Ashes of War: Hiroshima and Nagasaki

August 1945 was the worst day Japan had ever seen before. America wiped out the two major villages from Japan on August 6 and 9, 1945. The United States blasted two atomic bombs over two Japanese cities named Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Between 150,000 and 246,000 people, including civilians, were killed in the unpredictable attack. World War II had a big influence on this incident, along with the Pacific War between the US and Japan.

The Pacific War between the United States and Japan  
The Pacific War was marked by Japan’s aggressive expansion and the response of the US through military campaigns, although the decision to use atomic bombs forced Japan to surrender. Japan’s expansionist policies in Asia, especially Manchuria in 1931 and China in 1937, led to increasing tensions with western power. The US and western nations imposed economic sanctions on Japan by restricting access to oil and crucial resources in response to aggressive actions in Asia. On December 7, 1941, there was an outbreak of hostilities. Japan launched a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, leading to the US's formal entry into World War II and expanding its territory across the Pacific, capturing key locations such as the Philippines, Singapore, and various Pacific islands. Although the US turned over Japan in decisive naval battle where the US navy inflicted a significant defeat on the Japanese fleet,. And shifted the balance of power in the Pacific. The US adopted a policy to capture cities and other places nearer to Japan. The Guadalcanal campaign between 1942 and 1943 was the first major offensive by Japanese forces and a turning point in the Pacific region. We continuously conducted extensive bombing raids on Japanese cities, including the firebombing of Tokyo in March 1945, which killed an estimated 100,000 people. The Battle of Okinawa during 1945 was one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific War, demonstrating the potential cost of a land invention in Japan.

 The allied leaders, including US President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, made plans to discuss postwar plans and issued the postwar declaration. In the post-dawn conference in 1945, all because the Soviet Union had not declared war on Japan, it was agreed at the ultra-conference in February 1945 that the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan. Three months after the defeat of Germany, this added pressure on Japan. 

Development of atomic bombs 
The Manhattan Project, initiated in 1939, was a top-secret US program that developed the first nuclear weapons by mid-1945. The project successfully tested the first atomic bomb in New Mexico. President Truman and his advisors saw the use of atomic bombs as a means to force Japan to surrender without a costly invention. The decision was influenced by the desire to end the work and save American lives. 

Hiroshima after and before the bombing 
Hiroshima was a city of industrial and military headquarters like Marshal Shunroku Hata’s second general army, which commanded the defense of all of Southern Japan and was located in Hiroshima Castle; an estimated 40000 Japanese military units were located in that city. Hiroshima was supply-based for the Japanese military. The city was a communication center, a key port for ships and a manufacturing area of planes, boats, bombs, and rifles. The area was congested by houses and workshops with a dense population, especially in the outputs of the city; it was the second largest city in Japan after Kyoto. At the time of the attack, the population was approximately 340000 to 350,000 because of some petitions to avoid bombing Hiroshima, which extended up to the morning of August 6, 1945. Hiroshima attacked at 8:15 (Hiroshima time) with the 393rd Bombardment Squadron B-29. Enola Gay, pirated by Paul Tibbets and Robert A. Lewis, took off from Northfield. Tinian, about 6 hours flight time to Japan, changed Enola to gay and was accompanied by two other b-29s , the great artist, commanded by Major Charles Sweeney, which carried instrumentation and a nameless aircraft later called necessary. Evil, commanded by George Marquardt, was the photography aircraft at the time The nuclear bomb named Little Boy, containing about 64 kilograms of Uranium-235, took 44.4 seconds to fall from the aircraft flying at about 9400 m and 1900 ft about the city. Due to the cross, the bomb missed the aiming point, the Aioi bridge, by approximately 240 m and detonated directly over Shima surgical clinic. Only pilot Tibbet, parsons, and Ferebee knew about the nature of the bomb. The other is only told to expect a blinding flash and given black goggles. Tibbets told reporters that it was hard to believe what we say could fully stop the exact number of people killed by blast or unknown. Reports say the Manhattan Project and the US occupation led a joint commission for the investigation of the atomic bomb in Japan in 1951, which estimated 66,000 dead and 69000 injured. The United States strategic bombing survey estimated in 1946 that there were 241,582 soldiers present in Hiroshima. The US service estimated that 12 km of the city were destroyed. The one that survived was the prefectural industrial promotion hall, now commonly known as the genbaku (A-bomb), which was only 150 m from the ground. Many of the hospitals and clinics were destroyed, and most elements of the Japanese second general army headquarters were undergoing training on the grounds of Hiroshima castle.
Purnell, Parsons, Tibbets, Spaatz, and Lemay met on Guam that same day to discuss what should be done next since there was no indication of Japan surrendering. They decided to drop another bomb. Parsons said that Project Albert would have it ready by August, but due to poor weather conditions, the day changed to August 9.
 

Nagasaki was one of the largest seaports in southern Japan; there were so many large companies like Mitsubishi Shipyard and Electrical Shipyard, which employed about 90 percent of the city's labor force. By early August, there had been so many bomb attacks that almost all of the buildings were old-fashioned Japanese building construction. At that time, there were 263000 people in Nagasaki, including 240000 Japanese residents, 10000 Korean residents, 2500 conscripted Korean workers, 9000 Japanese soldiers, 600 conscripted Chinese workers, and 400 allied prisoners of war in a camp to the north of Nagasaki. On August 8, a dress rehearsal was conducted off Tinian by Sweeney using a Bockscar as the drop aircraft. At 2:47 Japanese time on the morning of 9 August, address rehearsal was conducted off Tinian by Sweeny using a Bockscar as the drop aircraft. At 2:47 Japanese time on the morning of August 9, 1945, Bockscar, flown by Sweeny’s crew, lifted off from Tinian island with the Fatman, with Kokura as the primary target and Nagasaki as the second target, along with the two aircraft accompanied in the little boy mission. Due to low fuel and poor target conditions for flying, the attack and avoiding Kakuro were removed from the list and aircraft headed to Nagasaki.
At 11:01 Japanese time, bockscars put the fatman containing a core containing about s kg of plutonium, which was dropped over the city’s industrial valley. It exploded 47 seconds later, at 11:02 Japanese time. Above a tennis court. The blast was confined to the Urakami Valley, and a major portion of this city was protected by the intervening hills. About 35,000 people were killed and 60,000 were injured.

Although there were a big loss of people, houses, industrial buildings, schools, hospitals, etc., besides that, a lot of lives were burned with the effect of bombing. Instead of it, now there is a remnant, firstly the atomic bomb dune, which resisted and survived the bomb. Now it is a tourist attraction, the memorial park, which rings the bell at 08:15, remembering the attack time. There is show called Memories of friends, which shows the situation when the bomb fell down and a river named Mattias Gawa jumped to save their lives from burning. When we visit the place, it says the terribility and intensity. And the crucial attack should be stopped and not repeated. humanity should remain, people could live in peace, and it may be to the message of this Hiroshima day.