There was a nuclear attack on Hiroshima. Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The Cold War ended more than two decades ago, and many people have never lived under the threat of nuclear annihilation. However, nuclear attack is a very real threat. Global politics are far from stable and human nature has not changed in recent years or in the last two decades. “The most constant sound in the history of mankind is the sound of the drums of war.” As long as nuclear weapons exist, there is always the danger of their use.

Is it really possible to survive after a nuclear war? There are only forecasts: some say “yes”, others say “no”. Keep in mind that modern thermonuclear weapons are numerous and several thousand times more powerful than the bombs dropped on Japan. We really don't fully understand what will happen when thousands of these munitions explode at the same time. For some, especially those living in densely populated areas, trying to survive may seem completely futile. However, if a person survives, it will be someone who is morally and logistically prepared for such an event and lives in a very remote area of ​​no strategic importance.

Steps

Preliminary preparation

Make a plan. If a nuclear attack occurs, you will not be able to go outside, as it will be dangerous. You should remain protected for at least 48 hours, but preferably longer. With food and medicine on hand, you can at least temporarily not worry about them and focus on other aspects of survival.

Stock up on foods that are not perishable. These foods can last for several years, so they should be available to help you tide over an attack. Choose foods that are high in carbohydrates so you can get more calories for less money. They should be stored in a cool, dry place:

• White rice
• Wheat
• Beans
• Sugar
• Pasta
• Powdered milk
• Dried fruits and vegetables
• Build up your supply gradually. Every time you go to the grocery store, buy one or two items for your dry rations. You'll end up stocking up for several months.
• Make sure you have a can opener for opening cans.

1. You must have a supply of water. Water can be stored in food-grade plastic containers. Clean them with a bleach solution and then fill them with filtered and distilled water.

   • Your goal is to have 4 liters per person per day.
   • To purify water in the event of an attack, keep regular chlorine bleach and potassium iodide (Lugol's solution) on hand.

2. You must have means of communication. Staying informed, as well as being able to alert others to your location, can be vital. Here's what you might need:

   • Radio. Try to find one that is crank operated or solar powered. If you have a radio with batteries, don't forget to have spares. If possible, tune into a radio station that broadcasts weather forecasts and emergency information 24 hours a day.
   • Whistle. You can use it to call for help.
   • Mobile phone. It's unknown whether cell service will work, but if it does, you should be prepared. If possible, find a solar charger for your phone model.

3. Stock up on medications. Having the necessary medications and the ability to provide first aid is a matter of life and death if you are injured in an attack. You will need:

   Prepare other items. Add the following to your survival kit:

   • Flashlight and batteries
   • Respirators
   • Plastic film and adhesive tape
   • Garbage bags, plastic ties and wet wipes for personal hygiene
   • Wrench and pliers to turn off gas and water.

4. Stay tuned for more news. A nuclear attack is unlikely to happen out of the blue. It will most likely be preceded by a sharp deterioration in the political situation. If a conventional war breaks out between countries that have nuclear weapons and does not end quickly, it could escalate into a nuclear war. Even isolated nuclear strikes in one region can escalate into an all-out nuclear conflict. Many countries have a rating system to indicate the imminence of an attack. In the USA and Canada, for example, it is called DEFCON.

   Assess the risk and consider evacuation if a nuclear exchange looks likely. If evacuation is not an option, then you should at least build a shelter for yourself. Rate your proximity to the following targets

   • Airfields and naval bases, especially those housing nuclear bombers, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, or bunkers. These places for sure would be attacked even with a limited exchange of nuclear strikes.
   • Commercial ports and airstrips over 3 km long. These places likely for sure
   • Government buildings. These places likely, would be attacked even with a limited exchange of nuclear strikes and for sure would be attacked in an all-out nuclear war.
   • Large industrial cities and most populated regions. These places likely, would be attacked in the event of an all-out nuclear war.

5. Learn about the different types of nuclear weapons:

   • Atomic bombs are the main types of nuclear weapons and are included in other classes of weapons. The power of an atomic bomb is due to the fission of heavy nuclei (plutonium and uranium) when they are irradiated with neutrons. When each atom splits, a large amount of energy is released and even more neutrons. This results in an extremely fast nuclear chain reaction. Atomic bombs are the only type of nuclear bomb still used in warfare today. If terrorists are able to capture and use a nuclear weapon, it will most likely be an atomic bomb.
   • Hydrogen bombs use the ultra-high temperature of an atomic charge as a "spark plug". Under the influence of temperature and strong pressure, deuterium and tritium are formed. Their nuclei interact, and as a result, a huge release of energy occurs - a thermonuclear explosion. Hydrogen bombs are also known as thermonuclear weapons because the deuterium and tritium nuclei require high temperatures to interact. Such weapons are usually many hundreds of times stronger than the bombs that destroyed Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Most of the American and Russian strategic arsenal are just such bombs.

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The "Atom" signal is a notification (on television, radio, loudspeakers) about the launch of missiles with nuclear warheads towards Russia. In fact, this is a signal about the beginning of a nuclear war.
First of all, residents of megacities should be wary of this, since it is more likely that the enemy will first strike large cities and, of course, the capital. But considering that the number of nuclear warheads of the main potential enemy (the United States) is quite large, this will be enough for large cities and strategically important objects.

When is a nuclear attack most likely?

According to theoretical calculations, the most likely time for a nuclear strike on large cities is about 18:00 Moscow time. This is due to the fact that:

1. 10 a.m. Washington time allows us to prepare and carry out a strike during the working morning of the relevant security forces, without prematurely attracting increased attention from our intelligence services to the activity of the departments of a possible enemy during non-working hours;
2. all types of urban and intercity communications are overloaded at the end of the working day, and the coordination of emergency defensive measures is difficult;
3. At this time, the attention of the duty services decreases;
4. a significant part of the population is on the road between places of work and residence, which further complicates the coordination of measures and actions;
5. Transport arteries are paralyzed by traffic jams, and the population located in them is primarily not protected from damaging factors.

Nuclear attack power

In an attack on the capital, the most likely yield of a thermonuclear warhead is from 2 to 10 megatons. Such ammunition power is limited by the capabilities of the delivery vehicles and is due to the large area of ​​the Moscow metropolis, the concentration of central intelligence and defense units and enterprises in it, and along its perimeter - belts of missile and aviation cover systems, but first of all - the high security of the shelters of the presidential and government apparatuses and control services of the Ministry of Defense, which are the main target of the enemy. With the accuracy of modern guidance systems (if we take the capital), the epicenter of the explosion will be located within the Boulevard Ring, focusing on the Kremlin-Lubyanka-Arbat area.

A ground explosion should be expected in Moscow. This somewhat reduces the radius of the overall damage compared to an above-ground explosion, but increases the strength of the seismic wave, which leads to ground movements such as tectonic disturbances of a nature similar to a high-power earthquake in the upper layers, leading to the destruction of even significantly buried shelters of increased strength within a radius of ten fifteen kilometers.

The most probable time from the moment of the warning signal "Atomic alarm!" until the moment of striking:

1. about 14 minutes when launching ground-based launch vehicles from the American continent;
2. about 7 minutes when launching carrier rockets from sea-based submarine-launched missile carriers occupying positions in the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean. This corresponds to the flight time of ballistic missiles moving in and above atmospheric space along ballistic trajectories at a speed of about 28,000 km/h. In practical terms, in combat conditions it is possible to foresee some failures and communication delays, which can actually reduce the warning time to several minutes.

How to distinguish the "Atom" signal

What to do if there is a nuclear signal

Persons provided with shelters by virtue of their official position immediately begin to act in accordance with the evacuation plan in the event of a nuclear alarm, under the leadership of civil defense officials, or building commandants, or team leaders, or independently. You should act without panic, in an organized manner, without the slightest delay. Any manifestations of panic can be immediately suppressed by any possible means, including the use of force and weapons. No more than 6 minutes (or earlier by order of the shelter senior, who is convinced that the full strength of the assigned groups is present in the shelter) after the first warning signal, all entrances to the shelter must be blocked and blocked according to combat mode, regardless of cases of those who did not have time to take cover in them and the number remaining outside. Attempts to prevent the closure of entrances by any persons without exception must be immediately suppressed by any means, including the use of weapons.

In August, two consecutive 65th anniversaries of the use of atomic weapons against civilians by the Americans are celebrated - on the 6th in Hiroshima and on August 9 in Nagasaki. These terrible explosions, which the whole world would call war crimes if they were committed by a country that lost the war, lead to different thoughts.

For example, about the cynicism of Western propaganda. Textbooks published in Japan under the control of the American authorities during the years of post-war occupation describe the atomic bombings in such a way that it is difficult to understand from them who and how used weapons of mass destruction on peaceful cities. As a result, recent opinion polls in Japan show that a significant part of Japanese youth believes that the nuclear bombings were some kind of natural disaster, such as a tsunami, and not the result of a conscious desire by the Americans to inflict the greatest damage on Japan. And even that the country was bombed not by the United States, but by the Red Army, no more and no less.

And in general, today’s claims of Japan, which lost the war, are not addressed at all to the Americans, who, in violation of the rules of warfare, used weapons of mass destruction and indiscriminately killed more than 400 thousand civilians, but to Russia, which did not violate either the Hague or Geneva Conventions. And for some reason, the Japanese today demand repentance and the return of territories lost during the war, not from the United States, but from Russia.

Moreover, Japan itself never made a formal apology to the peoples of Asia for the use of hundreds of thousands of their women, whom the Japanese army carried behind its regiments to serve the soldiers. And references to the crimes of the Japanese military in China, Singapore and the Philippines were removed from history textbooks. And the ashes of Japanese war criminals executed by decision of the Tokyo Trial are buried in the sacred Yasukuni Shrine, where the current prime ministers of the country go to worship.

However, the PRC still remembers the “Nanjing Massacre” of 1937, when Japanese troops captured the city, which was then the capital of China, and considers it a grave war crime. Then, for six weeks, Japanese soldiers burned and looted the peaceful city, killing everyone in the most brutal ways and raping women and teenage girls. Chinese historians claim that the Japanese then killed 300 thousand civilians and raped more than 20,000 women, from seven-year-old girls to old women. A significant part of them were sent to soldiers' brothels, where they subsequently died.

In February 1942, the Japanese captured the British colony of Singapore, after which they began to identify and eliminate “anti-Japanese elements” of the Chinese community there. This definition then included the Chinese - participants in the defense of the Malay Peninsula and Singapore, former employees of the British administration and ordinary citizens who had just made donations to the China relief fund. The list of suspects included almost all Chinese men living in Singapore between the ages of eighteen and fifty. Those who, in the opinion of the Japanese, could pose a threat to the occupation authorities were taken by truck outside the cities and shot with machine guns. More than 50,000 people were killed in this way.

During the 1949 Khabarovsk trial of Japanese war criminals, it became clear that the Japanese were preparing to widely use bacteriological weapons against the population of the USSR and other countries on the eve of and during the Second World War. It became known that the Japanese in the Kwantung Army that occupied Manchuria created a special “Togo detachment” to prepare bacteriological warfare, as well as detachments No. 731 and No. 100. In their laboratories, bacteria of plague, anthrax, glanders, typhoid fever and other diseases were grown for use against USSR. The detachments conducted experiments on Soviet and Chinese prisoners, as a result of which over 4,000 people died from the end of 1937 to the summer of 1945. The Japanese used bacteriological weapons against Soviet and Mongolian troops in the battles on the Khalkhin Gol River in 1939 and against China in 1940-1942, spreading plague and smallpox bacteria. The Japanese sent groups of saboteurs to the Soviet borders, contaminating water bodies in border areas.

Japanese society today has chosen to forget all this. But he selectively remembers that as a result of the war, Japan lost the Kuril Islands, and demands that Russia return them. At the same time, he is not even going to discuss the return of other disputed territories to China - the Senkaku Islands. These islands were captured by Japan along with Taiwan in the late 19th century. After World War II, when Japan returned Taiwan to China, the Senkaku Archipelago came under the jurisdiction of the United States, which then annexed it to Japan's Okinawa Prefecture, where its military base is located.

Today, the Japanese simply do not hear the demands of the PRC to return the Senkakus and do not discuss them with China, and not because there are oil reserves in the archipelago area. Tokyo proceeds from the fact that only weak countries led by narrow-minded leaders give away their territories, and Japan does not consider itself one of those.

But it includes modern Russia among them, although it was its soldiers in World War II who, in two weeks, crushed the main force of Japan - the Kwantung Army, which numbered more than a million soldiers and officers. Today Japan demands the return of the Kuril Islands, otherwise refusing to sign a peace treaty with Russia. And he organizes provocations such as the mass dispatch of Japanese fishing schooners to the shores of the Kuril Islands, which begin to catch crabs there under the pretext that they can do whatever they want in their “northern territories.”

But when seven Chinese tried to carry out a similar action in 2004, advocating the return of the Senkaku Islands to the PRC, Japan showed that it protects its territory well. No sooner had the Chinese activists landed on one of the islands of the archipelago than they were arrested by the Japanese police and taken to Okinawa, where they spent several months in prison. That's all the discussion of the problem of returning the islands “in Japanese style.”

From Russia, Japan brazenly demands the return of the islands in exchange for the possible conclusion of some kind of peace treaty with it. Although even international experts strongly doubt the need for Moscow to conclude a peace treaty at all with a country that it defeated and which admitted itself defeated, on September 2, 1945, signing an act of unconditional surrender on board the battleship Missouri. In it, Japan agreed to recognize the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, in paragraph 8 of which it is written that its sovereignty is now limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and “those smaller islands” that the victorious countries will indicate to it. Then Japan, defeated by force of arms, did not dispute the right of the victors to resolve issues of its territory. The same thing happened in the case of Germany, which capitulated to the Allies in May 1945 and in the process lost Prussia, which became Polish Silesia, as well as Alsace and Lorraine, which went to France. But Russia has been developing excellent trade, economic and political relations with Germany for more than 60 years without concluding any peace treaty. But the Japanese, just a few years after their defeat in the war, dragged Moscow into an endless dispute about the Kuril Islands, according to international law, without any reason. After all, it is quite obvious that the Japanese games with the idea of ​​a peace treaty have one goal - to exploit the weakness of Moscow leaders, revise the results of World War II in their favor and regain lost lands.

But in the world they don’t give away territories just like that, for a thank you. Even the two islands of the Kuril ridge Moscow first agreed to transfer to Japan in 1956 during the reign of the dim-witted Nikita Khrushchev only in the hope of exchanging them for Japan’s neutral status. But Japan did not acquire any neutral status; on the contrary, American military bases were firmly established on its territory, making it an “unsinkable US aircraft carrier.” Naturally, there can be no talk of transferring any Russian territories to it.

However, Russian leaders, instead of simply ignoring Tokyo’s attempts to start a discussion of the “problem of the northern territories,” continue to unwittingly indulge them. Although the Kuril Islands belong to Russia according to international law, we obviously should not be interested in what the Japanese think about this. It is clear as daylight that attempts to “fool” the islands by either washing or rolling are calculated on the inability of Moscow bosses to “take the blow” for a long time, and the persistence of talkative Japanese diplomats. And also to the “fifth column” existing in Russia, which from time to time, using Japanese money, publishes articles in our newspapers about the “original rights” of the Japanese to the Kuril Islands.

It seems that the Kuril Islands problem in relations with Japan can be resolved once and for all by simply not responding to Tokyo’s attempts to involve Russia in its discussion, that is, by acting as the Japanese do regarding Chinese claims to the Senkaku Islands. For Russia’s polite readiness to solve a problem that does not exist for it peacefully only inflames the Japanese, enticing them with the illusory proximity of the “return of territories”, and provokes them to invent new scandals.

And Moscow should finally forget about concluding a peace treaty with Japan. Russia does not need it, and Japan already signed a text in 1951 in San Francisco in front of 48 countries, which states that it renounces rights and claims to the Kuril Islands, the southern part of Sakhalin and the adjacent islands. By the way, the PRC, together with the Soviet Union, also did not sign the San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan, but this does not prevent it from living and developing

Reference
The so-called “northern territories problem” is a dispute initiated by Japan with Russia regarding the ownership of a number of islands in the Kuril chain. After World War II, all the Kuril Islands came under the administrative control of the USSR, but subsequently a number of the southern islands - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai group of islands began to be disputed by Japan. The problem of ownership of the southern Kuril Islands is the main obstacle to signing a peace treaty with Japan.
The Japanese received the first information about the islands during an expedition to the island of Hokkaido in 1635, but the Japanese did not reach the Kuril Islands themselves. In 1643, the Lesser Kuril Ridge was explored by the Dutch expedition of Maarten Gerritsen de Vries in search of the “Golden Lands” and a detailed map of it was compiled, a copy of which he sold to the Japanese Empire, without finding anything valuable there.
Taken from here:

In Russia, there is a ritual in the month of August, which is observed almost every year on the Russian information space in one form or another - discussion and condemnation of the “brutal and criminal” American bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

This tradition began and flourished during Soviet times. Its main propaganda task is to convince Russians once again that the American military (and American imperialism in general) is insidious, cynical, bloody, immoral and criminal.

According to this tradition, in various Russian programs and articles on the anniversary of the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there is a “demand” that the United States apologize for this atrocity. In August 2017, various Russian experts, political scientists and propagandists happily continued this glorious tradition.

Amid this loud outcry, it is interesting to see how the Japanese themselves relate to the question of the need for Americans to apologize for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In a 2016 poll conducted by the British news agency Populus, 61 percent of Japanese surveyed believed that the US government should formally apologize for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But it seems that this issue worries the Russians more than the Japanese.

One reason why 39 percent of Japanese Not believe that the United States should apologize is that it would open a huge and very unpleasant Pandora's box for the Japanese themselves. They are well aware that Imperial Japan was the aggressor, starting World War II in Asia and against the United States. Likewise, the Germans are well aware that Nazi Germany was the aggressor who unleashed World War II in Europe, and few people in Germany today demand an apology from the United States and its allies for the bombing of Dresden.

The Japanese understand perfectly well that if they demand an apology from the United States, then the state of Japan, logically, should officially apologize not only for the attack on the American Pearl Harbor in December 1941, but Japan also needs to apologize to other countries and peoples for the huge number of its crimes committed during the Second World War, including for:
- 10 million Chinese civilians killed by Japanese soldiers from 1937 to 1945, which is 50 times worse (in terms of the number of victims) of the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima;
- 1 million killed Korean civilians, which is 5 times worse (in terms of the number of victims) of the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima;
- murder of 100,000 Filipino civilians in 1945;
- massacre in Singapore in 1942;
- brutal medical experiments on living people and other types of torture of civilians in Japanese-occupied territories;
- use of chemical weapons against civilians;
- forced slave labor of civilians in Japanese-occupied territories and forcing local girls to provide sexual services to Japanese soldiers.

And the Russians are also opening their own big Pandora's box when they increasingly demand an apology from Washington for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The same principle of logic applies here: if, say, the United States needs to apologize for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, then, in fairness, the Russian state should officially apologize:
- before the Finns for the groundless invasion of Finland in 1939;
- to the Chechens, Ingush and Crimean Tatars for their deportation by the Soviet authorities during the Second World War, which resulted in the death of approximately 200,000 civilians from these three nationalities. This in itself is equivalent (in terms of the number of victims) to the tragedy in Hiroshima and Nagasaki;
- before the citizens of the Baltic states for the Soviet annexation of their countries in 1940 and for the deportation of more than 200,000 citizens of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania;
- to all citizens of Eastern Europe for the occupation and the imposition of “communism” on them from 1945 to 1989.

In general, it must be said that the practice of “apology” is not widely used by the leading states of the world, except for those cases, of course, when they are defendants in international tribunals.

But at the same time, American exceptions to the rule are:
- President Ronald Reagan's apology to Japanese Americans for the US detention of approximately 100,000 of them in American camps during World War II. (The US also paid compensation in the amount of $20,000 to each victim);
- a resolution of the US Congress in 1993 to apologize to the indigenous population of the Hawaiian Islands for the annexation of this territory by Washington in 1898;
- President Bill Clinton's 1997 apology for medical experiments conducted on 400 African-American men in the 1930s. They were deliberately infected with syphilis without their knowledge in order to study the effects and new treatments. We allocated $10 million for compensation to victims;
- A 2008 apology from the US House of Representatives for slavery of African Americans, which was abolished in 1865, and for the system of segregation in the southern states of the country.

President Harry Truman addresses the nation in August 1945 announcing the atomic bombing of Hiroshima

Meanwhile, last week (August 15th) marked 72 years since Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced to the Japanese people by radio that he had accepted the terms - effectively an ultimatum - of the US and allies set out in the Potsdam Declaration, ending Japanese participation in World War II. In other words, 72 years ago Hirohito officially announced Japan's unconditional surrender.

To justify his decision to capitulate, the Japanese Emperor uttered two key phrases in his radio address six days after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki:

“Our enemy has begun to use a new and terrible bomb that can cause untold damage to innocent people. If we continue to fight, it will not only lead to the collapse and complete destruction of the Japanese nation, but also to the end of human civilization."

These phrases underscored the dominant role played by the American atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Hirohito's final decision to accept unconditional US and Allied surrender terms. It is noteworthy that in this address there was not a single word about the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, which began on August 9, 1945, or, following it, about a new upcoming large-scale war with the USSR as an additional factor in its decision to capitulate.

The Japanese Foreign Minister signs Japan's surrender aboard the battleship Missouri, September 2, 1945. American General Richard Sutherland stands on the left.

On the 72nd anniversary of Japan's announcement of surrender, the following two issues are being discussed again:
1) Were the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki necessary and justified 72 years ago?
2) Was it possible to achieve Japan’s surrender in other, less terrible ways?

It must be said that in America itself these two issues remain controversial to this day. According to a survey conducted in 2015 by the American agency Pew Research, 56% of respondents considered the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki justified, 34% unjustified, and 10% found it difficult to answer.

For me, this is also a difficult, complex and controversial issue, but if I had to choose, I would still join the 56% of Americans who believe the use of atomic bombs is justified. And my main point is this:

1. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were certainly a terrible tragedy, killing approximately 200,000 civilians, and evil;

2. But American President Truman chose the lesser of two evils.

By the way, four days before the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the USA, USSR and Britain together, during the Potsdam Conference, announced an ultimatum to Japan about its surrender. If Japan had accepted this ultimatum, it could have avoided the tragedy in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But, as you know, at that moment she refused to capitulate. Japan accepted that joint American, British and Soviet ultimatum only six days later after American atomic bombings.

One cannot discuss—let alone condemn—Hiroshima and Nagasaki in a vacuum. This tragedy must be analyzed in the context of everything that happened in Japan and in the territories it occupied from 1937 to 1945. Imperial Japan, a militaristic, extremist, and essentially fascist regime, was the clear aggressor in World War II, not only in Asia but also in the United States, and committed countless war crimes, genocides, and atrocities during that war.

The surrender of Nazi Germany was achieved on May 8, 1945, ending World War II in the European theater. Three months later, the main question before the United States and its allies, exhausted after four years of the most difficult world war in Europe and Asia, was the following: how and how hurry up end World War II and in the Pacific theater with minimal losses?

By August 1945, between 60 and 80 million people had already died in the deadliest war in human history. To prevent World War II in Asia from lasting several more years and to prevent millions more from dying, President Truman made the difficult decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

If the Americans - along with the USSR - had tried to achieve Japan's surrender in another way - that is, a long ground war on the main Japanese islands - this would most likely have led to the death of several million people on the Japanese, American and even Soviet sides (both military and and civilians).

It is likely that hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers who began fighting on August 9, 1945 against the Japanese army in Manchuria would also have died. It is noteworthy that during only 11 days of this operation (from August 9 to 20), about 90,000 people died on the Japanese and Soviet sides. Just imagine how much more soldiers and civilians on both sides would have died if this war had continued for a few more years.

Where does the thesis come from that “several million people on three sides” would die if the US and USSR were forced to conduct a full-scale ground operation on the main Japanese islands?

Take, for example, the bloody battle on the island of Okinawa alone, which lasted three months (from April to June 1945) and in which approximately 21,000 American and 77,000 Japanese soldiers died. Considering the short duration of this campaign, these are huge losses - and even more so since the ground military campaign on Okinawa, the southernmost of the Japanese islands, was waged on the outskirts of Japan.

That is, on one, quite small, remote island of Okinawa, almost 100,000 people died in this battle in just three months. And American military advisers multiplied by 10 the number of people who would likely die in a ground operation on the main Japanese islands, where the lion's share of the Japanese military machine was concentrated. We must not forget that by the beginning of August 1945, the Japanese war machine was still very powerful with 2 million soldiers and 10,000 warplanes.

Battle of Okinawa

Just a week after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan unconditionally surrendered. Of course, one cannot downplay the significance of the opening of the Soviet “northern front” in Manchuria on August 9, 1945. This fact also contributed to Japan’s decision to surrender, but it was not the main factor.

At the same time, of course, Washington also wanted to send Moscow a signal of “indirect intimidation” with these atomic bombings. But this was not the main motive of the United States, but most likely it was done “at the same time.”

Mushroom cloud after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, August 6, 1945

It is necessary to analyze the tragic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the broader context of the Japanese imperial spirit of militarism, extremism, ultranationalism, fanaticism and their theory of racial superiority accompanied by genocide.

For many centuries before World War II, Japan developed its own specific military code, “Bushido,” according to which the Japanese military was obliged to fight until the very end. And to give up under any circumstances meant completely covering yourself with shame. According to this code, it was better to commit suicide than to give up.

At that time, dying in battle for the Japanese Emperor and the Japanese Empire was the highest honor. For the vast majority of Japanese, such a death meant instant entry into the “Japanese imperial paradise.” This fanatical spirit was observed in all battles - including in Manchuria, where mass suicides were recorded among Japanese civilians to rid themselves of shame - often with the help of Japanese soldiers themselves - when Soviet soldiers began to advance into territory that had until then controlled by the Japanese army.

Atomic bombings were, perhaps, the only method of intimidation that made it possible to break this deep-rooted and seemingly unshakable imperial and militaristic fanaticism and achieve the surrender of the Japanese regime. Only when the Japanese authorities clearly understood in practice that, following Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there could have been several more atomic strikes on other cities, including Tokyo, if Japan had not immediately capitulated. It was this fear of the complete, instant destruction of the entire nation that the emperor expressed in his radio address to the Japanese people about surrender.

In other words, the American atomic bombing was most likely the only way to so quickly force the Japanese authorities to peace.

It is often stated that Hirohito was ready to capitulate without American atomic strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nothing of the kind. Before the dropping of atomic bombs, Hirohito and his generals fanatically adhered to the principle of “ketsu go” - that is, to fight at any cost to a victorious end - and even more so since the Japanese military, for the most part, was disdainful of the military spirit of the Americans. Japanese generals believed that the Americans would certainly tire of this war much earlier than the Japanese soldiers. The Japanese military believed that they were much tougher and braver than American soldiers and could win any war of attrition.

But the atomic strikes also broke this Japanese faith.

The atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945

With the surrender of Japan, Imperial Japan ended its bloody, militaristic and fanatical past, after which it - with the help of the United States - began to create a democratic, free and prosperous society. Now Japan, with a population of 128 million, ranks third in the world in terms of GDP. Moreover, Japan's per capita gross domestic product is $37,000 (about twice the Russian figure). From a cursed, criminal pariah of the whole world, Japan in a short time turned into a leading member of the Western economic and political community.

A direct analogy with Germany suggests itself here. After the surrender of Germany, the United States helped rebuild Germany (though only half of Germany, since East Germany was occupied by the USSR). Now Germany, like Japan, is a democratic, free and prosperous country, and also a leading member of the Western community. Germany ranks 4th in the world in terms of GDP (directly behind Japan, which ranks 3rd), and Germany's per capita GDP is $46,000.

It is interesting to compare the difference between how the US treated the losers Japan and (West) Germany in the years following World War II, and how the Soviet Union treated the Eastern European countries - with all the ensuing consequences.

Although Germany and Japan were bitter enemies of the United States during World War II and were subjected to brutal US aerial bombing - and not just in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Tokyo and Dresden - they are now the United States' largest political allies and business partners. Meanwhile, most countries in Eastern Europe still have a negative and very wary attitude towards Russia.

Hiroshima today

If we simulate a similar situation and assume, for example, that it was not the Americans who created the first two atomic bombs in 1945, but Soviet scientists - in the spring of 1942. Imagine that the top of the Soviet leadership would have turned to Stalin with the following advice in the spring of 1942:

“We have been fighting against the Nazi invaders on the territory of our Motherland for 9 months now. We already have colossal losses: human, military and civil infrastructure. According to all leading military expert estimates, in order to achieve the surrender of the Nazis, we will have to fight against Germany for another 3 years (even if the United States ever opens a western front). And these three years of war will entail much more losses (from 15 to 20 million dead) and the complete destruction of our infrastructure in the European part of the USSR.

“But, Joseph Vissarionovich, we can find a more rational way to win and quickly end this terrible war if we launch nuclear strikes on two German cities. Thus, we will immediately receive the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany.

“Although approximately 200,000 German civilians will die, we estimate that this will save the USSR from colossal losses that will take decades to rebuild the country. By nuclear bombing two German cities, we will achieve in a few days what would take several years of a bloody and terrible war.”

Would Stalin have made the same decision in 1942 that President Truman made in 1945? The answer is obvious.

And if Stalin had had the opportunity to drop atomic bombs on Germany in 1942, approximately 20 million Soviet citizens would have survived. I think that their descendants - if they were alive today - would also join the 56% of Americans who today believe the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified.

And this hypothetical illustration emphasizes how politically rigged, false and hypocritical the proposal of Sergei Naryshkin, the former chairman of the State Duma, was when two years ago he made a loud proposal to create a tribunal over the United States for its “war crimes” committed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki 72 years ago. back.

Map of military operations in the Asian theater

But another question arises. If we are to hold a tribunal over the United States for Hiroshima and Nagasaki - no matter what the verdict is - then, in fairness, it is also necessary to hold tribunals over Moscow for a huge number of criminal cases during the Second World War and after it - including under the secret protocol in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on the Soviet invasion of Poland on September 17, 1939 and the partition (together with Hitler) of this country, on the Katyn execution, on the mass rape of women by Soviet soldiers during the capture of Berlin in the spring of 1945, and so on.

How many civilians died due to the military actions of the Red Army during World War II? What would Mr. Naryshkin say if it turned out at the tribunal over Moscow (after the tribunal over the USA was held) that Soviet troops killed more civilians than American troops - including all US airstrikes on Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Dresden, Tokyo and all other cities combined?

And if we are talking about a tribunal over the United States for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, then it is necessary, logically, to hold a tribunal over the CPSU as well, including for:
- for the Gulag and for all Stalinist repressions;
- for the Holodomor, which killed at least 4 million civilians, which is 20 times worse (in terms of the number of victims) of the tragedy in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. (By the way, 15 countries of the world, including the Vatican, officially classify the Holodomor as genocide);
- for the fact that in 1954 in the Orenburg region they drove 45,000 Soviet soldiers through the epicenter of a just-conducted nuclear explosion in order to determine how long after the atomic explosion they could send their troops on the offensive;
- for the massacre in Novocherkassk;
- for the downing of a South Korean passenger plane in 1983... and so on.

As they say, “what we fought for, we ran into.” Does the Kremlin really want to open this huge Pandora's box? If this box is opened, Russia, as the legal successor of the USSR, will definitely be in a losing position.

A joint Nazi-Soviet parade in the Polish city of Brest, September 22, 1939, marking the partition of Poland provided for in the secret protocol to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

It is obvious that the deliberate hype around the need for a tribunal over the United States in the case of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a cheap political trick aimed at once again inciting anti-Americanism among Russians.

It is noteworthy that it is Russia that shouts loudest and most pathetically about this tribunal over the United States - although this idea does not find support in Japan itself. On the contrary, Japanese Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma, for example, two years ago stated the fact that the dropping of atomic bombs helped end the war.

It's true: two atomic bombs really helped end this terrible war. Can't argue with that. The only controversial point is whether atomic bombs were decisive factor in Japan's surrender? But according to many military experts and historians around the world, the answer to this question is a resounding yes.

And not only the world's leading experts think so. Not a small percentage the Japanese themselves They also think so. According to Pew Research polls in 1991, 29% of Japanese surveyed believed that the American atomic attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified because it ended World War II. (However, in 2015, this percentage dropped to 14% in a similar survey).

These 29% of Japanese answered this way because they realized that they remained alive precisely because World War II in Japan ended in August 1945, and not several years later. After all, their grandparents could well have become victims of this war if the United States had refused to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and instead decided to send its troops (along with Soviet troops) to the main islands of Japan for a long and bloody ground operation. This creates a paradox: since they survived World War II, these 29% of respondents could, in principle, participate in this survey about the justification of the atomic bombing of their cities - in many ways precisely thanks to the same bombings.

These 29% of Japanese, of course, like all Japanese, mourn the deaths of 200,000 peaceful compatriots in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But at the same time, they also understand that in August 1945 it was necessary to destroy as quickly and decisively as possible this extremist and criminal state machine, which unleashed the Second World War throughout Asia and against the United States.

In this case, another question arises - what is the true motive for such pretentious and feigned “deep indignation” Russian politicians and Kremlin propagandists in relation to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

If we are talking about creating a tribunal over the United States, this perfectly diverts attention, for example, from the very inconvenient proposal for the Kremlin to create a tribunal in the case of a civilian Boeing shot down over Donbass last year. This is another shift of the needle to the United States. And at the same time, Naryshkin’s proposal can once again show what kind of criminal killers the American military is. In principle, there can be no overkill here, according to Kremlin propagandists.

Soviet poster

The issue of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was also manipulated and exaggerated in Soviet times during the decades of the Cold War. Moreover, Soviet propaganda hushed up the fact that it was Japan, by attacking the United States in December 1941, that dragged the United States into World War II.

Soviet propaganda also suppressed the important fact that American troops fought a full-scale war against the Japanese army from 1941-45 in the wide and difficult Asian theater of operations, when the Americans simultaneously fought against Nazi Germany not only on the seas and in the air. The United States also fought against Nazi Germany and its allies on the ground: in North Africa (1942-43), Italy (1943-45) and Western Europe (1944-45).

Moreover, the United States, having the status of non-belligerent (not in a state of war) in 1940, helped Britain in every possible way with military equipment to defend itself against the Nazis, starting in 1940, when Stalin and Hitler were still allies.

At the same time, Soviet propaganda liked to repeat that the American atomic bombing of Japan cannot be viewed as anything other than a war crime and “genocide,” and there can be no other opinion on this issue. Now Russian politicians and pro-Kremlin political scientists are continuing the same propaganda campaign against the United States in the worst tradition of the USSR.

Soviet poster

Moreover, many of them say, there remains a real danger that the United States may well repeat Hiroshima and Nagasaki - and launch the first, pre-emptive nuclear strike on Russian territory (!!). And they even supposedly have specific American plans for this, they warn menacingly.

It follows from this that Russia needs to go out of its way and spend about $80 billion every year on defense in order to put the Russian Federation in third place (after the United States and China) in military spending. Such spending is needed, say leading pro-Kremlin military experts, in order to confront their “main enemy,” who really threatens Russia with a nuclear apocalypse.

They say that the homeland still needs to be defended, if “the nuclear enemy is at the gates.” The fact that the principle of mutually assured destruction still excludes any nuclear strike on Russia apparently does not bother these political scientists and politicians.

Confronting not only nuclear, but also all other imaginary threats to the United States is almost the most important external and internal political platform of the Kremlin.

Soviet poster

The 72nd anniversary of the surrender of Japan provides us with an excellent opportunity to analyze and appreciate the high political and economic development of this country after its complete destruction in World War II. Similar success has also been achieved in Germany over the past 72 years.

Interestingly, however, many in Russia give a completely different assessment of Japan and Germany - namely, that they are in fact "colonies" and "vassals" of the United States.

Many Russian jingoists believe that what is better for Russia is not the “rotten, bourgeois” modern Japanese or German path of development, but its own “special path” - which, first of all, automatically means a policy that is actively opposed to the United States.

But where will such a dominant state ideology, which is based on inciting anti-Americanism and creating an imaginary image of an enemy, lead Russia?

Where will Russia's fixation on resistance to the United States, which is based on building up its military-industrial complex to the detriment of the development of its own economy, lead?

Such a “special path” will only lead to confrontation with the West, isolation, stagnation and backwardness.

At best, this is a special path to nowhere. And at worst - into degradation.

Nuclear weapons have been used for combat purposes only twice in the entire history of mankind. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 showed how dangerous it could be. It was the real experience of using nuclear weapons that was able to keep two powerful powers (the USA and the USSR) from starting a third world war.

Dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

During World War II, millions of innocent people suffered. The leaders of world powers blindly put the lives of soldiers and civilians on the line, hoping to achieve superiority in the struggle for world domination. One of the worst disasters in world history was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as a result of which about 200 thousand people were killed, and the total number of people who died during and after the explosion (from radiation) reached 500 thousand.

There is still only speculation about what prompted the President of the United States of America to order the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Did he realize, did he know, what destruction and consequences a nuclear bomb would leave after the explosion? Or was this action intended to demonstrate combat power in front of the USSR in order to completely kill any thoughts of attacks on the United States?

History has not preserved the motives that motivated the 33rd US President Harry Truman when he ordered a nuclear attack on Japan, but only one thing can be said with certainty: it was the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that forced the Japanese emperor to sign surrender.

In order to try to understand the motives of the United States, one must carefully consider the situation that arose in the political arena in those years.

Emperor Hirohito of Japan

Japanese Emperor Hirohito had good leadership abilities. In order to expand his lands, in 1935 he decided to capture all of China, which at that time was a backward agrarian country. Following the example of Hitler (with whom Japan entered into a military alliance in 1941), Hirohito begins to conquer China using methods favored by the Nazis.

In order to clear China of its indigenous inhabitants, Japanese troops used chemical weapons, which were banned. Inhumane experiments were carried out on the Chinese, with the goal of finding out the limits of the viability of the human body in various situations. In total, about 25 million Chinese died during Japanese expansion, most of whom were children and women.

It is possible that the nuclear bombing of Japanese cities might not have taken place if, after concluding a military pact with Hitler's Germany, the Emperor of Japan had not given the order to launch an attack on Pearl Harbor, thereby provoking the United States to enter World War II. After this event, the date of the nuclear attack begins to approach with inexorable speed.

When it became clear that Germany's defeat was inevitable, the question of Japan's surrender seemed to be a matter of time. However, the Japanese emperor, the embodiment of samurai arrogance and a true God for his subjects, ordered all residents of the country to fight to the last drop of blood. Everyone, without exception, had to resist the invader, from soldiers to women and children. Knowing the mentality of the Japanese, there was no doubt that the residents would carry out the will of their emperor.

In order to force Japan to capitulate, radical measures had to be taken. The atomic explosion, which occurred first in Hiroshima and then in Nagasaki, turned out to be precisely the impetus that convinced the emperor of the futility of resistance.

Why was a nuclear attack chosen?

Although the number of versions of why a nuclear attack was chosen to intimidate Japan is quite large, the following versions should be considered the main ones:

1. Most historians (especially American) insist that the damage caused by dropped bombs is several times less than what could have been caused by a bloody invasion of American troops. According to this version, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not sacrificed in vain, since it saved the lives of the remaining millions of Japanese;
2. According to the second version, the purpose of the nuclear attack was to show the USSR how advanced US military weapons were in order to intimidate a possible enemy. In 1945, the US President was informed that activity of Soviet troops had been noticed in the area of ​​the border with Turkey (which was an ally of England). Perhaps this is why Truman decided to intimidate the Soviet leader;
3. The third version says that the nuclear attack on Japan was American revenge for Pearl Harbor.

At the Potsdam Conference, which took place from July 17 to August 2, the fate of Japan was decided. Three states - the USA, England and the USSR, led by their leaders, signed the declaration. It spoke of a post-war sphere of influence, although World War II was not yet over. One of the points of this declaration spoke of the immediate surrender of Japan.

This document was sent to the Japanese government, which rejected this proposal. Following the example of their emperor, members of the government decided to continue the war to the end. After this, the fate of Japan was decided. Since the US military command was looking for where to use the latest atomic weapons, the President approved the atomic bombing of Japanese cities.

The coalition against Nazi Germany was on the verge of breaking (due to the fact that there was one month left before victory), the allied countries were unable to come to an agreement. The different policies of the USSR and the USA ultimately led these states to the Cold War.

The fact that US President Harry Truman was informed about the start of nuclear bomb testing on the eve of the meeting in Potsdam played an important role in the decision of the head of state. Wanting to intimidate Stalin, Truman hinted to the Generalissimo that he had a new weapon ready that could leave huge casualties after the explosion.

Stalin ignored this statement, although he soon called Kurchatov and ordered the completion of work on the development of Soviet nuclear weapons.

Having not received Stalin's answer, the American president decides to launch atomic bombing at his own peril and risk.

Why were Hiroshima and Nagasaki chosen for nuclear attack?

In the spring of 1945, the US military had to select suitable sites for full-scale nuclear bomb testing. Even then, it was possible to notice the prerequisites that the last test of an American nuclear bomb was planned to be carried out at a civilian facility. The list of requirements created by scientists for the latest nuclear bomb test looked like this:

1. The object had to be on a plain so that the blast wave would not be hampered by uneven terrain;
2. Urban development should be made of wood as much as possible so that the destruction from fire is maximum;
3. The property must have maximum building density;
4. The size of the object must exceed 3 kilometers in diameter;
5. The selected city must be located as far as possible from enemy military bases in order to exclude the intervention of enemy military forces;
6. For a strike to bring maximum benefit, it must be delivered to a large industrial center.

These requirements indicate that the nuclear strike was most likely something that had been planned for a long time, and Germany could well have been in Japan’s place.

The intended targets were 4 Japanese cities. These are Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Kyoto and Kokura. Of these, it was only necessary to select two real targets, since there were only two bombs. An American expert on Japan, Professor Reishower, begged to remove the city of Kyoto from the list, since it was of enormous historical value. It is unlikely that this request could have influenced the decision, but then the Minister of Defense, who was spending his honeymoon with his wife in Kyoto, intervened. They met the minister and Kyoto was saved from a nuclear strike.

Kyoto's place on the list was taken by the city of Kokura, which was chosen as a target along with Hiroshima (although later weather conditions made their own adjustments, and Nagasaki had to be bombed instead of Kokura). The cities had to be large and the destruction large-scale so that the Japanese people would be horrified and stop resisting. Of course, the main thing was to influence the position of the emperor.

Research by historians from around the world shows that the American side was not at all concerned about the moral side of the issue. Tens and hundreds of potential civilian casualties were of no concern to either the government or the military.

After looking through entire volumes of secret materials, historians came to the conclusion that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were doomed in advance. There were only two bombs, and these cities had a convenient geographical location. In addition, Hiroshima was a very densely built-up city, and an attack on it could unleash the full potential of a nuclear bomb. The city of Nagasaki was the largest industrial center working for the defense industry. A large number of guns and military equipment were produced there.

Details of the bombing of Hiroshima

The military strike on the Japanese city of Hiroshima was planned in advance and carried out in accordance with a clear plan. Each point of this plan was clearly implemented, which indicates careful preparation of this operation.

On July 26, 1945, a nuclear bomb named "Baby" was delivered to the island of Tinian. By the end of the month, all preparations were completed and the bomb was ready for combat operation. After checking meteorological readings, the date of the bombing was set - August 6. On this day the weather was excellent and the bomber, with a nuclear bomb on board, took off into the air. Its name (Enola Gay) was remembered for a long time not only by the victims of the nuclear attack, but also by all of Japan.

During the flight, the plane carrying death on board was accompanied by three planes, whose task was to determine the direction of the wind so that the atomic bomb would hit the target as accurately as possible. An airplane was flying behind the bomber, which was supposed to record all the data from the explosion using sensitive equipment. A bomber was flying at a safe distance with a photographer on board. Several aircraft flying towards the city did not cause any concern either to the Japanese air defense forces or to the civilian population.

Although Japanese radars detected the approaching enemy, they did not raise the alarm because of a small group of military aircraft. Residents were warned about a possible bombing, but they continued to work quietly. Since the nuclear strike was not like a regular air raid, not a single Japanese fighter took off to intercept it. Even the artillery did not pay attention to the approaching planes.

At 8:15 a.m., the Enola Gay bomber dropped a nuclear bomb. This release was carried out using a parachute to enable the group of attacking aircraft to move to a safe distance. Having dropped the bomb at an altitude of 9,000 meters, the battle group turned around and left.

Having flown about 8,500 meters, the bomb exploded at an altitude of 576 meters from the ground. A deafening explosion covered the city with an avalanche of fire, which destroyed everything in its path. Directly at the epicenter, people simply disappeared, leaving behind only the so-called “shadows of Hiroshima.” All that remained of the person was a dark silhouette imprinted on the floor or walls. At a distance from the epicenter, people were burning alive, turning into black firebrands. Those who were on the outskirts of the city were a little more fortunate; many of them survived, having received only terrible burns.

This day became a day of mourning not only in Japan, but throughout the world. About 100,000 people died that day, and the following years claimed the lives of several hundred thousand more. All of them died from radiation burns and radiation sickness. According to official statistics from the Japanese authorities as of January 2017, the number of deaths and injuries from the American uranium bomb is 308,724 people.

Hiroshima is today the largest city in the Chugoku region. The city has a memorial dedicated to the victims of the American atomic bombing.

What happened in Hiroshima on the day of the tragedy

The first official Japanese sources said that the city of Hiroshima was attacked by new bombs that were dropped from several American aircraft. People did not yet know that the new bombs destroyed tens of thousands of lives in an instant, and the consequences of a nuclear explosion would last for decades.

It is possible that even the American scientists who created atomic weapons did not imagine what consequences radiation would have for people. For 16 hours after the explosion, not a single signal was received from Hiroshima. Noticing this, the Broadcast Station operator began making attempts to contact the city, but the city remained silent.

After a short period of time, incomprehensible and confusing information came from the railway station, which was located not far from the city, from which the Japanese authorities understood only one thing: an enemy raid had been carried out on the city. It was decided to send the plane for reconnaissance, since the authorities knew for sure that no serious enemy combat air groups had broken through the front line.

Approaching the city at a distance of about 160 kilometers, the pilot and the officer accompanying him saw a huge dust cloud. As they flew closer, they saw a terrible picture of destruction: the entire city was ablaze with fires, and smoke and dust made it difficult to discern the details of the tragedy.

Having landed in a safe place, the Japanese officer reported to the command that the city of Hiroshima had been destroyed by US aircraft. After this, the military began to selflessly provide assistance to their wounded and shell-shocked compatriots from the bomb explosion.

This disaster united all the surviving people into one big family. Wounded people who could barely stand on their feet cleared the rubble and put out fires, trying to save as many compatriots as possible.

Washington made an official statement about the successful operation only 16 hours after the bombing.

Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki

The city of Nagasaki, which was an industrial center, was never subjected to massive air strikes. They tried to preserve it to demonstrate the enormous power of the atomic bomb. Only a few high-explosive bombs damaged weapons factories, shipyards and medical hospitals a week before the terrible tragedy.

Now it seems incredible, but Nagasaki became the second Japanese city to be subjected to nuclear bombing, only by chance. The initial target was the city of Kokura.

The second bomb was delivered and loaded onto the plane, following the same plan as in the case of Hiroshima. The plane with the nuclear bomb took off and flew towards the city of Kokura. On approach to the island, three American planes had to meet to record the explosion of an atomic bomb.

Two planes met, but they did not wait for the third. Contrary to the forecast of meteorologists, the sky over Kokura became clouded, and the visual release of the bomb became impossible. After circling over the island for 45 minutes and not waiting for the third plane, the commander of the plane, who was carrying a nuclear bomb on board, noticed problems in the fuel supply system. Since the weather had completely deteriorated, it was decided to fly to the reserve target area - the city of Nagasaki. The group, consisting of two aircraft, flew to an alternate target.

On August 9, 1945, at 7:50 a.m., the residents of Nagasaki woke up to an air raid alarm and went down to shelters and bomb shelters. After 40 minutes, considering the alarm not worthy of attention, and classifying the two aircraft as reconnaissance aircraft, the military canceled it. People went about their normal business, not suspecting that an atomic explosion was about to occur.

The Nagasaki attack went exactly the same way as the Hiroshima attack, only high clouds almost ruined the Americans' bomb release. Literally in the last minutes, when the fuel supply was at its limit, the pilot noticed a “window” in the clouds and dropped a nuclear bomb at an altitude of 8,800 meters.

The carelessness of the Japanese air defense forces is striking, which, despite news of a similar attack on Hiroshima, did not take any measures to neutralize American military aircraft.

The atomic bomb, called “Fat Man,” exploded at 11:20 a.m. and within a few seconds turned a beautiful city into a kind of hell on earth. 40,000 people died in an instant, and another 70,000 suffered terrible burns and injuries.

Consequences of nuclear bombings of Japanese cities

The consequences of a nuclear attack on Japanese cities were unpredictable. In addition to those killed at the time of the explosion and during the first year after it, radiation continued to kill people for many years. As a result, the number of victims doubled.

Thus, the nuclear attack brought the United States a long-awaited victory, and Japan had to make concessions. The consequences of the nuclear bombing struck Emperor Hirohito so much that he unconditionally accepted the terms of the Potsdam Conference. Based on the official version, the nuclear attack carried out by the US military brought exactly what the American government wanted.

In addition, the USSR troops, which accumulated on the border with Turkey, were urgently transferred to Japan, to which the USSR declared war. According to members of the Soviet Politburo, upon learning of the consequences caused by nuclear explosions, Stalin said that the Turks were lucky because the Japanese had sacrificed themselves for them.

Only two weeks passed after the entry of Soviet troops into Japanese territory, and Emperor Hirohito had already signed an act of unconditional surrender. This day (September 2, 1945) went down in history as the day the Second World War ended.

Was there an urgent need to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Even in modern Japan, debate continues over whether the nuclear bombing was necessary or not. Scientists from all over the world are painstakingly studying secret documents and archives from the Second World War. Most researchers agree that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were sacrificed to end the world war.

The famous Japanese historian Tsuyoshi Hasegawa believes that the atomic bombing was launched to prevent the expansion of the Soviet Union into Asian countries. This also allowed the United States to assert itself as a leader in military terms, which they succeeded brilliantly. After the nuclear explosion, arguing with the United States was very dangerous.

If you adhere to this theory, then Hiroshima and Nagasaki were simply sacrificed to the political ambitions of superpowers. Tens of thousands of victims were completely ignored.

One can guess what could have happened if the USSR had managed to complete the development of its nuclear bomb before the United States. It is possible that the atomic bombing would not have happened then.

Modern nuclear weapons are thousands of times more powerful than the bombs dropped on Japanese cities. It is difficult to even imagine what could happen if the world's two largest powers started a nuclear war.

The most little-known facts regarding the tragedy in Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Although the tragedy in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is known throughout the world, there are facts that only a few know:

1. A man who managed to survive in hell. Although everyone near the epicenter of the explosion died during the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, one person, who was in a basement 200 meters from the epicenter, managed to survive;
   
2. War is war, but the tournament must continue. At a distance of less than 5 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion in Hiroshima, a tournament in the ancient Chinese game “Go” was taking place. Although the explosion destroyed the building and many participants were injured, the tournament continued that day;
3. Capable of withstanding even a nuclear explosion. Although the explosion in Hiroshima destroyed most of the buildings, a safe in one bank was not damaged. After the end of the war, the American company that produced these safes received a letter of gratitude from the manager of a bank in Hiroshima;
4. Extraordinary luck. Tsutomu Yamaguchi was the only person on earth who officially survived two atomic explosions. After the explosion in Hiroshima, he went to work in Nagasaki, where he again managed to survive;
5. Pumpkin bombs. Before the atomic bombing began, the United States dropped 50 “Pumpkin” bombs on Japan, so named for their resemblance to a pumpkin;
6. An attempt to overthrow the emperor. The Emperor of Japan mobilized all the country's citizens for "total war." This meant that every Japanese, including women and children, had to defend their country to the last drop of blood. After the emperor, frightened by atomic explosions, accepted all the terms of the Potsdam Conference and later capitulated, Japanese generals tried to carry out a coup d'etat, which failed;
7. Those who encountered a nuclear explosion and survived. Japanese Gingko biloba trees are amazingly resilient. After the nuclear attack on Hiroshima, 6 of these trees survived and continue to grow to this day;
   
8. People who dreamed of salvation. After the explosion in Hiroshima, hundreds of survivors fled to Nagasaki. Of these, 164 people managed to survive, although only Tsutomu Yamaguchi is considered an official survivor;
9. Not a single police officer was killed in the atomic explosion in Nagasaki. The surviving law enforcement officers from Hiroshima were sent to Nagasaki in order to train their colleagues in the basics of behavior after a nuclear explosion. As a result of these actions, not a single police officer was killed in the Nagasaki explosion;
10. 25 percent of Japan's dead were Koreans. Although it is believed that all those killed in the atomic explosions were Japanese, a quarter of them were actually Koreans who were conscripted by the Japanese government to fight in the war;
11. Radiation is like fairy tales for children. After the atomic explosion, the American government for a long time hid the fact of the presence of radioactive contamination;
12. Meetinghouse. Few people know that the US authorities did not limit themselves to nuclear bombing of two Japanese cities. Before this, using carpet bombing tactics, they destroyed several Japanese cities. During Operation Meetinghouse, the city of Tokyo was virtually destroyed and 300,000 of its inhabitants died;
13. They didn't know what they were doing. The crew of the plane that dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima was 12 people. Of these, only three knew what a nuclear bomb was;
14. On one of the anniversaries of the tragedy (in 1964), an eternal flame was lit in Hiroshima, which should burn as long as there is at least one nuclear warhead left in the world;
    
15. Lost connection. After the destruction of Hiroshima, communication with the city was completely lost. Only three hours later the capital learned that Hiroshima had been destroyed;
16. Deadly poison. The crew of the Enola Gay were given ampoules of potassium cyanide, which they were to take in case of failure to complete the task;
17. Radioactive mutants. The famous Japanese monster "Godzilla" was invented as a mutation due to radioactive contamination after a nuclear bomb;
18. Shadows of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The explosions of nuclear bombs were so powerful that people literally evaporated, leaving only dark imprints on the walls and floor as a reminder of themselves;
19. Symbol of Hiroshima. The first plant to bloom after the nuclear attack in Hiroshima was the oleander. It is he who is now the official symbol of the city of Hiroshima;
20. Warning before a nuclear attack. Before the nuclear attack began, US aircraft dropped millions of leaflets warning of impending bombing on 33 Japanese cities;
21. Radio signals. Until recently, an American radio station in Saipan broadcast warnings of a nuclear attack throughout Japan. The signals were repeated every 15 minutes.

The tragedy in Hiroshima and Nagasaki happened 72 years ago, but it still serves as a reminder that humanity should not mindlessly destroy its own kind.