Hiroshima tragedy. Why did the US drop bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

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

1. Survive in the epicenter

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

2. An explosion is not a hindrance to a tournament

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

3. Made to last

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

4. Doubtful luck

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

5. 50 Pumpkin Bombs

The United States dropped about 50 Pumpkin bombs on Japan before "Fat Man" and "Baby" (they were named so for their resemblance to a pumpkin). "Pumpkins" were not atomic.

6. Coup attempt

The Japanese army was mobilized for "total war". This meant that every man, woman and child must resist the invasion until their death. When the emperor ordered surrender after the atomic bombing, the army attempted a coup d'état.

7. Six survivors

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

8. From the fire to the frying pan

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

9. Not a single police officer died in Nagasaki

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

10. A quarter of the dead are Koreans

Almost a quarter of all those who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were actually Koreans who were mobilized to fight in the war.

11. Radioactive contamination is cancelled. USA.

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

12. Operation Meetinghouse

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

13. Only three out of twelve

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

14. "Fire of the world"

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

15. Kyoto narrowly escaped the bombing

Kyoto narrowly escaped the bombing. It was crossed off the list because former US Secretary of War Henry Stimson admired the city during his honeymoon in 1929. Instead of Kyoto, Nagasaki was chosen.

16. Only after 3 hours

In Tokyo, only 3 hours later they learned that Hiroshima had been destroyed. It was not until 16 hours later, when Washington announced the bombing, that exactly how it happened was known.

17. Air defense carelessness

Prior to the bombing, Japanese radar operators spotted three American bombers flying at high altitude. They decided not to intercept them, as they considered that such a small number of aircraft did not pose a threat.

18 Enola Gay

The crew of the Enola Gay bomber had 12 potassium cyanide tablets, which the pilots were to take in the event of a mission failure.

19. Peace Memorial City

After World War II, Hiroshima changed its status to a "Peace Memorial City" as a reminder to the world of the destructive power of nuclear weapons. When Japan conducted nuclear tests, the mayor of Hiroshima bombarded the government with letters of protest.

20. Mutant Monster

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

21. Apology to Japan

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

22. Shadows on the remains of the walls

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

23. The official symbol of Hiroshima

Since the oleander was the first plant to bloom in Hiroshima after the nuclear explosion, it is the city's official flower.

24. Bombardment Warning

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

25. Radio alert

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

A modern person should know and. This knowledge will help protect yourself and your loved ones.

MOSCOW, August 6 - RIA Novosti, Asuka Tokuyama, Vladimir Ardaev. When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Sadao Yamamoto was 14 years old. He was weeding potatoes in the eastern part of the city, when all of a sudden his whole body seemed to be on fire. The epicenter of the explosion was two and a half kilometers away. That day, Sadao was supposed to go to school, which was located in the western part of Hiroshima, but stayed at home. And if he had gone, then nothing could have saved the boy from instant death. Most likely, he would have simply disappeared, like thousands of other people, without a trace. The city has turned into a real hell.

“Burned human bodies were piled up everywhere in disarray, bloated and resembling rubber dolls, eyes were white on the burned faces,” recalls another survivor, Yoshiro Yamawaki.

"Kid" and "Fat Man"

Exactly 72 years ago, on August 6, 1945, at 8:15 am, at an altitude of 576 meters above the Japanese city of Hiroshima, the American atomic bomb "Kid" exploded with a capacity of only 13 to 18 kilotons of TNT - today even tactical nuclear weapons have greater destructive power . But from this "weak" (by today's standards) explosion, about 80 thousand people instantly died, including several tens of thousands simply disintegrated into molecules - only dark silhouettes on the walls and stones remained of them. The city was instantly engulfed in fire, which destroyed it.

Three days later, on August 9, at 11:20 a.m., a Fat Man bomb with a yield of 21 kilotons of TNT exploded at a height of half a kilometer above the city of Nagasaki. The number of victims was about the same as in Hiroshima.

Radiation continued to kill people after the explosion - every year. Today, the total number of dead and dead from the atomic bombing of Japan in 1945 exceeded 450 thousand people.

Yoshiro Yamawaki was the same age and lived in Nagasaki. On August 9, Yoshiro was at home when the Fat Man bomb exploded two kilometers away. Fortunately, his mother and little brother and sister were evacuated and therefore did not suffer in any way.

“My twin brother and I sat down at the table, about to have lunch, when suddenly a bright flash blinded us. Then a strong air wave swept through the house and literally blew it apart. Just at that time, our older brother, a mobilized schoolboy, returned from the factory. The three of us We rushed to the bomb shelter and waited for my father there, but he never returned,” says Yoshiro Yamawaki.

"People died standing"

The day after the explosion, Yoshiro and his brothers went in search of their father. They got to the factory - the bomb exploded just half a kilometer away. And the closer they came, the more terrible pictures were revealed to them.

“On the bridge, we saw ranks of the dead standing at the railing on both sides. They died standing up. So they stood with their heads bowed as if in prayer. And dead bodies also floated along the river. the face laughs. Adults from the factory helped us cremate the body. We burned my father at the stake, but we did not dare to tell our mother about everything we saw and experienced, "Yoshiro Yamawaki continues to recall.

“The first spring after the war, sweet potatoes were planted in our school yard,” says Reiko Yamada. “But when they began to harvest, suddenly here and there screams began to be heard: along with potatoes, human bones appeared from the ground. I could not eat it potatoes despite the famine.

The day after the explosion, Sadao Yamamoto's mother asked Sadao Yamamoto to go and visit her younger sister, whose house was only 400 meters from the bomb site. But everything was destroyed there, and charred bodies lay by the road.

"The whole of Hiroshima is a big cemetery"

“My mother’s younger sister’s husband managed to get to the first aid station. We were all glad that my uncle escaped wounds and burns, but, as it turned out, another, invisible misfortune awaited him. Soon he began to vomit blood, and we were informed that he had died. Grabbing a huge dose of radiation, my uncle suddenly died of radiation sickness. It is radiation that is the most terrible consequence of an atomic explosion, it kills a person not from the outside, but from the inside, "says Sadao Yamamoto. August 9, 2016, 05:14

"I would very much like all people - both children and adults - to know what happened in the courtyard of my school on that terrible day. Together with my comrades, we raised money and in 2010 installed a memorial stele in the school courtyard. I moved to Tokyo a long time ago, but still, when I come to Hiroshima, I can’t calmly walk on its land, thinking: isn’t there, under my foot, another dead, unburied body? Reiko Yamada says.

"It is very important to free the world from nuclear weapons. Please do it! On July 7, the UN approved the first multilateral treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons, but the largest nuclear powers - the United States and Russia - did not take part in the vote. Japan, which is located under the nuclear umbrella of the U.S. We, the victims of the atomic bombing, are very saddened by this and want to call on the nuclear powers to take the lead in freeing the world from this terrible weapon,” says Sadao Yamamoto.

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is the only case in history when nuclear weapons were used for combat purposes. He terrified mankind. This tragedy is one of the most terrible pages in the history of not only Japan, but of the entire civilization. Almost half a million people were sacrificed for political purposes: to force the USSR to go to war with Japan, to force Japan to capitulate in World War II and at the same time scare the Soviet Union and the whole world by demonstrating the power of a fundamentally new weapon, which the USSR will also soon have.

After the Interim Committee decided to drop the bomb, the Target Committee determined the locations to be hit, and President Truman issued the Potsdam Declaration as Japan's final warning. The world soon understood what "complete and utter annihilation" meant. The first and only two atomic bombs in history were dropped on Japan in early August 1945 at the end.

Hiroshima

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped its first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. It was called "Baby" - a uranium bomb with an explosive power equivalent to about 13 kilotons of TNT. During the bombing in Hiroshima there were 280-290 thousand civilians, as well as 43 thousand soldiers. Between 90,000 and 166,000 people are believed to have died within four months of the explosion. The US Department of Energy estimated that in five years at least 200,000 or more people were killed by the bombing, and in Hiroshima, 237,000 people were killed directly or indirectly by the bomb, including burns, radiation sickness, and cancer.

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima, codenamed Operations Center I, was approved by Curtis LeMay on August 4, 1945. The B-29 aircraft carrying the Kid from Tinian Island in the Western Pacific to Hiroshima was called the Enola Gay, after the mother of the crew commander, Colonel Paul Tibbets. The crew consisted of 12 people, among whom were co-pilot Captain Robert Lewis, bombardier Major Tom Fereby, navigator Captain Theodore Van Kirk and tail gunner Robert Caron. Below are their stories about the first atomic bomb dropped on Japan.

Pilot Paul Tibbets: “We turned to look at Hiroshima. The city was covered with this terrible cloud ... it boiled, growing, terribly and incredibly high. For a moment everyone was silent, then they all spoke at once. I remember Lewis (co-pilot) hitting me on the shoulder saying, “Look at this! Look at it! Look at it!" Tom Ferebby feared that radioactivity would make us all sterile. Lewis said that he felt the splitting of atoms. He said it tasted like lead."

Navigator Theodor Van Kirk recalls the shock waves from the explosion: “It was like you were sitting on a pile of ash and someone hit it with a baseball bat… The plane was pushed, it jumped, and then a noise like the sound of sheet metal being cut. Those of us who have flown over Europe quite a bit thought it was anti-aircraft fire close to the plane.” Seeing an atomic fireball: “I'm not sure any of us expected to see this. Where we had clearly seen the city two minutes ago, now it was no more. All we saw was smoke and fire crawling up the mountainside.”

Tail gunner Robert Caron: “The fungus itself was a stunning sight, a seething mass of purple-gray smoke, and you could see the red core, inside which everything was burning. Flying away, we saw the base of the fungus, and below a layer of debris several hundred feet and smoke, or whatever they have ... I saw fires starting in different places - flames swaying on a bed of coals.

"Enola Gay"

Six miles under the crew of the Enola Gay, the people of Hiroshima were waking up and getting ready for the day's work. It was 8:16 am. Until that day, the city had not been subjected to regular aerial bombardment like other Japanese cities. It was rumored that this was due to the fact that many residents of Hiroshima emigrated to where President Truman's mother lived. Nevertheless, citizens, including schoolchildren, were sent to fortify houses and dig fire-fighting ditches in preparation for future bombardments. This is exactly what the residents were doing, or else they were going to work on the morning of August 6. Just an hour earlier, the early warning system had gone off, detecting a single B-29 carrying the Kid towards Hiroshima. The Enola Gay was announced on the radio shortly after 8 o'clock in the morning.

The city of Hiroshima was destroyed by an explosion. Of the 76,000 buildings, 70,000 were damaged or destroyed, and 48,000 of them were razed to the ground. Those who survived recalled how impossible it is to describe and believe that in one minute the city ceased to exist.

College professor of history: “I went up Hikiyama Hill and looked down. I saw that Hiroshima had disappeared… I was shocked by the sight… What I felt then and still feel, now I simply cannot explain in words. Of course, after that I saw many more terrible things, but this moment when I looked down and did not see Hiroshima was so shocking that I simply could not express what I felt ... Hiroshima no longer exists - it is in general all I saw was that Hiroshima simply doesn't exist anymore.

Explosion over Hiroshima

Physician Michihiko Hachiya: “Nothing was left but a few reinforced concrete buildings…Acres and acres of the city was like a desert, with only scattered piles of bricks and tiles everywhere. I had to rethink my understanding of the word "destruction" or pick up some other word to describe what I saw. Devastation might be the right word, but I don't really know the word or words to describe what I saw."

Writer Yoko Ota: “I got to the bridge and saw that Hiroshima was completely razed to the ground, and my heart was trembling like a huge wave ... the grief that stepped over the corpses of history pressed on my heart.”

Those who were close to the epicenter of the explosion simply evaporated from the monstrous heat. From one person there was only a dark shadow on the steps of the bank, where he sat. Miyoko Osugi's mother, a 13-year-old fire-fighting schoolgirl, did not find her sandaled foot. The place where the foot had stood remained bright, and everything around was blackened from the explosion.

Those residents of Hiroshima who were far from the epicenter of the "Kid" survived the explosion, but were seriously injured and received very serious burns. These people were in uncontrollable panic, they were struggling to find food and water, medical care, friends and relatives and tried to escape from the firestorms that engulfed many residential areas.

Having lost all orientation in space and time, some survivors believed that they had already died and ended up in hell. The worlds of the living and the dead seemed to come together.

Protestant priest: “I had the feeling that everyone was dead. The whole city was destroyed… I thought it was the end of Hiroshima – the end of Japan – the end of humanity.”

Boy, 6 years old: “There were a lot of dead bodies near the bridge… Sometimes people came to us and asked for water to drink. Their heads, mouths, faces bled, pieces of glass stuck to their bodies. The bridge was on fire… It was all like hell.”

Sociologist: “I immediately thought that it was like hell, which I always read about ... I had never seen anything like it before, but I decided that this should be hell, here it is - fiery hell, where, as we thought, those who didn’t escape… And I thought that all these people that I saw were in the hell that I read about.”

Fifth grade boy: "I had the feeling that all the people on earth had disappeared, and only five of us (his family) remained in the other world of the dead."

Grocer: “People looked like… well, they all had blackened skin from burns… They had no hair because the hair was burned, and at first glance it was not clear whether you were looking at them from the front or from behind… Many of them died on the road - I still see them in my mind - like ghosts ... They were not like people from this world.

Hiroshima destroyed

Many people wandered around the center - near hospitals, parks, along the river, trying to find relief from pain and suffering. Soon, agony and despair reigned here, as many injured and dying people could not get help.

Sixth-grader girl: “Swollen bodies floated on seven previously beautiful rivers, cruelly breaking into pieces the childish naivete of a little girl. The strange smell of burning human flesh pervaded the city, which had turned into a pile of ashes."

Boy, 14 years old: “Night came and I heard many voices crying and groaning in pain and begging for water. Someone shouted: “Damn it! War cripples so many innocent people!” Another said: “I am in pain! Give me water!" This man was so burned that we could not tell if he was a man or a woman. The sky was red with flames, it burned like heaven had been set on fire.”

Three days after the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, on August 9, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. It was a 21-kiloton plutonium bomb, which was called "Fat Man". On the day of the bombing, about 263,000 people were in Nagasaki, including 240,000 civilians, 9,000 Japanese soldiers and 400 prisoners of war. Until August 9, Nagasaki was the target of US small-scale bombing. Although the damage from these explosions was relatively minor, it caused great concern in Nagasaki and many people were evacuated to the countryside, thus depopulating the city during the nuclear attack. It is estimated that between 40,000 and 75,000 people died immediately after the explosion, and another 60,000 people were seriously injured. In total, by the end of 1945, about 80 thousand people died, presumably.

The decision to use the second bomb was made on August 7, 1945 in Guam. By doing so, the United States wanted to demonstrate that they had an endless supply of new weapons against Japan, and that they would continue to drop atomic bombs on Japan until she surrendered unconditionally.

However, the original target of the second atomic bombing was not Nagasaki. The officials chose the city of Kokura, where Japan had one of the largest munitions factories.

On the morning of August 9, 1945, a B-29 Boxcar, piloted by Major Charles Sweeney, was supposed to deliver the Fat Man to the city of Kokura. Accompanying Sweeney were Lieutenant Charles Donald Albery and Lieutenant Fred Olivy, gunner Frederick Ashworth and bombardier Kermit Beahan. At 3:49 a.m., the Bockscar and five other B-29s left Tinian Island for Kokura.

Seven hours later, the plane flew up to the city. Thick clouds and smoke from fires following an air raid on the nearby city of Yawata obscured much of the sky over Kokura, obscuring the target. Over the next fifty minutes, pilot Charles Sweeney made three bombing runs, but bombardier Beehan failed to drop the bomb because he could not visually identify the target. By the time of the third approach, they were discovered by Japanese anti-aircraft guns, and Second Lieutenant Jacob Bezer, who was monitoring the Japanese radio, reported the approach of Japanese fighters.

Fuel was running out, and the crew of the Boxcar decided to attack the second target, Nagasaki. When the B-29 flew over the city 20 minutes later, the sky above it was also covered with dense clouds. Gunner Frederick Ashworth proposed bombing Nagasaki using radar. At this point, a small window in the clouds, discovered at the end of a three-minute bombing approach, allowed bombardier Kermit Behan to visually identify the target.

At 10:58 a.m. local time, Boxcar dropped Fat Man. 43 seconds later, at an altitude of 1650 feet, about 1.5 miles northwest of the intended aiming point, an explosion occurred, the yield of which was 21 kilotons of TNT.

The radius of complete destruction from the atomic explosion was about one mile, after which the fire spread throughout the northern part of the city - about two miles south of the bomb site. Unlike the buildings in Hiroshima, almost all of the buildings in Nagasaki were of traditional Japanese construction - wooden frames, wooden walls and tiled roofs. Many small industrial and commercial enterprises were also located in buildings that were not able to withstand explosions. As a result, the atomic explosion over Nagasaki leveled everything within its radius of destruction to the ground.

Due to the fact that it was not possible to drop the Fat Man right on target, the atomic explosion was limited to the Urakami Valley. As a result, most of the city was not affected. The Fat Man fell into the industrial valley of the city between Mitsubishi's steel and arms works to the south and Mitsubishi-Urakami's torpedo works to the north. The resulting explosion had a yield equivalent to 21 kilotons of TNT, about the same as the explosion of the Trinity bomb. Almost half of the city was completely destroyed.

Olivi: “Suddenly, the light of a thousand suns flashed in the cockpit. Even with my tinted welding goggles on, I flinched and closed my eyes for a couple of seconds. I assumed we were about seven miles from ground zero and flying away from the target, but the light blinded me for a moment. I have never seen such a strong blue light, perhaps three or four times brighter than the sun above us.”

“I have never seen anything like it! The biggest explosion I have ever seen... This column of smoke is hard to describe. A huge white mass of flame boils in a mushroom cloud. It is salmon pink. The base is black and slightly separated from the fungus.

“The mushroom cloud was moving straight towards us, I immediately looked up and saw how it was approaching the Boxcar. We were told not to fly through the atomic cloud because it was extremely dangerous for the crew and aircraft. Knowing this, Sweeney swerved the Boxcar sharply to starboard, away from the cloud, with the throttles wide open. For a few moments, we could not understand whether we had escaped from the ominous cloud or whether it had captured us, but gradually we separated from it, much to our relief.

Tatsuichiro Akizuki: “All the buildings that I saw were on fire ... Electric poles were shrouded in flames, like many huge matches ... It seemed that the earth itself spewed fire and smoke - the flames twisted and ejected right from the ground. The sky was dark, the ground was scarlet, and clouds of yellowish smoke hung between them. Three colors - black, yellow and scarlet - swept ominously over people who rushed about like ants trying to escape ... It seemed that the end of the world had come.

Consequences

On August 14, Japan surrendered. Journalist George Weller was "the first on Nagasaki" and described a mysterious "atomic sickness" (the onset of radiation sickness) that killed patients who outwardly appeared to have escaped the bomb. Controversial at the time and for many years to come, Weller's papers were not allowed for publication until 2006.

controversy

The debate over the bomb—whether a test demonstration was necessary, whether the Nagasaki bomb was necessary, and much more—continues to this day.

On the morning of August 6, 1945, the American B-29 Enola Gay bomber dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima with the equivalent of 13 to 18 kilotons of TNT.

Those closest to the epicenter of the explosion died instantly, their bodies turned to coal. Birds flying past burned up in the air, and dry combustible materials (for example, paper) ignited at a distance of up to 2 km from the epicenter. Light radiation burned the dark pattern of clothes into the skin and left the silhouettes of human bodies on the walls.

The number of deaths from the direct impact of the explosion ranged from 70 to 80 thousand people. By the end of 1945, due to the effects of radioactive contamination and other delayed effects of the explosion, the total number of deaths ranged from 90 to 166 thousand people. After 5 years, the total death toll, taking into account deaths from cancer and other long-term effects of the explosion, could reach or even exceed 200 thousand people.

The role of the atomic bombings in the surrender of Japan and their ethical validity are still the subject of scientific and public discussion. But it remains indisputable that the peaceful people of Hiroshima suffered terribly, although they were not to blame for anything. And politicians are obliged to do everything so that such a tragedy could never happen again.

Pre-war photograph of the bustling shopping district of Hiroshima City.

The Chamber of Industry Building, by the Motoyasugawa River, Hiroshima, the remains of which were preserved after the nuclear explosion and are now called the "House of the Atomic Bomb" or "Peace Memorial".

Street of the Temples, in pre-war Hiroshima. This area was completely destroyed.

Traditional, Japanese sailing ships against the backdrop of wooden houses, in Hiroshima before the explosion.

An aerial view of the densely populated area of ​​Hiroshima along the Motoyasugawa River, which took the brunt of the nuclear attack and was completely destroyed.

Hiroshima railway station, between 1912 and 1945.

Port of Hiroshima.

On August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. About 80,000 people are believed to have been killed, and another 60,000 survivors died from trauma and radiation exposure by 1950.

Survivors of the first atomic bomb wait for emergency medical attention in Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945.

Shortly after the atomic bomb was dropped over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, survivors receive urgent medical treatment from military medics. August 6, 1945.

People return to Hiroshima, a month after the nuclear explosion.

Japanese troops involved in the elimination of the consequences of a nuclear explosion, rest in the Hiroshima railway station, which survived the bombing.

The movement of some tram lines in the destroyed Hiroshima has been restored.

One of several Japanese fire engines that arrived in Hiroshima shortly after the bombing.

Hiroshima after the nuclear bombing.

A Japanese woman and her child, who were injured in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, lie on a blanket on the floor of a damaged bank building turned hospital near the city center. October 6, 1945.

Hiroshima a month after the nuclear bombing.

Traces of a nuclear explosion: from the railing of the bridge and from a person standing on the bridge.

Post Office, Hiroshima. Traces of a nuclear explosion on the walls.

Traces of an explosion on a gas tank.

Two Japanese men sit in a makeshift office set up in a ruined building in Hiroshima.

Nagarekawa, a Methodist church among the ruins of Hiroshima.

The ruins left after the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.

Photo of Hiroshima after the atomic bombing.

A Japanese soldier near Hiroshima, September 1945.

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, using a nuclear weapon for the first time in history. Until now, disputes have not subsided whether this action was justified, because Japan was then close to capitulation. One way or another, on August 6, 1945, a new era began in the history of mankind.

1. A Japanese soldier walks through the desert in Hiroshima in September 1945, just a month after the bombing. This series of photographs depicting the suffering of people and ruins was presented by the US Navy. (U.S. Department of Navy)

3. US Air Force data - a map of Hiroshima before the bombing, where you can see the epicenter area, which instantly disappeared from the face of the earth. (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)

4. A bomb code-named "Kid" over the airlock of a B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay" bomber at the base of the 509th consolidated group in the Marianas in 1945. "Kid" was 3 m long and weighed 4000 kg, but contained only 64 kg of uranium, which was used to provoke a chain of atomic reactions and the subsequent explosion. (U.S. National Archives)

5. Photo taken from one of the two American bombers of the 509th Composite Group, shortly after 08:15, August 5, 1945, shows smoke rising from the explosion over the city of Hiroshima. By the time the image was taken, there had already been a flash of light and heat from the 370 m diameter fireball, and the blast wave dissipated quickly, having already caused major damage to buildings and people within a 3.2 km radius. (U.S. National Archives)

6. Growing nuclear "mushroom" over Hiroshima shortly after 8:15, August 5, 1945. When the portion of uranium in the bomb went through the splitting stage, it instantly turned into the energy of 15 kilotons of TNT, heating a massive fireball to a temperature of 3980 degrees Celsius. The air, heated to the limit, quickly rose in the atmosphere like a huge bubble, raising a column of smoke behind it. By the time this photo was taken, the smog had risen to a height of 6096 m above Hiroshima, and the smoke from the explosion of the first atomic bomb had scattered 3048 m at the base of the column. (U.S. National Archives)

7. View of the epicenter of Hiroshima in the fall of 1945 - complete destruction after the first atomic bomb was dropped. The photo shows the hypocenter (the center point of the explosion) - approximately above the Y-junction in the center left. (U.S. National Archives)

8. Bridge across the Ota River, 880 meters from the hypocenter of the explosion over Hiroshima. Note how the road has been burned, and ghostly footprints are visible to the left where concrete columns once protected the surface. (U.S. National Archives)

9. Color photograph of the destroyed Hiroshima in March 1946. (U.S. National Archives)

11. Keloid scars on the back and shoulders of the victim of the explosion in Hiroshima. The scars formed where the victim's skin was exposed to direct radiation. (U.S. National Archives)

12. This patient (photo taken by the Japanese military on October 3, 1945) was approximately 1981.2 m from the epicenter when the radiation beams overtook him from the left. The cap protected part of the head from burns. (U.S. National Archives)

13. Crooked iron beams - all that remains of the theater building, located about 800 meters from the epicenter. (U.S. National Archives)

16. A victim of the Hiroshima bombing lies in a temporary hospital located in one of the surviving bank buildings in September 1945. (U.S. Department of Navy)