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The 'atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki' were nuclear attacks during World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States of America under US President Harry S. Truman. On August 6, 1945, the nuclear weapon "Little Boy" was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, followed on August 9, 1945 by the detonation of the "Fat Man" nuclear bomb over Nagasaki. They are the only instances of the use of nuclear weapons in warfare.
Several factors make it difficult to estimate casualty numbers due to the bombings. The population prior to the bombings is unknown, because of formal and informal evacuations, and unknown numbers of forced laborers. Some victims were burned beyond recognition or their bodies disposed in mass cremations.[1] Records of military personnel were destroyed, and entire families perished, leaving nobody to report the casualties. According to most estimates, the bombing of Hiroshima killed approximately 70,000 people due to immediate effects of the blast. Estimates of total deaths by the end of 1945 range from 90,000 to 140,000, due to aftereffects such as burns and radiation. [2][3]. The United States Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that as many as 200,000 may have died from cancer and other long-term effects by 1950. The numbers for Nagasaki are consistently lower, because the terrain reduced the impact of the bomb. The DOE estimates 40,000 died at Nagasaki from immediate blast effects[4], whereas the official Japanese numbers are in the 75,000 range[5]. In both cities, the overwhelming majority of the deaths were civilians.^[1][2][3]
The role of the bombings in Japan's surrender, as well as the effects and justification of them, has been subject to much debate.
On August 15, 1945 Japan announced its surrender to the Allied Powers, signing the Instrument of Surrender on September 2 which officially ended World War II. Furthermore, the experience of bombing led post-war Japan to adopt Three Non-Nuclear Principles, which forbids Japan from nuclear armament.

Contents

The Manhattan Project

Choice of targets

The Potsdam ultimatum

Hiroshima

Hiroshima during World War II

The bombing

Japanese realization of the bombing

Post-attack casualties

Survival of some structures

Events of August 7-9

Nagasaki

Nagasaki during World War II

The bombing

Plans for more atomic attacks on Japan

The surrender of Japan and subsequent occupation

Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission

The Hibakusha

Korean survivors

Debate over bombings

Cultural references

Films about the events

See also

References

Further reading

Histories and descriptions

Online

Online

Footnotes

The Manhattan Project

Main articles: Manhattan Project

The United States, with assistance from the United Kingdom and Canada, designed and built the first atomic bombs under what was called the Manhattan Project. "The gadget," which was a trial of the implosion trigged plutonium device, which would be used on Nagasaki, was detonated during a test called "Trinity" near Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16, 1945. Together the following bombs were the second and third to be detonated and as of 2007 the only ones ever in a military action. (See Weapons of Mass Destruction.)

Choice of targets

The Target Committee at Los Alamos on May 10–11, 1945, recommended Kyoto, Hiroshima, Yokohama, and the arsenal at Kokura as possible targets. The committee rejected the use of the weapon against a strictly military objective because of the chance of missing a small target not surrounded by a larger urban area. The psychological effects on Japan were of great importance to the committee members. They also agreed that the initial use of the weapon should be sufficiently spectacular for its importance to be internationally recognized. The committee felt Kyoto, as an intellectual center of Japan, had a population "better able to appreciate the significance of the weapon." Hiroshima was chosen because of its large size, its being "an important army depot" and the potential that the bomb would cause greater destruction because the city was surrounded by hills which would have a "focusing effect".^[4]
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson struck Kyoto from the list because of its cultural significance, over the objections of General Leslie Groves, head of the Manhattan Project. According to Professor Edwin O. Reischauer, Stimson "had known and admired Kyoto ever since his honeymoon there several decades earlier." On July 25 General Carl Spaatz was ordered to bomb one of the targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata, or Nagasaki as soon after August 3 as weather permitted and the remaining cities as additional weapons became available.^[5]

The Potsdam ultimatum

On July 26, Truman and other allied leaders issued The Potsdam Declaration outlining terms of surrender for Japan. The atomic bomb was not mentioned in the declaration. On July 28, Japanese papers reported that the declaration had been rejected by the Japanese government. That afternoon, Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki declared at a press conference that the Potsdam Declaration was no more than a rehash (''yakinaoshi'') of the Cairo Declaration and that the government intended to ignore it (''mokusatsu'').^[6]
The statement was taken by both Japanese and foreign papers as a clear rejection of the declaration.
Emperor Hirohito, who was waiting for a Soviet reply to noncommittal Japanese peace feelers, made no move to change the government position.^[7] On July 31, he made clear to Kido that the Imperial Regalia of Japan had to be defended at all costs.^[8]
In early July, on his way to Potsdam, Truman had re-examined the decision to use the bomb. In the end, Truman made the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan. His stated intention in ordering the bombings was to bring about a quick resolution of the war by inflicting destruction, and instilling fear of further destruction, that was sufficient to cause Japan to surrender.

Hiroshima

Hiroshima during World War II

At the time of its bombing, Hiroshima was a city of some industrial and military significance. A number of military camps were located nearby, including the headquarters of the Fifth Division and Field Marshal Shunroku Hata's 2nd General Army Headquarters, which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan. Hiroshima was a minor supply and logistics base for the Japanese military. The city was a communications center, a storage point, and an assembly area for troops. It was one of several Japanese cities left deliberately untouched by American bombing, allowing an ideal environment to measure the damage caused by the atomic bomb. Another account stresses that after General Spaatz reported that Hiroshima was the only targeted city without prisoner of war (POW) camps, Washington decided to assign it highest priority.
The center of the city contained several reinforced concrete buildings and lighter structures. Outside the center, the area was congested by a dense collection of small wooden workshops set among Japanese houses. A few larger industrial plants lay near the outskirts of the city. The houses were of wooden construction with tile roofs, and many of the industrial buildings also were of wood frame construction. The city as a whole was highly susceptible to fire damage.
The population of Hiroshima had reached a peak of over 381,000 earlier in the war, but prior to the atomic bombing the population had steadily decreased because of a systematic evacuation ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the attack the population was approximately 255,000. This figure is based on the registered population used by the Japanese in computing ration quantities, and the estimates of additional workers and troops who were brought into the city may be inaccurate.

The bombing

:''For composition of USAAF mission see 509th Composite Group''
Hiroshima was the primary target of the first nuclear bombing mission on August 6, with Kokura and Nagasaki being alternative targets. August 6 was chosen because there had previously been cloud over the target. The B-29 ''Enola Gay'', piloted and commanded by 509th Composite Group commander Colonel Paul Tibbets, was launched from North Field airbase on Tinian in the West Pacific, about six hours flight time from Japan. The Enola Gay (named after Colonel Tibbets' mother) was accompanied by two other B29s, ''The Great Artiste'' which carried instrumentation, commanded by Major Charles W. Sweeney, and a then-nameless aircraft later called ''Necessary Evil'' (the photography aircraft) commanded by Captain George Marquardt.^[9]
After leaving Tinian the aircraft made their way separately to Iwo Jima where they rendezvoused at 2440 m (8000 ft) and set course for Japan. The aircraft arrived over the target in clear visibility at 9855 m (32,000 ft). On the journey, Navy Captain William Parsons had armed the bomb, which had been left unarmed to minimize the risks during takeoff. His assistant, 2nd Lt. Morris Jeppson, removed the safety devices 30 minutes before reaching the target area.^[10]
The release at 08:15 (Hiroshima time) was uneventful, and the gravity bomb known as "Little Boy", a gun-type fission weapon with 60 kg (130 pounds) of uranium-235, took 57 seconds to fall from the aircraft to the predetermined detonation height about 600 meters (2,000 ft) above the city. It created a blast equivalent to about 13 kilotons of TNT (the U-235 weapon was considered very inefficient, with only 1.38% of its material fissioning),^[11]The radius of total destruction was about 1.6 km (1 mile), with resulting fires across 11.4 km² (4.4 square miles).^[12] Infrastructure damage was estimated at 90 percent of Hiroshima's buildings being either damaged or completely destroyed.

About an hour before the bombing, Japanese early warning radar detected the approach of some American aircraft headed for the southern part of Japan. An alert was given and radio broadcasting stopped in many cities, among them Hiroshima. At nearly 08:00, the radar operator in Hiroshima determined that the number of planes coming in was very small—probably not more than three—and the air raid alert was lifted. To conserve fuel and aircraft, the Japanese had decided not to intercept small formations. The normal radio broadcast warning was given to the people that it might be advisable to go to air-raid shelters if B-29s were actually sighted, but no raid was expected beyond some sort of reconnaissance.
As a result of the blast an estimated minimum 90,000 people died within four months.^[13] Included in this number were about 2,000 Japanese Americans and another 800-1,000 who lived on as ''hibakusha'', a Japanese term meaning, "explosion-affected people". As US citizens, many were attending school before the war and had been unable to leave Japan.^[14] It is likely that hundreds of Allied prisoners of war also died.^[15]

Japanese realization of the bombing

The Tokyo control operator of the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation noticed that the Hiroshima station had gone off the air. He tried to re-establish his program by using another telephone line, but it too had failed.^[16] About twenty minutes later the Tokyo railroad telegraph center realized that the main line telegraph had stopped working just north of Hiroshima. From some small railway stops within 16 kilometers (10 mi) of the city came unofficial and confused reports of a terrible explosion in Hiroshima. All these reports were transmitted to the headquarters of the Japanese General Staff.
Military bases repeatedly tried to call the Army Control Station in Hiroshima. The complete silence from that city puzzled the men at headquarters; they knew that no large enemy raid had occurred and that no sizable store of explosives was in Hiroshima at that time. A young officer of the Japanese General Staff was instructed to fly immediately to Hiroshima, to land, survey the damage, and return to Tokyo with reliable information for the staff. It was generally felt at headquarters that nothing serious had taken place and that it was all a rumor.
The staff officer went to the airport and took off for the southwest. After flying for about three hours, while still nearly 100 miles (160 km) from Hiroshima, he and his pilot saw a great cloud of smoke from the bomb. In the bright afternoon, the remains of Hiroshima were burning. Their plane soon reached the city, around which they circled in disbelief. A great scar on the land still burning and covered by a heavy cloud of smoke was all that was left. They landed south of the city, and the staff officer, after reporting to Tokyo, immediately began to organize relief measures.
Tokyo's first knowledge of what had really caused the disaster came from the White House public announcement in Washington, D.C., sixteen hours after the nuclear attack on Hiroshima.^[17]
By August 8, 1945, newspapers in the US were reporting that broadcasts from Radio Tokyo had described the destruction observed in Hiroshima. "Practically all living things, human and animal, were literally seared to death," Japanese radio announcers said in a broadcast captured by Allied sources.^[18]

Post-attack casualties

By December of 1945, thousands had died from their injuries and a small number from radiation poisoning, bringing the total killed in Hiroshima in 1945 to perhaps 140,000.^[19] In the years between 1950 and 1990, it is statistically estimated that hundreds of deaths are attributable to radiation exposure among atomic bomb survivors from both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.^[20][21]

Survival of some structures

Some of the reinforced concrete buildings in Hiroshima were very strongly constructed because of the earthquake danger in Japan, and their framework did not collapse even though they were fairly close to the center of damage in the city. Akiko Takakura was among the closest survivors to the hypocenter of the blast. She had been in the strongly built Bank of Hiroshima only 300m from ground-zero at the time of the attack.^[22] Since the bomb detonated in the air, the blast was more downward than sideways, which was largely responsible for the survival of the ''Prefectural Industrial Promotional Hall'', now commonly known as the ''Genbaku, or A-bomb Dome'' designed and built by the Czech architect Jan Letzel, which was only 150 meters (490 feet) from ground zero (the hypocenter). The ruin was named ''Hiroshima Peace Memorial'' and made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996 over the objections of the U.S. and China.^[23]

Events of August 7-9

After the Hiroshima bombing, President Truman announced, "If they do not not accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the likes of which has never been seen on this earth." On August 8 1945, leaflets were dropped and warnings were given to Japan by Radio Saipan. (The area of Nagasaki did not receive warning leaflets until August 10, though the leaflet campaign covering the whole country was over a month into its operations.)^[24][25]
The Japanese government still did not react to the Potsdam Declaration. Emperor Hirohito, the government and the War council were considering four conditions for surrender : the preservation of the ''kokutai'' (Imperial institution and national polity), assumption by the Imperial Headquarters of responsibility for disarmament and demobilization, no occupation and delegation to the Japanese government of the punishment of war criminals.
The Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov informed Tokyo of the Soviet Union's unilateral abrogation of the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact on April 5. At two minutes past midnight on August 9, Tokyo time, Soviet infantry, armor, and air forces launched an invasion of Manchuria. Four hours later, word reached Tokyo that the Soviet Union had declared war on Japan. The senior leadership of the Japanese Army began preparations to impose martial law on the nation, with the support of Minister of War Korechika Anami, in order to stop anyone attempting to make peace.
Responsibility for the timing of the second bombing was delegated to Colonel Tibbets as commander of the 509th Composite Group on Tinian. Scheduled for August 11 against Kokura, the raid was moved forward to avoid a five day period of bad weather forecast to begin on August 10.^[26] Three bomb pre-assemblies had been transported to Tinian, labeled F-31, F-32, and F-33 on their exteriors. On August 8 a dress rehearsal was conducted off Tinian by Maj. Charles Sweeney using ''Bockscar'' as the drop airplane. Assembly F-33 was expended testing the components and F-31 was designated for the mission August 9.^[27]

Nagasaki

Nagasaki during World War II

The city of Nagasaki had been one of the largest sea ports in southern Japan and was of great wartime importance because of its wide-ranging industrial activity, including the production of , ships, military equipment, and other war materials.
In contrast to many modern aspects of Hiroshima, the bulk of the residences were of old-fashioned Japanese construction, consisting of wood or wood-frame buildings, with wood walls (with or without plaster), and tile roofs. Many of the smaller industries and business establishments were also housed in buildings of wood or other materials not designed to withstand explosions. Nagasaki had been permitted to grow for many years without conforming to any definite city zoning plan; residences were erected adjacent to factory buildings and to each other almost as closely as possible throughout the entire industrial valley.
Nagasaki had never been subjected to large-scale bombing prior to the explosion of a nuclear weapon there. On August 1, 1945, however, a number of conventional high-explosive bombs were dropped on the city. A few hit in the shipyards and dock areas in the southwest portion of the city, several hit the ''Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works'' and six bombs landed at the ''Nagasaki Medical School and Hospital'', with three direct hits on buildings there. While the damage from these bombs was relatively small, it created considerable concern in Nagasaki and many people—principally school children—were evacuated to rural areas for safety, thus reducing the population in the city at the time of the nuclear attack.
To the north of Nagasaki there was a camp holding British Commonwealth prisoners of war, some of whom were working in the coal mines and only found out about the bombing when they came to the surface. At least eight known POWs died from the bombing.^[28]

The bombing

:''For composition of USAAF mission see 509th Composite Group''
On the morning of August 9 1945, the U.S. B-29 Superfortress ''Bockscar'', flown by the crew of 393rd Squadron commander Major Charles W. Sweeney, carried the nuclear bomb code-named "Fat Man", with Kokura as the primary target and Nagasaki the secondary target. The mission plan for the second attack was nearly identical to that of the Hiroshima mission, with two B-29's flying an hour ahead as weather scouts and two additional B-29's in Sweeney's flight for instrumentation and photographic support of the mission. Sweeney took off with his weapon already armed but with the electrical safety plugs still engaged.^[29]

Observers aboard the weather planes reported both targets clear. When Sweeney's aircraft arrived at the assembly point for his flight off the coast of Japan, the third plane (flown by the group's Operations Officer, Lt. Col. James I. Hopkins, Jr.) failed to make the rendezvous. ''Bockscar'' and the instrumentation plane circled for forty minutes without locating Hopkins. Already thirty minutes behind schedule, Sweeney decided to fly on without Hopkins.²⁹

By the time they reached Kokura a half hour later, a 7/10 cloud cover had obscured the city, prohibiting the visual attack required by orders. After three runs over the city, and with fuel running low because a transfer pump on a reserve tank had failed before take-off, they headed for their secondary target, Nagasaki.²⁹ Fuel consumption calculations made en route indicated that ''Bockscar'' had insufficient fuel to reach Iwo Jima and they would be forced to divert to Okinawa. After initially deciding that if Nagasaki were obscured on their arrival they would carry the bomb to Okinawa and dispose of it in the ocean if necessary, the weaponeer Navy Commander Frederick Ashworth decided that a radar approach would be used if the target was obscured.^[30]
At about 07:50 Japanese time, an air raid alert was sounded in Nagasaki, but the "all clear" signal was given at 08:30. When only two B-29 Superfortresses were sighted at 10:53, the Japanese apparently assumed that the planes were only on reconnaissance and no further alarm was given.
A few minutes later, at 11:00, the support B-29 flown by Captain Frederick C. Bock dropped instruments attached to three parachutes. These instruments also contained an unsigned letter to Professor Ryokichi Sagane, a nuclear physicist at the University of Tokyo who studied with three of the scientists responsible for the atomic bomb at the University of California, Berkeley, urging him to tell the public about the danger involved with these weapons of mass destruction. The messages were found by military authorities but not turned over to Sagane until a month later.^[31] In 1949 one of the authors of the letter, Luis Alvarez, met with Sagane and signed the document.^[32]

At 11:01, a last minute break in the clouds over Nagasaki allowed ''Bockscar's bombardier, Captain Kermit Beahan, to visually sight the target as ordered. The "Fat Man" weapon, containing a core of ~6.4 kg (14.1 lb) of plutonium-239, was dropped over the city's industrial valley. 43 seconds later it exploded 469 meters (1,540 ft) above the ground exactly halfway between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works in the south and the Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works (Torpedo Works) in the north. This was nearly 3 kilometers (2 mi) northwest of the planned hypocenter; the blast was confined to the Urakami Valley and a major portion of the city was protected by the intervening hills.^[33] The resulting explosion had a blast yield equivalent to 21 kilotons of TNT. The explosion generated heat estimated at 7000 degrees Fahrenheit and winds that were estimated at 624 mph.
According to some estimates, about 70,000 of Nagasaki's 240,000 residents were killed instantly,^[34] and up to 60,000 were injured. The radius of total destruction was about 1.6 km (1 mile), followed by fires across the northern portion of the city to 3.2 km (2 miles) south of the bomb.^[35] The total number of residents killed may have been as many as 80,000, including the few who died from radiation poisoning in the following months.^[36]
An unknown number of survivors from the Hiroshima bombing made their way to Nagasaki and were bombed again.^[37][38]
Japan refused to surrender for 6 more days.

Plans for more atomic attacks on Japan

The United States expected to have another atomic bomb ready for use in the third week of August, with three more in September and a further three in October.^[39]
On August 10, Major General Leslie Groves, military director of the Manhattan Project, sent a memorandum to General of the Army George Marshall, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, in which he wrote that "the next bomb . . should be ready for delivery on the first suitable weather after 17 or 18 August." On the same day, Marshall endorsed the memo with the comment, "It is not to be released over Japan without express authority from the President." There was already discussion in the War Department about conserving the bombs in production until Operation Downfall, the projected invasion of Japan, had begun. "The problem now [13 August] is whether or not, assuming the Japanese do not capitulate, to continue dropping them every time one is made and shipped out there or whether to hold them . . . and then pour them all on in a reasonably short time. Not all in one day, but over a short period. And that also takes into consideration the target that we are after. In other words, should we not concentrate on targets that will be of the greatest assistance to an invasion rather than industry, morale, psychology, and the like? Nearer the tactical use rather than other use."

The surrender of Japan and subsequent occupation

Main articles: Surrender of Japan, Occupied Japan

Up to August 9, the war council was still insisting on its four conditions for surrender. On that day Hirohito ordered Kido to "quickly control the situation" "because Soviet Union has declared war against us". He then held an Imperial conference during which he authorized minister Togo to notify the Allies that Japan would accept their terms on one condition, that the declaration "does not compromise any demand which prejudices the prerogatives of His Majesty as a Sovereign ruler".^[40]
On August 12, the Emperor informed the imperial family of his decision to surrender. One of his uncles, Prince Asaka, then asked whether the war would be continued if the ''kokutai'' could not be preserved. Hirohito simply replied "of course".^[41] As the Allied terms seemed to leave intact the principle of the preservation of the Throne, Hirohito recorded on August 14 his capitulation announcement which was broadcast to the Japanese nation the next day despite a short rebellion by fanatic militarists opposed to the surrender.
In his declaration, Hirohito referred to the atomic bombings :
However, in his "Rescript to the soldiers and sailors" delivered on 17 August, he stressed the impact of the Soviet invasion and his decision to surrender, omitting any mention of the bombs.
During the year after the bombing, approximately 40,000 U.S. occupation troops were in Hiroshima. Nagasaki was occupied by 27,000 troops.^[42] More that 40,000 members of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force were also in Japan.

Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission

In the spring of 1948, the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) was established in accordance with a presidential directive from Harry S. Truman to the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council to conduct investigations of the late effects of radiation among the survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One of the early studies conducted by the ABCC was on the outcome of pregnancies occurring in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and in a control city, Kure located 18 miles south from Hiroshima, to discern the conditions and outcomes related to radiation exposure. Some would say ABCC was not in a position to offer medical treatment to the survivors except in a research capacity. One author has claimed that the ABCC refused to provide medical treatment to the survivors for better research results.^[43] In 1975, the Radiation Effects Research Foundation was created to assume the responsibilities of ABCC.

The Hibakusha

Monument at ground zero in Nagasaki.

The survivors of the bombings are called , a Japanese word that literally translates to "explosion-affected people". The suffering of the bombing is the root of Japan's postwar pacifism, and the nation has sought the abolition of nuclear weapons from the world ever since. As of 2005, there are about 266,000 ''hibakusha'' still living in Japan.^[44]

Korean survivors

During the war Japan brought many Korean conscripts to both Hiroshima and Nagasaki to work as forced labor. According to recent estimates, about 20,000 Koreans were killed in Hiroshima and about 2,000 died in Nagasaki. It is estimated that one in seven of the Hiroshima victims was of Korean ancestry.^[45] For many years Koreans had a difficult time fighting for recognition as atomic bomb victims and were denied health benefits. Though such issues have been addressed in recent years, issues regarding recognition lingers.

Debate over bombings

Main articles: Debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Those who argue in favor of the decision to drop the bombs generally assert that the bombings ended the war months sooner than would otherwise have been the case, thus saving many lives. It is argued that there would have been massive casualties on both sides in the Operation Downfall invasion of Japan,^[46] and that even if Operation Downfall was postponed, the status quo of conventional bombings and the Japanese occupations in Asia were causing tremendous loss of life.
A number of notable individuals and organizations have criticized the bombings, many of them characterizing them as war crimes or crime against humanity and or state terrorism. Two early critics of the bombings were Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard, who had together spurred the first bomb research in 1939 with a jointly written letter to President Roosevelt. Szilard, who had gone on to play a major role in the Manhattan Project, argued:
:"Let me say only this much to the moral issue involved: Suppose Germany had developed two bombs before we had any bombs. And suppose Germany had dropped one bomb, say, on Rochester and the other on Buffalo, and then having run out of bombs she would have lost the war. Can anyone doubt that we would then have defined the dropping of atomic bombs on cities as a war crime, and that we would have sentenced the Germans who were guilty of this crime to death at Nuremberg and hanged them?"^[47]

Cultural references

Citizens of Hiroshima walk by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, the closest building to have survived the city's atomic bombing.

★ The book ''Hiroshima Mon Amour'', by Marguerite Duras, and the related film, were partly inspired by the bombing. The film version, directed by Alain Resnais, has some documentary footage of the afteraffects, burn victims, devastation.

★ The above book served as as inspiration for the like-titled 1977 song by the British New Wave band Ultravox.

★ The Japanese manga "Hadashi no Gen" ("Barefoot Gen") is a manga which deals with the bombing in Hiroshima.

★ The musical piece "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima" by Krzysztof Penderecki (sometimes also called ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for 52 Strings'', and originally ''8'37"'' as a nod to John Cage) was written in 1960 as a reaction to what the composer believed to be a senseless act. On the 12th of October, 1964, Penderecki wrote: "Let the Threnody express my firm belief that the sacrifice of Hiroshima will never be forgotten and lost."

★ Composer Robert Steadman has written a musical work for voice and chamber ensemble entitled Hibakusha Songs. Commissioned by the Imperial War Museum North, Manchester, it was premiered in 2005.

★ Artists Stephen Moore and Ann Rosenthal examine 60 years of living in the shadow of the bomb in their decade-long art project "Infinity City." Their web site http://infcty.net documents their travels to historical sites on three continents and explores their art installations and web works reflecting on America's nuclear legacy.

★ The Canadian progressive rock band Rush performed a song called "The Manhattan Project" depicting the events of and leading up to the bombing of Hiroshima.

★ The story of Sadako Sasaki, a young Hiroshima survivor diagnosed with leukemia, has been recounted in a number of books and films. Two of the best known of these works are Karl Bruckner's ''Sadako will leben'' (1961), translated into 22 languages and Eleanor Coerr's ''Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes'' (Putnam, 1977). Sasaki, confined to a hospital because of her leukemia, created 644 origami cranes, in reference to a Japanese legend which granted one wish to whoever could fold 1,000 cranes.

★ Native American novelist Gerald Vizenor`s "kabuki novel", ''Hiroshima Bugi'' (2003), compares the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing to the aftermath of the conquest of the Americas.

★ The Japanese author Fumiyo Kouno wrote her graphic novel about a story of a family after the atomic bomb, ''Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms'' (2004), and translated into some languages.

★ The rock band Wishful Thinking had a hit in 1971 with "Hiroshima", a song about the bombing.

★ The Japanese rock band L'Arc~en~Ciel recorded the song "Hoshizora" ("Starlit Sky") on the 2005 "Awake" album using Hiroshima as a metaphor of the devastation of war. The song was also dedicated to the victims of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Films about the events

★ Fat Man and Little Boy

★ - The story of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, based on Masuji Ibuse's novel.

★ - A detailed, semi-documentary dramatisation of the political decisions involved with the atomic bombings.

★ - Fictional drama that takes place in Nagasaki at the time of the bombing.

★ - Animated dramatization of the bombing of Hiroshima based on the writer's own experiences and the documented experiences of other surivors.

★ - Factual accounts of the events from Japanese surivors and American military.

See also

★ Hiroshima Peace Memorial

★ Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

★ Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony

★ Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims

★ Hiroshima City Ebayama Museum of Meteorology

★ Hiroshima Witness

★ Children's Peace Monument

★ Nagasaki Peace Park

★ Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum

★ Urakami Cathedral

★ George Weller American journalist at Nagasaki

★ Aerial bombing of cities

★ Strategic bombing

★ The United States and nuclear weapons

★ The United States and weapons of mass destruction

★ Bombing of Tokyo in World War II

★ Japanese atomic program

★ Victor's justice

★ Japanese war crimes

★ World War II casualties

★ Nuclear-free zone

References

★ Living with the Bomb: American and Japanese Cultural Conflicts in the Nuclear Age, Sadao Asada, , , East Gate Book, 1997, ISBN 1-56324-967-7

★ Hiroshima in History and Memory, Herbert Bix, , , Cambridge University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-521-56682-7

★ The Silverplate Bombers: A History and Registry of the Enola Gay and Other B-29s Configured to Carry Atomic Bombs, Richard H. Campbell, , , McFarland & Company, Inc., 2005, ISBN 0-7864-2139-8

★ The Bombed: Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japanese Memory, , John, Dower, Diplomatic History,

★ Jack Edwards ''Banzi you Bastards'', Souviner Press, (paperback 1994), ISBN 0-285-63027-X, Page 260

★ The White House Years; Mandate For Change: 1953-1956, , Dwight D, Eisenhower, Doubleday & Company, ,

★ The Claimants of Hiroshima Richard A. Falk reprinted in The Strategy of World Order. Volume: 1, , , , World Law Fund, 1966,

★ Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire, Richard B. Frank, , , Penguin Publishing, 2001, ISBN 0-679-41424-X

★ Was the Atomic Bombing of Japan Necessary?, , Robert, Freeman, CommonDreams.org, 2006

★ The Genocidal Temptation: Auschwitz, Hiroshima, Rwanda and Beyond, , Robert S., Frey, University Press of America, , ISBN 0761827439 Reviewed at: The Genocidal Temptation: Auschwitz, Hiroshima, Rwanda and Beyond (Review), , Sarah, Rice, Harvard Human Rights Journal,

★ Modern Japan: A Historical Survey, Mikiso Hane, , , Westview Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8133-3756-9

★ Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan, , Tsuyoshi, Hasegawa, Belknap Press, , ISBN 0-674-01693-9

★ Lillian Hoddeson, et al, ''Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943-1945'' (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), on 295.

★ The Spirit of Hiroshima: An Introduction to the Atomic Bomb Tragedy, , , , Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, 1999,

★ The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II, A Collection of Primary Sources, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 162.

★ A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and its Legacies, Martin J. Sherwin, , , Stanford University Press, 2003,

★ ''Kido Koichi nikki'', Tokyo, Daigaku Shuppankai, 1966, p.1223, p.1120-1121

★ Rinjiro Sodei. ''Were We the Enemy?: American Survivors of Hiroshima''. Boulder: Westview Press, 1998

★ The Avalon Project : The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Chapter 25 - Eyewitness Account John A. Siemes

★ United States Strategic Bombing Survey; Summary Report

★ The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb, Dennis D. Wainstock, , , Praeger, 1996, ISBN 0-275-95475-7

Further reading

There is an extensive body of literature concerning the bombings, the decision to use the bombs, and the surrender of Japan. The following sources provide a sampling of prominent works on this subject matter. Because the debate over justification for the bombings is particularly intense, some of the literature may contain claims that are disputed.


★ Living with the Bomb: American and Japanese Cultural Conflicts in the Nuclear Age, Hein, Laura and Selden, Mark (Editors), , , M. E. Sharpe, , ISBN 1-56324-967-9

★ A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and its Legacies, , Martin J., Sherwin, Stanford University Press, , ISBN 0-8047-3957-9

★ The White House Years; Mandate For Change: 1953-1956, , Dwight D., Eisenhower, Doubleday & Company, ,

★ United States Strategic Bombing Survey; Summary Report (Pacific War)

★ Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, official homepage.

★ Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, official homepage.

★ Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims

★ Tale of Two Cities: The Story of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

★ Documents on the Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb

★ The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

★ The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II: A Collection of Primary Sources

★ The Radiation Effects Research Foundation, official hompage.

Histories and descriptions

The black marker indicates "ground zero" of the Nagasaki atomic bomb explosion.

★ Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, , Lillian, ''et al'', Hoddeson, Cambridge University Press, , ISBN 0-521-44132-3

★ Were We the Enemy? American Survivors of Hiroshima, , Rinjiro, Sodei, Westview Press, , ISBN 081333750X

★ Hiroshima Diary, , Michihiko, Hachiya, University of North Carolina Press, , ISBN 0-8078-4547-7
:A daily diary covering the months after the bombing, written by a doctor who was in the city when the bomb was dropped.

★ Hiroshima, , John, Hersey, Vintage Press, , ISBN 0-679-72103-7
:An account of the bombing by an American journalist who visited the city shortly after the Occupation began, and interviewed survivors.

★ Letters from the End of the World: A Firsthand Account of the Bombing of Hiroshima, , Toyofumi, Ogura, Kodansha International Ltd., , ISBN 4-7700-2776-1

★ Hibakusha: Survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, , Gaynor, Sekimori, Kosei Publishing Company, , ISBN 4-333-01204-X

★ The Atomic Bomb: Voices from Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Japan in the Modern World), , Kyoko, ''et al'', Selden, M. E. Sharpe, , ISBN 087332773X

★ The Bells of Nagasaki, , Nagai, Takashi, Kodansha International Ltd., , ISBN 4-7700-1845-2

★ First Into Nagasaki: The Censored Eyewitness Dispatches on Post-Atomic Japan and Its Prisoners of War, Weller, George and Weller, Anthony, , , Vintage Press, , ISBN 0-307-34201-8

★ Hiroshima in America: A Half Century of Denial, Lifton, Robert and Mitchell, Greg, , , Quill Publishing, , ISBN 0-380-72764-1

★ Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Physical, Medical, and Social Effects of the Atomic Bombings, The Committee for the Compilation of Materials on Damage Caused by the Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, , , Basic Books, , ISBN 046502985X
:Detailed accounts of the immediate and subsequent casualties over three decades.

★ The Fall of Japan, , William, Craig, Galahad Books, , ISBN 0883659859
:A history of the governmental decision making on both sides, the bombings, and the opening of the Occupation.

★ Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire, , Richard B., Frank, Penguin Books, , ISBN 0-14-100146-1
:A history of the final months of the war, with emphasis on the preparations and prospects for the invasion of Japan. The author contends that the Japanese military leaders were preparing to continue the fight, and that they hoped that a bloody defense of their main islands would lead to something less than unconditional surrender and a continuation of their existing government.

★ Hiroshima in History and Memory, , Michael J., Hogan, Cambridge University Press, , ISBN 0521562066

★ No High Ground, Knebel, Fletcher and Bailey, Charles W., , , Harper and Row, , ISBN 0313242216 A history of the bombings, and the decision-making to use them.

★ Robert Jungk, ''Brighter Than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists'' (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1956, 1958)

★ Japan's Longest Day, The Pacific War Research Society, , , Oxford University Press, , ISBN 4770028873
:An account of the Japanese surrender and how it was almost thwarted by soldiers who attempted a coup against the Emperor.

★ The Making of the Atomic Bomb, , Richard, Rhodes, Simon & Schuster, , ISBN 0671441337

★ War's End: An Eyewitness Account of America's Last Atomic Mission, Sweeney, Charles, ''et al'', , , Quill Publishing, , ISBN 0380788748

★ Enola Gay: The Bombing of Hiroshima, Thomas, Gordon and Witts, Max Morgan, Richard, Rhodes, Konecky & Konecky, , ISBN 1568525974
:A history of the preparations to drop the bombs, and of the missions.

★ Prompt and Utter Destruction: President Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs Against Japan, , J. Samuel, Walker, University of North Carolina Press, , ISBN 0807823619

★ Shockwave: Countdown to Hiroshima, , Stephen, Walker, Harper Perennial, , ISBN 0060742852
:Narrative events in the lives of those involved in or touched by the bombings.

★ The Last, Great Victory: The End of World War II, , Stanley, Weintraub, Truman Talley Books, , ISBN 0525936874
:Recounts the events day by day.

Online

★ Hiroshima Memories by Americans who were there

★ The Voice of Hibakusha

★ Journalist George Weller's account of the aftermath at Nagasaki

★ The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

★ Nagasaki 1945: While Independents Were Scorned, Embed Won Pulitzer

★ Scientific Data of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Disaster

Online

★ Why Truman Dropped the Bomb
:Focuses on the evidence of recently released Japanese messages that the U.S. decrypted during the war.

★ Hiroshima bomb may have carried hidden agenda
:Opinion article on findings suggesting Japan was already looking for peace, that it surrendered due to the Soviet invasion, and that Truman's true aim was to demonstrate US power to the Soviets.

★ The Fire Still Burns: An interview with historian Gar Alperovitz

★ Truman's Motivations: Using the Atomic Bomb in the Second World War

★ Documents relating to the decision to use the atomic bomb Dannen, Gene (Editor)

★ Correspondence Regarding Decision to Drop the Bomb

★ The Decision To Use The Atomic Bomb; Gar Alperovitz And The H-Net Debate

★ Pro and Con on Dropping the Bomb

★ Truman, The Bomb, And What Was Necessary

★ Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembered

Footnotes

1. Japan's Asahi Shimbun estimates are 237,000 for Hiroshima, and 135,000 for Nagasaki including diseases from the aftereffects based on hospital data. The Spirit of Hiroshima: An Introduction to the Atomic Bomb Tragedy, , , , Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, 1999,
2.
Modern Japan: A Historical Survey, Mikiso Hane, , , Westview Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8133-3756-9
3.
Another review and analysis of the various death toll estimates is in:
Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire, Richard B. Frank, , , Penguin Publishing, 2001, ISBN 0-679-41424-X
4. Atomic Bomb: Decision — Target Committee, May 10–11, 1945
5. Thomas Handy: Memorandum, July 25, 1945
6.
Downfall, , Richard B., Frank, , ,
The meaning of the word ''mokusatsu'' can fall anywhere in the range of "ignore" to "treat with contempt".
7.
Hiroshima in History and Memory, , Herbert, Bix, Cambridge University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-521-56682-7
8. ''Kido Koichi nikki'', Tokyo, Daigaku Shuppankai, 1966, p.1120-1121
9. Timeline #2- the 509th; The Hiroshima Mission
10. Timeline #2- the 509th; The Hiroshima Mission
11. The Bomb-"Little Boy"
12. ''RADIATION DOSE RECONSTRUCTION U.S. OCCUPATION FORCES IN HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI, JAPAN, 1945-1946'' (DNA 5512F)
13. RERF Frequently Asked Questions
14. Rinjiro Sodei. ''Were We the Enemy?: American Survivors of Hiroshima''. Boulder: Westview Press, 1998
15. David Rubin, 2005, "Remembering Normand Brissette" (Downloaded 28/10/06)
16. No High Ground by Knebel et al p175 to p201
17. White House Press Release on Hiroshima The press release, it should be noted, was written not by Truman but primarily by William L. Laurence, a ''New York Times'' reporter allowed access to the Manhattan Project.
18. Fulton Sun Retrospective
19. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The Spirit of Hiroshima: An Introduction to the Atomic Bomb Tragedy. Hiroshima: Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, 1999.
20. RERF Frequently Asked Questions
21. RERF Life Span Study Report 13
22. Testimony of Akiko Takakura
23. unesco.org
24. Studies in Intelligence
25. American Experience
26. A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and its Legacies, Martin J. Sherwin, , , Stanford University Press, 2003,
27.
The Silverplate Bombers: A History and Registry of the Enola Gay and Other B-29s Configured to Carry Atomic Bombs, Richard H. Campbell, , , McFarland & Company, Inc., 2005, ISBN 0-7864-2139-8
28. As many as 13 POWs may have died in the Nagasaki bombing:

★ 1 British Commonwealth ([6] [7]{Note last link reference use only.} (This last reference also lists at least three other POWS who died on 9-8-1945 [8][9][10]but does not tell if these were Nagasaki casualties)

★ 7 Dutch {2 names known}[11] died in the bombing.

★ At least 2 POWs reportedly died postwar from cancer thought to have been caused by Atomic bomb [12][13](note-last link United States Merchant Marine.org website).

29. Timeline #3- the 509th; The Nagasaki Mission
30. Spitzer Personal Diary Page 25 (CGP-ASPI-025)
31. Lillian Hoddeson, et al, ''Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943-1945'' (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), on 295.
32. Stories from Riken
33. The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb, Dennis D. Wainstock, , , Praeger, 1996,
34. Rinjiro Sodei. ''Were We the Enemy?: American Survivors of Hiroshima''. Boulder: Westview Press, 1998, ix.
35. ''Radiation Dose Reconstruction; U.S. Occupation Forces in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 1945-1946'' (DNA 5512F)
36. Nagasaki marks tragic anniversary
37. 'I saw both of the bombs and lived'
38. Nine Who Survived Hiroshima and Nagasaki, , Robert, Trumbull, Tuttle Publishing, 1957,
39.
The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II, A Collection of Primary Sources,
40. ''Kido Koichi nikki'',Tokyo, Daigaku Shuppankai, 1966, p.1223
41. Terasaki Hidenari, ''Shôwa tennô dokuhakuroku'', 1991, p.129
42. DTRA Fact Sheets: ''Hiroshima and Nagasaki Occupation Forces''
43. Suffering Made Real: American Science and the Survivors at Hiroshima, M. Susan Lindee, , , University Of Chicago Press, 1994, ISBN 0226482375
44. ''Asahi Shimbun'', quoted by ''San Francisco Chronicle''
45. Mikiso Hane. Modern Japan: A Historical Survey. Boulder: Westview Press, 1992.
46. Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan, Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, , , The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005,
47. (republished at [14], reached through Leo Szilard page at [15])