At the beginning of August, Japan made a "negotiated peace" offer to the Allied front but it was not accepted. Hiroshima was destroyed by the atomic bomb dropped on Aug. In a message on Aug.
While the Americans announced that the death toll from the atomic bombings was ,, the Japanese said it was close to half a million.
Survivors called "Hibakusha," suffer from cancer, disfigurement, and hard-to-treat diseases. The Hibakushas, whose numbers have dwindled, deliver a message on giving up nuclear weapons at commemorations held every August.
The atomic bomb, considered the breaking point of the war, forced Japan to surrender and led to a watershed in international relations. The US and the Soviet Union constructed the means to mount more powerful hydrogen bombs they developed up to on intercontinental ballistic missiles. By July , Germany had surrendered, and the war in Europe was over. Instead, American intelligence intercepts revealed that by August 2, Japan had already deployed more than , soldiers and thousands of suicide planes and boats on the island of Kyushu to meet the expected American invasion of Japan.
Additional reports correctly surmised that the Japanese military intended to execute all American prisoners in Japan in the event of an Allied landing. These frightening figures portended a costlier battle for the United States than any previously fought during the war.
By comparison, US forces suffered 49, casualties, including 12, men killed in action, when facing less than , Japanese soldiers during the battle for the island of Okinawa from April to June of American casualties on Okinawa weighed heavily on the minds of American planners who looked ahead to the invasion of Japan.
This was the situation that confronted American President Harry S. Consequently, neither Truman nor any of his advisors ever debated if the atomic bombs should be used, only how and where they should be used. In the spring of , the American government convened a committee of scientists and military officers to determine how best to use the bombs. This group unanimously declared that there was no guarantee that demonstrating the bombs to the Japanese in a deserted area would convince Japanese leaders to surrender.
It was vital that Japan be convinced to surrender as fast as possible because the United States had just two atomic bombs available in July and additional weapons would not be ready to deploy for several more weeks. Meanwhile, thousands of Chinese, American, and Japanese soldiers continued to die each day the war continued.
Consequently, Truman approved the long-standing plans for the US Army Air Force to drop atomic bombs on a list of preselected Japanese cities. The list of targets excluded Tokyo and Kyoto because of their political and historic importance. Instead, the intended target of the first bomb was Hiroshima, a fan-shaped city of approximately , people that occupied the estuary of the Ota River.
The city was also home to the headquarters of the Japanese army that defended the island of Kyushu as well as a number of war industries. At a. As a result, the overloaded Enola Gay used more than two miles of runway to get aloft.
US Army Air Force photo. Meanwhile, in Hiroshima, Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto awoke at 5 a. Hiroshima time, which was an hour behind Tinian time. Three days later, a plutonium bomb known as "Fat Man" was loaded on a B bomber called Bockscar, which was flown by Major Charles Sweeney. The initial target was the city of Kokura, but because of thick clouds, the bomb was dropped on the secondary target of Nagasaki.
It is estimated that around , of Hiroshima's population of , were killed in the bombing, and it is estimated that around 74, people died in Nagasaki. In Hiroshima, on August 6, around 80, people were killed immediately when the bomb was dropped. In Nagasaki, on August 9, around 40, people were killed instantly. Tens of thousands of others died in the aftermath, of radiation poisoning and their injuries. However, due to the massive destruction of the cities, the recorded death tolls are estimates, with other studies saying 66, people died in the Hiroshima bombing and that 39, people died in the Nagasaki bombing.
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