The nuclear radiation released by the bombs caused thousands more people to die from radiation sickness in the weeks, months and years that followed. Those who survived the bombings are known as "hibakusha". Survivors faced a horrifying aftermath in the cities, including psychological trauma.
The bombings brought about an abrupt end to the war in Asia, with Japan surrendering unconditionally to the Allies on 14 August But critics have said that Japan was already on the brink of surrender. Following the end of the fighting in Europe on 7 May , the Allies told Japan to surrender by 28 July, but the deadline passed without them doing so.
An estimated 71, soldiers from Britain and the Commonwealth were killed in the war against Japan, including more than 12, prisoners of war who died in Japanese captivity. It was the first time an atomic bomb had ever been used in a war. The Hiroshima bomb, known as "Little Boy", contained the equivalent of between 12, and 15, tons of TNT and devastated an area of 13sq km 5sq miles. Three days later, the Americans dropped another atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki at Japanese time.
Reiko Hada was nine years old when the bomb exploded in Nagasaki. In an interview with photojournalist Lee Karen Stow , she described her experience: "I made it to the entrance of my house, and I think I even took a step inside, then it happened all of a sudden. The colours were yellow, khaki and orange, all mixed together. In no time, everything went completely white. The next moment there was a loud roar. Then I blacked out.
A journalist, William L. Laurence of the New York Times , on an escorting aircraft saw some "St. Elmo's fire" glowing on the edges of the aircraft and worried that the static electricity might detonate the bomb. Sweeney then discovered that due to a minor malfunction he would not be able to access his reserve fuel. The aircraft next had to orbit over Yaku-shima off the south coast of Japan for almost an hour in order to rendezvous with its two escort Bs, one of which never did arrive. The weather had been reported satisfactory earlier in the day over Kokura Arsenal, but by the time the B finally arrived there, the target was obscured by smoke and haze.
Two more passes over the target still produced no sightings of the aiming point. As an aircraft crewman, Jacob Beser, later recalled, Japanese fighters and bursts of antiaircraft fire were by this time starting to make things "a little hairy. As Beser later put it, "there was no sense dragging the bomb home or dropping it in the ocean. As it turned out, cloud cover obscured Nagasaki as well.
Sweeney reluctantly approved a much less accurate radar approach on the target. At the last moment the bombardier, Captain Kermit K. Beahan, caught a brief glimpse of the city's stadium through the clouds and dropped the bomb. The yield of the explosion was later estimated at 21 kilotons, 40 percent greater than that of the Hiroshima bomb. Nagasaki was an industrial center and major port on the western coast of Kyushu.
As had happened at Hiroshima, the "all-clear" from an early morning air raid alert had long been given by the time the B had begun its bombing run. A small conventional raid on Nagasaki on August 1st had resulted in a partial evacuation of the city, especially of school children. There were still almost , people in the city below the bomb when it exploded. Rheault, Commander of the Fifth Special Forces Group in Vietnam, and seven other Green Berets have been charged with premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the summary execution of a Vietnamese national, Thai Khac Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox.
On August 6, , on her second attempt, year-old Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim the 21 miles from Dover, England, to Cape Griz-Nez across the English Channel, which separates Great Britain from the northwestern tip of France.
Ederle was born to German The bill made it illegal to impose restrictions on federal, state and local elections that were designed to deny the vote to Black people. At age 15, Ball went to New York City to attend drama school and become an actress. However, she received little encouragement and was The C.
Arkansas, the most feared Confederate ironclad on the Mississippi River, is blown up by her crew after suffering mechanical problems during a battle with the U.
Essex near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In August , the Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. United States Constitution. Art, Literature, and Film History. Vietnam War.
0コメント