Hiroshima

Japanese city destroyed by a U.S. atomic bomb on August 6, 1945. The bombing of Hiroshima and, three days later, Nagasaki, ushered in a new era of weaponry in which nuclear weapons had unprecedented destructive capacity. More than 140,000 people (out of a population of 350,000) died in Hiroshima immediately or within four months of the atomic bomb blast.

Founded in 1594 as a castle city in the southwestern part of the Japanese island of Honshu, Hiroshima became an important commercial and industrial center for manufacturing ships, vehicles, steel, rubber, furniture, and canned foods. The city grew in importance after the enlargement of its port, Ujina, in 1868 and the installation of rail connections to the cities of Kobe and Shimonoseki. Before and during World War II, Hiroshima was an important military center for the Japanese Empire.

Hoping to avoid an estimated million American casualties in an invasion of the Japanese homeland, President Harry S. Truman ordered one of the atomic bombs under development by the top-secret Manhattan Project dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The massive blast from the bomb caused an estimated 80,000 deaths immediately. The bomb was exploded close to the center of the city and destroyed nearly 90% of its buildings.

Upon detonation of the bomb, an enormous fireball rose from Hiroshima. Temperatures on the ground exceeded 9,000°F. Powerful heat rays burned exposed human skin up to 2.2 miles from ground zero, the epicenter of the blast. Within about one mile of ground zero, people exposed to the blast received deep burns, not only to the skin, but also to their internal organs [Page 323]and deep tissues. Almost all of these people died instantly or within the next few days.

A powerful shock wave was generated by the blast at the epicenter, generating winds of 1,000 mph. Thousands of people were killed as the winds hurled them through the air or as they were crushed by flying debris. The blast shattered thousands of windows, filling the air with glass projectiles that deeply penetrated victims' bodies. As recently as 1986, doctors reported removing glass from Hiroshima survivors who complained of mysterious pains.

Nearly all wooden buildings and most concrete structures within about 1.3 miles of the center of the blast collapsed. The intense heat emitted by the explosion caused wooden homes and anything combustible in the streets to burst into flames. Fires continued to burn for days after the blast. The extreme heat melted glass and metal.

The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima released a tremendous amount of radiation. Half the people who were out in the open and within about a half-mile of the blast died of radiation poisoning immediately. The effects of acute radiation exposure extended for four months after the bombing. These effects appeared in survivors and included the destruction of cells and organs, disorders in internal organs, diminished immune system capacity, and loss of hair.

About a half hour after the blast, a heavy black rain began to fall in areas northwest of ground zero. The rain contained large amounts of radioactive soot and dust, contaminating areas for tens of miles. Fish died in ponds and rivers. Birds fell dead from the sky. People who drank well water suffered from diarrhea for three months.

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