisoners of war in a camp to the north of Nagasaki.{{sfn|Thomas|Morgan-Witts|1977|pp=353–354}}
=== Bombing of Nagasaki ===
[[File:Bockscar and a nuclear weapon painted to resemble the Fat Man bomb.jpg|thumb|The ''Bockscar'' B-29 and a post war Mk III nuclear weapon painted to resemble the Fat Man bomb, at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio]]
Responsibility for the timing of the second bombing was delegated to Tibbets. Scheduled for 11 August, the raid was moved earlier by two days to avoid a five-day period of bad weather forecast to begin on 10 August.{{sfn|Sherwin|2003|pp=233–234}} Three bomb pre-assemblies had been transported to Tinian, labeled F-31, F-32, and F-33 on their exteriors. On 8 August, a dress rehearsal was conducted off Tinian by Sweeney using ''[[Bockscar]]''<!-- yes, it is "Bockscar" not "Bock's Car". This is ''not'' a typo! --> as the drop airplane. Assembly F-33 was expended testing the components and F-31 was designated for the 9 August mission.{{sfn|Campbell|2005|p=114}}
{| style="margin:auto; float:none;" class="wikitable"
|+'''Special Mission 16, secondary target Nagasaki, 9 August 1945'''{{sfn|Campbell|2005|p=32}}
|-
!align=center |Aircraft !! Pilot!! Call sign!! Mission role
|-
| ''[[Enola Gay]]'' || Captain George W. Marquardt|| Dimples 82 ||Weather reconnaissance (Kokura)
|- style="background:#eee;"
| ''[[Laggin' Dragon (B-29)|Laggin' Dragon]]''|| Captain Charles F. McKnight || Dimples 95 || Weather reconnaissance (Nagasaki)
|-
| ''[[Bockscar]]'' || Major [[Charles Sweeney|Charles W. Sweeney]] || Dimples 77 || Weapon delivery
|- style="background:#eee;"
| ''[[The Great Artiste]]'' || Captain [[Frederick C. Bock]]|| Dimples 89 || Blast measurement instrumentation
|-
| ''[[Big Stink (B-29)|Big Stink]]'' || Major James I. Hopkins, Jr. || Dimples 90 || Strike observation and photography
|- style="background:#eee;"
| ''[[Full House (airplane)|Full House]]'' || Major Ralph R. Taylor || Dimples 83 || Strike spare&nbsp;– did not complete mission
|}
At 03:47 Tinian time (GMT+10), 02:47 Japanese time,<ref name="SM19">{{cite web |url=https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/hiroshima-and-nagasaki-bombing-timeline| title=Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombing Timeline| publisher=The Atomic Heritage Foundation| access-date=9 August 2020}}</ref> on the morning of 9 August 1945, ''Bockscar''<!-- yes, it is "Bockscar" not "Bock's Car". This is ''not'' a typo! -->, flown by Sweeney's crew, lifted off from [[Tinian]] island with the Fat Man, with Kokura as the primary target and Nagasaki the secondary target. The mission plan for the second attack was nearly identical to that of the Hiroshima mission, with two B-29s flying an hour ahead as weather scouts and two additional B-29s in Sweeney's flight for instrumentation and photographic support of the mission. Sweeney took off with his weapon already armed but with the electrical safety plugs still engaged.<ref name="SM16">{{cite web| url=http://www.mphpa.org/classic/HISTORY/H-07m1.htm| title=Timeline #3- the 509th; The Nagasaki Mission| publisher=The Atomic Heritage Foundation| access-date=5 May 2007| archive-date=11 February 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211223406/http://www.mphpa.org/classic/HISTORY/H-07m1.htm}}</ref>
During pre-flight inspection of ''Bockscar'', the flight engineer notified Sweeney that an inoperative fuel transfer pump made it impossible to use {{convert|640|USgal|L|disp=flip|sp=us}} of fuel carried in a reserve tank. This fuel would still have to be carried all the way to Japan and back, consuming still more fuel. Replacing the pump would take hours; moving the Fat Man to another aircraft might take just as long and was dangerous as well, as the bomb was live. Tibbets and Sweeney therefore elected to have ''Bockscar'' continue the mission.{{sfn|Sweeney|Antonucci|Antonucci|1997|pp=204–205}}<ref name="The Story of Nagasaki">{{cite web |url=http://www.hiroshima-remembered.com/history/nagasaki/page3.html |access-date=29 March 2013 |title=The Story of Nagasaki}}</ref>
[[File:Nagasaki 1945 - Before and after.jpg|thumb|left|Nagasaki before and after the bombing, after the fires had burned out|alt=The before image looks like a city. In the after image, everything has been obliterated and it is recognisable as the same area only by the rivers running through it, which form an island in the centre of the photographs.]]
This time Penney and Cheshire were allowed to accompany the mission, flying as observers on the third plane, ''[[Big Stink (B-29)|Big Stink]]'', flown by the group's operations officer, Major James I. Hopkins, Jr. Observers aboard the weather planes reported both targets clear. When Sweeney's aircraft arrived at the assembly point for his flight off the coast of Japan, ''Big Stink'' failed to make the rendezvous.<ref name="SM16" /> According to Cheshire, Hopkins was at varying heights including {{convert|9000|ft|m|disp=flip|sp=us}} higher than he should have been, and was not flying tight circles over [[Yakushima]] as previously agreed with Sweeney and Captain [[Frederick C. Bock]], who was piloting the support B-29 ''The Great Artiste''. Instead, Hopkins was flying {{convert|40|mi|km|disp=flip|adj=on|sp=us}} dogleg patterns.{{sfn|Sweeney|Antonucci|Antonucci|1997|p=212}} Though ordered not to circle longer than fifteen minutes, Sweeney continued to wait for ''Big Stink'' for forty minutes. Before leaving the rendezvous point, Sweeney consulted Ashworth, who was in charge of the bomb. As commander of the aircraft, Sweeney made the decision to proceed to the primary, the city of Kokura.{{sfn|Sweeney|Antonucci|Antonucci|1997|p=211}}
After exceeding the original departure time limit by nearly a half-hour, ''Bockscar'', accompanied by ''The Great Artiste'', proceeded to Kokura, thirty minutes away. The delay at the rendezvous had resulted in clouds and drifting smoke over Kokura from fires started by a major firebombing raid by 224 B-29s on nearby [[Yahata, Fukuoka|Yahata]] the previous day.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mic.com/articles/95204/the-untold-story-of-how-japanese-steel-workers-saved-their-city-from-the-atomic-bomb|title=The Untold Story of How Japanese Steel Workers Saved Their City From the Atomic Bomb|first=Sophie|last=Kleeman|website=Mic|date=29 July 2014 }}</ref> Additionally, the Yahata Steel Works intentionally burned [[coal tar]], to produce black smoke.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mainichi.jp/english/english/features/news/20140726p2a00m0na014000c.html| title=Steel mill worker reveals blocking view of U.S. aircraft on day of Nagasaki atomic bombing| work=Mainichi Weekly| date=23 November 2015| access-date=23 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151122171430/http://mainichi.jp/english/english/features/news/20140726p2a00m0na014000c.html|archive-date=22 November 2015}}</ref> The clouds and smoke resulted in 70 percent of the area over Kokura being covered, obscuring the aiming point. Three bomb runs were made over the next 50 minutes, burning fuel and exposing the aircraft repeatedly to the heavy defenses around Kokura, but the bombardier was unable to drop visually. By the time of the third bomb run, Japanese anti-aircraft fire was getting close, and Second Lieutenant [[Jacob Beser]], who was monitoring Japanese communications, reported activity on the Japanese fighter direction radio bands.{{sfn|Sweeney|Antonucci|Antonucci|1997|pp=213–215}}
With fuel running low because of the failed fuel pump, ''Bockscar'' and ''The Great Artiste'' headed for their secondary target, Nagasaki.<ref name="SM16" /> Fuel consumption calculations made en route indicated that ''Bockscar'' had insufficient fuel to reach Iwo Jima and would be forced to divert to [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]], which had become entirely Allied-occupied territory [[Battle of Okinawa#Southern Okinawa|only six weeks earlier]]. After initially deciding that if Nagasaki were obscured on their arrival the crew would carry the bomb to Okinawa and dispose of it in the ocean if necessary, Ashworth agreed with Sweeney's suggestion that a radar approach would be used if the target was obscured.<ref name="Spitzer">{{cite web|url=http://www.mphpa.org/classic/COLLECTIONS/CG-ASPI/01/Pages/CGP-ASPI-025.htm| title=Spitzer Personal Diary Page 25 (CGP-ASPI-025)| publisher=The Atomic Heritage Foundation| access-date=5 May 2007}}</ref>{{sfn|Sweeney|Antonucci|Antonucci|1997|pp=216–217}} At about 07:50 Japanese time, an air raid alert was sounded in Nagasaki, but the "all clear" signal was given at 08:30. When only two B-29 Superfortresses were sighted at 10:53 Japanese Time (GMT+9), the Japanese apparently assumed that the planes were only on reconnaissance and no further alarm was given.{{sfn|Chun|2008|p=70}}
A few minutes later at 11:00 Japanese Time, ''The Great Artiste'' dropped instruments attached to three parachutes. These instruments also contained an unsigned letter to Professor Ryokichi Sagane, a physicist at the [[University of Tokyo]] who studied with three of the scientists responsible for the atomic bomb at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], urging him to tell the public about the danger involved with these [[weapons of mass destruction]]. The messages were found by military authorities but not turned over to Sagane until a month later.{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=295}} In 1949, one of the authors of the letter, [[Luis Walter Alvarez|Luis Alvarez]], met with Sagane and signed the letter.<ref name="Stories from Riken">{{cite web|url=http://www.riken.jp/r-world/info/release/riken88/text/image/pdf/no09e.pdf| title=Stories from Riken | access-date=30 April 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120610165712/http://www.riken.jp/r-world/info/release/riken88/text/image/pdf/no09e.pdf |archive-date=10 June 2012 |publisher=[[Riken]] }}</ref>
At 11:01 Japanese Time, a last-minute break in the clouds over Nagasaki allowed ''Bockscar''{{-'}}s bombardier, Captain [[Kermit Beahan]], to visually sight the target as ordered. The Fat Man weapon, containing a core of about {{convert|5|kg|abbr=on}} of [[plutonium]], was dropped over the city's industrial valley. It exploded 47 seconds later at 11:02 Japanese Time<ref name="SM19" /> at {{convert|1650|±|33|ft|m|0|disp=flip|abbr=on|sp=us}}, above a tennis court,{{sfn|Kerr et al|2005|pp=43, 46}} halfway between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works in the south and the Nagasaki Arsenal in the north. This was nearly {{convert|3|km|abbr=on}} northwest of the planned hypocenter; the blast was confined to the [[Urakami|Urakami Valley]] and a major portion of the city was protected by the intervening hills.{{sfn|Wainstock|1996|p=92}} The resulting explosion released the equivalent energy of {{convert|21|±|2|ktonTNT|abbr=on}}.{{sfn|Kerr et al|2005|pp=42–43}} ''Big Stink'' spotted the explosion from {{convert|100|mi|km|disp=flip|sp=us}} away, and flew over to observe.{{sfn|Groves|1962|p=346}}
[[File:UrakamiTenshudoJan1946.jpg|thumb|right|The bomb destroyed the Roman Catholic [[Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Nagasaki|Urakami Tenshudo Church]] ]]
''Bockscar'' flew on to Okinawa, arriving with only sufficient fuel for a single approach. Sweeney tried repeatedly to contact the control tower for landing clearance, but received no answer. He could see heavy air traffic landing and taking off from [[Yontan Airfield]]. Firing off every flare on board to alert the field to his emergency landing, the ''Bockscar'' came in fast, landing at {{convert|140|mph|km/h|disp=flip|abbr=on}} instead of the normal {{convert|120|mph|km/h|disp=flip|sp=us}}. The number two engine died from fuel starvation as he began the final approach. Touching down on only three engines midway down the landing strip, ''Bockscar'' bounced up into the air again for about {{convert|25|ft|m|disp=flip|sp=us}} before slamming back down hard. The heavy B-29 slewed left and towards a row of parked B-24 bombers before the pilots managed to regain control. Its reversible propellers were insufficient to slow the aircraft adequately, and with both pilots standing on the brakes, ''Bockscar'' made a swerving 90-degree turn at the end of the runway to avoid running off it. A second engine died from fuel exhaustion before the plane came to a stop.{{sfn|Sweeney|Antonucci|Antonucci|1997|pp=222–226}}
Following the mission, there was confusion over the identification of the plane. The first eyewitness account by war correspondent [[William L. Laurence]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'', who accompanied the mission aboard the aircraft piloted by Bock, reported that Sweeney was leading the mission in ''The Great Artiste''. He also noted its "Victor" number as 77, which was that of ''Bockscar''.<ref name="Eyewitness">{{cite web |url=http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/Hiroshima/Nagasaki.shtml |last=Laurence |first=William L.|author-link=William Laurence |title=Eyewitness Account of Atomic Bomb Over Nagasaki |publisher=Atomic Archive |access-date=28 March 2013}}</ref> Laurence had interviewed Sweeney and his crew, and was aware that they referred to their airplane as ''The Great Artiste''. Except for ''Enola Gay'', none of the 393d's B-29s had yet had names painted on the noses, a fact which Laurence himself noted in his account. Unaware of the switch in aircraft, Laurence assumed Victor 77 was ''The Great Artiste'',{{sfn|Campbell|2005|p=222}} which was in fact, Victor 89.{{sfn|Campbell|2005|p=184}}
{{anchor|Events on the ground Nagasaki}}
=== Events on the ground ===
Although the bomb was more powerful than the one used on Hiroshima, its effects were confined by hillsides to the narrow [[Urakami Valley]].{{sfn|Ham|2011|p=367}} Of 7,500 Japanese employees who worked inside the Mitsubishi Munitions plant, including "mobilized" students and regular workers, 6,200 were killed. Some 17,000–22,000 others who worked in other war plants and factories in the city died as well.{{sfn|Sklar|1984|pp=56–60}} The 1946 Manhattan Project report estimated 39,000 dead and 25,000 injured, and the 1951 U.S.-led Joint Commission report estimated 39,214 dead and 25,153 injured; Japanese-led reconsiderations in the 1970s estimated 70,000 dead in Nagasaki by the end of the year.<ref name=":0" /> A modern estimate by the [[Radiation Effects Research Foundation]] (RERF) estimates a city population of 250,000 to 270,000 at the time of the bombing, of which 60,000 to 80,000 died by the end of the year.<ref name="rerf-deaths" />
[[File:Nagasaki - person burned.jpg|thumb|[[Yōsuke Yamahata]] photographed this child incinerated in Nagasaki. American forces censored such images in Japan until 1952.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.noorderlicht.com/en/archive/yosuke-yamahata/|title=Yosuke Yamahata|website=noorderlicht.com|language=en|access-date=25 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180226032919/http://www.noorderlicht.com/en/archive/yosuke-yamahata/|archive-date=26 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dukenex.us/a-veiled-truth-the-us-censorship-of-the-atomic-bomb.html|title=A Veiled Truth: The U.S. Censorship of the Atomic Bomb|website=Duke East Asia Nexus|language=en|access-date=25 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180226032436/http://www.dukenex.us/a-veiled-truth-the-us-censorship-of-the-atomic-bomb.html|archive-date=26 February 2018}}</ref>]]
Unlike Hiroshima's military death toll, only 150 Japanese soldiers were killed instantly, including 36 from the 134th AAA Regiment of the 4th AAA Division.{{sfn|Zaloga|Noon|2010|p=59}} At least eight Allied [[prisoners of war]] (POWs) died from the bombing, and as many as thirteen may have died. The eight confirmed deaths included a British POW, [[Royal Air Force]] Corporal [[Ronald Shaw]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2005/06/25/national/nagasaki-memorial-adds-british-pow-as-a-bomb-victim/ |title=Nagasaki memorial adds British POW as A-bomb victim |newspaper=[[Japan Times]] |date=25 June 2005 |access-date=9 January 2009}}</ref> and seven Dutch POWs.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/news/nn08-2005/nn20050805a7.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051220095835/http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/news/nn08-2005/nn20050805a7.htm |archive-date=20 December 2005 |title=Two Dutch POWs join Nagasaki bomb victim list|newspaper=[[Japan Times]] |date=5 August 2005 |access-date=9 January 2009}}</ref> One American POW, [[Joe Kieyoomia]], was in Nagasaki at the time of the bombing but survived, reportedly having been shielded from the effects of the bomb by the concrete walls of his cell.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thepeoplespaths.net/articles/navcode.htm |title=How Effective Was Navajo Code? One Former Captive Knows |newspaper=News from Indian Country |access-date=15 September 2013 |date=August 1997}}</ref> There were 24 Australian POWs in Nagasaki, all of whom survived.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article972178 |title=POW's Remarkable Escapes in Nagasaki |newspaper=[[The Argus (Australia)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=19 September 1945 |access-date=22 February 2014 |page=20 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
The radius of total destruction was about {{convert|1|mi|km|disp=flip|abbr=on}}, followed by fires across the northern portion of the city to {{convert|2|mi|km|disp=flip|abbr=on}} south of the bomb.<ref name="web.archive.org DNATR805512F" /><ref name="pd">{{cite news|url=http://english.people.com.cn/200508/10/eng20050810_201424.html|title=Nagasaki marks tragic anniversary|newspaper=[[People's Daily]]|date=10 August 2005|access-date=14 April 2007}}</ref> About 58 percent of the Mitsubishi Arms Plant was damaged, and about 78 percent of the Mitsubishi Steel Works. The Mitsubishi Electric Works suffered only 10 percent structural damage as it was on the border of the main destruction zone. The Nagasaki Arsenal was destroyed in the blast.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. |title=U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 19 June 1946. President's Secretary's File, Truman Papers. |url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/documents/index.php?pagenumber=19&documentid=65&documentdate=June%2019,%201946 |page=19 |access-date=23 January 2016 |archive-date=5 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105205048/https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/documents/index.php?pagenumber=19&documentid=65&documentdate=June%252019,%25201946 }}</ref> Although many fires likewise burnt following the bombing, in contrast to Hiroshima where sufficient [[firestorm|fuel density]] was available, no [[firestorm]] developed in Nagasaki as the damaged areas did not furnish enough fuel to generate the phenomenon. Instead, ambient wind pushed the fire spread along the valley.{{sfn|Glasstone|Dolan|1977|p=304}} Had the bomb been dropped more precisely at the intended aiming point, which was downtown Nagasaki at the heart of the historic district, the destruction to medical and administrative infrastructure would have been even greater.<ref name=peacenagasaki />
As in Hiroshima, the bombing badly dislocated the city's medical facilities. A makeshift hospital was established at the Shinkozen Primary School, which served as the main medical center. The trains were still running, and evacuated many victims to hospitals in nearby towns. A medical team from a naval hospital reached the city in the evening, and fire-fighting brigades from the neighboring towns assisted in fighting the fires.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nagasakipeace.jp/english/record/photo/part_2_09.html |title=Rescue and Relief Activities &#124; 長崎市 平和・原爆 |publisher=City of Nagasaki |access-date=29 January 2018 }}</ref> [[Takashi Nagai]] was a doctor working in the radiology department of Nagasaki Medical College Hospital. He received a serious injury that severed his right temporal artery, but joined the rest of the surviving medical staff in treating bombing victims.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nagasakipeace.jp/english/record/photo/part_2_10.html |title=The Achievements of Dr. Takashi Nagai &#124; 長崎市 平和・原爆 |publisher=City of Nagasaki |access-date=29 January 2018 }}</ref>
The atomic bomb explosion generated a windstorm several kilometers wide that carried ash, dust, and debris over the mountain ranges surrounding Nagasaki. Approximately 20 minutes after the bombing, a black rain with the consistency of mud or oil came down carrying radioactive material for one to two hours before turning clear.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Damage Records {{!}} Part1 {{!}} Chapter1 |url=https://www.peace-nagasaki.go.jp/abombrecords/b020105.html |website=www.peace-nagasaki.go.jp}}</ref>
== Plans for more atomic attacks on Japan ==
{{main|Third Shot}}
[[File:Memorandum from Major General Leslie Groves to Army Chief of Staff George Marshall.jpg|thumb|upright|Memorandum from Leslie Groves to George C. Marshall regarding the third bomb, with Marshall's hand-written caveat that the third bomb not be used without express presidential instruction]]
There were plans for further attacks on Japan following Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Groves expected to have another "Fat Man" atomic bomb ready for use on 19 August, with three more in September and a further three in October.<ref name="Generals" /> A second Little Boy bomb (using U-235) would not be available until December 1945.{{sfn|Nichols|1987|pp=175, 203, 224}}{{sfn|Rhodes|1986|p=689}} On 10 August, he sent a memorandum to Marshall in which he wrote that "the next bomb&nbsp;... should be ready for delivery on the first suitable weather after August 17 or 18." The memo today contains hand-written comment written by Marshall: "It is not to be released over Japan without express authority from the President."<ref name="Generals" />
At the cabinet meeting that morning, Truman discussed these actions. [[James Forrestal]] paraphrased Truman as saying "there will be further dropping of the atomic bomb," while [[Henry A. Wallace]] recorded in his diary that: "Truman said he had given orders to stop atomic bombing. He said the thought of wiping out another 100,000 people was too horrific. He didn't like the idea of killing, as he said, 'all those kids.{{' "}}{{sfn|Rhodes|1986|pp=743}} The previous order that the target cities were to be attacked with atomic bombs "as made ready" was thus modified.{{sfn|Bernstein|1991|pp=149–173}} There was already discussion in the War Department about conserving the bombs then in production for [[Operation Downfall]], and Marshall suggested to Stimson that the remaining cities on the target list be spared attack with atomic bombs.{{sfn|Giangreco|2009|pp=111–112}}
Two more Fat Man assemblies were readied, and scheduled to leave [[Kirtland Field]] for Tinian on 11 and 14 August,{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|pp=396–397}} and Tibbets was ordered by LeMay to return to [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], to collect them.<ref name="PaulTibbets StudsTerkel">{{cite web| url=http://www.avweb.com/news/profiles/PaulTibbets_StudsTerkel_EnolaGayInterview_2002_196499-1.html| title=Paul Tibbets Interview| last=Terkel| first=Studs| author-link=Studs Terkel| publisher=Aviation Publishing Group| date=1 November 2007| access-date=2 January 2012| archive-date=13 August 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813040655/https://www.avweb.com/news/profiles/PaulTibbets_StudsTerkel_EnolaGayInterview_2002_196499-1.html| url-status=dead}}</ref> At Los Alamos, technicians worked 24 hours straight to cast [[Demon core|another plutonium core]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://manhattanprojectvoices.org/oral-histories/lawrence-litzs-interview-2012 |title=Lawrence Litz's Interview (2012) |publisher=Voices of the Manhattan Project |access-date=27 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301064230/https://www.manhattanprojectvoices.org/oral-histories/lawrence-litzs-interview-2012 |archive-date=1 March 2019 }}</ref> Although cast, it still needed to be pressed and coated, which would take until 16 August.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2013/08/16/the-third-cores-revenge/ |title=The Third Core's Revenge |website=nuclearsecrecy.com |first=Alex |last=Wellerstein |date=16 August 2013 |access-date=27 January 2015 }}</ref> Therefore, it could have been ready for use on 19 August. Unable to reach Marshall, Groves ordered on his own authority on 13 August that the core should not be shipped.{{sfn|Bernstein|1991|pp=149–173}}
== Surrender of Japan and subsequent occupation ==
{{Main|Surrender of Japan|Occupation of Japan}}
Until 9 August, Japan's war council still insisted on its four conditions for surrender. The full cabinet met at 14:30 on 9 August, and spent most of the day debating surrender. Anami conceded that victory was unlikely, but argued in favor of continuing the war. The meeting ended at 17:30, with no decision having been reached. Suzuki went to the palace to report on the outcome of the meeting, where he met with [[Kōichi Kido]], the [[Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan]]. Kido informed him that the emperor had agreed to hold an imperial conference, and gave a strong indication that the emperor would consent to surrender on condition that ''[[kokutai]]'' be preserved. A second cabinet meeting was held at 18:00. Only four ministers supported Anami's position of adhering to the four conditions, but since cabinet decisions had to be unanimous, no decision was reached before it ended at 22:00.{{sfn|Hasegawa|2006|pp=207–208}}
Calling an imperial conference required the signatures of the prime minister and the two service chiefs, but the [[Chief Cabinet Secretary]] [[Hisatsune Sakomizu]] had already obtained signatures from Toyoda and General [[Yoshijirō Umezu]] in advance, and he reneged on his promise to inform them if a meeting was to be held. The meeting commenced at 23:50. No consensus had emerged by 02:00 on 10 August, but the emperor gave his "sacred decision",{{sfn|Hasegawa|2006|pp=209–210}} authorizing the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Foreign Minister]], [[Shigenori Tōgō]], to notify the Allies that Japan would accept their terms on one condition, that the declaration "does not comprise any demand which prejudices the prerogatives of His Majesty as a Sovereign ruler."{{sfn|Kido|Yoshitake|1966|p=1223}}
On 12 August, the Emperor informed the imperial family of his decision to surrender. One of his uncles, [[Prince Yasuhiko Asaka|Prince Asaka]], asked whether the war would be continued if the ''kokutai'' could not be preserved. Hirohito simply replied, "Of course."{{sfn|Fujiwara|1991|p=129}} As the Allied terms seemed to leave intact the principle of the preservation of the Throne, Hirohito recorded on 14 August his [[Gyokuon-hōsō|capitulation announcement]] which was broadcast to the Japanese nation the next day despite an [[Kyūjō Incident|attempted military coup d'état]] by militarists opposed to the surrender.{{sfn|Frank|1999|pp=316–319}}
In his declaration's fifth paragraph, Hirohito solely mentions the duration of the conflict; and did not explicitly mention the Soviets as a factor for surrender:
{{blockquote|But now the war has lasted for nearly four years. Despite the best that has been done by every one—the gallant fighting of military and naval forces, the diligence and assiduity of Our servants of the State and the devoted service of Our one hundred million people, the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage, while the general trends of the world have all turned against her interest.}}
The sixth paragraph by Hirohito specifically mentions the use of nuclear ordnance devices, from the aspect of the unprecedented damage they caused:
{{blockquote|Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization.}}
The seventh paragraph gives the reason for the ending of hostilities against the Allies:
{{blockquote|Such being the case, how are we to save the millions of our subjects, or to atone ourselves before the hallowed spirits of our imperial ancestors? This is the reason why we have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the joint declaration of the powers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/yosha/yr/empires/Imperial_rescript_1945-08-14.html |title=Imperial Rescript ending war – What Hirohito really said in his acceptance speech |translator=William Wetherall |access-date=15 September 2013 |publisher=Yosha Research |archive-url=https://archive.ph/FsXlO |archive-date=15 September 2013 }}</ref>}}
In his "Rescript to the Soldiers and Sailors" delivered on 17 August, Hirohito did not refer to the atomic bombs or possible [[human extinction]], and instead described the Soviet declaration of war as "endangering the very foundation of the Empire's existence."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.taiwandocuments.org/surrender07.htm |access-date=15 September 2013 |publisher=Taiwan Document Project |title=Emperor Hirohito's Surrender Rescript to Japanese Troops |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212180054/http://www.taiwandocuments.org/surrender07.htm |archive-date=12 February 2012 }}</ref>
== Reportage ==
{{See also|Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in popular culture}}
[[File:Chicago Daily Tribune - 8 August 1945.png|thumb|The front page of [[Chicago Daily Tribune]] dated 8 August 1945. The cartoon refers back to the Japanese [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor Attack]] to rationalize the American atomic bombing.]]
[[File:342-usaf-11075 Physical Damage-Hiroshima.webm|thumbtime=356|thumb|right|The Hiroshima ruins in March and April 1946, by [[Daniel A. McGovern]] and Harry Mimura]]
On 10 August 1945, the day after the Nagasaki bombing, military photographer [[Yōsuke Yamahata]], correspondent Higashi, and artist Yamada arrived in the city with instructions to record the destruction for [[propaganda]] purposes. Yamahata took scores of photographs, and on 21 August, they appeared in ''[[Mainichi Shimbun]]'', a popular Japanese newspaper. After Japan's surrender and the arrival of American forces, copies of his photographs were seized amid the ensuing censorship, but some records have survived.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21651/lot/348/ |title=The Bombing of Nagasaki After Yosuke Yamahata: A collection of 24 photographs taken the day after the bombing, [Japan] 1945–46 |publisher=Bonhams |access-date=5 December 2016}}</ref>
Leslie Nakashima, a former [[United Press International|United Press]] (UP) journalist, filed the first personal account of the scene to appear in American newspapers. He observed that large numbers of survivors continued to die from what later became recognized as radiation poisoning.<ref name="Blume, pp. 25–26">Blume, pp. 25–26</ref> On 31 August, ''[[The New York Times]]'' published an abbreviated version of his 27 August UP article. Nearly all references to uranium poisoning were omitted. An editor's note was added to say that, according to American scientists, "the atomic bomb will not have any lingering after-effects."<ref>{{cite news|first=Danielle|last=Haynes|title=For one reporter, 1945 visit to Hiroshima was about more than a scoop|url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2015/08/06/For-one-reporter-1945-visit-to-Hiroshima-was-about-more-than-a-scoop/6221438133643/|date=6 August 2015|work=[[United Press International]]}}</ref><ref name="Blume, pp. 25–26"/>
[[File:ICRC-Archives Bilfinger-HiroshimaTelegram-hor.jpg|thumb|A telegram sent by [[Fritz Bilfinger]], delegate of the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] (ICRC), on 30 August 1945 from Hiroshima]]
[[Wilfred Burchett]] was also one of the first Western journalists to visit Hiroshima after the bombing. He arrived alone by train from Tokyo on 2 September, defying the traveling ban put in place on Western correspondents.<ref name="Blume, pp. 26–27">Blume, pp. 26–27</ref> Burchett's dispatch, "The Atomic Plague", was printed by the ''[[Daily Express]]'' newspaper in London on 5 September 1945. The reports from Nakashima and Burchett informed the public for the first time of the gruesome effects of [[radiation]] and [[nuclear fallout]]—[[radiation burn]]s and [[radiation poisoning]], sometimes lasting more than thirty days after the blast.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hiroshima as I saw it|first=Leslie|last=Nakashima|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1945/08/27/Hiroshima-as-I-saw-it/8051438702501/|date=27 August 1945|work=[[United Press International]]}}</ref>{{sfn|Burchett|2004|pp=10–25}} Burchett especially noted that people were dying "horribly" after bleeding from orifices, and their flesh would rot away from the injection holes where vitamin A was administered, to no avail.<ref name="Blume, pp. 26–27"/>
''The New York Times'' then apparently reversed course and ran a front-page story by [[Bill Lawrence (news personality)|Bill Lawrence]] confirming the existence of a terrifying affliction in Hiroshima, where many had symptoms such as hair loss and vomiting blood before dying.<ref name="Blume, pp. 26–27"/> Lawrence had gained access to the city as part of a press junket promoting the [[U.S. Army Air Force]]. Some reporters were horrified by the scene, however, referring to what they saw as a "death laboratory" littered with "human guinea pigs". General MacArthur found the reporting to have turned from good PR into bad PR and threatened to court martial the entire group. He withdrew Burchett's press accreditation and expelled the journalist from the occupation zones.<ref>Blume, pp. 28–31</ref> The authorities also accused him of being under the sway of Japanese propaganda and later suppressed another story, on the Nagasaki bombing, by [[George Weller]] of the ''[[Chicago Daily News]]''. Less than a week after his ''New York Times'' story was published, Lawrence also backtracked and dismissed the reports on radiation sickness as Japanese efforts to undermine American morale.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Goodman |first1=Amy |first2=David |last2=Goodman |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |title=The Hiroshima Cover-Up |date=5 August 2005 |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2005/08/05/the-hiroshima-cover-up/ |access-date=15 September 2013}}</ref><ref name="Blume, pp. 26–27"/>
A member of the [[United States Strategic Bombing Survey]], Lieutenant [[Daniel A. McGovern]], arrived in September 1945 to document the effects of the bombing of Japan.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-68656372|title=Oppenheimer: Monaghan man who captured nuclear devastation|website=BBC News|date=31 March 2024}}</ref> He used a film crew to document the effects of the bombings in early 1946. The film crew shot {{convert|90000|ft|m|disp=flip|abbr=on}} of film, resulting in a three-hour documentary titled ''The Effects of the Atomic Bombs Against Hiroshima and Nagasaki''. The documentary included images from hospitals, burned-out buildings and cars, and rows of skulls and bones on the ground. It was classified "secret" for the next 22 years.{{sfn|Moore|1995|p=73}}<ref name="Greg Mitchell">{{cite news |title=The Great Hiroshima Cover-Up |author=Greg Mitchell |author-link=Greg Mitchell |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/for-64th-anniversary-the_b_252752.html |newspaper=HuffPost |date=7 August 2009|access-date=26 April 2011}}</ref> Motion picture company ''[[Nippon Eigasha]]'' started sending cameramen to Nagasaki and Hiroshima in September 1945. On 24 October 1945, a [[Military Police Corps (United States)|U.S. military policeman]] stopped a ''Nippon Eigasha'' cameraman from continuing to film in Nagasaki. All ''Nippon Eigasha''{{'s}} reels were confiscated by the American authorities, but they were requested by the Japanese government, and declassified.<ref name="Greg Mitchell" /> The public release of film footage of the city post-attack, and some research about the effects of the attack, was restricted during the [[occupation of Japan]],{{sfn|Ishikawa|Swain|1981|p=5}} but the Hiroshima-based magazine, ''Chugoku Bunka'', in its first issue published on 10 March 1946, devoted itself to detailing the damage from the bombing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atomicbombmuseum.org/3_social.shtml |publisher=Atomic Bomb Museum |title=Destructive Effects |access-date=22 December 2016}}</ref>
The book ''[[Hiroshima (book)|Hiroshima]]'', written by [[Pulitzer Prize]] winner [[John Hersey]] and originally published in article form in ''[[The New Yorker]]'',<ref name="autogenerated3" /> is reported to have reached Tokyo in English by January 1947, and the translated version was released in Japan in 1949.<ref>{{cite news |last=Richie |first=Donald |url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2009/08/16/books/the-pure-horror-of-hiroshima/ |title=The pure horror of Hiroshima |newspaper=[[Japan Times]] |date=16 August 2013 |access-date=12 October 2013}}</ref>{{sfn|Sharp|2000|pp=434–452}}<ref name="The New Yorker 2010">{{cite news |first=Jon |last=Michaub |title=Eighty-Five from the Archive: John Hersey |url=http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/backissues/2010/06/eighty-five-from-the-archive-john-hersey.html |access-date=3 February 2014 |newspaper=[[The New Yorker]] |date=8 June 2010}}</ref> It narrated the stories of the lives of six bomb survivors from immediately prior to, and months after, the dropping of the Little Boy bomb.<ref name=autogenerated3>{{cite magazine |first=Roger |last=Angell |series=From the Archives |title=Hersey and History |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1995/07/31/hersey-and-history |access-date=24 January 2018 |date=31 July 1995 |page=66}}</ref> Beginning in 1974, a compilation of drawings and artwork made by the survivors of the bombings began to be compiled, with completion in 1977, and under both book and exhibition format, it was titled ''The Unforgettable Fire''.{{sfn|Japanese Broadcasting Corporation (NHK)|1977|p=1}}
[[File:342-usaf-11080 Hiroshima-Blast Effects.webm|thumbtime=330 |thumb |Life among the rubble in Hiroshima in March and April 1946. Film footage taken by Lieutenant Daniel A. McGovern (director) and Harry Mimura (cameraman) for a [[Strategic bombing survey|United States Strategic Bombing Survey]] project.]]
The bombing amazed [[Otto Hahn]] and other German atomic scientists, whom the British held at Farm Hall in [[Operation Epsilon]]. Hahn stated that he had not believed an atomic weapon "would be possible for another twenty years"; [[Werner Heisenberg]] did not believe the news at first. [[Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker]] said "I think it's dreadful of the Americans to have done it. I think it is madness on their part", but Heisenberg replied, "One could equally well say 'That's the quickest way of ending the war{{' "}}. Hahn was grateful that the German project had not succeeded in developing "such an inhumane weapon"; [[Karl Wirtz]] observed that even if it had, "we would have obliterated London but would still not have conquered the world, and then they would have dropped them on us".<ref name="farmhall">{{cite web |url=http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/pdf/eng/English101.pdf | title=Transcript of Surreptitiously Taped Conversations among German Nuclear Physicists at Farm Hall (August 6–7, 1945) | publisher=German History in Documents and Images | access-date=24 September 2016}}</ref>
Hahn told the others, "Once I wanted to suggest that all uranium should be sunk to the bottom of the ocean".{{r|farmhall}} The Vatican agreed; ''[[L'Osservatore Romano]]'' expressed regret that the bomb's inventors did not destroy the weapon for the benefit of humanity.<ref name="ap19450807">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9EMyAAAAIBAJ&pg=1891%2C1435285 | title=Vatican Regrets Inventors Did Not Destroy Bomb | newspaper=The Miami News | date=7 August 1945 | agency=Associated Press | access-date=22 August 2013 | page=1–A  |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130823/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9EMyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8OcFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1891%2C1435285 |archive-date=23 August 2013 }}</ref> Rev. [[Cuthbert Thicknesse]], the [[dean of St Albans]], prohibited using [[St Albans Abbey]] for a thanksgiving service for the war's end, calling the use of atomic weapons "an act of wholesale, indiscriminate massacre".<ref name="guardian19450815">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/century/1940-1949/Story/0,,127725,00.html | title=No Abbey Service |newspaper=The Guardian | date=15 August 1945 | access-date=17 July 2016}}</ref> Nonetheless, news of the atomic bombing was greeted enthusiastically in the U.S.; a poll in [[Fortune (magazine)|''Fortune'' magazine]] in late 1945 showed a significant minority of Americans (23 percent) wishing that more atomic bombs could have been dropped on Japan.{{sfn|Hixson|2002|p=239}}{{sfn|White|1995|pp=1–8}} The initial positive response was supported by the imagery presented to the public (mainly the powerful images of the [[mushroom cloud]]).{{sfn|Hixson|2002|p=239}} During this time in America, it was a common practice for editors to keep graphic images of death out of films, magazines, and newspapers.{{sfn|Hein|Selden|1997|pp=25–26}}
== Post-attack casualties ==
{{See also|Epidemiology data for low-linear energy transfer radiation|Acute radiation syndrome#History|Radiobiology|Hiroshima (book)|Terufumi Sasaki}}
[[File:342-usaf-11034 Medical Aspects-Hiroshima.webm|thumb|right|thumbtime=152|Silent film footage taken in Hiroshima in March 1946 showing survivors with severe burns and [[keloid]] scars. Survivors were asked to stand in the orientation they were in at the time of the flash, to document and convey the [[line-of-sight propagation|line-of-sight]] nature of [[flash burn]]s, and to show that, much like a [[sunburn]], thick clothing and fabric offered protection in many cases. The sometimes extensive [[burn scar contracture]] is not unusual, being common to all [[Burn#Signs and symptoms|second- and third-degree burns]] when they cover a large area of skin. ]]
An estimated 90,000 to 166,000 people in Hiroshima (between 26 and 49 percent of its population) and 60,000 to 80,000 people in Nagasaki (between 22 and 32 percent of its population) died in 1945, of which a majority in each case were killed on the days of the bombings, due to the force and heat of the blasts themselves. Nearly all of the remainder of victims died within two to four months, due to radiation exposure and resulting complications.<ref name="rerf-deaths" /><ref name=":0" />
One [[Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission]] report discusses 6,882 people examined in Hiroshima and 6,621 people examined in Nagasaki, who were largely within {{convert|2000|m|sp=us}} of the [[hypocenter]], who suffered injuries from the blast and heat but died from complications frequently compounded by [[acute radiation syndrome]] (ARS), all within about 20 to 30 days.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jhps/45/4/45_4_370/_pdf|title=Latest Knowledge on Radiological Effects: Radiation Health Effects of Atomic Bomb Explosions and Nuclear Power Plant Accidents}}</ref><ref>{{Cite report|title=Medical Effects Of Atomic Bombs The Report Of The Joint Commission For The Investigation Of The Effects Of The Atomic Bomb In Japan Volume 1|first1=A. W.|last1=Oughterson|first2=G. V.|last2=LeRoy|first3=A. A.|last3=Liebow|first4=E. C.|last4=Hammond|first5=H. L.|last5=Barnett|first6=J. D.|last6=Rosenbaum|first7=B. A.|last7=Schneider|date=19 April 1951|doi=10.2172/4421057|osti = 4421057|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1025738/|doi-access=free}}</ref> Many people not injured by the blast eventually died within that timeframe as well after suffering from ARS. At the time, the doctors had no idea what the cause was and were unable to effectively treat the condition.<ref name="Blume, pp. 26–27" /> [[Midori Naka]] was the first death officially certified to be the result of radiation poisoning or, as it was referred to by many, the "atomic bomb disease". She was some {{convert|650|m|sp=us}} from the hypocenter at Hiroshima and would die on 24 August 1945 after traveling to Tokyo. It was unappreciated at the time but the average radiation dose that would kill approximately 50 percent of adults (the [[LD50]]) was approximately halved; that is, smaller doses were made more lethal when the individual experienced concurrent blast or burn [[polytrauma]]tic injuries.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=CERVENY|first1=T. JAN|last2=MacVITTIE|first2=THOMAS J.|last3=YOUNG|first3=ROBERT W.|date=27 December 2016|title=ACUTE RADIATION SYNDROME IN HUMANS|url=https://ke.army.mil/bordeninstitute/published_volumes/nuclearwarfare/chapter2/chapter2.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161227075907/https://ke.army.mil/bordeninstitute/published_volumes/nuclearwarfare/chapter2/chapter2.pdf|archive-date=27 December 2016|website=army.mil}}</ref> Conventional skin injuries that cover a large area frequently result in bacterial infection; the risk of [[sepsis]] and death is increased when a usually non-lethal radiation dose moderately [[Treatment of infections after exposure to ionizing radiation|suppresses the white blood cell count]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/~/media/Files/Activity%20Files/PublicHealth/NucEventPrepWS/METTLERIOMNuclearWorkshop1.pdf |title=Nuclear fallout medical effects. Mettler |access-date=10 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712190941/http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/~/media/Files/Activity%20Files/PublicHealth/NucEventPrepWS/METTLERIOMNuclearWorkshop1.pdf |archive-date=12 July 2018 }}</ref>
In the spring of 1948, the [[Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission]] (ABCC) was established in accordance with a presidential directive from Truman to the [[National Academy of Sciences]]–[[United States National Research Council|National Research Council]] to conduct investigations of the late effects of radiation among the survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.<ref>{{cite journal |publisher=[[National Academy of Sciences]] |title=The Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in Retrospect |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=95 |issue=10 |pages=5426–5431 |first=Frank W. |last=Putnam |doi=10.1073/pnas.95.10.5426 |pmid=9576898 |pmc=33857 |date=12 May 1998 |bibcode=1998PNAS...95.5426P |doi-access=free  |issn=0027-8424 }}</ref> In 1956, the ABCC published ''The Effect of Exposure to the Atomic Bombs on Pregnancy Termination in Hiroshima and Nagasaki''.<ref>{{cite report |author=National Research Council |editor-last1=Neel |editor-first1=J. V. |editor-last2=Schull |editor-first2=W. J. |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=National Academies Press |year=1991 |title=The Effect of Exposure to the Atomic Bombs on Pregnancy Termination in Hiroshima and Nagasaki |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK234258/ |access-date=3 September 2023}}</ref> The ABCC became the [[Radiation Effects Research Foundation]] (RERF) on 1 April 1975. A binational organization run by both the United States and Japan, the RERF is still in operation today.<ref>{{Cite report|last=Ivey|first=William D.|date=7 April 1996|title=Objectives and Success – Linking National Policy Objectives and Military Strategic Objectives to Achieve Success.|location=Fort Belvoir, VA|doi=10.21236/ada308549}}</ref>
=== Cancer increases ===
[[Radiation-induced cancer|Cancers do not immediately emerge after exposure to radiation]]; instead, radiation-induced cancer has a minimum [[Radiation-induced cancer|latency period]] of some five years and above, and [[leukemia]] some two years and above, peaking around six to eight years later.<ref>{{Citation|title=What is Radiation?|date=12 September 2016|work=Radiation Effects and Sources|pages=3–10|publisher=United Nations|doi=10.18356/64ea2039-en|isbn=978-92-1-059959-7|s2cid=124536768 }}</ref> Jarrett Foley published the first major reports on the significant increased incidence of the latter among survivors. Almost all cases of leukemia over the following 50 years were in people exposed to more than 1[[Gray (unit)|Gy]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://hiroshima.australiandoctor.com.au/ |title = The Fallout – the medical aftermath of Hiroshima}}</ref> In a [[Linear no-threshold model|strictly dependent manner dependent on their distance from the hypocenter]], in the 1987 ''Life Span Study'', conducted by the [[Radiation Effects Research Foundation]], a statistical excess of 507 cancers, of undefined lethality, were observed in 79,972 ''hibakusha'' who had still been living between 1958 and 1987 and who took part in the study.{{sfn|Peterson|Abrahamson|1998|p=101}} As the [[epidemiology]] study continues with time, the RERF estimates that, from 1950 to 2000, 46 percent of leukemia deaths which may include [[Sadako Sasaki]] and 11 percent of [[solid cancer]]s of unspecified lethality were likely due to radiation from the bombs or some other post-attack city effects, with the statistical excess being 200 leukemia deaths and 1,700 solid cancers of undeclared lethality. Both of these statistics being derived from the observation of approximately half of the total survivors, strictly those who took part in the study.<ref name="rerf-cancers">{{cite web |url=http://www.rerf.or.jp/general/qa_e/qa2.html |title=Frequently Asked Questions #2 |publisher=[[Radiation Effects Research Foundation]] |access-date=2 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101128120217/http://rerf.or.jp/general/qa_e/qa2.html |archive-date=28 November 2010 }}</ref> A meta-analysis from 2016 found that radiation exposure increases cancer risk, but also that the average lifespan of survivors was reduced by only a few months compared to those not exposed to radiation.<ref>{{cite web
| url =https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160811120353.htm
| title =Long-term health effects of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs not as dire as perceived
| date =11 August 2016
| website =Science Daily
| access-date =16 October 2021}}</ref>
=== Birth defect investigations ===
While during the preimplantation period, that is one to ten days following [[fertilisation|conception]], intrauterine radiation exposure of "at least 0.2 [[Gray (unit)|Gy]]" can cause complications of implantation and death of the [[human embryo]].<ref>{{Cite book |doi=10.1002/9780470515006.ch11|chapter=Biological Effects of Prenatal Irradiation|title=Ciba Foundation Symposium 203 – Health Impacts of Large Releases of Radionuclides|pages=155–166|series=Novartis Foundation Symposia|year=2007|last1=Streffer|first1=Christian|isbn=978-0-470-51500-6}}</ref> The number of [[miscarriage]]s caused by the radiation from the bombings, during this [[Radiosensitivity|radiosensitive]] period, is not known.
One of the early studies conducted by the ABCC was on the outcome of pregnancies occurring in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and in a [[Controlling for a variable|control]] city, [[Kure, Hiroshima|Kure]], located {{convert|18|mi|km|disp=flip|abbr=on}} south of Hiroshima, to discern the conditions and outcomes related to radiation exposure.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rerf.or.jp/index_e.html |title=The Radiation Effects Research Foundation |access-date=25 March 2009 |publisher=[[Radiation Effects Research Foundation]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090308004959/http://rerf.or.jp/index_e.html |archive-date=8 March 2009 }}</ref> [[James V. Neel]] led the study which found that the overall number of [[birth defects]] was not significantly higher among the children of survivors who were pregnant at the time of the bombings.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059947655 |title=Nuclear Crisis: Hiroshima and Nagasaki cast long shadows over radiation science |first=Paul |last=Voosen |date=11 April 2011 |publisher=E&E News |access-date=22 December 2013}}</ref> He also studied the longevity of the children who survived the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, reporting that between 90 and 95 percent were still living 50 years later.<ref name="USA">{{cite news |title=The American Spectator, Volume 35 |page=57 |newspaper=Saturday Evening Club |year=2002}}</ref>
While the National Academy of Sciences raised the possibility that Neel's procedure did not filter the Kure population for possible radiation exposure which could bias the results,{{sfn|Johnston|2008|p=143}} overall, a [[statistical significance|statistically insignificant]] increase in birth defects occurred directly after the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima when the cities were taken as wholes, in terms of distance from the hypocenters. However, Neel and others noted that in approximately 50 humans who were of an early [[Gestational age (obstetrics)|gestational age]] at the time of the bombing and who were all within about {{convert|1|km|sp=us}} of the hypocenter, an increase in [[microencephaly]] and [[anencephaly]] was observed upon birth, with the incidence of these two particular malformations being nearly 3 times what was to be expected when compared to the [[control group]] in Kure.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rerf.jp/radefx/genetics_e/birthdef.html |title=Birth defects among the children of atomic-bomb survivors (1948–1954) |publisher=Radiation Effects Research Foundation |access-date=22 December 2013}}</ref>
In 1985, [[Johns Hopkins University]] geneticist [[James F. Crow]] examined Neel's research and confirmed that the number of birth defects was not significantly higher in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.{{sfn|Krimsky|Shorett|2005|p=118}} Many members of the ABCC and its successor [[Radiation Effects Research Foundation]] (RERF) were still looking for possible birth defects among the survivors decades later, but found no evidence that they were significantly common among the survivors or [[heritable trait|inherited]] in the children of survivors.<ref name="USA" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Data India |page=697 |newspaper=Press Institute of India |year=2008}}</ref>
=== Investigations into brain development ===
{{See also|Radiation-induced cognitive decline}}
Despite the small sample size of 1,600 to 1,800 persons who came forth as [[prenatal]]ly exposed at the time of the bombings, that were both within a close proximity to the two hypocenters, to survive the ''[[uterus|in utero]]'' absorption of a substantial dose of radiation and then the [[malnourished]] post-attack environment, data from this cohort do support the increased risk of [[severe mental retardation]] (SMR), that was observed in some 30 individuals, with SMR being a common outcome of the aforementioned microencephaly. While a lack of statistical data, with just 30 individuals out of 1,800, prevents a definitive determination of a [[Threshold model#Toxicology|threshold point]], the data collected suggests a threshold intrauterine or ''fetal'' dose for SMR, at the most radiosensitive period of cognitive development, when there is the largest number of [[undifferentiated cell|undifferentiated]] neural cells (8 to 15 weeks post-conception) [[Dose–response relationship|to begin at a threshold dose]] of approximately "0.09" to "0.15" [[Gray (unit)|Gy]], with the risk then linearly increasing to a 43-percent rate of SMR when exposed to a fetal dose of 1 Gy at any point during these weeks of rapid [[neurogenesis]].<ref name="auto">{{Cite book|url=https://www.nap.edu/read/1224/chapter/8|title=Health Effects of Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation: BEIR V|year=1990|doi=10.17226/1224|pmid=25032334|isbn=978-0-309-03995-6|via=nap.edu|author1=National Research Council|location=Washington, DC |publisher=The National Academies Press}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1088/0952-4746/12/2/005|title = ICRP and impairment of mental function following prenatal irradiation| journal=Journal of Radiological Protection| volume=12| issue=2| pages=93–105|year = 1992|last1 = Mole|first1 = R. H.|bibcode = 1992JRP....12...93M| s2cid=250823660 }}</ref>
However either side of this radiosensitive age, none of the prenatally exposed to the bombings at an age ''less than'' 8 weeks, that is prior to [[synaptogenesis]] or at a gestational age ''more than'' 26 weeks "were observed to be mentally retarded", with the condition therefore being isolated to those solely of 8–26 weeks of age and who absorbed more than approximately "0.09" to "0.15" Gy of ''prompt'' radiation energy.<ref name="auto" /><ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite journal | doi=10.1111/j.1741-4520.1989.tb00751.x|title = Prenatal Exposure to Atomic Radiation and Brain Damage| journal=Congenital Anomalies| volume=29| issue=4| pages=309–320|year = 1989|last1 = Otake|first1 = Masanori| last2=Yoshimaru| first2=Hiroshi| last3=Schull| first3=William J.|s2cid = 72075872| doi-access=free}}</ref>
Examination of the prenatally exposed in terms of IQ performance and school records, determined the beginning of a statistically significant reduction in both, when exposed to greater than 0.1 to 0.5 gray, during the same gestational period of 8–25 weeks. However outside this period, at less than 8 weeks and greater than 26 after conception, "there is no evidence of a radiation-related effect on scholastic performance."<ref name="auto" />
The reporting of doses in terms of absorbed energy in units of [[Gray (unit)|grays]] and [[Rad (unit)|rads]] – rather than the biologically significant, biologically weighted [[sievert]] in both the SMR and cognitive performance data – is typical.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> The reported threshold dose variance between the two cities is suggested to be a manifestation of the [[Fast neutron therapy#LET|difference between X-ray and neutron absorption]], with [[Little Boy]] emitting substantially more [[neutron flux]], whereas the [[Fat Man#Assembly|Baratol]] that surrounded the core of [[Fat Man]] filtered or shifted the absorbed neutron-radiation profile, so that the dose of radiation energy received in Nagasaki was mostly that from exposure to X-rays/gamma rays. Contrast this to the environment within 1500 meters of the hypocenter at Hiroshima, where the in-utero dose depended more on the absorption of [[neutron]]s which have a [[Relative biological effectiveness#Adoption of weighting factors|higher biological effect per unit of energy absorbed]].<ref>{{Cite journal |quote=Significant increases at doses greater than 50 rads in Hiroshima and 200 in Nagasaki were found, with the risk of mental retardation generally rising directly with increasing dose. The lower dose-effect in Hiroshima may have been due to irradiation by neutrons which were virtually absent in Nagasaki. |doi=10.1148/106.3.617 |pmid=4684805|title = Mental Retardation Following ''In'' Utero ''Exposure'' to the Atomic Bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|journal=Radiology|volume=106|issue=3|pages=617–619|year = 1973|last1 = Blot|first1 = William J.|last2=Miller|first2=Robert W.}}</ref> From the [[radiation dose reconstruction]] work, the estimated [[dosimetry]] at Hiroshima still has the largest uncertainty as the Little Boy bomb design was never tested before deployment or afterward; as such, the estimated radiation profile absorbed by individuals at Hiroshima had required greater reliance on calculations than the Japanese soil, concrete and roof-tile measurements which began to reach accurate levels and thereby inform researchers, in the 1990s.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/13/science/new-study-questions-hiroshima-radiation.html | title=New Study Questions Hiroshima Radiation| newspaper=The New York Times| date=13 October 1992| last1=Broad| first1=William J.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |pmid = 12546224|year = 2002|last1 = Hunter|first1 = N.|title = The impact of possible modifications to the DS86 dosimetry on neutron risk and relative biological effectiveness|journal = Journal of Radiological Protection|volume = 22|issue = 4|pages = 357–70|last2 = Charles|first2 = M. W.|doi = 10.1088/0952-4746/22/4/302|bibcode = 2002JRP....22..357H| s2cid=250864399 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.2307/3577175|pmid = 3340713|osti = 5314107|jstor = 3577175|title = Reassessment of gamma doses from the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki|journal = Radiat. Res.|volume = 113 |issue=1|pages = 1–14|date = January 1988|last1 = Maruyama|first1 = T.|last2 = Kumamoto|first2 = Y.|last3 = Noda|first3 = Y.|bibcode = 1988RadR..113....1M}}</ref>
Many other investigations into cognitive outcomes, such as [[schizophrenia]] as a result of prenatal exposure, have been conducted with "no statistically significant linear relationship seen". There is a suggestion that in the most extremely exposed, those who survived within a kilometer or so of the hypocenters, a trend emerges akin to that seen in SMR, though the sample size is too small to determine with any significance.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1111/j.1600-0447.1999.tb10877.x|pmid = 10563451|title = Lifetime prevalence of schizophrenia among individuals prenatally exposed to atomic bomb radiation in Nagasaki City| journal=Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica| volume=100| issue=5| pages=344–349|year = 2007|last1 = Imamura|first1 = Y.| last2=Nakane| first2=Y.| last3=Ohta| first3=Y.| last4=Kondo| first4=H.|s2cid = 39187806}}</ref>
== ''Hibakusha'' ==
{{Main|Hibakusha}}
[[File:Sanno torii boxed in red.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Torii]]'', [[Nagasaki]], Japan. One-legged torii in the background]]
The survivors of the bombings are called {{Nihongo|''[[hibakusha]]''|被爆者|extra={{IPA|ja|çibaꜜkɯ̥ɕa|pron}} <small>or</small> {{IPA|ja|çibakɯ̥ꜜɕa|}}}}, a Japanese word that translates to "explosion-affected people". The Japanese government has recognized about 650,000 people as ''hibakusha''. {{As of|2024|alt=As of 31 March 2024}}, 106,825 were still alive, mostly in Japan,<ref>{{cite news | url= https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/08/8ad2b529c405-hiroshima-marks-79th-anniv-of-atomic-bombing-amid-global-crises.html | title= Hiroshima urges shift from nuclear deterrence on 79th A-bomb anniv. | date= 6 August 2024 | first= Toma |last= Mochizuki | publisher= [[Kyodo News]] | access-date= 12 August 2024 }}</ref> The government of Japan recognizes about one percent of these as having illnesses caused by radiation.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2007/08/15/editorials/relief-for-a-bomb-victims/ | title=Relief for A-bomb victims | date=15 August 2007 | newspaper=[[Japan Times]] | access-date=2 October 2007}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2018}} The memorials in Hiroshima and Nagasaki contain lists of the names of the ''hibakusha'' who are known to have died since the bombings. Updated annually on the anniversaries of the bombings, {{As of|2024|alt=as of August 2024}}, the memorials record the names of more than 540,000 ''{{Lang|ja-latn|hibakusha}}''; 344,306 in Hiroshima<ref>{{cite news | url= https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15379500 | title= Cancer did not hinder atomic bomb survivor's annual mission | date= 7 August 2024 |first= Hideki |last= Soejima | work= [[The Asahi Shimbun]] | access-date= 12 August 2024}}</ref> and 198,785 in Nagasaki.<ref>{{cite news | url= https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20240809-203981/ |title= Nagasaki Mayor: Nuclear Weapons 'Threat to Humankind';G7 Ambassadors Absent from A-Bomb Memorial Ceremony | date= 9 August 2024 |work= [[Yomiuri Shimbun|Japan News]] | access-date= 12 August 2024 }}</ref>
If they discuss their background, ''hibakusha'' and their children were (and still are) victims of fear-based [[discrimination]] and exclusion for marriage or work<ref>{{cite news |last1=Simons|first1=Lewis M. |title=Children of Hiroshima, Nagasaki survivors facing prejudice, discrimination in Japan |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19840607&id=Z6QyAAAAIBAJ&pg=1441,3702452 |access-date=29 January 2016 |agency=Knight-Rider News |work=Ottawa Citizen |date=7 June 1984}}</ref> due to [[radiophobia|public ignorance]]; much of the public persist with the belief that the ''hibakusha'' carry some hereditary or even contagious disease.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nci.org/0new/hibakusha-jt5701.htm | title=Prejudice haunts atomic bomb survivors | work=[[Japan Times]] | first=Hiroshi | last=Matsubara | date=8 May 2001 | access-date=25 August 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810060050/http://www.nci.org/0new/hibakusha-jt5701.htm | archive-date=10 August 2007 }}</ref> This is despite the fact that no statistically demonstrable increase of birth defects/congenital malformations was found among the ''later conceived'' children born to survivors of the nuclear weapons used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or has been found in the later conceived children of cancer survivors who had previously received [[radiotherapy]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Heath|first=Clark W.|date=5 August 1992|title=The Children of Atomic Bomb Survivors: A Genetic Study |url= https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/398912 |journal=JAMA |language=en |volume=268 |issue=5 |pages=661–662 |doi=10.1001/jama.1992.03490050109039|issn=0098-7484}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url= http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/78218/1/9789241505130_eng.pdf | title=Health risk assessment from the nuclear accident after the 2011 Great East Japan and Tsunami, based on a preliminary dose estimation | pages=23–24 | publisher=[[World Health Organization]] | year=2013 | isbn=978-92-4-150513-0 | access-date=9 August 2020 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215065509/http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/78218/1/9789241505130_eng.pdf |archive-date= 15 Dec 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Sex ratio among offspring of childhood cancer survivors treated with radiotherapy|first1=J. F.|last1=Winther|first2=J. D.|last2=Boice|first3=B. L.|last3=Thomsen|first4=W. J.|last4=Schull|first5=M.|last5=Stovall|first6=J. H.|last6=Olsen|date=1 January 2003|journal=Br J Cancer|volume=88|issue=3|pages=382–387|doi=10.1038/sj.bjc.6600748|pmid=12569380|pmc=2747537 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
The surviving women of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that could conceive, who were exposed to substantial amounts of radiation, had children with no higher incidence of abnormalities/birth defects than the rate which is observed in the Japanese average.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF)|url=https://www.rerf.or.jp/en/|access-date=4 August 2020|website=rerf.or.jp}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.rerf.jp/radefx/genetics_e/birthdef.html |title=Birth defects among the children of atomic-bomb survivors (1948–1954) |publisher=Radiation Effects Research Foundation |access-date=2 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009110709/http://www.rerf.jp/radefx/genetics_e/birthdef.html |archive-date= 9 Oct 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.eenews.net/stories/1059947655 | title=NUCLEAR CRISIS: Hiroshima and Nagasaki cast long shadows over radiation science | first=Paul | last=Voosen | date=11 April 2011 | work=E&E News | access-date=9 August 2020 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200925003400/https://www.eenews.net/stories/1059947655 |archive-date= 25 Sep 2020 }}</ref>
A study of the long-term psychological effects of the bombings on the survivors found that even 17–20 years after the bombings had occurred survivors showed a higher prevalence of [[anxiety]] and [[somatization]] symptoms.{{sfn|Yamada|Izumi|2002|pp=409–415}}
=== Double survivors ===
Perhaps as many as 200 people from Hiroshima sought refuge in Nagasaki. The 2006 documentary ''Twice Survived: The Doubly Atomic Bombed of Hiroshima and Nagasaki'' documented 165 ''nijū hibakusha'' (lit. ''double explosion-affected people''), nine of whom claimed to be in the blast zone in both cities.<ref name="Twice">{{cite web|url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/06/08/twicesurvived.html|title=Twice Bombed, Twice Survived: Film Explores Untold Stories from Hiroshima & Nagasaki|date=2 August 2006|publisher=Columbia University |website=Columbia News |access-date=31 March 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090403051426/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/06/08/twicesurvived.html| archive-date=3 April 2009 | url-status=dead }}</ref> On 24 March 2009, the Japanese government officially recognized [[Tsutomu Yamaguchi]] as a double ''hibakusha''. He was confirmed to be {{convert|3|km|abbr=on}} from ground zero in Hiroshima on a business trip when the bomb was detonated. He was seriously burnt on his left side and spent the night in Hiroshima. He arrived at his home city of Nagasaki on 8 August, the day before the bombing, and he was exposed to residual radiation while searching for his relatives. He was the first officially recognized survivor of both bombings.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.sky.com/story/679401/japan-confirms-first-double-a-bomb-survivor | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418185456/http://news.sky.com/story/679401/japan-confirms-first-double-a-bomb-survivor | archive-date=18 April 2016 | title=Japan Confirms First Double A-Bomb Survivor | date=24 March 2009 | publisher=Sky News | access-date=4 November 2010}}</ref> He died in 2010 of stomach cancer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/01/06/japan.bomb.victim.dies/index.html |title=Man who survived two atom bombs dies |date=8 January 2010 |publisher=CNN |access-date=8 January 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107042406/http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/01/06/japan.bomb.victim.dies/index.html| archive-date=7 January 2010 | url-status=live}}</ref>
=== Korean survivors ===
{{See also|Anti-Korean sentiment#Japan}}
During the war, Japan brought as many as 670,000 Korean conscripts to Japan to work as [[Japanese war crimes#Forced labor|forced labor]].{{sfn|Gruhl|2007|p=111}} About 5,000–8,000 Koreans were killed in Hiroshima and 1,500–2,000 in Nagasaki.<ref>{{harvnb|Dower|1996|page=140}} Dower says that Korean survivor groups use higher estimates.</ref> Korean survivors had a difficult time fighting for the same recognition as ''Hibakusha'' as afforded to all Japanese survivors, a situation which resulted in the denial of free health benefits to them in Japan. Most issues were eventually addressed in 2008 through lawsuits.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://japanfocus.org/-David-Palmer/2670 |last=Palmer |first=David |title=Korean Hibakusha, Japan's Supreme Court and the International Community: Can the U.S. and Japan Confront Forced Labor and Atomic Bombing? |newspaper=Asia-Pacific Journal |date=20 February 2008 |access-date=3 January 2012}}</ref>
== Memorials ==
=== Hiroshima ===
Hiroshima was subsequently struck by [[Typhoon Ida (1945)|Typhoon Ida]] on 17 September 1945. More than half the bridges were destroyed, and the roads and railroads were damaged, further devastating the city.{{sfn|Ishikawa|Swain|1981|p=6}} The population increased from 83,000 soon after the bombing to 146,000 in February 1946.<ref name="After the Bomb" /> The city was rebuilt after the war, with help from the national government through the Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law passed in 1949. It provided financial assistance for reconstruction, along with land donated that was previously owned by the national government and used for military purposes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/kikaku/joho/toukei/History-E/c05.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080206124545/http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/kikaku/joho/toukei/History-E/c05.html |archive-date=6 February 2008 |title=Peace Memorial City, Hiroshima |publisher=Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation |access-date=14 August 2007}}</ref> In 1949, a design was selected for the [[Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park]]. Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, the closest surviving building to the location of the bomb's detonation, was designated the [[Hiroshima Peace Memorial]]. The [[Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum]] was opened in 1955 in the Peace Park.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/virtual/VirtualMuseum_e/exhibit_e/exh0507_e/exh050701_e.html |title=Fifty Years for the Peace Memorial Museum |publisher=Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum |access-date=17 August 2007 |archive-date=30 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070830055255/http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/virtual/VirtualMuseum_e/exhibit_e/exh0507_e/exh050701_e.html }}</ref> Hiroshima also contains a [[Peace Pagoda]], built in 1966 by [[Nipponzan-Myōhōji]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://japandeluxetours.com/experiences/hiroshima-peace-memorial-park |title=Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park |publisher=Japan Deluxe Tours |access-date=23 May 2017}}</ref>
On 27 January 1981, the Atomic Bombing Relic Selecting Committee <!--原爆遺跡選定会議--> of Hiroshima announced to build commemorative plaques at nine historical sites related to the bombing in the year. [[Hiroshima Peace Memorial|Genbaku Dome]], [[Shima Hospital]] (hypocenter), {{interlanguage link|Motoyasu Bridge|ja|元安橋}} all unveiled plaques with historical photographs and descriptions. The rest sites planned including Hondō Shopping Street, Motomachi No.2 Army Hospital site, {{interlanguage link|Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital & Atomic-bomb Survivors Hospital|ja|広島赤十字・原爆病院|lt=Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital}}, {{interlanguage link|Fukuromachi Elementary School|ja|広島市立袋町小学校}}, {{interlanguage link|Hiroshima City Hall|ja|広島市役所}} and [[Hiroshima Station]]. The committee also planned to establish 30 commemorative plaques in three years.<ref name="hpm198101">{{cite web|url=http://www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/?p=25996|title=ヒロシマの記録 1981 1月|publisher=Hiroshima Peace Media|language=ja|access-date=1 November 2022}}</ref>
{{wide image|HiroshimaPeaceMemorialPanorama-2.jpg|1000px|Panoramic view of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. The [[Genbaku Dome]] can be seen in the center left of the image, the Motoyasu Bridge can be seen in the right of the image. The original target for the bomb was the T-shaped [[Aioi Bridge]] seen in the left of the image.}}
=== Nagasaki ===
Nagasaki was rebuilt and dramatically changed form after the war. The pace of reconstruction was initially slow, and the first simple emergency dwellings were not provided until 1946. The focus on redevelopment was the replacement of war industries with foreign trade, shipbuilding and fishing. This was formally declared when the Nagasaki International Culture City Reconstruction Law was passed in May 1949.<ref name="After the Bomb">{{cite web|url=http://atomicbombmuseum.org/4_ruins.shtml |title=After the Bomb|publisher=Atomic Bomb Museum |access-date=22 February 2017 }}</ref> New temples were built, as well as new churches owing to an increase in the presence of Christianity.  The [[Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum]] opened in the mid-1990s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.world-guides.com/asia/japan/kyushu/nagasaki/nagasaki_history.html|title=Nagasaki History Facts and Timeline|publisher=World Guides |access-date=22 February 2017}}</ref>
Some of the rubble was left as a memorial, such as a ''[[torii]]'' at [[Sannō Shrine]], and an arch near ground zero. In 2013, four locations were designated [[List of Registered Monuments (Japan)|Registered Monuments]] to provide legal protection against future development. These four sites, together with "ground zero" (the hypocenter of the atomic bomb explosion) were collectively designated a [[Monuments of Japan|National Historic Site]] in 2016.<ref name="Bunka1">{{cite web |url=https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/288483|title=長崎原爆遺跡|language=ja |publisher=Agency for Cultural Affairs |accessdate=20 December 2023}}</ref> These sites include:
*{{nihongo|'''former Nagasaki City Shiroyama Elementary School''' |旧城山国民学校校舎}}. There were no children in the school building at the time as the building was being used for the payroll department of the Mitsubishi Arms Factory, but 138 of the 158 people inside, mostly civilian payroll staff, died.
*{{nihongo|'''former Urakami Cathedral Belfry''' |浦上天主堂旧鐘楼}}. The cathedral was located close to the hypocenter and completely destroyed. At the time, it was crowded with worshippers for confession as the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was approaching on 15 August. All were killed.
*{{nihongo|'''former Nagasaki Medical University gate'''|旧長崎医科大学門柱}}. The school building and facilities were destroyed by the atomic bomb. Over 850 people, including faculty, staff, students, and nurses, were killed.
*{{nihongo|'''Sannō shrine second torii gate''' |山王神社二の鳥居}}.
{{wide image|NagasakiHypocentre.jpg|1000px|{{center|Panoramic view of the monument marking the hypocenter, or ground zero, of the atomic bomb explosion over Nagasaki}}|alt=A rectangular column rises above a dark stone base with Japanese writing on it. It sits atop a grass mound which is surrounded by alternating circles of stone path and grass. There is a wall around the whole monument, and bushes beyond.}}
== Debate over bombings ==
{{Main|Debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki}}
The role of the bombings in [[Surrender of Japan|Japan's surrender]], and the ethical, legal, and military controversies surrounding the United States' justification for them have been the subject of scholarly and popular debate.{{sfn|Walker|2005|p=334}} On one hand, it has been argued that the bombings caused the Japanese surrender, thereby preventing casualties that an invasion of Japan would have involved.{{sfn|Brooks|Stanley|2007|pp=41–44}}{{sfn|Jowett|Andrew|2002|pp=23–24}} Stimson talked of saving one million casualties.{{sfn|Selden|Selden|1990|pp=xxx–xxxi}} The naval blockade might have starved the Japanese into submission without an invasion, but this would also have resulted in many more Japanese deaths.{{sfn|Walker|1990|pp=97–114}}
However, critics of the bombings have asserted that atomic weapons are fundamentally immoral, that the bombings were [[war crime]]s, and that they constituted [[state terrorism]].{{sfn|Stohl|1979|p=279}} The Japanese may have surrendered without the bombings, but only an {{em|unconditional}} surrender would satisfy the Allies.<ref>{{harvnb|Rhodes|1986|p=698}} "The bombs were authorized not because the Japanese refused to surrender but because they refused to surrender unconditionally."</ref> Others, such as historian [[Tsuyoshi Hasegawa]], argued that the entry of the Soviet Union into the war against Japan "played a much greater role than the atomic bombs in inducing Japan to surrender because it dashed any hope that Japan could terminate the war through Moscow's mediation".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wilson |first1=Ward |title=The Bomb Didn't Beat Japan. Stalin Did. |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/30/the-bomb-didnt-beat-japan-stalin-did/ |website=Foreign Policy |date=30 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/historians-soviet-offensive-key-to-japans-wwii-surrender-was-eclipsed-by-a-bombs |access-date=18 September 2013 |work=[[Fox News Channel]] |agency=Associated Press |title=Historians: Soviet offensive, key to Japan's WWII surrender, was eclipsed by A-bombs |date=14 August 2010}}</ref> A view among critics of the bombings, popularized by American historian [[Gar Alperovitz]] in 1965, is that the United States used nuclear weapons to intimidate the Soviet Union in the early stages of the [[Cold War]]. James Orr wrote that this idea became the accepted position in Japan and that it may have played some part in the decision-making of the US government.{{sfn|Orr|2008|pp=521–529}}
==Legal considerations==
{{Main|Aerial bombardment and international law}}
The [[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907]], which address the codes of wartime conduct on land and at sea, were adopted before the rise of air power. Despite repeated diplomatic attempts to update [[international humanitarian law]] to include [[aerial warfare]], it was not updated before World War II. The absence of specific international humanitarian law did not mean aerial warfare was not covered under the [[laws of war]], but rather that there was no general agreement of how to interpret those laws.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gómez |first=Javier Guisández |date=20 June 1998 |title=The Law of Air Warfare |journal=[[International Review of the Red Cross]] |issn=1560-7755 |volume= 38 |issue=323 |pages=347–363 |doi=10.1017/S0020860400091075 |url=https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/article/other/57jpcl.htm |access-date=3 March 2023}}</ref> This means that aerial bombardment of civilian areas in enemy territory by all major belligerents during World War II was not prohibited by [[Positive international law|positive]] or specific [[Customary international law|customary]] international humanitarian law.<ref>{{cite book |title=Terror from the Sky: The Bombing of German Cities in World War II |year=2010 |page=167 |publisher=[[Berghahn Books]] |isbn=978-1-8454-5844-7}}</ref>
In 1963 the bombings were subjected to judicial review in ''[[Ryuichi Shimoda v. The State]]''. The District Court of Tokyo ruled the use of nuclear weapons in warfare was not illegal,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/national-practice/shimoda-case-compensation-claim-against-japan-brought-residents-hiroshmina|title=Shimoda case (Compensation claim against Japan brought by the residents of Hiroshmina & Nagasaki), Tokyo District Court, 7 December 1963|website=[[International Committee of the Red Cross]]}}</ref><ref name="DWAD">{{cite book|title=The Japanese Annual of International Law: Volume 36|page=147|date=1994|publisher=International Law Association of Japan}}</ref> but held in its ''[[obiter dictum]]''<ref name="DWAD"/> that the atomic bombings of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki were illegal under international law of that time, as an indiscriminate bombardment of undefended cities. The court denied the appellants compensation on the grounds that the Japanese government had waived the right for reparations from the U.S. government under the [[Treaty of San Francisco]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Shimoda Case: A Legal Appraisal of the Atomic Attacks Upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki |first=Richard A. |last=Falk |journal=The American Journal of International Law |date=October 1965 |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=759–793 |doi=10.2307/2197093 |jstor=2197093 |s2cid=146916745 }}</ref>
== Legacy ==
{{Main|Nuclear warfare}}
By 30 June 1946, there were components for nine atomic bombs in the US arsenal, all Fat Man devices identical to the one used at Nagasaki.{{sfn|Ellsberg|2017|pp=266–267}} The nuclear weapons were handmade devices, and a great deal of work remained to improve their ease of assembly, safety, reliability and storage before they were ready for production. There were also many improvements to their performance that had been suggested or recommended, but that had not been possible under the pressure of wartime development.{{sfn|Rhodes|1995|pp=212–213}} The [[Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]], [[Fleet admiral (United States)|Fleet Admiral]] [[William D. Leahy]], decried the use of the atomic bombs as adopting "an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages",<ref>{{cite news|last=Khan|first=Shahedul Anam|author-link=Mohammad Shahedul Anam Khan|date=6 August 2017|title=Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki" "An ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages"|newspaper=The Daily Star|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/op-ed/bombing-hiroshima-nagasaki-ethical-standard-common-the-barbarians-the-dark-ages-1444069|access-date=23 February 2018}}</ref> but in October 1947 he reported a military requirement for 400 bombs.{{sfn|Ellsberg|2017|p=267}}
The American monopoly on nuclear weapons lasted four years before the Soviet Union detonated an atomic bomb in September 1949.{{sfn|Ellsberg|2017|p=267}} The United States responded with the development of the [[hydrogen bomb]], a thousand times as powerful as the bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki.{{sfn|Ellsberg|2017|p=291}} Such ordinary fission bombs would henceforth be regarded as small [[tactical nuclear weapons]]. By 1986, the United States had 23,317 nuclear weapons and the [[Soviet Union]] had 40,159. In early 2019, more than 90% of the world's 13,865 nuclear weapons were owned by the United States and Russia.<ref>{{cite news |first=Kelsey |last=Reichmann |title=Here's how many nuclear warheads exist, and which countries own them |url=https://www.defensenews.com/global/2019/06/16/heres-how-many-nuclear-warheads-exist-and-which-countries-own-them/ |newspaper=Defense News |date=16 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Global Nuclear Arsenal Declines, But Future Cuts Uncertain Amid U.S.-Russia Tensions |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/nuclear-weapons-russia-start-inf-warheads/30003088.html |publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) |date=17 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702194556/https://www.rferl.org/a/nuclear-weapons-russia-start-inf-warheads/30003088.html |archive-date=2 July 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>
By 2020, [[List of states with nuclear weapons|nine nations had nuclear weapons]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Nuclear weapons: Which countries have them and how many are there? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-51091897 |publisher=BBC News |date=14 January 2020}}</ref> but Japan was not one of them.{{sfn|Ellsberg|2017|p=269}} Japan reluctantly signed the [[Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons]] in February 1970,{{sfn|Quester|1970|p=765}} but is still sheltered under the American [[nuclear umbrella]]. American nuclear weapons were stored on Okinawa, and sometimes in Japan itself, albeit in contravention of agreements between the two nations.{{sfn|Ellsberg|2017|pp=80–82}} Lacking the resources to fight the Soviet Union using conventional forces, [[NATO]] came to depend on the use of nuclear weapons to defend itself during the [[Cold War]], a policy that became known in the 1950s as the [[New Look (policy)|New Look]].{{sfn|Hewlett|Holl|1989|p=272}} In the decades after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United States would threaten many times to use its nuclear weapons.{{sfn|Ellsberg|2017|pp=319–322}}
On 7 July 2017, more than 120 countries voted to adopt the UN [[Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons]]. Elayne Whyte Gómez, President of the UN negotiations, said, "the world has been waiting for this legal norm for 70 years".<ref>{{cite news |title=122 countries adopt 'historic' UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/un-treaty-ban-nuclear-weapons-1.4192761 |publisher=CBC News |date=7 July 2017}}</ref> {{As of|2023}}, Japan has not signed the treaty.<ref>{{cite news |title=Editorial: It's time for Japan to step up and join nuclear ban treaty |url=http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13522651 |newspaper=The Asahi Shimbun |date=7 July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Nagasaki marks 75th A-bomb anniversary with call for Japan to sign nuke ban as new arms race looms |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/08/09/national/nagasaki-75th-anniversary-atomic-bombing/ |newspaper=Japan Times |date=9 August 2020 |access-date=15 August 2020 |archive-date=31 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200831072109/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/08/09/national/nagasaki-75th-anniversary-atomic-bombing/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Japan &#124; Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons |publisher= International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons |url=https://www.icanw.org/japan |access-date=23 November 2022}}</ref>
== Notes ==
{{reflist}}
== References ==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Allen |first=Louis | editor-last = Hart | editor-first = Basil Liddell | editor-link =B. H. Liddell Hart |contribution=The Nuclear Raids |title=History of the Second World War |publisher=Purnell |location=London |volume=6 |pages=2566–2576 |oclc=2466051 |year=1969 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Appleman |first1=Roy E. |first2=James M. |last2=Burns |first3=Russell A. |last3=Gugeler |first4=John |last4=Stevens |year=1948 |series=The United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific |url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/okinawa/ |title=Okinawa: The Last Battle |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=United States Army Center of Military History |oclc=226537810 |access-date=26 January 2018 |archive-date=26 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090926225835/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/okinawa/ }}
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* {{cite book |title=World War II: A 50th Anniversary History |url=https://archive.org/details/worldwarii50than00asso |url-access=registration |year=1990 |publisher=Hale |location=London |isbn=978-0-7090-3991-4 |oclc=20394384 }}
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* {{cite journal |last1=Toon |first1=O. B. |first2=R. P. |last2=Turco |first3=A. |last3=Robock |first4=C. |last4=Bardeen |first5=L. |last5=Oman |first6=G. L. |last6=Stenchikov |url=http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/acp-7-1973-2007.pdf |title=Atmospheric Effects and Societal Consequences of Regional Scale Nuclear Conflicts and Acts of Individual Nuclear Terrorism |journal=Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |issn=1680-7316 |volume=7 |issue=8 |pages=1973–2002 |year=2007 |access-date=4 December 2016 |doi=10.5194/acp-7-1973-2007 |bibcode=2007ACP.....7.1973T |doi-access=free }}
* {{cite book |author=United States Department of State |title=Diplomatic Papers: The Conference of Berlin (the Potsdam Conference), 1945 |year=1960 |volume=2 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |series=[[Foreign Relations of the United States (book series)|Foreign Relations of the United States]] |url=http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/FRUS.FRUS1945Berlinv02 |oclc=22435734 }}
* {{cite book |last=Wainstock |first=Dennis D. |title=The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb |publisher=Praeger |location=Westport, Connecticut |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-275-95475-8 |oclc=33243854 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Walker |first1=J. Samuel |title=The Decision to Use the Bomb: A Historiographical Update |journal=Diplomatic History |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=97–114 |date=January 1990 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-7709.1990.tb00078.x |issn=1467-7709 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1230637 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Walker |first=J. Samuel |s2cid=154708989 |title=Recent Literature on Truman's Atomic Bomb Decision: A Search for Middle Ground |journal=Diplomatic History |date=April 2005 |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=311–334 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-7709.2005.00476.x |issn=1467-7709 }}
* {{cite book |last=Wellerstein |first=Alex |author-link=Alex Wellerstein |contribution=The Kyoto Misconception: What Truman Knew, and Didn't Know, About Hiroshima |pages=34–55, 317–321 |editor-first1=Michael D. |editor-last1=Gordin |editor-first2=G. John |editor-last2=Ikenberry |title=The Age of Hiroshima |location=Princeton, New Jersey |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-691-19344-1 |oclc=1099689341 |url=https://alexwellerstein.com/publications/2020-wellerstein_kyoto_misconception.pdf |access-date=26 July 2023}}
* {{cite book |last=Werrell |first=Kenneth P. |title=Blankets of Fire: U.S. Bombers over Japan during World War II |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |location=Washington, D.C. |year=1996 |isbn=978-1-56098-665-2 |oclc=32921746 }}
* {{cite journal |last=White |first=Geoffrey. M. |url=http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/3807/api021.pdf?sequence=1 |title=Memory Wars: The Politics of Remembering the Asia-Pacific War |journal=Asia-Pacific Issues |issue=21 |date=July 1995 |access-date=30 June 2013 |issn=1522-0966 }}
* {{cite book |last=Williams |first=M. H. |year=1960 |title=Chronology, 1941–1945 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army |oclc=1358166 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Yamada |first1=Michiko |last2=Izumi |first2=Shizue |title=Psychiatric Sequelae in Atomic Bomb Survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki Two Decades After the Explosions |journal=Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology |issn=0933-7954 |year=2002 |volume=37 |issue=9 |pages=409–415 |doi=10.1007/s00127-002-0572-5 |pmid=12242616 |s2cid=7257634 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Zaloga |first1=Steven J. |author-link=Steven Zaloga |last2=Noon |first2=Steve |title=Defense of Japan 1945 |year=2010 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |isbn=978-1-84603-687-3 |location=Oxford |series=Fortress |oclc=503042143 }}
{{refend}}
== Further reading ==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite web|title=Hiroshima and Nagasaki Missions – Planes & Crews|year=2016|publisher=Atomic Heritage Foundation|url=https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/hiroshima-and-nagasaki-missions-planes-crews}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Allen |first1=Thomas |last2=Polmar |first2=Norman |title=Code-Name Downfall |year=1995 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0-684-80406-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/codenamedownfall00alle |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |title=The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb |last1=Alperovitz |first1=Gar |first2=Sanho |last2=Tree |author-link=Gar Alperovitz |year=1996 |publisher=Vintage |location=New York |isbn=978-0-679-76285-0 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Barrett |first1=David Dean |title=140 Days to Hiroshima: The Story of Japan's Last Chance to Avert Armageddon |date=2020 |publisher=Diversion Books |isbn=978-1-63576-581-6 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |author=The Committee for the Compilation of Materials on Damage Caused by the Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki |title=Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Physical, Medical, and Social Effects of the Atomic Bombings |location=New York |publisher=Basic Books |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-465-02985-3 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Delgado |first=James P. | author-link = James P. Delgado |title=Nuclear Dawn: the Atomic Bomb, from the Manhattan Project to the Cold War |publisher=Osprey |location=New York |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-84603-396-4 |oclc=297147193 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Evan | author-link = Evan Thomas |title=Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II |publisher=Random House |location=New York |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-399-58925-6 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Gallichio |first=Marc |title=Unconditional: The Japanese Surrender in World War II |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford and New York |year=2020 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Gordin |first=Michael D. |title=Five Days in August: How World War II Became a Nuclear War |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, New Jersey |year=2007 |oclc=70630623 |isbn=978-0-691-12818-4 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Gosling |first=Francis George |title=The Manhattan Project: Making the Atomic Bomb |year=1994 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=United States Department of Energy, History Division |oclc=637052193 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Hachiya |first1=Michihiko |title=Hiroshima Diary: The Journal of a Japanese Physician, August 6 – 30 September 1945 |date=1955 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina |isbn=978-0-80784-547-9 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Krauss |first1=Robert |last2=Krauss |first2=Amelia |title=The 509th Remembered: A History of the 509th Composite Group as Told by the Veterans Themselves |publisher=509th Press |location=Buchanan, Michigan |isbn=978-0-923568-66-5 |oclc=59148135 |year=2005 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Merton |first=Thomas |title=Original Child Bomb: Points for Meditation to be Scratched on the Walls of a Cave |location=New York |publisher=New Directions |year=1962 |oclc=4527778 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Murakami |first=Chikayasu |title=Hiroshima no shiroi sora (The White Sky in Hiroshima) |publisher=Bungeisha |location=Tokyo |year=2007 |isbn=978-4-286-03708-0 |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal |last=O'Brien |first=Phillips Payson |title=The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Atom Bomb, the American Military Mind and the End of the Second World War |journal=Journal of Strategic Studies |volume=42 |issue=7 |year=2019 |pages=971–991 |doi=10.1080/01402390.2018.1559150 |hdl=10023/20214 |s2cid=159190983 |url=https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10023/20214/O_Brien_2019_JSS_Jointchiefs_AAM.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=5 December 2023 |ref=none }}
* {{cite book |last=Ogura |first=Toyofumi |title=Letters from the End of the World: A Firsthand Account of the Bombing of Hiroshima |publisher=Kodansha International |location=Tokyo |year=2001 |isbn=978-4-7700-2776-4 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Sekimori |first=Gaynor |title=Hibakusha: Survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki |publisher=Kosei Publishing Company |location=Tokyo |year=1986 |isbn=978-4-333-01204-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/hibakushasurvivo00seki |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Toll |first=Ian W. |author-link=Ian W. Toll |title=Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944–1945 |title-link=Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944–1945 |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton |isbn=978-0-393-08065-0 |date=2020 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Walker |first=J. Samuel |title=Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs against Japan |edition=3rd |location=Chapel Hill |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-1-4696-2897-4 |date=2016 |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal |last=Ward |first=Wilson |s2cid=57563920 |title=The Winning Weapon? Rethinking Nuclear Weapons in Light of Hiroshima |journal=International Security |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=162–179 |date=Spring 2007 |doi=10.1162/isec.2007.31.4.162 |issn=1531-4804 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Warren |first=Stafford L. | editor-first=Arnold Lorentz | editor-last=Ahnfeldt |contribution=Manhattan Project |pages=831–922 |author-link=Stafford L. Warren |title=Radiology in World War II |publisher=Office of the Surgeon General, Department of the Army |location=Washington, D.C. |year=1966 |oclc=630225 |ref=none}}
{{refend}}
=== Historiography ===
* Kort, Michael. "The Historiography of Hiroshima: The Rise and Fall of Revisionism." ''New England Journal of History'' 64.1 (2007): 31–48. [https://essaydocs.org/the-historiography-of-hiroshima-the-rise-and-fall-of-revisioni.html online]
* Newman, Robert P. "Hiroshima and the Trashing of Henry Stimson" ''The New England Quarterly,'' 71#1 (1998), pp.&nbsp;5–32 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/366722 in JSTOR]
== External links ==
{{Sister project links |wikt=no |n=no|s=no |c=Category:Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki |q=Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki |b=no |v=no|d=yes}}
=== Decision ===
* {{cite book|url= https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Order_from_General_Thomas_Handy_to_General_Carl_Spaatz_authorizing_the_dropping_of_the_first_atomic_bomb |title= Order from General Thomas Handy to General Carl Spaatz authorizing the dropping of the first atomic bomb  |publisher= Wikisource |year= 2015 }}
* {{cite web
| title =Documents on the Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb
| publisher =[[Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum]]
| url =http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/index.php
| access-date =3 January 2012
| archive-date =5 October 2011
| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20111005023340/http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/index.php
}}
* {{cite web  | title = Correspondence Regarding Decision to Drop the Bomb  | publisher = Nuclear Age Peace Foundation  | url = http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/library/correspondence/index.htm#decision  | access-date = 3 January 2012  | archive-date = 31 March 2010  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100331230143/http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/library/correspondence/index.htm#decision  | url-status = dead  }}
=== Effects ===
* {{cite web | title = The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki | year = 1946 | work = U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey | publisher = [[Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum]] | url = http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/documents/index.php?documentdate=June%2019,%201946&documentid=65&studycollectionid=abomb&pagenumber=1 | access-date = 3 January 2012 | archive-date = 16 November 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181116052141/https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/documents/index.php?documentdate=June%252019,%25201946&documentid=65&studycollectionid=abomb&pagenumber=1 }}
* {{cite web|url=http://www-sdc.med.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/n50/start-E.html |title= Scientific Data of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Disaster |access-date=3 January 2012 |publisher=Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University}}
* {{cite web | title = Tale of Two Cities: The Story of Hiroshima and Nagasaki | url = http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/twocities/index.shtml |publisher= National Science Digital Library |access-date=3 January 2012}}
* {{cite web| title =The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki | year= 1946  | publisher=Atomic Archive | url =http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/MED/index.shtml |access-date=3 January 2012}}
* {{cite web |url = http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/72.pdf |title= The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II |publisher= [[National Security Archive]] |access-date=3 January 2012}}
* {{cite web |url=http://life.time.com/history/hiroshima-and-nagasaki-unpublished-photos/#1 |title=Photo gallery of aftermath pictures |publisher=Time-Life |access-date=8 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120719094423/http://life.time.com/history/hiroshima-and-nagasaki-unpublished-photos/#1 |archive-date=19 July 2012 }}
* {{cite news|title=Photo Essay: Hiroshima and Nagasaki: 75th anniversary of atomic bombings |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-53648572 |work=BBC News|date=8 August 2020 |access-date=9 August 2020}}
* {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.archives.arc.645748.r1|name=Children of Hiroshima (Reel 1 of 2) (1952)}}
* {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.archives.arc.645748.r2|name=Children of Hiroshima (Reel 2 of 2) (1952)}}
* {{YouTube|id=Z9v5sW6t0zI|title=Video footage of the bombing of Nagasaki (silent)}}
* {{YouTube|id=3wxWNAM8Cso|title=Reconstruction video of the bombing of Hiroshima}}
* {{YouTube|id=zMAY3qnAeHE|title=Hiroshima – 1945 – Movietone Moment}}
* {{Librivox book |title=The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki |author=U. S. Army Corps of Engineers}}
=== Archives ===
* {{cite web |url=http://e.nagasaki.mapping.jp/p/nagasaki-archive.html |title=Nagasaki Archive |publisher=Google Earth mapping of Nagasaki bombing archives  |access-date=3 January 2012}}
* {{cite web |url=http://hiroshima.mapping.jp/ |title=Hiroshima Archive |publisher=Google Earth mapping of Hiroshima bombing archives  |access-date=3 January 2012}}
=== Bibliographies ===
* {{cite web |url=http://alsos.wlu.edu/adv_rst.aspx?keyword=use*atomic*bombs*japan&creator=&title=&media=all&genre=all&disc=all&level=all&sortby=relevance&results=10&period=15 |title=Annotated bibliography for atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki |publisher=Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues |access-date=3 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305202907/http://alsos.wlu.edu/adv_rst.aspx?keyword=use*atomic*bombs*japan&creator=&title=&media=all&genre=all&disc=all&level=all&sortby=relevance&results=10&period=15 |archive-date=5 March 2012 }}
=== Commemoration ===
* [http://www.hiro-tsuitokinenkan.go.jp/english/index.php Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall For The Atomic Bomb Victims] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090903125833/http://www.hiro-tsuitokinenkan.go.jp/english/index.php |date=3 September 2009 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101017144519/http://www.peace-nagasaki.go.jp/english/index.html Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall For The Atomic Bomb Victims]
* [http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/top_e.html Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum]
* [http://www.democracynow.org/2009/8/10/hiroshima_and_nagasaki_a_look_back Hiroshima and Nagasaki: A Look Back at the US Atomic Bombing 64 Years Later] – video by [[Democracy Now!]]
* [http://hiroshima-remembered.com/ Hiroshima & Nagasaki Remembered] 2005 website commemorating 60th anniversary
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